Deaf-Blindness

The term deaf-blind refers to a combination of vision and hearing loss, not necessarily complete deafness and complete blindness. Most children who qualify as deaf blind have some useful vision and /or hearing. There is a wide range of cognitive and developmental ability among individuals who are deaf-blind from gifted to profoundly multiply handicapped. Because deaf-blindness is a combination of vision and hearing losses, there are as many possible combinations as there are individuals. For this reason, no two children with deaf-blindness are alike.*Student must meet the criteria of deafness or hard of hearing and visual disability including blindness.

Characteristics of Blindness

Identified loss of vision
- Partially sighted, low vision, functionally blind, legally blind, totally blind
- Subtended visual field of less than 20 degrees, regardless of central acuity
- Progressive visual impairment such as retinitis pigmentosa that will lead to eventual visual impairment
The loss of vision even with best correction adversely affects educational performance

Characteristics of Deafness

A person who requires sounds to be at least 90 dB higher than normal has a profound loss; individuals who are deaf have a profound hearing loss.
Damage to the cochlea (inner ear) or auditory nerve results in sensorineural hearing loss.

Eligibility and Identification

Vision exam by optometrist or ophthalmologist
School team determines the visual impairment is present and impacts educational performance

Eligibility & Identification

Input from an audiologist and a teacher of the Deaf and hard of hearing, and may potentially include an educational interpreter, especially for students who are deaf.
Adverse educational effects may be demonstrated through academic performances which are below those of typically developing peers as measured by assessments of academic achievement.

Assessment and Evaluation

Visual acuity exam by optometrist or ophthalmologist AND an audiological exam by an audiologist.

Document audiological information that provides evidence of the vision and hearing loss. Provide relevant historical evidence of the vision and hearing loss.

Types of evidence may include:

Observation of student in educational setting or natural environment.
Performance data.
Medical and developmental history.
Parent interview.
Teacher reports/review of student work.
Multiple assessment approaches: • Rating scales. • Checklists. • Standardized testing. • Language samples.

Documentation

Document information that provides evidence of the vision and hearing loss. Provide relevant historical evidence of the vision and hearing loss.

Explain how the deaf-blindness is adversely affecting the student’s performance in the educational setting or natural environment.

Concomitant hearing and visual disabilities cause severe communication and other developmental and educational needs. The term "Adverse Affect" for deaf-blind students refers to: All findings should lead to the conclusion that the unique behaviors/challenges the student is experiencing are associated with the disability and are occurring frequently and at a level of intensity that adversely affects performance in the PRESENT educational setting or natural environment. Teams should explain how the deaf-blindness is adversely affecting the student’s performance in the educational setting or natural environment.

Connect the student’s performance and needs to the eligibility category selected.
- Summarize findings with a concluding statement that connects the disability with the impact on education and the need for special education.
Determine and identify the specially designed instruction needed to make progress in the general education curriculum. (Specially designed instruction means that the student must have adapted content, methodology or delivery of instruction.)
- Describe the nature and extent of the student’s need for specially designed instruction.
- What does the student need in the areas of instruction, curriculum, and/or environment?
- Identify the instructional strategies, accommodations, and modifications that the student needs to be involved in and progress in the general education curriculum.

Guiding Questions

*Identifying the ADVERSE EFFECT of the disability on education and the connection to the need for special education

You must connect the student’s performance and needs to the eligibility category selected.
You must summarize findings with a concluding statement that connects the disability with the impact on education and the need for special education.

Here are some guiding questions that can be used to help identify the adverse affect.

Identify the specific challenges because of the disability (deafness - blindness)

What are the unique difficulties or challenges the student is experiencing because of the deafness? blindness?
Is academic learning affected?
Is communication affected?
Is independent functioning affected?
Are social/emotional interactions affected?
In what ways are the defined areas affected?

State the need for specially designed instruction (SDI) (Specially designed instruction means that the student must have adapted content, methodology or delivery of instruction). Determine and identify the specially designed instruction needed to make progress in the general education curriculum.

Does the student need interventions that significantly differ in intensity & duration from what can be provided solely through general education resources and services currently in place?
Is the need for specially designed instruction connected to the category for which the student was found eligible?
What specially designed instruction does the student need?

Educational Practices

Orientation and mobility training (O&M)
Direct instruction
Assistive technology tools
Braille literacy

Educational Practices

When using the oral method of communication, a student is taught to pair speechreading (lipreading) with residual hearing for receptive understanding and production of speech.
The cued speech method supports speechreading with hand gestures to improve receptive understanding of speech, especially for sounds which are visually similar on a speaker’s lips.
Manual communication methods such as American Sign Language (ASL), Manually Coded English (MCE), and finger spelling use hand movements, gestures, and body language to convey meaning. ASL differs from MCE in that it has its own unique grammatical structure, while MCE uses many of the same signs but mimics English grammar. Fingerspelling, or using hand shapes which symbolize letters to spell words, often supplements other forms of manual communication.
Total communication combines any of the oral and manual communication methods to enhance a student’s communication.

Accommodations for Blindness

Safe Classroom:

Secure non-slip rugs, electrical cords
Put materials used together near each other
Post accessible signs on drawers/cabinets
Require students to push in chairs
Adjust lighting in room

Present:

Braille
Tactile graphics
Human reader/audiotape
Descriptive material
Magnification devices

Respond:

Give oral response to a scribe
Use brailler
Speak in recorder
Talking calculator
Notetaker

Setting:

Use a cane
Tested or do work in another setting

Timing/Schedule

Extended time

Accommodation for Deafness

Use of specialized equipment or assistive technology
Amplification devices such as assisted listening devices
Other technology devices such as a teletypewriter (TTY), closed captioning, real-time captioning, speech-to-text, and visual or vibrating alert systems may assist students who are deaf or hard of hearing in accessing education.
Educational interpreter
Specialized seating

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