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Lorem Ipsum Dolor Spring 2016
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the total of children, birth through 21, identified in the National Deaf-Blind Child
Count. During this same period, 47 states/territories had one or more years with no
children birth-age one identified. Only 7 states identified children birth-age one each
year. (Schalock & Bull, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, in press).
Increasing awareness about the diversity within this low incidence population is
crucial in order to facilitate connections with the foundational services and
interventions needed for the greatest success. This can be challenging given that:
• deafblindness can be a misleading term, since residual vision and hearing are
usually present;
• families, educators and medical professionals may not recognize the impact of
combined vision and hearing loss on early learning;
• more than 90% of these children have additional disabilities, including
complex medical challenges; and
• due to federal regulation, programs for young children with disabilities are
non-categorical.
A multi-pronged approach, undertaken by NCDB, has demonstrated positive
results in the early identification and referral of young children who are deaf-blind
within states. The approach employs data-based decision making, implementation of
evidence-based identification and referral practices, collaboration among state deaf-
blind projects, a toolbox of common materials and technical assistance delivered by
an experienced Early Identification & Referral (EI&R) Team.
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