Shared Reading Project: Keys to Success - Workshop Details

What is the Shared Reading Project? The Shared Reading Project (SRP) is a highly acclaimed national program for parents and caregivers. SRP matches participating families with Deaf tutors. A Deaf tutor visits the home of a deaf or hard of hearing child and demonstrates how to read a popular children’s book in American Sign Language (ASL). Family members practice signing the book and receive feedback from the tutor. Family members then read the book to the child in ASL as the tutor watches and offers helpful hints. At the end of each weekly session, the tutor provides the family with a book bag. The book bag contains a copy of the book, a DVD of the storybook being read in ASL that family members can use for practice, a bookmark with tips on reading to deaf children, and a guide with family activities relating to the particular book for that week.

The Shared Reading Project: Keys to Success Training is a five-day program for individuals who are considering setting up an SRP site. Site coordinators can be educators, administrators, librarians, parent leaders, and community center coordinators. This training program is designed to help site coordinators establish the SRP at their own schools and programs. Through the course, participants learn to:

• use the 15 principles for reading to deaf and hard of hearing children;
• recruit, hire, and train Deaf adults to be tutors;
• market the SRP to families;
• work effectively with parents, caregivers, educators, and tutors; and
• plan and manage the SRP budget, personnel needs, and program evaluation.

Application Fees

• $350 for U.S. citizens and $450 for international participants before March 1, 2010
• $375 for U.S. citizens and $475 for international participants after March 1, 2010

Note: Non-U.S. citizens who are not permanent residents of the U.S. must apply for a visa in order to attend the training. Click here for the visa application form.

The training program includes:

• Five full days of training, Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• All the course materials and instruction you will need to establish the Shared Reading Project, including developing an individual site plan
• Continental breakfast, lunch, afternoon snacks, coffee, tea, and water
• Five instructional DVDs to use at your SRP site
• Numerous handouts and templates that can be used and adapted when you return to your site
• Participants earn two (2) Professional Studies credits (PSTs) from Gallaudet University.
• SRP book bag group set of 10 book bags, a $200 value, to get your SRP lending library started!
• Ongoing support provided by the Clerc Center--Site coordinators will have access to coaching from staff at the Clerc Center, an on-line community of SRP site coordinators, and training materials and logos for setting up their program
  

We recommend having at least two people from a school or program attend the training together. Coordinating the SRP is frequently only a portion of a person’s job, not his or her full-time responsibility. Therefore, many programs decide to establish co-coordinators. For example, sometimes one person focuses on the families and the other works primarily with the tutors. No matter which arrangement you choose, however, having at least two people who learn the content and can support each other during implementation of the SRP will be extremely helpful. A great deal of content is covered during the course.

Travel and Accommodations

Participants must cover their own expenses for lodging and make their own reservations for hotel accommodations.

For accommodations on the Gallaudet University campus, contact:

• The Kellogg Conference Hotel at Gallaudet University. To make a reservation, contact the reservations office at (202) 651-6000 (TTY/V) or (202) 651-6107 (Fax). You may also register online. Be sure to ask for the Shared Reading Project: Keys to Success Training discount.
• Gallaudet dormitory housing: For further information, please contact visitor.housing@gallaudet.edu. Be sure to mention that you will be attending the SRP training.

If you are traveling to Washington, D.C., from any distance, you may want to arrive on Sunday in order to be ready for a fresh start first thing Monday morning. We also suggest that you do not plan any flights out until after approximately 7 p.m. on Friday so that you have plenty of time to complete the course and get to the airport on time.

Cancellation Note: There are minimum and maximum numbers of participants required for this course to occur. Therefore, participants are encouraged to apply early. The Clerc Center reserves the right to cancel this training at any time. Before making nonrefundable travel arrangements or hotel accommodations, please check with us to be sure that you have been accepted into your training and that the training will still take place.

For additional questions, e-mail Patricia Dabney at training.clerccenter@gallaudet.edu or call (202) 651-5933.