VIDBE-Q Volume 67 Issue 4
If our child had had an intervener when she first entered school, she would
be in a better place. Our hope is that every child who is deafblind will be given the
opportunity to have an intervener who consistently works one-to-one with that
child to facilitate the gathering of information, the developing of communication
skills, and the establishing of relationships. It has been an uphill journey with many
twists and turns for us. We hope school districts will recognize the need to have
trained personnel in place to meet the needs of children who are deafblind before
these children fall behind in their learning and development.
Anonymous
I have an 11-year-old daughter who is congenitally deafblind. We have
known of her vision and hearing loss since birth, but she was classified in the
category of multiple disabilities with additional sensory losses. It was not until
recently that we learned that she should be considered deafblind, because her
vision and hearing losses are concomitant, resulting in major impacts to her
learning and communication. She has had a TVI but has not received any
instruction in braille, despite being seven times the legal limit for blindness. Her
IEP team has never included a teacher of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing who could
have taught her the meaning of sounds and how to use her residual hearing
effectively. Not being identified as deafblind has had a devastating effect on our
child and her quality of life.
