VIDBE-Q Volume 65 Issue 1
The role of interveners and the process of intervention for individuals
who are deafblind were developed in Canada in the 1970s (National
Consortium on Deaf-Blindness, 2012). John McInnes and colleagues
described an intervener as one who provides consistent access to
communication, environmental information, and social supports to promote
the full inclusion of individuals who are deafblind, both children and adults.
Canada sustains both higher education and professional development
models for preparing interveners to work in home, community-based, and
school settings. In the United States the role of the intervener has been
cultivated and recognized in specific local and state educational and
community systems for children and youth who are deafblind. Like Canada,
the U.S. has intervener preparation programs at universities as well as
state professional development approaches to support personnel to
become interveners (National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness, 2012).
In 2009, the Division on Visual Impairment and Deafblindness
developed competencies for interveners that aligned with the Council for
Exceptional Children's paraprofessional general competencies (Zambone &
Alsop, 2009). The development of the CEC's competencies was informed
by the work of the National Intervener Taskforce and the work of state
