Deaf-Hearing Communication Centre, Inc.

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> Earn CEUs with DHCC
> Four Different Types of Activities
> CEUs and SWAP Program

Professional Development for Interpreters
DHCC is committed to promoting continuing education for interpreters. DHCC is an approved Certification Maintenance Program (CMP) sponsor with the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID).

To maintain certification, each RID and National Association for the Deaf (NAD) certified member must earn eight Continuing Education Units (CEUs) every four years.

If you are an interpreter looking for professional development, please visit the following:

Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf
National Alliance of Black Interpreters Inc
Educational Interpreter Professional Development Center
Graduate School and Professional Programs, Gallaudet University
Signs of Development Web Workshops
Educational Interpreters Professional Development Center
Pennsylvania Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf
South Central Pennsylvania Interpreters for the Deaf
New Jersey Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf
National Association for the Deaf

Earn CEUs with DHCC
To maintain your RID or NAD certification, you must complete a minimum of eight Continuing Education Units (CEUs) every four years. Ten hours of participation in a CEU Activity is equal to 1 CEU. One hour is equal to .1 (one-tenth) CEU. That means that you are required to engage in 80 hours of continuing education every four years. Sound as challenging as the certification test itself? DHCC is here to help!

Since 1994, DHCC has been an RID Approved Sponsor. We have the responsibility to offer, endorse and ensure the quality of activities offered for CEUs. DHCC must meet strict RID administrative criteria in order to maintain this status and is subject to ongoing monitoring and an audit every four years. In fact, we received a passing grade on our 2005 audit! This means that DHCC can help you earn CEUs.

Of the 80 hours required, a minimum of 60 – or six CEUs – must be in the area of Professional Studies. Basically, these include any topic/event related to the following:

American Sign Language (ASL)
Other languages
Deaf culture
Cross-cultural study
Issues and skills related to interpreting/transliterating
Professional ethics
Studies in the specialized areas of education, legal settings, mental health and medical settings.

You also may earn CEUs in the area of General Studies. These include any topic not mentioned above that is typically understood within the American mainstream culture. Only 20 hours – or two CEUs – from the area of General Studies can be counted towards your certification maintenance. However, you may earn as many General Study CEUs as you want.

There are Four Different Types of Activities that can Earn you CEUs with DHCC Support:

You may attend a DHCC sponsored or co-sponsored workshop or event that offers CEUs. This is simple – you must attend, participate through to the end of the event, sign the proper forms and bring your RID membership card to enter your RID number.
You may attend an activity sponsored by another organization. These are called Participant Initiated Non RID Activity (PINRID). This may be a workshop, conference, informative presentation, in-service, adult education class, etc. Before you can earn CEUs for these activities, however, you must contact Maria Elia, DHCC training coordinator to make sure this is a CEU-worthy event. After you get approval, you need to complete a short form and send it to Maria along with a copy of the flyer/announcement for the event that you are attending. When the event is over, you must forward Maria proof that you attended, such as a certificate of completion, a letter from the presenter, etc.
CEUs may be given for Academic Coursework taken from a college or university. These can be retroactive as long as they occurred within the interpreter’s current cycle. Again, Maria must receive the appropriate form completed, receive a copy of the course listing from the school catalogue and get a copy of your transcript showing a grade of “C” or higher in order to get CEUs. You may earn 4.5 CEUs for a course taken during a semester and 3.0 CEUs for one taken in a quarter.
Under the direction of DHCC, interpreters also may design an Independent Study (IS) around their professional activities. However, IS credit cannot come from a participant’s routine, employment responsibilities. IS examples include reading a professional journal or book and writing an essay, article or critical review; reviewing literature on a professional topic and synthesizing it; mentoring a student and developing your own educational objectives around this experience (you may not count the hours spent actually interpreting/mentoring with the student); involvement in a professional study group; critiquing an audio or videotape instruction. It is crucial that your IS idea is discussed and approved by Maria prior to beginning the work.

DHCC charges a fee for using our CMP service. Contact Maria Elia, Training Coordinator, mariaelia@nni.com directly or call 610-604-0452 Voice/TTY for further information or forms.

Click here to download the current CMP sponsored activity fee schedule.

CEU and SWAP Program
DHCC has recently purchased professional development CDs through Signs of Development's SWAP program. SWAP stands for Share WWWorkshops Accrue Points. This method of earning CEUs and professional development is cost and time effective under any cost/benefit analysis. Click here to find out more about earning the CEUs through the Signs of Development's SWAP program at DHCC.