For Professionals

Welcome to the world of combined hearing and vision loss, also known as deafblindness!

Dear Teachers and Related Service Providers,

This year you will be working with a student who has combined hearing and vision loss and is identified as deafblind. Children who are deafblind, and their families face many challenges each day. As is true for children everywhere, there is great promise and hope for their educational journey.

We wanted to take this opportunity to let you know that there are exceptional resources, well-organized information and state and national supports to assist in the planning and delivery of educational services for your student.

Children who are deafblind are a very diverse group who present unique challenges to the educational community. They often require intense support needs and teaching strategies that are different from students who have one sensory loss, such as those who are deaf/hard of hearing or  are blind/visually impaired with no other sensory loss.

The Minnesota DeafBlind Project, funded by the federal Department of Education, can assist with training, provide resources and support and can also assist in working with families.

There is also a national technical assistance project, funded by the federal government, NCDB, the National Center on Deaf-Blindness. NCDB is home to the largest collection of information about deafblindness organized anywhere and, in collaboration with states, makes available a wide variety of important products to assist in educational programming as well as the development of qualified personnel. We encourage you to visit their website at http://www.nationaldb.org. If you’re in a pinch and need resources quickly, feel free to ask us to be your guides.