Deaf and hearing-impaired customers at Frost Bank in downtown Austin will have more help on their next visit.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc. will have American Sign Language interpreters available through a video conference through a secure, encrypted Internet link. The initiative is only available at the bank’s downtown Austin location.

The program began in late 2007 at the bank’s headquarters in San Antonio. Deaf Link, a San Antonio-based firm that provides Internet access for sign language interpreters, will administer the program.

Bank employees will be trained on working with hearing-impaired customers.

The program was co-organized by Patti Bliss, a Frost senior vice president of consumer sales whose son is deaf.

Associated Press Hard-of-hearing teacher Clarissa Funk, center, holds the hand of five-year-old Nathan Tavarez to her throat to help him feel the vibrations as she roars like a dinosaur Thursday at Carver Early Education Center in Odessa, Texas. At left is three-year-old Lisette Garcia. Funk uses a combination of sign language, verbalization, visuals and tactile methods to instruct her hard of hearing students.

ODESSA, Texas—Carver pre-kindergartner Lisette Garcia squirmed happily in her chair as teacher Clarissa Funk read from a book about dinosaurs recently.

Funk read the book to four of her students as she also signed the words with her hands.

Lisette, 3, listened and watched her teacher quickly pull out a blue, plastic horn in a clear box.

Funk would later imitate a dinosaur roar with the horn, but before she could Lisette piped up.

“Let’s open it!” Lisette yelled to Funk.

Funk smiled, and told her teacher’s aide, Maggie Rodriguez, to log the phrase into a sample language book, which records spontaneous phrases or words her students say.

In other words, progress.

Funk, who teaches deaf and hard-of-hearing students at Carver Early Education Center, works with students to build their language and communication skills through an approach called “Total Communication” as part of the district’s Ector County Regional Day School Program for the Deaf.

That approach zeros in on speech and signing skills, Funk said, noting each student comes to her at a different level of ability.

She uses an auditory trainer hearing aid system with her students, in which Funk wears a microphone in class to amplify her speech so the students may hear her wherever they are in the classroom.

Funk and Rodriguez work with the students to improve their skills so they may reach the same skill level as a regular education pre-kindergarten student.

Funk said her personal goal for her six students is for them to build a sense of independence by refraining from relying on others for most of their needs.

“I want them to communicate,” Funk said. “I want them to live just as we do.”

Barbara Faubion, lead teacher for the Ector County deaf school program, said Carver is one of four campuses in the Ector County Independent School District working with deaf and hard-of-hearing students.

The program serves those students starting with their infant years up to high school age, she said.

“We teach language-based information to students for educational growth,” Faubion said.

A majority of the program’s 37 students bus daily from areas like Andrews, Crane and Fort Stockton to receive services. The program also provides services for parents through its parent-infant program, which works with parents in developing sign language and other communication skills prior to a child entering the first campus in the program: Carver.

Back at Carver, Funk said she also works with students on developing their common knowledge of objects and things like colors and the letter alphabet in addition to working on language and signing skills.

Oftentimes, she helps her students understand words by placing their hand on their own throat so they can feel the sound. She said she works on different concepts to help her students learn from hands-on to listening to signing exercises.

“My goal is to get them language,” Funk said.

INDIANAPOLIS — A group of students at an Indianapolis schools captured the top award this past weekend at an academic bowl in the nation’s capitol.

The 2008 National Academic Bowl winners at the Indiana School for the Deaf took home a coveted trophy, and they did it without the spoken word, 6News’ Julie Pursley reported.

The team of four students beat others from 90 different schools for the deaf and hearing impaired.

“It proves if you really work hard, you can reach your goals,” said student Colin Whited.

The students excelled in studies ranging from science and technology to math and history. Their name will be added to a trophy that bears the likeness of Albert Einstein.

“Really, it means a lot to me,” Whited said. “My ultimate goal is reached finally. It’s hard to explain. It feels amazing.”

The team and their coaches said the win brings much more than just personal satisfaction.

“This … validates our educational system here, the bilingual, bicultural approach,” said Mary Kovatch, the team’s coach.

Three team members are juniors and will compete again next year.

kross@repub.com

HOLYOKE – A center in the city that helps deaf people statewide communicate on the phone will close in June, resulting in the elimination of 62 jobs.

“These kinds of things don’t help the local economy,” Mayor Michael J. Sullivan said yesterday. “It’s a sign of the times. The economy continues to shrink.”

