This brief, co-produced by the National Center on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB) and Accessible Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Systems (ATLAS), provides important information about students with dual sensory loss who also have significant cognitive disabilities, as well as recommendations for identification and implications for instruction. The…

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), signed into law on December 10, 2015, requires that state education agencies (SEAs) establish standardized, statewide entrance and exit procedures for their English learners (ELs), including ELs with disabilities. For certain ELs with…

The transition to life after high school for students with disabilities and the vital role that school counselors have in assisting the students and their families to achieve success are discussed. As there may be unique requirements for these students in making this transition, it is important that school counselors are acquainted with particular…

This conference presentation examines concept development for congenitally blind students. It presents current research on best-practice for teaching this population. Examples of strategies to reinforce understanding of body concepts, spatial awareness, and positional language, while promoting mirroring, self regulation, and purposeful movement to…

Every year, under the federal law known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), millions of children with disabilities receive special services designed to meet their unique needs. Early intervention services are provided through the state to infants and toddlers with disabilities under three years of age and their families. For…

The article describes a group motor-route activity to help mulitply handicapped blind students develop a complete understanding of spatial-movement concepts and to increase their cognitive motor skills. (Author/CL)

After learning the skills required for independent personal care, the students progressed to home management skills and ultimately to the skills necessary to function effectively as an employee in a sheltered workshop or other work center. (Author)

The University of Northern Colorado has expanded its multicompetency approach to teacher education to include training in teaching the severely/profoundly handicapped and blind component. Coursework emphasizes such areas of sequences as child growth and development, roles of ancillary staff, and application of specialists' reports. (CL)

The paper reports on a program to change behaviors of six blind multihandicapped adolescents with severe behavior disorders at the New York Institute for the Education of the Blind. Examples are drawn of the program's effects on a 17 year old male, Joe. Program principles include reduction of stressful situations for the students, expansion of…

The document presents the final report of the Sensory Multihandicapped Project, which planned a comprehensive program for the education of children who were sensory multihandicapped (deaf blind, deaf with other handicaps, or blind with other handicaps) in Alberta, Canada. Project activities included reviewing the literature, visiting sites serving…

The article discusses the uses of mechanical vibration for stimulating, rewarding, and suppressing behaviors of multiply handicapped blind children. Suggestions for further research and refinement of the techniques are made. (Author)

Two new techniques that were used with a group of seven blind, multiply handicapped young adults in a half-way house are described. Structured learning therapy is a social skills training technique and group assessment is a method of averaging psychological data on a group of clients to facilitate program planning based on client needs.…

The effectiveness of a graduated guidance procedure for increasing independence in dressing was examined in a multiple baseline analysis across behaviors with two multihandicapped children (ages nine and five). Results showed both children learned dressing skills with generalization of training to similar garments and maintenance of skills and 18…

A blind multiply handicapped preschooler was taught to respond appropriately to two adjacency pair types ("where question-answer" and "comment-acknowledgement"). The two alternative language acquisition strategies available to blind children were encouraged: echolalia to maintain communicative interactions and manual searching…

The article describes the Parent and Toddler Training Project, a research-based early intervention program for visually impaired and blind multihandicapped infants, toddlers, and their families in the Western Pennsylvania area. Project purposes include increasing infant social responsiveness, developing parenting skills, reducing family…