Description
Introduction | Objectives and Activities | Training Delivery Model
The Center for Abuse Prevention and Education for deaf/hard of hearing children (CAPE-D/HH) was established in October 2001 at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. CAPE-- D/HH was made possible by a US Department of Health and Human Services grant (#90XA0023). This project will cover the southeastern United States during its first year and will expand to the northeast and other parts of the country pending grant renewal.
The problem of physical and sexual abuse is common in our society, however it is much more prevalent among deaf/hard of hearing children. The incidence of sexual abuse of deaf/hard of hearing children is estimated to be about 65% to 90% as compared to 10% for hearing boys and 25% for hearing girls.
Most residential schools and educational programs serving deaf/hard of hearing children are aware of this serious problem and provide some kind of education in abuse prevention. However, research studies show that education in sexuality is provided sporadically, as health related education is considered less important than language and other academics. Some schools, according to a national survey, spend as little as a few hours during the entire year on sex education, thus it can be concluded that little or no education is provided in the area of sexual and physical abuse prevention.
The current situation is further exacerbated by the fact that more than 90% of deaf/hard of hearing children have hearing parents. Most of these parents cannot effectively communicate with their children to discuss sensitive subjects like physical and sexual abuse and prevention. Therefore, many incidences of abuse may go unreported.
Hearing children learn about abuse issues from listening to radio and watching television and movies. Since only a small percentage of television programs and few movies are captioned, deaf/hard of hearing children may not learn about these issues. The lower reading level of deaf/hard of hearing children also limits their acquisition of information from books, magazines, and the internet.
The combination of these factors results in a higher incidence of sexual abuse of deaf/hard of hearing children-both in residential schools and public school programs. It is no surprise that the program heads contacted by CAPE-D/HH expressed strong support for establishing a program to provide systematic education for preventing sexual and physical abuse. Most of them offered office space, material support, and help with training arrangement.
CAPE-DHH OBJECTIVES
AND ACTIVITIES (back)
CAPE-D/HH has four objectives for this year. It is the Center's goal that the successful implementation of the following objectives will have a positive impact in reducing the incidence of abuse in this population. The objectives and related activities are listed:
Objective1 To identify and hire a professional staff with expertise in abuse prevention and/or deafness to serve as Center Director, Assistant Director, Resource Trainers, and Consultants, This objective has been completed. The staff is in place and working within each region.
Objective 2 To conduct regional assessments that determine the types of materials and amount of instructional time allotted for education on violence abuse prevention and sexuality training for D/HH children at schools for the deaf and large public schools, while also expanding accessibility of materials to appropriate agencies. This objective is in process. The needs assessment tool has been created and distributed and results are being gathered currently.
Objective
3 To employ
the trainer of trainers model and create a ripple effect of training about
abuse prevention and sexuality. This model is based on the premise that
expertise is passed from expert consultants, to resource trainers, to
key school personnel, to teachers and caregivers, and ultimately to deaf/hard
of hearing children and their families. This objective is also in progress.
Training has occurred and continues throughout the southeastern United
States.
Objective 4 To evaluate the Center's
performance in four areas:
1. implementation of the trainer of trainers model
2. evaluation of materials on child abuse prevention
3. provision of resource trainers to assist schools
4. provision of expert training to the resource trainers
Feedback and evaluations are constantly gathered as the trainers work
with school systems. The compilation of the data and the assessment of
the project's effectiveness is in progress and will continue throughout
the entire project.
Training Delivery Model (back)
The "trainer of trainer" model is employed for this project. Under this model, CAPE-D/HH hired nationally known experts to provide staff training. The staff then trains teachers, parents and family members, caregivers, and community members. These groups in turn train deaf/hard of hearing children.
The eleven states in the southeast have been divided into four regions for service delivery. These regions are listed below.
Region One: Kentucky, W. Virginia, Tennessee, Virginia
Region Two: Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana
Region Three: North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia
Region Four: Florida
The resource trainers first contact all residential and day programs in their regions and develop a status quo report on sex education and abuse prevention programs currently employed. This report will double as a needs assessment survey and provide a framework for training and service delivery. All resource trainers work with the central office in Greensboro and with each other to avoid duplication of effort and to strengthen their efforts.
After all staff and parents are trained, training materials will be available in schools and public libraries (books, articles, CD's videotapes), and, on the web. This will ensure that training information is available on a long-term basis.
There are a number of national and regional organizations providing services to hearing children in sexual and physical abuse prevention. CAPE-D/HH is the only center that focuses on deaf/hard of hearing children. Our ultimate goal is to make deaf/hard of hearing children safe from abuse of any kind.