VIDBE-Q 2026 Volume 71 Issue 3
Ellie Bell, Illinois State University, EllieTrunk@gmail.com
Mary Finnerty, Chicago Public Schools,
MaryFinnertyChicago@gmail.com
Katie
Stuepfert, Aspire Speech, Language and Listening Therapy,
Katie@AspireTherapyIL.com
There has been an increase in the prevalence of hearing loss or visual
impairment (i.e. sensory disabilities) co-occurring with other disabilities. In 2005
only 13% of children who were Deaf-Blind had four or more additional
disabilities. Now, approximately 44% of children who are Deaf-Blind have four or
more additional disabilities and 88% of children who are Deaf-Blind have one or
more additional disabilities (NCDB, 2022). The high prevalence of children with
multiple disabilities demonstrates a need for interdisciplinary collaboration among
highly-specialized service providers in order to fully support each child's diverse
and specialized needs. Interdisciplinary collaboration helps children to make the
most progress by considering the whole child instead of specific areas of needs
individually. Many service providers, particularly those in the sensory disability
areas, have tremendous depth of knowledge from specialized coursework in their
Establishing Interdisciplinary Collaboration:
Suggestions for Administration
75
