Teaching Profession, Preparation for

Deaf Education Teacher Preparation Programs

Deaf education teacher preparation (DETP) programs exist in 37 of the 50 U.S. states as of 2014. Largely housed within university settings, DETP programs are often part of a college, school, or program for education, but are sometimes found within departments of psychology and/or counseling, encompassing communication disorders, linguistics, or other related fields.

DETP programs may specifically embrace a bilingual-bicultural or a listening–spoken language approach to Deaf education, but most belong to a category of “comprehensive programs” that vary coursework in order to prepare teachers who can work in a range of school settings. Comprehensive programs may include coursework in speech pathology as well as American Sign Language (ASL) and even some synthetic communication systems (e.g., cued speech or Signing Exact English). ...