VIDBE-Q Volume 67 Issue 4
story through her mother's BlogSpot. One day I was attending the Special
Olympics at the school where Ivey's brothers attended, and I briefly met Ivey there
for the first time in person. A few months later, I was asked to be Ivey's one-on-
one paraprofessional for the next school year. Of course I accepted, and was later
asked if I would become Ivey's intervener. I completed the Utah State University
Intervener Training Program and have since become a Nationally Credentialed
Deafblind Intervener Specialist (DBIS).
As Ivey's intervener, I have been in several classroom settings. When Ivey
was in primary school, she was in a self-contained classroom with non-verbal
peers. With Ivey's vision and hearing loss and deafblind-specific needs, we had an
area in the classroom dedicated to Ivey that was separate from the other children in
the classroom. We essentially had a classroom inside of a classroom, that gave
Ivey access to her instructional needs, but limited access to her peers. The teachers
had no knowledge of deafblindness or the role of the intervener, and this created
tension between the teachers and me at times.
When Ivey transitioned to a new school, she was placed in a mild to
moderate classroom with verbal peers, and we were welcomed in by Erica
McKinney (who is now her case manager). There were many new opportunities for
Ivey to interact with peers and teachers. Ivey began flourishing and making
friends. At one point, Mrs. McKinney left the classroom, and we were once again
