Fresno State received a $1.2 million grant aimed at giving deaf and hard of hearing students a better learning experience by improving the school’s quality of education for sign language interpretation.

The grant, funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs, will help support the department’s Educational Interpreter Personnel Preparation Grant, which trains students to become qualified American Sign Language interpreters for children.

Dr. Peter Crume, a professor in the department of communicative disorders and deaf studies, said the grant will set up a scholarship program for student interpreters and courses centered on the development of children who are deaf or hard of hearing.

“The teachers don’t really know a lot about deaf kids and how they think and operate and what their language is like,” he said. “They don’t know sign language and the interpreters really haven’t got any education on child development, curriculum and instruction or anything, so you kind of have this gap and that is why the grant is really important to Fresno State.”

Crume said the department felt integrating child development courses in curricula was important in boosting the quality of communications services that kids receive. Crume said the reason behind applying for the grant was to give student interpreters extra training on how to work with children who are deaf.

“We now need this certification for educational interpreters specialized training,” Crume said. ­“The goal of the program is to have higher trained professionals to improve the services of children and the ultimate goal is to improve the quality of education for deaf children.”

Dr. Bryan Berrett, chair of the department of communicative disorders and deaf studies, said children who are deaf or hard hearing will be the ultimate benefactors of the grant.

“The most important component of the grant is it provides an opportunity for our interpreting program to improve their curriculum ”” just a well-rounded education for individuals who want to be interpreters for deaf and hard of hearing children,” Berrett said.

“It will help increase the success in the classroom in a variety of subjects, but it also will possibly help with some social components of their experiences in K-12 classrooms ”” perhaps less isolation and greater understanding.”

Crume said in order to achieve this result, the department must provide the training of interpreters in that field and support them further by providing some mentoring services following the completion of the program.

The grant, which is slated to start in January, will also provide scholarships to the university in the form of a loan forgiveness program.

“For every year of grant funding that [students] get for tuition, books, travel expenses, they have to work two years,” Crume said.

Crume said the program will give students field experience and help build their skills ”” all while they pay their loans.

“So this program will kind of help Fresno State help a broader range of students and also fulfill its mission of helping the local community as well,” Crume said.