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mild/moderate disabilities, and early childhood special education. They had also
acquired expertise in deafblindness though numerous trainings provided by many
experts in the field and a class in deafblindness offered by the University of Utah
(taught by the first author of this article). However, their expertise in the field was
not officially recognized in the state. Therefore, the advisory board to the Utah Deaf-
Blind Project that consists of parents, educators, consumers, and other stake holders
worked with the Utah State Office of Education to create a teaching endorsement in
deafblindness. With encouragement from USDB, outlines of possible coursework
were reviewed by the advisory board and parents wrote letters of support to the State
Office of Education. In 2012, the endorsement became a reality. The endorsement in
deafblindness is predicated on applicants holding existing licensure in special
education (vision, hearing, significant disabilities, mild-moderate disabilities, or early
childhood special education). It is aligned with the Council of Exceptional Children
(CEC) Deafblind Teacher competencies and holders of the endorsement are
designated as Teachers of the Deafblind. Teacher training programs from both the
University of Utah in Salt Lake City and Utah State University in Logan received
approval from the Utah State Office of Education for their coursework leading to the
new endorsement. Coursework from the University of Utah is primarily on-campus
and coursework from Utah State University is online. There is reciprocity of class
credit for the endorsement between the two universities. The remainder of this article
will discuss the program offered at the University of Utah.
When the endorsement was finally approved, the University of Utah, while
long active in deafblind education and research, did not have designated funding to
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