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VIDBE-Q Volume 64 Issue 2
Interveners
Quality intervener services, when provided by a skilled intervener,
can facilitate a child's access to environmental information, support the
development and use of communication, and promote social and emotional
well-being (Alsop, Blaha, & Kloos, 2000). Interveners enable children to
become aware of what is occurring around them, attach language and
meaning to all experiences, minimize the effects of multisensory
deprivation, and have control over their lives (Henderson & Killoran, 1995).
In educational environments, intervener services are delivered by an
individual, typically a paraeducator, who has obtained training in deaf-
blindness and the process of intervention (National Consortium on Deaf-
Blindness, 2013). Ideally, interveners work closely with the educational
team and are supervised by teachers with expertise in deaf-blindness.
An intervener is not a teacher, an expert in deaf-blind education, or
an individual who assumes primary responsibility for the student's
education nor is the provision of intervener services for a child who is deaf-
blind a remedy for the educational challenges encountered with this
population. Rather, intervener services are one of a variety of essential
individualized supports that may be needed for children who are deaf-blind
(National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness, 2012).
