Today I spoke with a kindergarten teacher who was concerned about a sign language interpreter in her classroom who interprets for one of my hard of hearing students.
She was concerned about the interpreter acting too much like a teacher. What she meant by this is that the interpreter will often 'tutor' and help the student with his class work and activities in addition to interpreting. She will often help or 'discipline' the other students in the class; the para-professional and teacher's jobs. In other words, she takes on too much of the other responsibilities that she is not required to do.
This can be a problem because the student has learned to depend on the interpreter to help him with everything. He will often look at her when he is having trouble with an activity. If something is difficult for him he will immediately give up and ask his interpreter to help. Sometimes the interpreter will just do it for him. How is he supposed to learn if he has everything done for him?! He needs to learn to be more independent and to try to do things on his own.
He also should learn to ask his teacher and others for help, not just his interpreter.
Her job is to interpret and help with any communication issues that come up. The interpreter needs to respect the teacher's wishes and let the teacher and para-professional do their jobs. In other words, she needs to back off some and stick to mainly interpreting.
One morning I observed the teacher evaluating the student on his writing. She just wanted to see how well he can write on his own. She told the interpreter this and emphasized the "on his own" part. I even stepped in and said, "We need to see if he can do this by himself."
Still the interpreter was a little too involved!! Sitting next to him, she practically told (signed to) the student what to write and what to erase. She even helped him a few times with holding his pencil. It was supposed to be an evaluation and the interpreter was interfering too much. All she had to do was interpret the instructions. Unfortunately, the student had to start over again. We explained to her once again that she should not be helping him during the test. She finally backed off.
It is hard sometimes to work with an interpreter in the classroom, especially in the lower grades.
~ Frustrated
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