Students Interested In Expanded Courses For American Sign Language

BY SARA MEUER
and SKYLAR DUBELKO
Miami University journalism students

Miami University junior speech pathology major Hannah Neibler plans to become a clinician

working with deaf and hard of hearing children, but she says Miami’s American sign language

program is hindering her progress.

“A lot of kids will be using sign language and for me to know fluently how to speak their

language, it would benefit both them and me.”

Miami’s Speech Pathology and Audiology Department began offering upper level courses in ASL three years

ago, but there is no current option of a major or minor. The program offers four courses at the

100 and 200 levels.

Demand for courses

Clinical faculty member Megan Gross, coordinator for the program, said there is a growing demand for

more courses.

“Lots of students are interested in having advanced level ASL classes, and then hopefully

transitioning that into a minor.”

For Neibler, the current program is lacking.

“I definitely would say that it's frustrating that Miami doesn’t offer it as a minor or a major," she said. "I would definitely take it as my second major.”

Interest in minor

The department conducted a survey of its American sign language students in the spring 2016, asking if they would be interested in more classes or a minor. Gross collected the results of the survey and found the majority of students were interested pursuing in an ASL minor.

"They know that the interest is there and they see the benefit to having a minor with lots of

the majors that are offered on campus," she said.

Gross said that despite the demand, it could be awhile before students are given the opportunity

for an ASL minor.

“So it's a possibility, but it takes a lot of time, and we’re still in a very big growth spurt,” she said.

Help for grad school

Speech pathology major Dani Belzer said that having an ASL minor would have given her

more opportunities in graduate school.

“Potentially applying to grad school I can be an assistant professor for maybe a 101 or 102

beginner class," Belzer said, "so I'm not sure if they would take me since I only have the intermediate skills

versus the minor.”

Neibler said she hopes an ASL minor will be established soon for future students. “I know that the language has more to offer and we’re being cut off from it.”

Note: This story was produced by students in Digital Video Reporting at Miami University.