Communication Services for the Deaf plans to “permanently close its entire relay office” at 489 Whitney Ave. on June 30, according to a letter sent to Sullivan dated Monday from the Sioux Falls, S.D.-based company.

The company was contracted by the state to provide telecommunications relay service statewide for deaf people, according to Rick Norris, the company’s communications director.

The service allows deaf people to communicate on the phone by typing text and having it read aloud by someone from the company to another person.

The company’s contract with the state expires on June 30 and the contract was not renewed, Norris said. He added he did not know which company will take over providing the service in Massachusetts on July 1.

Communication Services for the Deaf has been operating in the Holyoke office since April 1, 2004, when it took over an existing contract another company had with the state to provide the federally mandated phone relay service for deaf people, Norris said.

Employees at the Holyoke office earned a starting salary of $8.25 per hour, Norris said. The average salary for the 62 workers there was approximately $10 per hour.

The center is one of the 11 nationwide operated by the company, Norris said. In general, the Holyoke office provides relay services mainly for state residents. But Norris said the office can handle overflow calls from other states.

The job losses are the latest in a string of recent local business closings or layoffs in recent months. In March, MassMututal laid off 30 workers from its retirement services division….

The transition of Gallaudet Athletics’ sporting apparel will start with men’s and women’s basketball, football as well as volleyball, and continue expanding to more Bison sports within a time frame. Men’s and women’s soccer are already using adidas team uniforms and equipment.

Adidas will also be providing apparel for coaches and in-house staff as part of the terms of the contract.

For more information regarding contracts and sponsorship, please contact Oscar Ocuto, Marketing & Media Coordinator/Sports Information.

The Maryland School for the Deaf’s baseball season didn’t end the way it would have preferred.

California School for the Deaf-Freemont drubbed the Orioles 16-1 in the championship game of eighth annual Dummy Hoy Tournament Saturday. Regardless of the setback, the Orioles’ weekend and overall return to the diamond proved a resounding success.

Meanwhile, in the events’ softball competition, MSD rolled to an undefeated weekend and the Dummy Hoy Championship. The Orioles, who finished with four wins and a tie, scored the tournament-winning run in the bottom of the seventh to defeat Freemont 5-4 Saturday.

‘‘I am extremely proud of this bunch of players that stayed together to surprise everyone and make it to the final game,” Orioles head baseball coach Scott Morrison said.

‘‘Not having a team for two years and going this far says a lot for the athleticism of these players, some who had very little experience playing baseball.”

Ten was the magic number Friday. The Orioles opened the tournament with a 10-6 victory over Indiana School for Deaf. Later that afternoon they topped California School for the Deaf-Riverside 10-7 before escaping DC’s Model School for the Deaf 10-9 in the nightcap.

MSD’s baseball squad returned to action Saturday afternoon in a meaningless outing against Freemont. Both outfits had already clinched their slots in the tournament championship, so their first meeting was wrapped up before it’s official conclusion with MSD leading 6-5. The Orioles wouldn’t fair as well in the title game, relinquishing 10 hits and seven walks in the finale.

‘‘Since we came from behind to win two of the games including one where we had to rally for three runs in the last inning against Model,” head coach Scott Morrison said.

‘‘I believe the players took to heart the quote from Winston Churchill to ‘never, never, never, never, never give up’ as this was instilled in them from day one when I looked over a small squad of 13 players that ended up being 11 when it came time for the tournament.”

Ryan Bonheyo ended the weekend with a .833 (5-for-6) batting average, three runs batted in and a pair of runs scored. Cody Blazer drove in four runs while Mark Korn had a home run and four RBI.

Justin Wiener drew six walks and scored six times. Bonheyo, Korn and Wiener were named to the all-tournament team.

Now MSD looks to the future. Two years removed from their previous campaign, the Orioles finished at 6-3 (7-3 including the shortened game). Bonheyo and Weiner are amongst those who return for next season, richer from the experience of playing in the Hoy.

In the softball championship game, Claire Tucker singled, then scored the deciding run in the final.

Jessica Israel went 2-for-3 while Michelle Mansfield-Hom collected the win. MSD is now 12-3-1.

A Tokyo-based nonprofit organization will open a facility Friday in Yokohama to train abandoned dogs to become service dogs for the deaf, and use socially isolated young people cocooned at home to become hearing dog trainers.

