Definition and Prevalence:The term “deaf-blindness” seemingly refers to a complete deficit in both senses of hearing and vision. In reality, though, this term is also used to describe individuals with only some degree of loss in both of these senses.
Due to the exceptional needs of these individuals, particularly in regards to education, federal law has separately defined this disability category. (According to IDEA 2004): "Deaf-blindness means concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or children with blindness" Prevalence Statistics:
Causes:There are more than 70 different causes of deafblindness.The condition can either be present at birth (congenital) or develop later in life (acquired).
Causes are described in this site below: http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Deafblindness/Pages/Causes.aspx The American Association for Deaf-blindness:To learn about the organization that supports deaf-blindness visit the website below.
http://www.aadb.org |
Teaching strategies for deaf-blindness:http://www.tsbvi.edu/seehear/archive/strategies.html
http://education.gsu.edu/georgiadeafblindproj/topics-in-deafblindness-strategies.aspx http://www.projectidealonline.org/deafBlindness.php |