For more information, contact: Dianne Brooks (Dianne.Brooks@pepnet.org)

Two national organizations dedicated to helping deaf and hard-of-hearing students succeed in college have collaborated on a series of eight informational "tipsheets" covering topics related to hearing loss and communication access.

The series, offered by the Center on Access Technology for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology and the Postsecondary Education Programs Network, covers topics ranging from "How Hearing Loss Impacts Communication" to "Understanding Audiograms" and is designed for students, parents, vocational rehabilitation counselors, and service providers. Information in the tipsheets is derived from, "Hard of Hearing Students in Postsecondary Education: A Guide for Service Providers," published in 2007 by the Postsecondary Education Consortium.

"These single-topic tipsheets contain summaries of their topics, define key terminology and concepts, and offer plentiful resources for finding more information," says Dianne Brooks, director of PEPNet-Northeast. "They fill an important need, particularly for service providers at colleges that may be enrolling hard-of-hearing students for the first time", added James J. DeCaro, director of the NTID Center on Access Technology.

The series includes "Adjusting to Hearing Loss During High School," "Enhancing Communications Outside the Classroom," "How Hearing Loss Impacts Communication," "Improving Services for 500,000 College Students who are Hard of Hearing or Late Deafened," "Telecoils," "Understanding Communication Access," "Understanding Audiograms," and "Vocational Rehabilitation Services and Hard of Hearing or Late-Deafened College Students."

The Center on Access Technology at NTID utilizes or adapts new technologies for use by investigating and reporting on technologies likely to directly improve access for people who are deaf in education, work and social settings. Visit http://www.ntid.rit.edu/cat/ for more information.

PEPNet, a national collaboration of four regional centers supported by cooperative agreements with the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, provides resources, information, in-service training, and expertise to enhance educational opportunities for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing and their families. PEPNet works with service providers in two and four-year colleges, universities, and secondary education, community rehabilitation, continuing education, adult basic education, and vocational and technical training programs. Visit www.pepnet.org for more information.

To download the "Guide for Service Providers", visit http://www.lulu.com/content/1069579

To download free, individual tipsheets, visit the links below: