Deaf and blind students get on-the-job training

About 65 percent of deaf adults are unemployed. For blind adults, the unemployment rate is about 80 percent.

The Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind is trying to change that grim employment outlook for its students with an internship program funded by an $80,000 state grant. Building on its program for at-risk students, it is working with area employers to give seniors on-the-job training four afternoons a week. The school pays the salary and on Fridays helps the students with life skills such as banking and budgeting.

Haylie Johnson, a 17-year-old senior at the school for the deaf, landed a job at Ancona, a Colorado Springs welding shop. Under the watchful eye of shop foreman Ron Norton, she's learning to cut metal and clean machinery and will eventually learn welding. Owner Jim Thiessen said Johnson is being trained as any other apprentice to the trade.

It's an opportunity, he said, for the young workers to learn about the work environment along with gaining specific job skills.

Exposure to different environments is a key part of the school's Positive Education and Attitude through Knowledge program, which was created in 2004 with another state grant and has added the new on-the-job training program. The school is a "pretty sheltered environment," so getting students into the community is an important aspect of the program, said Kathy Emter, the high school counselor at the school for the deaf.

The program, identified as an "exemplary program" by the state, is designed to provide support for at-risk students. Like any school, the school for the deaf and blind has students who struggle with academics or rebel against authority, said Jon Vigne, director of special education. As a residental school, it also encounters a range of social skills among the students who live there.

"We are a microcosm of any school district," he said.

The school has a PEAK dorm that has stricter rules, under which students earn their privileges, and a PEAK academic program that keeps students with the same teacher for continuity. Students can be in either portion of the program — or both.

There have been no dropouts from the program in four years, Emter said. The program has 28 students in ninth through 12th grade, with about 15 seniors. The school has about 200 students in its residential and day programs for preschool through 12th grade.

Although the grant for the on-the-job training portion of the program is new, the internships started last year.

Johnson, who returned to the school this year after spending her junior year at a school in Cortez, said she is glad to be part of the program. On Thursday, she got an introduction to welding with a test exercise the shop uses for applicants.

Hidden behind a welding hood, rubber gloves and full-length apron, she worked to weld together railing pieces. Norton raised his hood and spoke so Johnson could read his lips for directions between steps, and also use demonstration and hand signals.

"Cool," she signed to an observer from the school after welding a joint.

Thiessen said the shop had previous employees who were deaf or hearing impaired so he was not worried about having Johnson in the shop.

He said he met with his nine employees to remind them how to communicate with Johnson and to ensure her safety.

"I think Haylie's great," he said. "She's very bright. I was surprised at how quickly she caught on to the machinery."

The school sought employers to match students' interests. Johnson said she grew up on a farm and her dad taught her some welding skills. She's interested in motocross and wants to learn how to help her brother repair his dirt bike.

Sometimes, employers come to the school. Thiessen said he heard about the program from a school maintenance person and decided to sign up.

Other students have been placed with the U.S. Forest Service, Front Range Construction, McDonald's, the Humane Society and the Cheyenne Mountain Edition newspaper.