VIDBE-Q Volume 67 Issue 4
Her grandfather once told me that I now have a "perspective of knowledge
versus previously having a natural instinct of what to do." He also said, "since you
became an intervener, my granddaughter's language and communication has
moved forward." Over the years, we have both grown tremendously. I have learned
so much, and I am eager to learn even more!
Cassandra Waterbury, Colorado
If there is one thing I have learned as both an intervener and an interpreter, it
is that access and having the ability to communicate are powerful. My job is to
make sure my students have that power. Over the past 10 years I have had the
chance to work with a variety of deafblind students with varying levels of vision
and hearing loss, and with additional disabilities. Each student is unique and
requires an individualized support and communication system.
I took an intervener position for a preschooler with deafblindness who was
in school for half days. Then the educational team asked me to also support another
student named Daisy for the remainder of the school day. In addition to being
deafblind, Daisy had CHARGE Syndrome and Dandy Walker Syndrome. She was
in second grade and had been communicating with her peers and providers by
pushing and pulling them to the things she wanted. They used hand over hand
methods to get her to complete her schoolwork, and they pulled her along with the
rest of her class to other activities. She often resisted by pushing, scratching or
