Qualified personnel for our children

We all know that we do not have a law to protect our children.  Families are at the mercy of their school districts, because there is no law that says our children are entitled to qualified personnel trained to teach our children.  IDEA currently requires Teachers of Deaf / Hard of Hearing or Teachers of Blind / Visually Impaired, but does not require a Teacher of DeafBlind.  We need both Teachers of DeafBlind and Interveners.  Interveners will provide access to the information provided by the teacher.  Typically, it is up to families to advocate for their children. 

NFADB, the DeafBlind Coalition, and many other organizations have been working since 2014 to include language related to the education of children and youth with deafblindness in federal legislation. This includes the Cogswell-Macy Act and The Helen Keller Education Act. 

• Designates intervener services in the “related services” listing
• Reflects the need for the recognition of and training for teachers of the DeafBlind
• Adapts the federal definition of deafblindness
• Requires each state to specifically address DeafBlind issues in the development of its state plan

Deafblindness can create a tremendous gap in a person’s ability to gather information about the  environment around him or her. People with sight and hearing can easily pick up information about people, things and events through observation. To many people who are DeafBlind, these things do not exist without frequent and responsive support from someone who is trained to provide this type of information.

We know the difference that an Intervener can make for children who are DeafBlind! Interveners provide access! Teachers of DeafBlind are trained in techniques to teach students with dual sensory loss. These two qualified personnel are critical to the education of a child who is DeafBlind!

Intervener

Intervention for people who are DeafBlind can connect them to the world around them. It provides access to clear and consistent visual and auditory information, support for the development and use of receptive and expressive communication, and support for social and emotional well-being.

This connection to the world can be made through a person called an Intervener. An Intervener is defined as a person who works consistently one-to-one with an individual who is DeafBlind and who has training and specialized skills in deaf-blindness. (Adapted from Interveners.org)

Related Resources

• A Family’s Guide to Interveners
• National Center on Deaf-Blindness Intervener Services Initiative
• Online Parent Training: The Role of Interveners in Educational Settings
• A Comprehensive Look at Interveners

Teachers of Students with DeafBlindness

Teachers of students with deafblindness (TDB) are trained in how to identify a child as a student who meets the DeafBlind eligibility for educational services, provide appropriate educational evaluation/assessment specific to students who are DeafBlind, develop appropriate communication strategies for working with a student who is DeafBlind, determine the need for an intervener and work as part of the educational team to develop an IEP that addresses the unique needs of a student with deafblindness. TDBs provide support for educational interveners by assisting the intervener in the process of employing the educational strategies and accommodations that enable the student with deafblindness to access classroom instruction.  The inclusion of a TDB to clarify questions about a student’s DeafBlind eligibility, as well as the educational implications of their sensory needs,  empowers the IEP committee to create more informed decisions on how best to meet the unique needs of students with deafblindness in their school or district. 

Related Resources

• Teacher of Students with Deafblindness 
• Montgomery, C. (2014). Teacher of the DeafBlind pilot program in Texas: part 1. Visual Impairment and Deafblind Education Quarterly, 59(5), 34-40.
• Montgomery, C. (2015). Teacher of the DeafBlind pilot program in Texas: part 2. Visual Impairment and Deafblind Education Quarterly, 60(1), 15-32.
• Nelson, C., & Sanders, D. (2014). Collaboration to ensure effective education of student who are DeafBlind. Visual Impairment and Deafblind Education Quarterly, 59(5) 26-32
• Parker, A. T. (2015, Spring). CHARGE Syndrome Foundation Partners with CEC’s DVIDB.