National Technical Assistance and Dissemination Center for Children who are DeafBlind

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National Consortium On Deaf-Blindness
Technical Assistance
State Projects
Personnel Training
Families
Information Services and Dissemination
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A Collaborative Partnership Among

• The Teaching Research Institute (TRI) of Western
  Oregon University
• The Helen Keller National Center
• The Hilton/Perkins Program at Perkins School for
  the Blind

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Organization

• TRI has conceived, led, managed and elevated
  technical assistance, dissemination, symposia and
  product development activities in the area of
  deaf-blindness for three decades

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Organization

• HKNC has provided national leadership in
  deaf-blindness and services to youth and adults
  who are deaf-blind since it was established by
  Congress in 1967

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Organization

• Perkins School for the Blind has served children
  who are deaf-blind for more than 150 years and
  operates the Hilton/Perkins Program, which
  provides consultation, training and technical
  assistance related to deaf-blindness throughout
  the nation and in developing countries

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Organization

• A cooperative agreement will be developed between
  OSEP and The National Consortium on
  Deaf-Blindness
• In a cooperative agreement, substantial
  involvement is expected between the U.S.
  Department of Education and the recipient when
  carrying out objectives and activities in the
  agreement

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National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness
Technical Assistance
Information Services and Dissemination
Personnel Training
Critical Activity Areas
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Needs of children and youth, their families and
service providers

• Needs of children
• In 2005, 9849 children and youth in the United
  States were identified as deaf- blind (NTAC 2005)
  with 91 having at least one additional
  physical, cognitive or medical disability

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Needs of children and youth, their families and
service providers

• Needs of families
• Deaf-blindness presents substantial challenges
  not only for children, but also for their
  families
• It is critical that families have access to
  services and understandable information and
  resources

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Needs of children and youth, their families and
service providers

• Needs of service providers
• It is estimated that only 6 of children who
  are deaf-blind have a teacher trained in
  deaf- blindness (S. Bruce, personal
  communication, January 2006)

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Federal Mandates and Initiatives

• State Performance Plans (SPP) and Annual
  Performance Reports (APR) require states to
  outline measurable and rigorous targets for 20
  Part B indicators and 14 Part C indicators

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Federal Mandates and InitiativesRelevance to
Children Youth who are Deaf-Blind

• Percentage of infants and toddlers birth to one
  year with IFSPs
• Percentage of infants/toddlers receiving services
  in the natural environment
• Participation and performance of children with
  disabilities on statewide assessments
• Percentage of youth aged 16 and above with an IEP
  that includes coordinated, measurable annual
  goals and transition services
• Percentage of parents with a child receiving
  special education involved in the education
  process

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Objectives

• Communicate, collaborate and form partnerships as
  directed by OSEP
• Implement multi-level needs assessment
• Implement evidence-based practices
• Implement technical assistance and personnel
  training
• Build the capacity of youth who are deaf-blind
  and families

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Objectives

• Provide personnel training on the implementation
  of IDEA/evidence-based practices
• Identify, collect, organize and disseminate
  information related to deaf-blindness
• Develop and disseminate accessible products that
  synthesize evidence-based research, effective
  practices and emerging knowledge
• Implement a comprehensive system of evaluation

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Objective 1 Federal Partnerships

• Communicate, collaborate and form partnerships as
  directed by OSEP and with agencies, organizations
  and projects in order to improve results for
  children/youth and families
• PDM
• Self Assessment
• Collaborative Partners

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Objective 2 Needs Assessment

• Implement an ongoing, multi-level needs
  assessment to systematically identify the needs
  of children/youth, families and service
  providers, including personnel training, in order
  to adequately and appropriately address those
  needs
• Census
• TA Process
• Surveys

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Objective 3Implementation of Evidence-Based
Practices

• Provide national leadership in the implementation
  of evidence-based practices in order to address
  gaps in knowledge and to scale up current
  practices
• Practice Partnership
• Research Community of practice
• Research Synthesis

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Objective 4 Technical Assistance

• Implement an array of technical assistance and
  personnel training activities to build the
  capacity of state and local agencies to meet the
  needs of children/youth and their families
• State-specific TA
• Multi-state TA
• National TA

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Objective 5 Families Consumers

• Utilize collaborative partnerships and facilitate
  efforts to build the capacity of youth who are
  deaf-blind and families in order to promote
  self-advocacy, personal empowerment and knowledge
  of deaf-blindness
• Collaborative Agreement with NFADB
• Underserved population
• AADB Teen Program
• Family Specialists
• Family Leadership Training
• Young adults career explorations

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Objective 6 Personnel Training

• Provide leadership in a coordinated national
  effort to promote personnel training on the
  implementation of IDEA and evidence-based
  practices in order to address the shortage of
  leadership and highly qualified personnel in the
  field of deaf-blindness
• National personnel training and leadership
  consortium
• Personnel training activities
• Collaboration with Personnel preparation
  programs

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Objective 7 Dissemination of Evidence-Based
Practices

• Identify, collect, organize and disseminate
  information related to deaf-blindness, including
  evidence-based practices, in order to respond to
  inquiries and increase knowledge that promotes
  effective early intervention, education and
  transition services, and supports families

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Objective 8 Product Development

• Expand the utilization of information resources
  by developing and disseminating accessible
  products that synthesize evidence-based research,
  effective practices and emerging knowledge

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Objective 9 Evaluation

• Implement a comprehensive system of evaluation to
  assess the impact of the Centers objectives and
  activities across the four outcome domains of
  child, family, service provider and systems
• Formative
• Summative
• Use of Goal Attainment scale
• Use of OPIs

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Focus of Practice Partnership

• Early and appropriate identification of children
  who are deaf-blind (under age one year)
• Student achievement in language arts, math and
  science
• Achievement of meaningful post-secondary goals
  through coordinated, measurable and annual
  transition services
• Effective parent involvement for families
  representing different cultural, ethnic,
  linguistic and socio-economic backgrounds
• Accountability through effective evaluation
  strategies for collecting and analyzing data to
  improve results for children

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Focus Area of Impact

• 1) Improve early and appropriate identification
  of children who are deaf-blind
• a) increase in the number of children under one
  year of age who are appropriately identified
• b) decrease in the number of states who report
  no children under the age of one year

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Focus Area of Impact

• 2) Increase student achievement in language
  arts, math and science
• increased alignment of students instructional
  programs with the general education curriculum
• increased student achievement in academic content
  as documented through process monitoring and
  state-approved assessments

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Focus Area of Impact

• 3) Increase achievement of meaningful
  post-secondary goals through coordinated,
  measurable and annual transition services
• a) Students and their families will more
  successfully transition from school-based
  services to post-secondary education, employment
  and community-based environments through the use
  of outcomes-based measurements and the National
  Child Count

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Focus Area of Impact

• 4) Increase effective involvement in education
  planning of families representing different
  cultural, ethnic, linguistic and socioeconomic
  backgrounds
• a) increased understanding of the unique needs
  of their children
• b) improved access to diagnostic, intervention
  and educational services resulting in
  positive outcomes for children

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Focus Area of Impact

• 5) Improve accountability through effective
  evaluation strategies and the collection and
  analysis of data
• a) All state deaf-blind projects will report
  their annual performance reviews,
  self-assessments and site reviews using valid and
  reliable assessments for documenting change in
  awareness, knowledge, skills, and child outcomes