This document provides information about deafblindness and the unique needs of children who are deafblind. It defines deafblindness as the combination of hearing and vision impairments that prevents a child's needs from being met in programs for deaf or blind children alone. Children who are deafblind learn primarily through touch and require individualized attention and direct teaching to stimulate learning and development across areas like communication, movement, cognition, and social-emotional skills. The document outlines common causes of deafblindness and important intervention strategies to support deafblind children, such as communication methods, orientation and mobility training, and individualized education programs.

2. 
A child who is deaf or hard of hearing
learns through vision.
A child who is blind or visually impaired
learns through hearing.
A child who is DeafBlind
learns through touch
Think about this:

3. 
 A child who is DeafBlind
learns through touch supplementing whatever vision
and hearing is left. He/she may not have enough vision
or hearing to learn the way children learn in programs
for the deaf/hard of hearing or for the blind/visually
impaired. This is also true for other special and general
education placements.

4. 
 Federal Definition of Deafblindness
 “Deafblindness means concomitant hearing and vision
impairments, the combination of which causes such severe
communication and other developmental and educational
needs that they cannot be accommodated in special
education programs solely for children with deafness or
children with blindness”. (IDEA, 2004)

5. 
 An educational program that takes into consideration
the unique learning needs of each child will have to be
specifically designed for him/her, with particular
attention to the input of information, communication
skills, and consistent access to communication.

6. 
 Major Causes of Deaf-Blindness
Syndromes
 Down
 Trisomy 13
 Usher
Multiple Congenital Anomalies
 CHARGE Association
 Fetal alcohol syndrome
 Hydrocephaly
 Maternal drug abuse
 Microcephaly
Prematurity
Congenital Prenatal Dysfunction
 AIDS
 Herpes
 Rubella
 Syphilis
 Toxoplasmosis
Post-natal Causes
 Asphyxia
 Encephalitis
 Head injury/trauma
 Meningitis
 Stroke

7. 
 limited information available to him or her
 Behavioral and emotional difficulties
 depend upon the good will and sensitivity of those
around them to make their world safe and
understandable.
 challenge of learning to communicate
 challenge of learning to move about in the world as
freely and independently as possible.
 Communication…Communication…Communication
…
Challenges Facing a Person
who is Deaf-Blind

8.  INTERVENTION
COMMUNICATION
ORIENTATION & MOBILITY
IEP
TRANSITION

9. 
 touch cues
 gestures
 object symbols
 picture symbols
 sign language
 fingerspelling
 Signed English
 Pidgin Signed English
 braille writing and reading
 Tadoma method of speech reading
 American Sign Language
 large print writing and reading
 lip-reading speech
Principal communication systems for persons who are
deaf-blind are these:

10. 
Educational Intervention is Critical to Children who are
DeafBlind
 Children who are DeafBlind need early intervention,
which includes:
 Individual 1:1 attention to stimulate their interest and
understanding of the world around them.
 Direct teaching of information and experiences that
other children pick up naturally from "overhearing" or
"overseeing" what others say or do. Firsthand
experiences are much more effective ways for them to
learn than incidental observation or group experiences.

11. 
 Sensory experiences make us aware of our environment.
They are the basis upon which we build our knowledge
of the world, others, and ourselves. When people see or
hear, they are stimulated to interact with the
environment. Individuals with combined vision and
hearing losses have limited access to information, and
may miss out on the incidental learning that other
people automatically have access to through sight,
hearing and communication. These children will need to
be taught many things that hearing and sighted children
learn effortlessly.

12. 
 Individualized Education
 Inclusion in the Family
 Transition

13. 
 Does DEAFBLIND mean that there is no useable
hearing or vision?
Absolutely not. Only about 6% of children who are
DeafBlind are totally deaf and totally blind. Most have
useable residual hearing and vision, but even a “mild”
combination of losses will impact their access to
information, communication, and all the information
required for learning to take place.
Questions???

14. 
 Yes, but not necessarily. Up to 80% of children with
hearing and vision losses also have other disabilities (such
as cerebral palsy, physical or cognitive disabilities).
 The hearing and vision loss may also be a part of a
syndrome (such as CHARGE or Usher Syndrome). In all
cases, the impact of the combined sensory loss greatly
affects a child's access to information, concept
development, and communication. A wide range of
cognitive and developmental abilities exist among
children with a combined vision and hearing loss, from
gifted to profound impairment.
What about children with
multiple disabilities - can
they be DeafBlind?

15. 
 Communication/language development
 Movement and motor development
 Cognitive development and the ability to learn
 Emotional/social development
 Body image and self-concept
What are the different
developmental areas
affected?

16. 
 RESOURCES
 https://nationaldb.org/library/page/1934
 http://www.dbproject.mn.org/overview.html

17. 
THANK YOU!!!