About Our Project

Deafblindness (dual sensory impairment) may be characterized by a wide range of visual losses from low vision to complete blindness and the complete range of hearing impairments from mild loss to profound deafness.It is the combination of the two sensory losses that challenges the educational approaches and strategies typically appropriate for students on IEPs.The Vermont Deafblind Project is federally funded by the U.S. Department of Education (October 2008-September 2013).

Our project is designed to augment the services of the Vermont StateI-Team, and agencies providing vision and hearing services in Vermont.

Project Services

• Assist local teams in identification of children as deafblind or dual sensory impaired so as to qualify them and their parents for Project support.
• Provide support and networking opportunities for family members including participation in experiences such as "Power of Touch" workshops for families featuring guidance and teaching of Barbara Miles, co-author of Remarkable Conversations and support from the Vermont State I-Team Family Resource Consultants.
• Collaboratively consult through I-Team referral with team members to address mutually identified outcomes for the child, service providers, family members, or their local school system using the NTAC Outcomes and Performance Indicators as a guide. Click here for a link to the I-Team site.
• Provide training opportunities for development of knowledge and skills to build leadership in the areas of deafblindness and Cortical Visual Impairment for Vermont. (DB Advisor Training Program with New England Consortium on Deafblindness and CVI Community of Practice in conjunction with FITP and EEE Programs and state DB projects of MD, WV and DE).
• Provide intensive team training to interested teams serving children who are deafblind, meeting 3-4 times per year to concentrate on better understanding of the implications of dual sensory impairment, and specific teaching strategies to address the communication, concept development, orientation and mobility and social skills development needs of students who have dual sensory impairments.
• Provide resources for learning more about deafblindness and dual sensory impairment such as articles, books, videos, and web-based materials. One important gateway to many types of resources is the National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness. Click here for a link to this site.

• Technical Assistance:
  • NTAC Outcomes and Performance Indicators (Child, Service Provider, Family, System)
  • NCDB Outcomes and Performance Indicators: Literacy
• DB-LINK Info Services
• Personnel Training (Opportunities and Resources)

Last modified October 24 2011 03:46 PM