Deaf-Blindness
Overview
Deaf-blindness is
concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or children with blindness. (IDEA)
> .5% of students qualifying for services under the IDEA have a deaf-blindness designation (National Center for Education Statistics, 2022).
The deaf-blindness category is not a very prevalent type of disability found among school-aged children. In most instances, students who experience deaf-blindness have some ability to hear and/or see. The 2019 National Deaf-Blind Child Count shows these statistics on the number of children with some vision and hearing loss:
| TYPE OF VISION LOSS | % OF CHILDREN |
| Totally blind or light perception only | 10 |
| Legally blind | 23 |
| Low vision | 33 |
| Functional vision loss | 23 |
| Progressive vision loss | 4 |
| Further testing needed | 7 |
28% of children have cortical vision impairment, while 12% have cochlear implants
| TYPE OF HEARING LOSS | % OF CHILDREN |
| Severe to profound loss | 31 |
| Moderate to moderately severe loss | 34 |
| Mild loss | 14 |
| Functional hearing loss | 12 |
| Progressive loss | 1 |
| Auditory neuropathy | 6 |
| Further testing needed | 8 |
Strengths
Students with this impairment typically have heightened senses in touch, proprioception (awareness of the position and movement of the body), taste, and smell (National Center of Deaf-Blindness, 2023). When students with this disability can communicate, they may show intelligence, humor, and artistic and musical talent.
Needs
While students with deaf-blindness have some residual hearing and seeing ability, they are educated in specialty schools that only serve students with this type of impairment. Educators who have been specifically trained in this area are best suited to educate students with this impairment (National Center of Deaf-Blindness, 2023).
Reflection
Supporting Students with Deaf-Blindness
The section below explains some strategies for supporting students experiencing deaf-blindness. Based on what you have read so far, what strategies do you think might be useful for supporting students experiencing deaf-blindness?
Common Teaching Strategies
According to Project IDEAL, here are some ways to help promote learning among students with deaf-blindness:
- Individuals who experience deaf-blindness will often need touch in order for them to be sure that their partner shares their focus of attention.
- Exploring objects should be done in a “nondirective” way, allowing the individual who experiences deaf-blindness to have control
- The individual may have very slow response times. Therefore, the teacher should allow time for the student to respond.
- Symbolic communication can be utilized by individuals who are deafblind. The principal communication systems include:
- Touch cues
- Object symbols
- Sign language
- Gestures
- Picture symbols
- Fingerspelling
- Signed English
- Braille
- American Sign Language
- Lip-reading speech
- Pidgin Signed English
- Tadoma method of speech reading
- Large print (Deaf-Blindness)
Deeper Dive
Deaf-Blindness
For more information about Deaf-Blindness, review the following resources:
References
National Center on Deaf-Blindness. (2023). Deaf-Blindness Overview. nationaldb.org. Retrieved from https://www.nationaldb.org/info-center/deaf-blindness-overview/#:~:text=Many%20children%20called%20deaf%2Dblind,speech%2C%20or%20develop%20speech%20themselves.
National Center for Education Statistics. (2022). Students With Disabilities. Condition of Education. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences.
U.S. Department of Education. (2018). Sec. 300.8 Child with a disability. Retrieved from https://sites.ed.gov/idea/regs/b/a/300.8
means concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or children with blindness
