A student who is deafblind is one who exhibits both a vision and a hearing loss, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that he/she cannot be accommodated in a special education program designed solely for students with deafness or blindness or students who are hard of hearing or partially sighted.
The definition includes infants and toddlers who:
from birth through age 2 who are experiencing developmental delays in hearing and vision,
have a diagnosed physical or mental condition that has a high probability of resulting in developmental delays in hearing and vision, or
are at risk of having substantial developmental delays in hearing and vision if early intervention services are not provided.
Although the term deafblind implies a complete absence of hearing and sight it refers to children with varying degrees of vision and hearing losses. The key feature of deafblindness is that the combination of losses limits access to auditory and visual information. Children under this disability category are singled out educationally because impairments of sight and hearing require thoughtful and unique educational approaches to ensure that children with this disability have the opportunity to reach their full potential. More than 90% of children with deafblindness have one or more additional disabilities or health problems and some may be identified as having multiple disabilities rather than deafblindness. In these cases, it is important for team members to recognize and address the need for services for vision and hearing impairment.
Teaching Tips/Instructional Strategies
Deafblindness is a disability of access. This includes access to the world beyond the limited reach of his or her eyes, ears, and fingertips. The child must be presented with information that others would receive incidentally and effortlessly. If not, the child will be isolated and will not have the opportunity to grow and to learn. If they are exposed to this information in a way that is meaningful for them, the student will be afforded the opportunity to develop to their fullest potential.
Communication and language diagnostics and interventions for a student with deafblindness must be broken into receptive and expressive modes. A student may use multiple means of receiving information and giving information. Communication options should be designed specifically for the student and may include touch cues, object symbols, sign language, gestures, picture symbols, braille, large print and others, all individualized based on sensory access.
Concepts (the ideas that give meaning to our world) must be intentionally taught to a child with deafblindness. Concepts build upon one another. The more ideas and memories that a child has about the way the world and relationships work the easier it is to develop further ideas.
The use of consistent routines and the inclusion of calendar systems for structuring the child’s day, week, or event are necessary best practices in working with a student with deafblindness.
WV SenseAbilities Program
The West Virginia Department of Education implements a statewide project to provide services to children who are deafblind. The objectives of the West Virginia SenseAbilities Project focus on the provision of technical assistance and training to create appropriate educational opportunities for children who are deafblind and their families.
WV SenseAbilities provides the following services:
Identification of children birth through 21 with combined vision and hearing loss in West Virginia
Technical Assistance and training for families, interventionists, services providers and others based on mutually defined needs.
Targeted technical assistance based on individual student needs and requests.
Information and resources on Deafblindness
Deafblind Intervener training
WV SenseAbilities also provides specialized resources for classrooms, including tools that support active learning and literacy for students who are deafblind.
