The term deafblind refers to a combined vision and hearing loss. It is also known as dual sensory impairment. Very few children identified as deafblind are totally deaf and totally blind, although some are. Most of the children who qualify as deafblind have some useful vision and/or hearing, which is very important to their daily functioning.
There is a wide range of cognitive and developmental ability among deafblind children, from gifted to profound multiple impairments. As many as 80% of the children identified as deafblind are reported to have additional disabling conditions. These include mental retardation, physical handicaps, social/emotional issues, and communication delays.
Because deafblindness is a combination of vision and hearing losses, there are as many possible combinations as there are individuals. For this reason, no two children with deafblindness are alike.
Communication and mobility are often the most affected areas of life for a person with deaf-blindness causing feelings of isolation and loneliness. Development of compensatory skills can help bridge this gap. Trainings and instructional strategies are available to parents and educators relative to communication and mobility. Upon request Arizona Deafblind Project provides assistance to families and schools to address individual needs.
Estimates indicate that there are approximately 40,000 people in the United States who are deaf-blind. A study by Teaching Research Division at Western Oregon State College has identified over 5,000 children and youth. It is estimated that this number could be as high as 11,000. It is generally believed that dual sensory impairment occurs in three of 100,000 births. There are many causes of deaf-blindness; Rubella, CHARGE Association, Usher’s Syndrome, genetic disorders, accident and illness are some of the more common ones.
Four critical factors which effect the severity of deafblindness on the child and his development are:
- age of onset
- degree and type of vision and hearing loss
- stability of each sensory loss
- educational intervention provided
- totally deaf and totally blind (no light perception, over 80 dB hearing loss)
- deaf and visually impaired (has residual vision, profound hearing loss)
- blind and hearing impaired (has residual hearing, no usable vision)
- vision impaired and hearing impaired- with vision the primary disability
- vision impaired and hearing impaired- with hearing the primary disability
Of the five senses, vision and hearing are the primary senses through which we collect information:
* as much as 80% of what we learn is learned visually, and,
* hearing is the basis of the communication/ language system that most people use.
When these two two major channels for receiving information are impaired or not functioning, it has far reaching effects on a child’s development in several areas:
- communication/language development
- movement & motor development
- cognitive development & the ability to learn
- emotional/social development
- body image & self concept
Individuals who are deafblind need early intervention and personal attention to stimulate their understanding and interest in the world around them. The information that most children pick-up naturally must be deliberately introduced to children with dual sensory impairment.
Educational Intervention Is Especially Important To Deafblind Children
Sensory experiences make us aware of our environment. They are the basis upon which we build our knowledge of the world, ourselves, and others. When people see or hear, they are stimulated to interact with the environment. Individuals with combined vision and hearing losses have limited access to sensory information, and may miss out on the incidental learning that other people automatically have access to through sight, hearing, and communication. These students will need to be taught many things that hearing and sighted children learn effortlessly.
Without direct intervention, there is a high probability that skills in movement, communication, concept development, and socialization will be difficult to develop. The formation of skills will require time and repetition. The earlier the onset of deafblindness, the more critical early intervention.
- there is no single profile of a deafblind child; degrees of vision and hearing loss vary greatly, and so do their effects on the child and his learning most deafblind children have, and make use of , some vision and hearing deafblind children communicate in a variety of different ways deafblind children can participate in almost any activity, although some children may need adaptations many deafblind children can learn to get around their communities independently deafblind children can be included in almost any teaching and family environment
Federal Definitions of Deafblindness
Federal legislation defines deafblind children as those having:
“auditory and visual impairments, the combination of which creates such severe communication and other developmental and learning needs, that they cannot be appropriately educated in special education programs solely for children and youth with hearing impairments, visual impairments, or severe disabilities, without supplementary assistance to address their educational needs due to these dual concurrent disabilities.”