Children who are deafblind are one of the lowest-incidence yet most diverse groups receiving services mandated by the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act. Despite this population's diversity, the development of communication skills is critical for all children who are deafblind, and is the foundation on which good transition…

In 2007, the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) law was passed in Minnesota mandating newborn hearing screening. Recognizing that a number of state-level agencies and statewide advocacy and direct services organizations share responsibility for serving deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing children and youth, the Minnesota Commission…

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…

This final report describes the accomplishments and activities of a four-year federally funded project to improve special education and related services for children with deafblindness in West Virginia. The paper describes the accomplishments of each of the project's eight objectives: (1) to identify children with deafblindness; (2) to train…

This workbook pulls together materials intended to help train individuals who are deaf-blind or have other severe disabilities with the transition from school to the adult world. Topics covered in the main body are: legislation concerned with transition services; appropriate procedures and getting started; transition planning process; questions to…

This executive summary of a final report describes activities and accomplishments of Iowa's 3-year program to improve the quality of educational and community-based services for infants, toddlers, children, and youth with deaf-blindness. The project provided technical assistance to schools, area education agencies, and other service providers. It…

This final report describes the Iowa Deaf-Blind Project, which provided technical assistance on a statewide basis in the form of information dissemination, training, and consultation to local school districts, area education agencies, institutions, and organizations providing early intervention, early identification, education, transition,…

This final report describes activities and accomplishments of the Indiana Deaf-Blind Services Project, a 4-year federally funded project to enhance and further develop coordinated direct services to children and youth, birth through 2 and ages 18 through 21. The project also was designed to provide technical assistance to public and private…

This final report describes activities and accomplishments of a federally supported program to provide services for children with deaf-blindness in Missouri. The project focused on the development of partnerships to coordinate service networking and to provide systematic training to build local capacity for early intervention, educational,…

A national needs assessment of 719 educational and adult service agencies providing or proposing to provide transitional services to individuals with deaf-blindness was conducted to determine national and regional technical assistance needs. On average, each agency expressed a need for technical assistance in 20 separate areas. In the area of…

This collection of 10 papers addresses "best practices" in the development of transition services for youths who are deaf-blind. The papers include quality indicators checklists, transition planning checklists, and other assessment tools. The papers have the following titles and authors: "Overview of Transition Services for Youths Who Are…

This final report discusses the outcomes of a 4-year federally funded project designed to identify children in Montana who are deaf-blind and to provide training and technical assistance to improve the quality of special education and related services in Montana for children ages birth through 21 who are deaf-blind. The project was devised to meet…

This final report discusses the outcomes of a 4-year project designed to identify all children in Kentucky who are deaf-blind and provide training and technical assistance to improve the quality of special education and related services in Kentucky for children ages birth through 21 who are deaf-blind. The children are in integrated environments…