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Dear Beth Kennedy,
We were so honored to have so many professionals who work with our children during our Town Hall meeting on Thursday night. Beth Kennedy was one of those professionals. We are thrilled to share this article from Dr. Beth Kennedy:
I am writing to you as the Director of the Central Michigan University DeafBlind Intervener (DBI) Training Program to offer some information in this time of uncertainty. You are probably hearing about how the proposed FY26 budget for the U.S. Department of Education will eliminate many support programs and services for children and young adults who are DeafBlind. It is easy to feel overwhelmed by all of it, and I want to help clarify what the elimination of the National Center on Deafblindness and state DeafBlind projects will mean for the intervener model that is only starting to take hold in the U.S. To be honest, I think that the intervener model cannot grow, strengthen, and flourish without the national center and the state projects. First, you may want to learn more about interveners.
I run a higher education training program for interveners, but I believe that there has to be a variety of ways to train interveners in order to meet the needs in different states, and to satisfy the learning styles and needs of the people who want to become interveners. Before proceeding, you might want to learn more about how interveners are trained. In general, some interveners are trained in colleges or universities and others are trained using modules, structured workshops, etc. Regardless of how they are trained, intervener training and the intervener model in the U.S. rely heavily on state DeafBlind projects and the National Center on Deafblindness (NCDB).
Interveners and State DeafBlind Projects:
- State DeafBlind projects recruit almost all of the student interveners in the CMU training program as well as most other training programs
- Training programs that require coaching for interveners, like the DBI program I run, rely heavily on state DeafBlind project staff to conduct the coaching
- Many DeafBlind projects offer trainings and professional development to recruit new people who want to be trained and to offer continuing education for those who have the national certificate or the national credential
- The state project trainings also offer opportunities for networking for interveners and others; networking reduces isolation-- interveners should not work in isolation
- Staff from state DeafBlind projects contact me regularly to learn more about promoting the intervener model in their states
- Some state DeafBlind projects offer an alternative training pathway for interveners- not all people who aspire to become an intervener want to take college coursework
- A couple of states have succeeded in establishing interveners and Teachers of the DeafBlind- most have not, so state DeafBlind projects offer training in deafblindness so that other members of the team know how to support interveners
- All state DeafBlind project maintain a census of children and young adults who are DeafBlind, information that is critical to changing systems and informing policies, such as special education rules at the state-level that include interveners
The projects go by a variety of names. If you have not accessed services or are not sure what yours is called, find out more about your state DeafBlind project.
Interveners and the National Center on Deafblindness (NCDB):
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A wealth of information and a variety of resources about interveners are made available on the NCDB website. Visit the NCDB website.
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Administrators can access information about the intervener model, hiring interveners, etc. from a page developed specifically for them. Check out Tools to Employ and Support Interveners.
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The national center maintains the Open Hands, Open Access (OHOA) intervener training modules; learn more about the OHOA modules.
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The national center has coordinated the development of three teacher training modules; learn more about the NCDB teacher modules.
- State DeafBlind project staff learn from, and support each other through the efforts of the national center, such as through the Intervener and Qualified Personnel work group
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NCDB combines all of the census data collected by the states, so that there we have national numbers that can inform policies and legislation on the national-level, such as the inclusion of interveners in proposed legislation, like the Helen Keller Education Act.
I know that some parents are frustrated that the intervener model has not reached their state or local district yet. Systems change takes time, requires all of us to work together, and will probably look different in every state. I believe that the loss of state DeafBlind projects and NCDB as a result of the proposed budget will be a huge set back to the progress, we are making around advancing the intervener model across the United States. Simply put, the intervener model and intervener training as we know it in the United States would not be possible without state DeafBlind projects and the National Center on Deafblindness (NCDB). Now is the time for families to use their voices.
I know that this is a lot. If you have questions about interveners or intervener training, please feel free to email me. Don’t panic- act!
- Beth
YOU CAN ACT NOW!
1. