The field of professionals who work with students who are blind, visually impaired, or deaf-blind is facing a huge shortage. The problem to be addressed is the decreasing number of experienced teachers for the blind and visually impaired. The number of teachers for the visually impaired has school districts struggling to find teachers to work with…

I was a person who identified as culturally Deaf but at the same time had progressive vision loss. I embraced my Deaf identity, but I did not embrace any inkling of identifying myself as a DeafBlind person considering the stigma associated with it. Due to that stigma, the journey of identifying as a DeafBlind person is difficult mentally,…

Early childhood instruction is a significant milestone in the development of a child. Educators, psychologists, and other school experts have developed materials and methods to make instructional practices more inclusive. During the process of educational reform, specialists in the field of education were confronted with epistemological concerns.…

Limited inquiries exist for perceptions of physical competence for people with visual impairments, since there are no specific, psychometrically tested scales. The purpose of this study was to establish the psychometric properties of the Test of Perceived Physical Competence (TPPC) for individuals with visual impairments aged 9-19 years. Methods:…

At the specific request of the West Virginia Board of Education (WVBE), the Office of Support and Accountability conducted a follow-up review of the West Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind (WVSDB), April 27-28, 2022, to obtain specific information regarding progress the school has made in addressing the areas of noncompliance identified as…

Despite the importance of writing skill development, we know very little about how writing instruction is provided to students with visual impairments (VI) with and without co-occurring disabilities (e.g., multiple disabilities, deaf-blindness). The purpose of this study was to survey a national sample of U.S. teachers of students with visual…

Introduction: Self-determination is a highly valued but under-researched component of the expanded core curriculum for students with visual impairments. In this study, the authors present results of a literature review on self-determination for children and youths with visual impairments (i.e., those who are blind or have low vision). Method:…

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…

Purpose: The Ohio Deans Compact sponsored a study of the supply of and demand for educators to serve Ohio students with low incidence sensory disabilities (LISD). Conducted from August through December 2020, the study appears to be the first of its kind in North America. Such educators include teachers of the hearing impaired, teachers of the…

Contribution: A redesign of the Moodle platform to adapt digital educational content [learning objects (LOs)] to the specific needs of students with disabilities. The approach, extendable to a range of disciplines, was empirically tested with blind and deaf engineering students. Background: Previous studies identified difficulties that blind and…

Introduction: Children who are deafblind have unique educational needs, especially when it comes to developing a foundation for recreation. This foundation includes a well-rounded physical education program. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of adults who are deafblind as they recall their involvement in physical…

There is a lack of knowledge in the area of training needs for Deaf/Blind vocational rehabilitation and/or independent living service providers in Florida. This quantitative study utilized self-report surveys of Deaf/Blind providers in Florida to determine what needs to be done related to professional development. The researcher attempted to…

Trevarthen's theory of innate intersubjectivity is relevant to understanding communication problems in children with sensory disabilities. Trevarthen and Aitken used the term "intersubjectivity" to describe "the ability of humans to detect and change each other's minds and behavior". When children lack auditory and/or visual…

Instruments that are used for diagnosing of, or screening for, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may not be applicable to people with sensory disabilities in addition to intellectual disabilities. First, because they do not account for equifinality, the possibility that different conditions may lead to the same outcome. Second, because they do not…

In this article, the author, a parent of Malik, a special needs child with CHARGE Syndrome, describes the difficulties she encountered with her local educational agency (LEA) in transitioning her son from the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts to the Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf (ENCSD). At ENCSD, Malik now…