VIDBE-Q Volume 67 Issue 4
• Thirty- six SDBPs do not yet have intervener services offered as a related
service option in their IEP system.
• Upon completion of intervener training, some participants change positions
(that are more in alignment with their respective level of training) or leave
the education field.
• There is a severe lack of financial incentives for interveners. In many states,
there are no financial incentives offered to interveners who complete a
training program and become certified or credentialed.
• Completing a portfolio is a long and tedious process, and there is also a fee
when the portfolio has been submitted to an accrediting body.
• Recruitment and retention of interested intervener candidates has always
been challenging. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the field of special
education, and especially in the area of deafblindness, has been severely
impacted, and SDBPs are having a difficult time finding interested
individuals who want to pursue a course of training.
• Even after the training is completed, retention of the intervener is very
difficult, based on the issues mentioned above.
• Most school systems in the country are unclear about the role of the
intervener and about how to locate an intervener to fulfill the service listed
on a student's IEP.
