The aim of this study was to examine the different ways in which visually impaired and deaf-blind people can be motivated to perform regular physical exercises through the use of a physical training programme. The programme was designed for visually impaired and deaf-blind people with the aim of reducing their most common physical problems: those…

The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) recognizes the current challenges faced by states and schools relative to the provision of high-quality intervener services for children who are deaf-blind. To respond to these challenges, OSEP asked the National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB) to conduct an…

Background: Adults with congenital deafblindness (CDB) have received little attention from researchers. In this study we examined the nature of interactions between adults with CDB and the staff who mediate their support, and investigated the reliability of an observation coding system, originally designed for observing adults with severe…

Background: Teachers and parents play a very important role in providing valuable information for the assessment of children with severe disabilities. The needs of children, educational goals, and parental aspirations are similar irrespective of the part of the globe they live in. This study focused on the perceptions of teachers and parents of…

Deafblind readers are heterogeneous in reading skill acquisition. This qualitative study uses in-depth interviews and protocol analyses and queries the three deafblind adult participants in describing their metacomprehension, metacognitive and metalinguistic strategies used when reading different types of text. Using retrospective analysis, the…

The National Child Count of Children and Youth who are Deaf-Blind is the first and longest running registry and knowledge base of children who are deaf-blind in the world. Begun in 1986 on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education, it represents a nearly thirty year collaborative effort between the National Center on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB), its…

It is widely recognized that the 12 percent of all youth in American public schools who have disabilities comprise a set of students with distinct capacities and needs. Federal legislation, including the most recent updates to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2004, identifies different disability groups and mandates that…

The National Longitudinal Transition Study 2012 (NLTS 2012) is the third in the series of NLTS studies sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education to examine youth with disabilities receiving services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a long-standing federal law last updated in 2004. Under IDEA, youth with…

It is widely recognized that the 12 percent of all youth in American public schools who have disabilities comprise a set of students with distinct capacities and needs. Federal legislation, including the most recent updates to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2004, identifies different disability groups and mandates that…

The use of current assessment results is an essential part of the Individualized Education Program (IEP) process for students with disabilities. The results of assessments allow the IEP team to write accurate statements of present levels of performance and thus student-centered goals and objectives. For students with visual impairments, including…

Background: In persons with deafblindness, it is hard to distinguish autism spectrum disorders from several deafblind specific behaviours caused by the dual sensory impairments, especially when these persons are also intellectually disabled. As a result, there is an over-diagnosis of autism in persons who are deafblind leading to unsuitable…

This article describes the application of the Diagnostic Intervention Model and its effects in two case studies of 3-year-old boys, Rolf and Ruud, using individual interaction coaching with their mothers. Positive effects were found for all the target categories in both cases, although an interaction that used materials appeared to be more…

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 National Child Count of Children and Youth who are Deaf-Blind is the first and longest running registry and knowledge base of children who are deaf-blind in the world. It has been collaboratively designed, implemented and revised to serve as the common vehicle to meet federal grant requirements for both the State/Multi-State and National…

This article presents a brief history of crossing or assistance cards for travelers who are deaf-blind, along with two studies on variables that predict effective solicitation of assistance to cross a street. Although gender does not greatly affect efficiency, the larger size of a communication card positively influences the receipt of assistance.…