VIDBE-Q 2025 Volume 70 Issue 2
Anna Tess, Foundation for Hearing and Speech Resources,
atess@fhsr.org
Hearing loss and vision loss are low-incidence sensory disabilities, and there
is an even lower incidence of children with hearing loss, vision loss, and a
comorbid disability. However, the number of students who are Deaf with
Disabilities (DWD) and vision loss with an additional disability continues to rise in
classrooms across the country. According to the Gallaudet Research Institute (GRI,
2011), 40% of students with hearing loss have an additional condition, such as low
vision, legal blindness, developmental delay, learning disabilities, orthopedic
impairment, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), traumatic brain
injury, cognitive delays, emotional disturbance, autism spectrum disorder (ASD),
Usher syndrome, or other health impairments. Kancherla et al. (2013) found up to
70% of children born with vision loss also have ASD.
Teaching Students with Sensory
Impairments Using Evidence-Based
Strategies from the Field of Autism
