Editor's note: When I asked state partners to share what they were doing to maximize
resources and meet the needs of this lowest of low-incidence disability group, they shared
these innovations for meeting the needs of professionals across great distances.
Going the Distance: State Snapshots of Virtual Technical
Assistance to Professionals and Teams Serving Students who
are Deafblind
Kansas Deaf-Blind Project at Kansas School for the Blind
Megan Cote, Director, mcote@kssdb.org
Rebecca Obold-Geary, Co-Director, roboldgeary@kssdb.org
In order to meet the demands of "in real time" information and idea sharing,
the Kansas Deaf-Blind Project began implementing a distance mentorship model of
technical assistance where password protected team collaboration sites are created for
individual learner teams to share progress and information related to child outcomes.
Having well over one hundred learners identified on their deaf-blind registry, the two
part time staff were finding it hard to meet the individual needs of all of the teams
and visit the school sites frequently enough to see consistent child and provider
change. Weekly school teams are asked to supply video of the learner around
targeted routines and the project staff, then view the video and give the school team
input on strategies for improving the routines. Monthly the teams meet virtually
through Adobe connect with the project staff to review action plans and target next
steps to be achieved the following month. This process has enabled the project staff
to have more consistent contact with the service providers and have also allowed the
parents to be an integral part of the collaboration process. Further, the parents end up
with a rich repository of video of their child's skills that helps aid in transitions from
classroom to classroom and school to school.
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