Researchers from the College of Education and Human Development’s Department of Educational Psychology received a grant sub-award for more than $162,000 from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) to continue collaborating on training that integrates educational psychology and deaf education.
In partnership with UT Health San Antonio, the Deaf Education and Educational Psychology (DEEP) Impact project is a five-year grant that follows a previous five-year OSEP grant that will be used to continue training school psychologists that specialize in deaf education, and teachers of the deaf in how to apply principles of educational psychology in their work with children.
“Both school psychology and deaf education have documented shortages over recent years, but there are even fewer professionals who possess competencies in both deaf education and school psychology,” said Felicia Castro-Villarreal, PH.D., associate professor and co-principal investigator of the grant. “The DEEP Impact project seeks to continue to address this professional need and also increase teacher quality by preparing teachers of the deaf and school psychologists who will provide effective, high-quality instruction and related services to children who are deaf or hard of hearing and their families.”
Graduate students who participate in the project will complete cooperative coursework in Educational Psychology and Deaf Education and Hearing Science at both UTSA and UT Health San Antonio. This coursework will include hands-on, practical experiences through fieldwork in deaf education settings.
“A collaborative and interdisciplinary grant of this nature affords students the training from experts across disciplines as well as a varied and well-rounded perspective that only collaborative partnerships can develop,” said Castro-Villarreal. “Graduate students will learn how to work with students, families, schools, and systems of those who are deaf and hard of hearing. This represents a population of students with special needs who typically receive little attention in school psychology training programs.”
“Graduate students will learn how to work with students, families, schools, and systems of those who are deaf and hard of hearing. This represents a population of students with special needs who typically receive little attention in school psychology training programs.”
Through the DEEP Impact project, participating graduate students will also receive tuition reimbursement and stipends for their participation. Upon completion of the program, the UTSA students will graduate with their Master of Arts in School Psychology with a specialization in deaf education.
“This grant is one of several awarded to the department faculty over the last few years and very much reflects our commitment to seeking external funding to support innovative projects that will have direct and immediate impacts on our students and the community,” said Jeremy Sullivan, Ph.D., professor in the
Department of Educational Psychology and principal investigator of the UTSA component of the collaborative DEEP Impact grant.
Faculty in the department are set to begin admitting their first cohort of students through the DEEP grant in the fall of 2022.
“It’s an amazing achievement to have been awarded this grant twice with UT Health San Antonio for its impact on the community, our students, and our respective programs,” said Castro-Villarreal. “Our students will receive learning opportunities that many school psychology students simply don’t have.”
- Jeremy Sullivan, PhD and Felicia Castro-Villarreal, PhD
Learn more about the Department of Educational Psychology.
Learn more about UT Health San Antonio.