Rachel Berman

Agency: Arizona Schools for the Deaf and the Blind

Term: Fall - 2004

My name is Rachel Berman, and I'm doing an internship at Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind (ASDB). ASDB serves to provide education for the deaf and blind in the least-restrictive environment throughout the state of Arizona. It has been around since 1912, and it now serves approximately 300 students. According to Stephanie Hazel, this is the first time that ICYF has added ASDB to their list as one of the agency sites for internship.

Specifically, I work in the audiology department with two audiologists. One of the audiologists' role is to perform annual hearing testing on deaf students and hearing screening on blind students, fit them with hearing aids and troubleshoot hearing aids when reported broken. I have been doing observations of the audiologists' duties such as when they perform hearing tests including tympanograms (which tests the function of your eardrums) and diagnostic hearing tests, review audiograms and write reports. My main responsibilities have been to do filing, aiding in report writing, mailings, and scheduling. Eventually with more training and hours of observations, I will get to perform hearing tests myself. Additionally, I've been observing in classrooms and soon in speech therapy lab, so I can get a better idea of how deaf students are educated, aided or not aided. All the classes are taught in sign language, but I've noticed that some teachers, both hearing and deaf, voice so deaf students can benefit from wearing hearing aids and fm systems (which help amplify the teacher�s voice and block out the noise).

I decided to do an internship at ASDB because I wanted a hands-on experience on the audiology field and direct contact with the deaf children. I plan on becoming one of the first few deaf audiologists, and my primary goals are pediatrics, cochlear implants and bilingualism (using both speech and sign). I will pursue a doctorate in audiology (Au.D), which is a 4-year program after I graduate. By the year of 2012, the Au.D will be required as the entry level for anyone interested in becoming an audiologist.

So far during my internship experience, I have learned that there is such huge diversity in the population of deaf students, and their needs are enormously individual. There are some challenges to being an audiologist, especially when they work with children-- such as they have to constantly encourage deaf children to properly care for the hearing aids and not to lose them (what can you say�kids are kids!). Another one of the challenges is finding a creative way to encourage children to wear hearings aids or cochlear implant when the audiologists believe they can benefit from them. The audiologists have had frustrations with some students, who benefit hugely from the cochlear implant and hearing aids, when they decide to take off their aids due to peer pressure and more, as they become more fascinated with the Deaf culture. Also, I've learned that there are a lot of politics and misconceptions about audiologists due to the tension between the medical community and deaf community.

For anyone interested in doing an internship at ASDB, it helps to have some previous exposure to sign language as it's a signing environment. Whether you're interested in becoming a deaf teacher or audiologist, ASDB is a good place to start exploring the field. ASDB is a dynamic environment, and sometimes some days are not routine, so I would advise any intern to keep an open-mind to the changes. Although I haven't done much yet, it has been a good experience working at ASDB. It is amazing to watch how deaf kids learn and behave when they come to see the audiologists. The staff is very nice, and I would recommend anyone to volunteer at ASDB.

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