Texas Administrative Code › Title 26 - HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES › Part 1 - HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION › Chapter 360 - OFFICE OF DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING SERVICES › Subchapter B - BOARD FOR EVALUATION OF INTERPRETERS › Division 1 - BEI INTERPRETER CERTIFICATION › Section 360.205 - Definitions

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this
						subchapter, have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
						otherwise.
(1) Active Duty--Current
					 full-time military service in the armed forces of the United States or active
					 duty military service as a member of the Texas military forces, as defined by
					 §
											437.001, Government
					 Code, or similar military service of another state.
(2) Armed Forces of the United States--The
					 Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, or Marine Corps of the United States or a
					 reserve unit of one of those branches of the armed forces.
(3) BEI Board--The seven-person advisory
					 board appointed by the executive commissioner of HHSC, or his or her designee,
					 to assist in administering the BEI.
(4) Certificates issued:
(A) Basic certificate--A certificate issued
					 by DARS to a person who has passed a written test of English proficiency and a
					 skills evaluation ensuring a minimum competency standard to interpret in
					 routine educational and social service settings.
(B) Advanced certificate--A certificate
					 issued by DARS to a person who has passed a written test of English proficiency
					 and a skills evaluation ensuring a minimum competency standard to interpret in
					 a variety of complex settings, such as routine medical, social service, K-12
					 and higher education, routine mental health, and routine quasi-legal.
(C) Master certificate--A certificate issued
					 by DARS to a person who has passed a written test of English proficiency and a
					 skills evaluation ensuring a minimum competency standard to interpret in a
					 variety of highly complex settings, such as medical, mental health,
					 quasi-legal, and educational settings.
(D) Court certificate--A certificate issued
					 by DARS to a person who has passed a skills evaluation certifying that the
					 person is qualified to interpret all proceedings of Texas courts, including
					 county, municipal, and justice courts.
(E) Intermediary--Level III certificate--A
					 certificate issued by DARS to a person who is deaf or hard of hearing who has
					 passed a skills evaluation certifying that the person possesses the ability to
					 interpret for a wide range of communication styles, which may include but, not
					 limited to non-standard signs/gestures, limited communication skills,
					 characteristics of Deaf Culture that may not be familiar to hearing
					 interpreters, deaf-blind, minimal language skills, and indigenous
					 communication.
(F)
					 Intermediary--Level V certificate--A certificate issued by DARS to a person who
					 is deaf or hard of hearing who has passed a skills evaluation certifying that
					 the person possesses the ability to interpret in a variety of settings and
					 situations requiring extensive knowledge and training in specialized fields
					 including, but not limited to mental health/psychiatric, medical/surgical,
					 court/legal and matters involving juveniles, demonstrates near flawless skills
					 in interpreting for a wide range of communication styles, which can include-but
					 not limited to non-standard signs/gestures, limited communication skills,
					 characteristics of Deaf Culture that may not be familiar to hearing
					 interpreters, deaf-blind, minimal language skills, and indigenous
					 communication.
(G) Oral
					 Certificate: Basic (OC:B) certificate--A certificate issued by DARS to a person
					 who has passed a skills evaluation in spoken-to-visible and visible-to-spoken
					 communication, certifying that the person has basic proficiency in oral
					 transliteration and speechreading.
(H) Oral Certificate: Comprehensive (OC:C)
					 certificate--A certificate issued by DARS to a person who has passed a skills
					 evaluation in spoken-to-visible and visible-to-spoken communication, certifying
					 that the person has advanced proficiency in oral transliteration and
					 speechreading.
(I) Oral
					 Certificate: Visible (OC:V) certificate--A certificate issued by DARS to a
					 person who is deaf or hard of hearing and who has passed a skills evaluation in
					 visible-to-spoken communication, certifying that the person has advanced
					 proficiency in oral transliteration and speechreading.
(J) Trilingual Advanced certificate--A
					 certificate issued by DARS to a person who has passed a written test of Spanish
					 proficiency and a skills evaluation certifying that the person has the ability
					 to meaningfully and accurately understand, produce, and transform ASL to and
					 from English and Spanish in a culturally appropriate manner, in more complex
					 situations for routine educational and social service settings, such as K-12
					 educational and administrative interactions.
(K) Trilingual Master certificate--A
					 certificate issued by DARS to a person who has passed a written test of Spanish
					 proficiency and a skills evaluation certifying that the person has the ability
					 to meaningfully and accurately understand, produce, and transform ASL to and
					 from English and Spanish in a culturally appropriate manner, in the most
					 complex situations including complex medical, complex mental health,
					 quasi-legal, and educational settings.
(L) Morphemic Sign System (MSS)
					 certificate--A certificate issued by DARS to a person who has passed a skills
					 evaluation certifying that the person can convey a message from verbal English
					 into morphemic signs for English and from morphemic signs for English into
					 verbal English.
(M)
					 Multiple-certificate holder--A BEI certificate holder who possesses or who is
					 awarded more than one BEI certificate.
(N) Signing Exact English (SEE)
					 certificate--A certificate issued by DARS to a person who has passed a skills
					 evaluation certifying that the person can convey a message from verbal English
					 into Signed Exact English and from Signed Exact English into verbal
					 English.
(O) Level I certificate--A
					 certificate issued by DARS to a person who has passed a written test to assess
					 understanding of Code of Ethics and a skills evaluation certifying that the
					 person can convey some daily interpreting situations where expressive skills
					 are usually stronger than receptive skills and sign vocabulary is
					 limited.
(P) Level II
					 certificate--A certificate issued by DARS to a person who has passed a written
					 test to assess understanding of Code of Ethics and a skills evaluation
					 certifying that the person can convey some routine interpreting situations
					 where the person exhibits good transliterating or interpreting skills, but not
					 both.
(Q) Level III certificate--A
					 certificate issued by DARS to a person who has passed a written test to assess
					 understanding of Code of Ethics and a skills evaluation certifying that the
					 person can convey most routine interpreting situations where the person
					 exhibits good expressive and receptive interpreting skills, displays a clear
					 distinction between interpreting and transliterating and possess a sign
					 vocabulary.
(R) Level IV
					 certificate--A certificate issued by DARS to a person who has passed a written
					 test to assess understanding of Code of Ethics and a skills evaluation
					 certifying that the person exhibits strong expressive and receptive
					 interpreting skills in settings such as medical, legal and psychiatric,
					 demonstrates excellent use of ASL grammar and ASL features, transliterating
					 skills are strong and processing is often at the textual level.
(S) Level V certificate--A certificate issued
					 by DARS to a person who has passed a written test to assess understanding of
					 Code of Ethics and a skills evaluation certifying that the person exhibits very
					 strong expressive and receptive interpreting skills in setting such as medical,
					 legal and psychiatric, possess an extensive vocabulary, demonstrates
					 sophisticated use of ASL grammar as well as ASL features and transliterates
					 conceptually accurate with appropriate mouthing.