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Peer tutors. Peer tutors usually are students with varying degrees of training to tutor deaf and/or hard of hearing students. Typically they have minimal or no sign skills. While sign skills clearly are an asset in tutoring most deaf students, they are of little or no benefit in tutoring most hard of hearing students.
Most peer tutors have already, or are currently taking the same course or another course with content similar to that in which they are tutoring. Typically, they are also screened for grade point average.
Advantages of peer tutors include the relatively low cost for their services, hours of availability, and current knowledge of course requirements and materials. Deaf peer tutors add the advantage of serving as role models and, in most situations, the ability to communicate easily with other deaf students.
Disadvantages of peer tutors include limited pedagogical skills, limited content knowledge, minimal signing skills if hearing, and limited opportunities to devaelop positive liaison relationships with hearing faculty.
Teaching faculty. Teaching faculty can make several very important contributions to tutoring. Students may prefer to go directly to their instructors with specific questions, particularly for clarification of assignments and the like. This may be made easier if both feel comfortable using e-mail or voice/tty relay systems for this purpose.
Second, they can volunteer to provide direct tutoring themselves, particularly if they are willing to invest the kind of time in training that is given the training of peer tutors. Third, and perhaps most important, they can be of great assistance to the tutor, making time available when the tutor has questions or needs help in some other way, discussing class assignments.
It is of paramount importance that there be a good working relationship between the faculty member who has a deaf and/or hard of hearing student in his/her class and other academic service providers, including the tutor. A professional tutor or a support service coordinator needs to contact the teaching faculty member, develop strategies for the provision of tutoring services, and encourage a team approach. Positive results can be achieved by stressing the tutor's role in helping to get the instructor's message across to his/her students.
IDENTIFYING STUDENTS IN NEED OF TUTORING
Before classes begin. Deaf and hard of hearing students in need of tutoring can be identified in several ways before classes begin.
Self-identification. Most deaf and hard of hearing students, even if they are aware of academic deficits, are unlikely to request tutoring until they have begun to experience difficulty in a course. However, some will. Entering students may have already used tutors profitably in high school or will, once they become aware that the service might be helpful to them in areas of recognized weakness - often English and math. Returning students may have found tutoring useful in other college courses and want to continue with the service. Occasionally, a deaf or hard of hearing student may ask for tutoring in a general area such as how to study or how to improve his/her understanding of course material.
Support services staff. Under ideal conditions, a student who is deaf or hard of hearing entering college would contact its program for the deaf or its disability services office/center well in advance of enrollment. This would allow sufficient time for achievement, communication skills, and study skills assessments to be administered and evaluated before the student begins classes, and if needed, a comprehensive plan could be developed to assist the student in deficient areas. Unfortunately, this does not often occur.
However, facts about the student's academic history and achievement
can be obtained during the registration interview and information
such as the following may suggest the need for tutoring: a student's
reading ability below the level needed for independent understanding
of textbooks, handouts, and other printed materials used in the classroom;
achievement levels on entrance or placement tests suggesting that
he/she will need tutoring in order to succeed in particular courses;
and in the case of a returning or continuing student, the prospect
that tutoring will help that student raise his/her grade point average
to a more acceptable level for the student and/or college.
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