VIDBE-Q Volume 67 Issue 4
As the years passed, Brooklyn was placed in multi-handicap classrooms, but
she was always the only deaf-blind child there. We always felt she could do more,
learn more and become more. The school felt like she could not learn sign
language or braille because of her sensory issues. We applied for her to be
admitted to our state blind school and our state deaf school, but she was not a fit
for either program. Both schools denied services for Brooklyn. We continued to
advocate for an intervener in the public school classroom to work with her.
When she entered middle school, we had her evaluated at Perkins School for
the Blind. We felt that if anyone could evaluate her needs properly, they could. The
evaluation said that Brooklyn needed total communication, through signing, tactile
signing, object cues, tangible symbols and speaking. With that evaluation and
assistance from disability lawyers, the school district finally got on board with
providing an intervener. It took years to get the word "intervener" listed under
related services in her IEP. We asked for a Nationally Credentialed Intervener,
who was trained to work with the deafblind, but they hired a para who was willing
to do the coursework and become credentialed. Unfortunately, this para had no
sign language skills.
