Mountain Prairie Upgrade Partnership - Early Childhood Deaf Education (MPUP-EC)
This project is designed to increase the number of trained personnel in Nebraska, Wyoming, and Iowa, where shortages of deaf education teachers and early childhood special education (ECSE) teachers exist. Project participants will graduate with a master's degree and certification preparing them to meet the needs of families with young children who are identified as deaf or hard of hearing. Goals will be achieved though collaboration between the ECSE and deaf education teachers as well as between specialists and family/care providers. Graduate students majoring in either deaf education (P-12) or ECSE (birth to grade three) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will be able to augment their discipline-specific studies with coursework and practica related to young children with a hearing loss (0-5 years) and their families via distance education technologies.
The project supplements existing masters degree and state certification requirements with 10 credits of interdisciplinary coursework and practica. Early childhood topics include family-centered services, home visiting practices and inclusive preschool classroom consultation/instruction with an emphasis on teaming, coaching and collaboration in natural environments. Deafness-related topics include pediatric audiology; psychology and sociology of deafness, deaf or hard of hearing; and an emphasis on developmentally appropriate care, transitions and collaboration with community providers. In addition to discipline-specific practica throughout the program, participants enroll in an interdisciplinary seminar during their second year of studies to accompany supervised fieldwork with young children who have a hearing loss and their families.
Weekend and summer on-campus class sessions complement online and broadcast instruction and provide added opportunity for establishing a community of learners around shared interests in young children with hearing loss.
For additional information on this investigation, please contact:
Dr. Christine Marvin or Dr. Malinda Eccarius
Project Key Investigators: Christine Marvin (PI) and Malinda Eccarius (PI)
Funded Participants (MPUP-EC): Kimberly Adelmund, Kimberly Allen, Karen Burke, Erica Gillespie, Amanda Spohn, Norma Kline, Amy Long, Sarah Rasmussen, Gina Schmitz, Angela Joannides, Sarah Haverkamp
Funded Participants (NE-PUP): Michael Brummer, Nicole Willers, Jami Garey, Wendy Wolfe, Abby Jones, Monica Pickinpaugh, Laura Cummings, Megan Murray
