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Alaska Educational Interpreters Conference 2024
Self Care and Reflection
sponsored by
Alaska State School of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing -AKSD
AK Dept of Education & Early Development - DEED
Alaska Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf - Alaska RID
(If you work 30 hours or more per week for a K-12 school in Alaska please register with this link https://sites.google.com/asdk12.net/aeic/home )
All others Register here:
https://alaskarid.wildapricot.org/event-5503514
Entire Weekend Event including 2.0 hours of CEUs and Saturday AK RID sponsored lunch with Early Registration
CEU Total: PS 2.0 (20 hours)
Professional Studies are offered for all workshops, through Sign Language Resources, Inc., an approved RID CMP & ACET sponsor. All workshops are offered at the 'none' content knowledge level.
For up-to-date AEIC conference information please go to: https://sites.google.com/asdk12.net/aeic/home
Location: Embassy Suites Hilton Anchorage, 600 E Benson Blvd, Anchorage, AK 99503 (907) 332. 7000 (except for the first Friday training, see below)
Dates: February 23, 24 & 25, 2024
Trainings will be conducted in English. ASL Interpretation will be provided.
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Friday Events
Friday, February 23 9:00am - 11:00 and 12:00 - 2:00pm 0.4 CEUs
This first event will be held at Clark Middle School, 150 Bragaw St, Anchorage AK 99508. All other trainings are held at the Embassy Suites
More or Less: Explicitation and Implicitation in Interpreting by Daniel Maffia
The differences between the discourse patterns of ASL and English in addition to the high context culture of American Deaf culture and low context nature of American English culture have implications for sign language interpreters. In order to successfully provide source and target message equivalency, interpreters must mediate between linguistic and cultural differences. Explicitation is defined as the shift in translation from what is implicit in the source text to what is explicit in the target text (Murtisari, 2011). In the field of sign language interpreting we use the term expansions. Participants in this workshop will learn the seven expansion features as defined by Lawrence, in addition to the adapted compression features as defined by Finton & Smith. Translation and interpreting skill development practice will be an integral part of this workshop.
1. Participants will define the terms explicitation and implicitation
2. Participants will identify 5 ASL expansion and compression techniques
3. Participants will identify one expansion and one compression strategy used in interpreting practice and why
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Friday 23 4:00 - 7:00pm 0.3 CEUs
Biomechanics and Self-Care for Sign Language Interpreters by Daniel Maffia
This workshop will provide background information on the unfortunate common occurrence of musculoskeletal pain in sign language interpreters. Current research will be shared regarding the prevalence of repetitive motion injuries and stress in Sign Language Interpreters. Participants will learn about both high risk and low risk habits while interpreting that relate to injury. There will be opportunities to apply what has been learned. The learning will be fun and definitely interactive. Sign language interpreters of all physical levels are encouraged to participate.
1. Participants will list 3 components of proper posture for safe extremity biomechanics.
2. Participants will identify 2 strategies to manage and prevent pain
3. Participants will identify 2 ways stress can increase the risk of cumulative trauma disorder
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Saturday Events
Saturday February 24 8:00am - noon Part 1 . Must attend Part 2 Sunday morning to obtain CEUs
Values Based Decision Making for Interpreters: Part 1 by Robyn K Dean and Robert Q Pollard
Interpreters who work in educational settings face ethically complex situations every day. Unfortunately, the profession has not been consistent in how it guides and supports interpreters in making effective and ethical decisions. Most ethical codes in the profession frame ethical ideals as, “interpreters always...” and “interpreters never...”. Yet, how often is the phrase, “it depends on the situation...” uttered by interpreters? To add to the confusion, interpreters hear from trainers and colleagues that interpreters are just, “conduits” or should be “invisible”. Or, interpreters hear the exact opposite: interpreters are “advocates” or they are “members of the team”.
Neither a list of rules nor a series of metaphors can effectively advance ethical thought and ethical action in a practice profession. What is needed instead is a set of professional values and the skills needed to effectively apply those values in a particular context. Demand control schema or DC-S provides a values-based framework to assess the context and evaluate the consequences of their decisions. DC-S provides a series of practical constructs and processes that effectively account for the complex work of interpreters do -- and does so in a manner that parallels other practice professions.
This two-part presentation addresses the concerns of the current ethical dialogue in the field and instead offers educational interpreters a values-based teleological process for learning to analyze each assignment for contextual factors and decision consequences.
Identify 2 primary concerns for the popular frameworks used in interpreting
Define what a practice profession means and the implications of this shift in interpreting
Explain DC-S as a work analysis tool and a decision-making model
Outline 3 values to be considered in decision-making in educational setting
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Saturday February 24 Noon - 1:00pm
Please join us for a Lunch hosted by Alaska RID
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Saturday February 24 1:00 - 4:00pm 0.3 CEUs
Cooperation, Collaboration, and Post-Conventional Reasoning by Robyn Dean and Robert Pollard
Interpreters often claim to be members of the educational team and yet, “that’s not my role” is one of our common mantras. Simultaneously claiming to be on their team while dismissing them with, that’s not my role is arguably confusing for educators. This presentation addresses how interpreters can look beyond the convention of not my role and consider where and how it is possible to advance those values that we share within an educational context.
