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The request for ASL, CART, and closed captioning will be accommodations listed on a student's Faculty Notification Letter. When a student has the accommodation of ASL or CART Disability Services will put in the request for the regularly scheduled classes. If there are deviations in the course schedule or if there are events or sessions outside of class that a student is required to participate it is important that the student is aware of them as soon as possible because we require at least 2 business days' notice for scheduling these services outside of their regular class schedule. If classes used remote meeting tools like Zoom or Teams, visit our Online Meetings and Webinars page for information about how to facilitate the accommodations. Closed Captioning requests are either communicated to faculty by the Faculty Notification Letter or you may be contacted directly by the Alternative Media Specialist to get information and enlist your assistance with preparing media which needs to be captioned for an upcoming semester. Below are descriptions and resources for understanding these accommodations.

ASL Interpreters

If a student schedules classes with the advanced notice necessary an ASL interpreter may show up to your classroom. Before this happens you should have received the FNL that notifies you of the student's accommodation. The role of the interpreter is to convey the audible information, mostly speech, to the student who is receiving the interpreting. Interpreters may also interpret into speech what the student is signing for the instructor or class. Interpreters are not assistants, tutors, or there to do the work of the student.

It is important to allow the ASL Interpreter to stand near the front of the room as close as possible to where the student needs to have their attention directed. It is often necessary for the interpreter to move around the room to reposition for the student's best vantage. It is often necessary to discuss with the interpreters the teaching style of the faculty and how the interpreter can best be positioned to be in the student's line of sight and where students are expected to focus. So they know where they need to be positioned.

It is often difficult for the student who is receiving this accommodation to take notes in a class because of split attention. When they stop looking at the interpreter the student stops receiving the communication. If a student receiving ASL interpreting has the accommodation for Notetaking Services please assist in making sure that a notetaker is recruited as soon as is possible.

Interpreters often need access to course materials to assist with their preparation for the assignment. If a topic is technically dense or contains a lot of terminology that do not have standard signs they will need to prepare how they will sign those terms to the student to arrange for the most effective means of communication possible. It is not uncommon that interpreters request handouts or PowerPoints in adance for this preparation. Please cooperate with these requests in order to facilitate this accommodation for our students.

It is important that when asking a question of the student using an interpreter that your questions about the student or for the student are directed to the student. It is proper etiquette to make eye contact with the student and not look at the interpreter when talking to the student. Below are some resources for etiquette and best practices for working with an interpreter in your classroom.

• ASL Interpreter Etiquette by California Department of Social Services (PDF)
• Teacher Orientation for an Interpreter in the Classroom posted by the Columbia Regional Program (YouTube Video)

CART or Real-Time Captioning

This is a service where students receive a transcript of what is being said in a class real-time on a screen in front of them. In person services involve the transcriptionist being present in the classroom. These are typically people setup like court stenographers. We can offer students either CART, which is an exact transcription, or TypeWell services, which is a meaning for meaning transcript of what is said in the classroom. The option there is determined by student's needs.

CART can present a similar challenge to ASL interpreting. It can cause a divided focus for the student because they will be reading the transcript off the screen. Students receiving this service also commonly will be eligible for a notetaker. Another challenge that students using CART might face is at times reading the transcript might put them several seconds behind the class in a conversation. Please make sure that the student is current on the class conversation before calling on them to answer questions.

The transcriber may also need access to course materials. This is so that they can build an appropriate list of terminology to more quickly produce their transcript. Please cooperate with these requests.

Remote CART

This accommodation is similar to regular CART but the transcriptionist is not in the classroom. Remote transcriptionists have the audio of the classroom sent to them through an internet connection and then send the transcript back to the student. There is typically no lag in the data transfer audio from the remote connection but there is always a slight lag in the transcription which is typical of CART services.

This service often requires faculty to wear a small microphone. This can either be clipped onto a shirt or worn on a lanyard necklace. The student is responsible for handing this to their faculty at the beginning of class and making sure it is charged. Student receiving remote CART usually borrow the equipment used from Disability Services. If there are difficulties in how this setup is working or if the classroom need a different setup (distance learning) please contact the Assistive Technology Specialist in Disability Service for assistance.

Closed Captioning for Videos and Transcripts for Audio

We require 7-10 business days-notice for videos that need captioned. As part of this process we do need faculty to prepare which videos they will be using for class in advance so that we have time to provide this accommodation. Videos should not be used in a class where this request is granted until the video is captioned. Please visit our Closed Captioning pages which describes the process for checking videos and submitting the requests for videos to be captioned and audio files to be transcribed.