For the past twelve years everybody that has been associated with the class of 2016 knows there is a hearing impaired student named Tyler Wilson in the class. Although Tyler is deaf it doesn’t stop him from learning thanks to Mrs. Miller, a para professional who has been by his side since day one at pre-school. Many people see her around but I’m not sure they know what she does. Mrs. Miller is an educational sign language interpreters, which means that she help’s hearing impaired students.

Mrs. Miller said she got interested in helping deaf students when she meet her husband’s brother who happened to have a deaf daughter. She was fascinated by the way they communicated with each other. After she realized that’s what she wanted to do, she started learning the language. She said when she learned sign language,  “Most of it was self-taught. I was watching videos, going to workshops, and absorbing what I could. I tested into a three year program that was very in depth and it helped what I had already learned.”

Mrs. Miller’s favorite part about teaching students with a hearing disability is the laughing that they do. She says that she and sophomore Tyler Wilson, a student that she communicates with, always have a lot of fun making weird faces at each other and they just laugh and have a good time. When she heard that Alliance Public Schools was looking for a sign language interpreter she was the first one on the doorstep waiting to apply and got the job.

Tyler Wilson says the best thing about having Mrs. Miller there to interpret for him is that “she is full of expression and emotions and she helps me fully understand things.” When Tyler learned sign language he said it was “very hard.” From a students prospective, Morgan Johnston comments, “now since we have grown up with him its normal, but when he was first in my class it was hard to pick up on what they were doing but now it’s really cool.”

It’s amazing how the people who only help a few students make such an impact on their lives. Without Mrs. Miller there to help those students it wouldn’t be easy trying to communicate with them, so thank you to Mrs. Miller for helping those students while giving them a chance to interact with the rest of the student body!