Define deontology and teleology and the distinction of principled-reasoning
Explain the concepts of scope of practice, areas of expertise, and incommensurable values
Identify Rest’s 3 moral schemas of personal interest, maintaining norms, and post-conventional reasoning
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Sunday Events
Sunday February 25, 8:00 - 11:00am 0.7 CEUs
Values Based Decision Making for Interpreters: Part 2 by Robyn K Dean and Robert Q Pollard
See description listed above at Saturday morning training
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Sunday February 25, 11:00 - noon 0.1 CEUs
Mobility and Muscle Care: a Thai Massage Therapist's Field Guide by V Ourso
In this workshop focusing on the basics of mobility and self-maintenance in the hands, wrists, arms, and shoulders, Licensed Massage Therapist and Thai Massage Specialist V Ourso will provide a working understanding of the main muscles of the areas that most impact ASL interpreters. What muscles to think of and what areas to move when common aches and pains arise will be covered in the initial approximately 20 minutes of the presentation, featuring a slideshow and descriptions as well as interactive and dynamic explanations as suited for the participants. A short check-in for questions will be followed by the demonstration and active participation portion of the workshop, where V will lead the participants through a series of stretches and easy mobility exercises in two main categories; ones the participants can work into their working days when they have only a minute or two to spare, and ones they can implement when they have time at home, during exercise, or in other circumstances where they have room and time to dedicate to some positive preventative and restorative self-maintenance and care. The workshop will wrap up with an opportunity to ask for clarifications and volunteer any personal notes or observations of interest from the participants.
1. Participants will describe the biomechanics for when a part of the hand/arm/shoulder/neck hurts, aches or feels restricted
2. Participants will list one exercise that can be performed in a workspace with limited time and mobility
3. Participants will list one exercise that can be performed in an environment where more time and mobility exercises can be performed
4. Participants will list 2 ways to prevent aches and pains from occurring in the first place
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Sunday February 25, 1:00 - 3:00pm 0.2 CEUs
Current Research on Interpreter Stress and Career Sustainability by Robyn Dean and Robert Pollard
Current research on job stress in interpreting signals an existential threat – to long-term career plans and, if the primary work setting is VRS or educational settings, even to interpreters’ health. Stress, burnout and early departure or attrition are the most researched and ongoing topics in the field, starting as early back as the 1980s. In response to this, there is increased talk about work-life balance, setting boundaries, and self-care. All of this signals that perhaps, interpreting is not a life-long career or, maybe, we are missing effective interventions that result in career sustainability.
This presentation is designed to consider how we might imagine a practitioner development instead. We will consider how current educational activities within the field are designed and the degree to which they result in the formation of interpreting practitioners. Further, we will imagine other ways to consider practitioner development – those which are also normative and restorative.
1. Identify three key findings in recent interpreting research on the topic of stress and attrition
2. Explain the constructs of emotional labor, surface acting and deep acting
3. Identify three new ideas for one’s own professional development which can be normative, formative, and restorative in nature
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Target Audience: Certified and Pre-certified interpreters, ASL Students and Teachers in Deaf Education.
Contact Anne Dawson dawson@asdawson.com if you have questions regarding registration and/or accommodation requests. All workshops will be conducted in ASL. English interpretation will be provided.
Alaska RID is an equal opportunity organization committed to the principle of equal opportunity in education. AKRID does not discriminate against individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, age, national origin or disability in the administration of its educational policies, scholarships, programs and activities.
Presenters Bio
Daniel Maffia is the interpreting program director, practicum coordinator, and a senior lecturer with the department of American Sign Language and English Interpreting Department’s Interpreter Education Program at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf teaching at both the Bachelors and Master's degree level. He obtained his bachelor's degree in Interpreting at the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2009. In 2010 he became certified and in 2014 earned his Masters in Interpreting Studies with an emphasis in Teaching Interpreting from Western Oregon University. Previously Daniel served as a staff interpreter in the Department of Access Services at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Daniel continues interpreting in the Video Relay, Community, and healthcare settings. Daniel is also the co-author of the Introduction to VRS Curriculum Guide book. He has shown his commitment to the field by serving on various boards both local and national for RID, as well as most recently on the board for CCIE. Daniel’s research interests relate to reflective practice and Demand-Control Schema, in which he presents workshops for interpreters nationally and internationally. Lastly in his spare time Daniel is a certified personal and group exercise trainer through the National Academy of Sports Medicine.
Robyn K. Dean, CI/CT, PhD has been a nationally certified signed language interpreter for over thirty years with particular service in the field of healthcare. Her scholarship in decision-making and ethics in community interpreting is recognized internationally. Dr. Dean has over twenty publications, all of which focus on the theoretical and pedagogical frameworks used to advance the practice of community interpreters. Dr. Dean is currently an Associate Professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where she is the lead instructor on the Institute’s postgraduate degree in healthcare interpretation.
Robert Pollard, Ph.D., is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, where he founded the Deaf Wellness Center, a mental health service, research, and training program, in 1990. He also served as Professor and Associate Dean of Research at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf from 2016 to 2022. Dr. Pollard has particular expertise regarding deaf persons and mental health, sign language interpreting, and deaf population public health issues. He has served as an expert witness in more than 130 criminal and civil cases involving deaf persons. He has delivered over 300 invited addresses throughout the U.S. and abroad. He has been principal investigator on numerous grants totaling over $6.5 million, authored or co-authored over 100 publications, including three books, and produced 19 films in American Sign Language. Dr. Pollard’s work has been recognized with many national and international awards and honors, including several from the American Psychological Association.
Trainings will be conducted in English ASL Interpretation will be provided.
