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Lorem Ipsum Dolor Spring 2016
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the field of deafblindness by developing and reviewing materials specific to students
with deafblindness.
One of the documents developed through the mentor pilot and the Texas
Deafblind Project was the "Roles and Responsibilities of the Itinerant Teacher of
Deafblindness". This document outlined eight points that were deemed specific to
the job duties of the itinerant TDB and was in turn used to determine training topics
specific to the TDB Pilot Program. Further refinement, discussion, and field trials of
the "Roles" document was included in the TDB Pilot with later drafts being
developed to include self-contained models.
Partnership with local districts to address the challenge
In 2010, our project began looking again at how we might address this need for
a recognized teacher of deafblindness role. Through conversations with two local
administrators in the Houston area, we discovered commonalities when comparing
deafblind student populations and goals for each of their districts. Both administrators
were invested in the idea of the best possible programming for their students with
deafblindness, and were looking for innovative models to train staff.
In each district there were high numbers of students with deafblindness, which
allowed for the identification of an area of need within the district. Technical
assistance training topics were decided through a combination of needs assessments
and pre-established roles of the TDB. This ability to channel our efforts was vital as
it allowed administrators to designate and assign staff time dedicated to deafblind
student caseloads. We then worked with administrators to select personnel based on
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