Deaf-Blind
“A person who is considered deaf-blind is someone who is deaf or hard-of-hearing in combination with a visual impairment or blindness. The range of capabilities and support needs of individuals with deaf-blindness varies substantially from person to person because of differences in the extent of partial vision or hearing, if any, or the presence of additional conditions such as intellectual or physical disabilities. In all cases, however, deaf-blindness results in difficulties detecting, gathering, and prioritizing reliable auditory and visual information from communication partners and the surrounding environment. Information received without support can be incomplete, fragmented, or distorted and especially difficult to obtain from a distance.
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Begun in 1986 on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education, it represents a nearly thirty year collaborative effort between the National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB), its predecessors, and each state deaf-blind project throughout the country, as well as those projects funded in the Pacific Trust territories--the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Initially requested by the Department of Education as an examination of the discrepancy between the state/multi-state child counts and OSEP's annual December 1 counts, the child count has continued based on the work scope of the deaf-blind program national center technical assistance and dissemination centers and state/multi-state projects which have been federally funded in ensuing years. 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 technical assistance projects, as well as serving as a common data collection and reporting mechanism for use across the country. The child count is conducted each year to supplement OSEP's Federal Part C and Part B Child Counts (Special Education Child Count), which include children as deaf-blind only when deaf-blindness is their single disability. Some of the emerging trends identified in the 2012 Deaf-Blind Child Count include: (1) The overall count for the 2012 collection of deaf-blind child count data has increased by 138 as new individuals continue to be identified by State Deaf-Blind Projects; (2) The prevalence of CHARGE Syndrome continues to increase significantly. In 2012 there were 848 children and youth identified as having CHARGE Syndrome. The identified prevalence of Usher Syndrome reached a peak in 2007 and has decreased over the past three years; (3) The percentage of
Begun in 1986 on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education, it represents a nearly thirty year collaborative effort between the National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB), its predecessors, and each state deaf-blind project throughout the country, as well as those projects funded in the Pacific Trust territories--the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Initially requested by the Department of Education as an examination of the discrepancy between the state/multi-state child counts and OSEP's annual December 1 counts, the child count has continued based on the work scope of the deaf-blind program national center technical assistance and dissemination centers and state/multi-state projects which have been federally funded in ensuing years. 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 technical assistance projects, as well as serving as a common data collection and reporting mechanism for use across the country. The child count is conducted each year to supplement OSEP's Federal Part C and Part B Child Counts (Special Education Child Count), which include children as deaf-blind only when deaf-blindness is their single disability. Some of the emerging trends identified in the 2012 Deaf-Blind Child Count include: (1) The overall count for the 2012 collection of deaf-blind child count data has increased by 138 as new individuals continue to be identified by State Deaf-Blind Projects; (2) The prevalence of CHARGE Syndrome continues to increase significantly. In 2012 there were 848 children and youth identified as having CHARGE Syndrome. The identified prevalence of Usher Syndrome reached a peak in 2007 and has decreased over the past three years; (3) The percentage of