Service dogs for the deaf assist the daily lives of the hearing impaired by such actions as informing caretakers about ringing doorbells and fire alarms.

Large breeds such as Labrador retrievers are most suitable as guide dogs for the blind. However, because dogs to assist the deaf are usually employed indoors, smaller breeds are preferable. Even so, any breed can be trained for the purpose.

According to the Guide Dog and Service Dog Association of Japan, which will launch the training facility Friday, only 18 service dogs for the deaf were in service nationwide as of the end of March. This was only five more than when the law concerning dogs to assist the disabled came into force five years ago.

However, the association believes about 10,000 hearing-impaired people nationwide are hoping to be assigned a hearing dog.

The new training school, named Asunaro Gakko, follows the opening of similar ones in South Korea and the United States, to train young people who want to become hearing dog trainers.

The 30 million yen fee to build the school building and the annual operation costs are being covered by Samsung Japan Corp.

Students at the school will reside at the school dormitory while undergoing a six-month course from April to September or October to March. The school plans to accept five male students between 18 and about 30 for each period and require them to study dog training techniques by actually working with a dog for three hours daily.

The school envisions up to 10 guide dogs for the deaf will be trained annually.

The first students will enroll on next Thursday.

The first three dogs to be trained at the school were abandoned animals provided by local governments who otherwise would have destroyed them. The dogs’ tame nature made them suitable candidates for hearing dog training, according to the society.

The student trainers also are expected to become involved in volunteer activities to develop their social skills.

After completing the six-month course, the students can obtain support to go on to vocational school to further study dog training techniques and find a job in the pet industry.

“I hope the facility will raise people’s awareness of both the issues of abandoned dogs and hearing dogs,” said Tamotsu Sengoku, head of Japan Youth Research Institute and the school’s principal.

The hearing-impaired woman hopes that this will happen shortly after she is treated in Christchurch at the Southern Hearing Charitable Trust cochlear implant programme on July 9.

Wanda Gower-James describes herself as profoundly deaf. Her hearing has for no known reason gradually deteriorated over the past 10 years.

In practical terms, this means she cannot hear people speaking in the car, she cannot listen to music, or hear her daughter on the phone when she rings from Canada, she misses witty remarks or casual conversation in group situations.

Those special moments most of us take for granted, like listening to the rain, the crashing of the ocean waves, the chirping of birds, twigs snapping under foot, or pillow talk in the dark, are just not possible.

In a one-on-one situation, she copes most ably, so much so, that other people cannot tell she is hearing-impaired, said MP Moana Mackey, who has become a good friend while helping with her efforts to become a cochlear implant recipient.

Wanda has been assessed and picked to take advantage of new government funding of $8 million, which will ensure at least 20 adults a year, for the next four years, will receive an cochlear implant.

The new money also includes one-off funding over the next two years for an additional 50 cochlear implants for adults who have been waiting for some time for the technology

A cochlear implant is a type of surgically-implanted hearing aid.

Instead of amplifying sounds like a traditional hearing aid, it provides a sensation of hearing by directly stimulating the auditory nerve using electrical signals.

When sound passes through to the cochlea of a hearing person, the inner ear’s microscopic hairs convert the sound energy into nerve energy.

The hearing nerve fibres then carry this energy as information to the brain.

People who are profoundly or totally deaf have very few or no operable hair cells in the cochlea, so the sound energy is unable to travel in this way.

The implant consists of an external portion that sits behind the ear and a second portion that is surgically placed under the skin behind the ear. The implant is switched on approximately six weeks after surgery and adults who receive an implant must learn to associate the signal provided by the implant with sounds they remember. They learn or relearn the sense of hearing — this can take many months of rehabilitation.

The family were rapt when Wanda was told she would have the procedure in July, just six months after being assessed.

They were originally told it could take up to two years to get a surgery date.

“We were stunned, we couldn’t believe it,” said her partner, Ron Taiapa.

Wanda was told she was the ideal candidate.

She was profoundly deaf, she could not benefit from hearing aids and she possessed a strong desire to communicate through listening, speaking and speech reading. She is a kindergarten teacher and being hearing-impaired makes this job extremely difficult.

Mr Taiapa said his partner would have to make many trips to Christchurch. One for the operation and one to turn the implant on.

After this, weekly trips are required to map and tune the implant. After a month this reduces to three-monthly, six-monthly, and eventually it reduces to once a year.

It takes considerable time and effort relearning to hear and each individual is very different.

Ms Gower-James knows that 22 electrodes cannot replace the thousands of hair cells that have been damaged and that she will never get all her hearing back.

But she is extremely motivated to get maximum benefit from her implant and hopes that she will get back up to 60 percent of her hearing.

The couple thank Moana Mackey, the Ministry of Health and the Southern Charitable Trust. They are extremely grateful to the Hearing Association and friends, whanau and work colleagues who wrote letters endorsing her as a suitable implant candidate.

The many letters did make a difference, said Ms Mackey.

“It all helps with the people making the decision if they know the person behind the name,” she said.

According to lead researcher Sarah Suter, those who have not been given suitable education on this topic could be more vulnerable to abuse “because they may not recognise inappropriate behaviour or that their boundaries are being crossed”.

During the study, for which academics at the University of Manchester are currently recruiting parents of both deaf and hearing children, the parents will be asked about the information they believe their children are provided with both at school and home in the area of SRE.

As the country with the highest rate of teen pregnancy in Europe, this subject “clearly needs to be addressed”, said Ms Suter, who is part of the university’s School of Psychological Sciences.

“The study reflects a Government push on social and emotional development of children,” she added.

Children with sight and hearing problems are due to benefit from extra funding after an announcement by the Government last month about further provision for these groups in schools.

The University of Manchester’s Audiology and Deafness team is recruiting parents of both deaf and hearing primary school children for its research on children’s sex and relationship education (SRE).

The researchers hope their findings will make SRE more accessible for deaf children and, at a later stage, they plan to devise a fun, non-threatening computer game to explore how much deaf as well as hearing children know about issues related to growing up.

Study leader Sarah Suter, in the School of Psychological Sciences, said: “The way SRE is taught in the UK varies from school to school as only selected areas, like HIV and reproduction, are mandatory; other areas of the SRE curriculum, such as feelings and relationships, are guidance only.

“Teaching SRE to deaf children brings additional challenges, as deaf pupils don’t ‘overhear’ and may miss comments and discussions that inform hearing children.

“In addition some deaf children have a very literal understanding of words and may have difficulty understanding the many terms in SRE that require subtle interpretation. They may understand the textbook terms but not the euphemisms that also arise in such discussions.

“It is important we address these issues as children who do not get a good SRE are more vulnerable to abuse because they may not recognise inappropriate behaviour or that their boundaries are being crossed.”

Senior lecturer in education of the deaf, Wendy McCracken, added: “There is some evidence to suggest that deaf children are much more likely to face abuse. They may not have the language to be able to tell someone that it is happening and also may lack awareness that the behaviour is inappropriate.

“It is a human right to understand what is happening to your body and what you can expect from relationships. A good SRE keeps children safe.”

The three-year study is the first to investigate the sexual and relationships knowledge of deaf children. Other studies have investigated the understanding of deaf college students and adults in the US, but none has ever explored the SRE of deaf youngsters.

“It is important that we know what children are learning at primary-school age before puberty and the effects of raging hormones kick in,” added Wendy.

“The study reflects a Government push on social and emotional development of children. Let’s not forget that the UK has the highest teen pregnancy rate in Europe, so the subject clearly needs to be addressed.”

The team will ask parents in an informal discussion, or by means of an online or postal survey, about what they know of their child’s SRE, whose responsibility they believe it is and if they give their children SRE at home. The questions are factual and address what their knowledge of their child’s SRE is, rather than whether they believe SRE is right or wrong.

The website also provides parents with the names and contact details of organisations that can help them with any problems, including the National Deaf Children’s Society, the parent-support charity ParentlinePlus and the UK’s leading sexual health charity, the Family Planning Association.

Sarah added: “We hope to encourage parents of both deaf and hearing children to take part – it will help them know what their children are learning about the world and there is a lot of useful information on the website. By taking part, parents will not only be helping their own families, they will be helping others.

“SRE is a challenging area for all children but especially for children who are deaf. It is important all children learn how to be safe. We hope that our work will inform those who teach our children to be safe and help the children become young, confident, independent people who can look after themselves.”

To take part in the study or for more information, contact Sarah Suter at sarah.suter@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk or call 0161 275 3391.

Ends

Notes for editors

For further information contact:

Aeron Haworth

Media Relations Officer

Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences

The University of Manchester

Tel: 0161 275 8383

Mob: 07717 881563

Email: aeron.haworth@manchester.ac.uk