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Lorem Ipsum Dolor Spring 2016
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impairments (TVIs) and teachers of students who are deaf and hard of hearing
(TDHH) are providing much of the support for IEP development and classroom
instruction. In many cases, these two teaching disciplines lack the expertise specific
to teaching children with deafblindness, and local and regional support is provided by
state deafblind technical assistance projects.
The field of deafblindness is currently supported, in large part, by federal grant
funding to the state deafblind projects. Without recognized state or national licensure
and dedicated money for well-established personnel preparation programs for
teachers of students with deafblindness, our field is in a precarious place.
The Beginning: Mentor Program Teachers of Deafblind Help Define and
Explore the Practice
Mentor Selection
In an effort to develop and enhance educational services to students in Texas
who are deafblind, the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI)
mentor program initiated a pilot project in 2009. Five teachers were selected in three
education service center regions to take part in this Deafblind (DB) Mentor Project
because of their dedication to deafblind students. For the first three years of this
pilot, each teacher participated in training provided by Robbie Blaha, who is a
certified teacher of students with visual impairments, as well as a certified teacher of
the deaf and hard of hearing. Ms. Blaha is currently a consultant with the Texas
Deafblind Project with the TSBVI Outreach program. Over a three year span, the five
teachers participated in training on topics such as assessment, communication for
deafblind (DB) students, strategies and issues related to behavior, and sensory
accommodations for the IEP. As a group, these mentors in training made inroads into
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