Children and youth with deafblindness represent the quintessence of the populations that gave rise to special education: they are an extremely low incidence population, challenged as learners, and difficult to instruct under traditional conditions (National Council on Disability, 2000; Noel, Burke, & Valdividieso, 1985; U.S. Department of Education, 2016). The key feature of deafblindness is the combination of two sensory losses, limiting an individual’s access to both auditory and visual information and thus creating unique challenges for communication and education (DB-LINK, 2005). In recognition of the particular challenges faced by this population, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) has funded projects for over 40 years to try to meet the needs of these children and youth, their families, and the providers who serve them. For more than a decade, this support has taken the form of individual state and multistate projects in conjunction with a national center, the National Center on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB). In recent years, local districts have increasingly needed to rely on assistance from the state projects, as students with deafblindness have increasingly received services in districts rather than specialized schools (Parker, McGinnity & Bruce, 2011). In October 2013, ED’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) awarded grants to support a set of 48 State Deaf-Blind Projects.1 The State Deaf-Blind Projects are part of the Technical Assistance and Dissemination (TA&D) Program funded through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and administered by OSEP. The TA&D Program funds centers and projects to provide technical assistance, support model demonstration projects, disseminate useful information, and implement activities that are supported by scientifically based research. The Deaf-Blind Projects constitute approximately one-fifth of the TA&D Program’s annual expenditure. Each Project is 5 years in length and received funding from OSEP from $65,000 to $575,000 per year. The level of funding from OSEP per Project is determined by multiple factors, including the total number of children from birth through 21 in the state, the number of people in poverty, previous funding levels, and maximum and minimum funding amounts. OSEP’s intention is that the 48 Projects work as a collaborative network that can learn and benefit from one another as they carry out their work. As specified in ED’s request for grant applications, State Deaf-Blind Projects are intended to do the following:
• Provide technical assistance (TA) and training to personnel in schools and to early intervention services (EIS) providers, including “direct, targeted, and intensive TA”;
• Increase capacity of state departments of education, local education agencies, and other agencies to improve outcomes for children with deafblindness;
• Collaborate with federally funded parent centers and the National Center on DeafBlindness (NCDB); and
• Participate in the National Child Count, an annual data collection and registry of children and youth with deafblindness (Birth–21)
