As a national technical assistance center funded by the federal Department
of Education, NCDB works to improve the quality of life for children who are
deaf-blind and their families by:
- 1 Creating visibility and direction for identified priorities through a
range of practices, activities, supports and partnerships.
- 2 Identifying and encouraging new innovations in local, state, and national
practice and policy.
- 3 Promoting opportunity for reflection, debate, and constructive dialogue
around ideas and developing practice.
- 4 Maintaining a rich repository of content, history, and knowledge,
easily available and shared by all who are part of the community of
Our Initiatives Make a Difference
About Children Who Are Deaf-Blind
In the U.S., there are roughly 10,000 children who are deaf-blind. Deaf-blindness
is a low incidence disability and within this population of children there is great
variability. Ninety percent of children who are identified as deaf-blind have additional
physical, medical and/or cognitive disabilities.
Although the term deaf-blind implies a complete absence of hearing and sight,
in reality, it refers to children with varying degrees of vision and hearing
losses. The key feature of deaf-blindness is that this combination of losses
limits access to auditory and visual information and creates unique challenges
for communication and education. As a result, families often face difficulties
in securing the knowledge and resources needed to support their children. Students
who are deaf-blind require special teaching methods and accommodations to succeed
as learners and because the majority of these children receive their education in
their local schools, there is an increased need for specialized professional
development to train teachers and service providers.
Key Demographic Resources
NCDB Products & Publications
NCDB : The Teaching Research Institute : Western Oregon University : 345 N. Monmouth Ave. : Monmouth, OR 97361
Contact Us: 800-438-9376 | firstname.lastname@example.org