Deaf-Blindness
Overview
Deafblindness 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)
Less than .5% of students qualifying for services under the IDEA have a deafblindness designation (National Center for Education Statistics, 2022).
The deafblindness category is not a very prevalent type of disability in school-aged children. In most instances, students who experience deafblindness have some ability to hear and/or see. The 2019 National Deaf-Blind Child Count shows the following statistics regarding the type of hearing or vision loss among children with hearing or vision 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 |
Twenty-eight percent 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 Deafblindness, 2023). When students with this disability can communicate, they may show intelligence, humor, and artistic and musical talent.
Needs
While students with deafblindness have some residual hearing and seeing ability, they are educated in specialty schools that only serve students with this impairment type. Educators with specific training in this area are best suited to teaching students with this impairment (National Center of Deaf-Blindness, 2023).
Reflection
Supporting Students with Deafblindness
The section below explains some strategies for supporting students experiencing deafblindness. Based on what you have read, what strategies do you think might be useful for supporting students experiencing deafblindness?
Common Teaching Strategies
Project IDEAL offers the following ways to help promote learning among students with deafblindness:
- Individuals who experience deaf-blindness will often need touch 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 deafblindness to have control
- The individual may have very slow response times, and the teacher should allow time for the student to respond.
- Individuals who are deafblind may use symbolic communication, including the following principal communication systems:
- 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 (Deafblindness)
Deeper Dive
Deaf-Blindness
For more information about Deafblindness, review the following resources:
References
National Center on Deafblindness. (2023). Deafblindness 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
