This talk highlighted some of the practices that we have been already been thinking about for some time in working with students with deaf-blindness. Here are some of the highlights: 1) Children learning together. In Mr. Mitra’s presentation, we see videos of children teaching each other,...

Over the past few months, I have found myself thinking of the phrase “less is more,” especially when I provide technical assistance for students who are deaf-blind in school and at home.  “Less is more” is a concept used in many fields like architecture, music and economics, but I believe it...

Last Saturday Cristi Saylor and I presented at the Lowenfeld-Ackeson Symposium on the use of the iPad and apps with young children with sensory impairments and additional disabilities. As on many other occasions when we have presented on this topic many people in the audience shared their tips as...

David's informative webinar on Vision Issues and People with CHARGE Syndrome has just been posted on the Perkins website: http://support.perkins.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Webcasts_Vision_Issues_For_People_With_CHARGE_Syndrome

California Deaf-Blind Services (CDBS) has been providing technical assistance throughout the state for over two decades.  Given our small staff size and the large area we have to cover, we are always looking for new ways to maximize our resources and increase our effectiveness.  Recently...

This blog is a follow-up to my previous one about using the iPad for informal assessments with young children with multiple disabilities. Here I would like to describe in more detail the different behaviors that can be assessed formally or informally when using the iPad. Last week I attended a...

As an educational specialist I make school and home visits to provide technical assistance to families and service providers.  On many recent home visits I have brought along the iPad to help me get a better idea of the child's interests and needs. I have found the iPad is a great informal...

In my last article “Beyond the Classroom and Into the School Community” I emphasized the need of viewing the school as much more than what is offered within the walls of each classroom and the limits of each role. Instead, it should be seen as a community where everyone supports the sense of...

Recently I had the opportunity to observe an interesting session of a ten-year-old student with CHARGE Syndrome working at home with her speech and language therapist (SLT) and occupational therapist (OT). The purpose of this blog is to describe aspects of the session that reveal the therapists’...

For students who are deaf-blind, transitions are as important as the activities themselves. This may be difficult to understand for those who work with this population and for their friends and family because typically we tend to focus on the activity that we want to do with them and less on how...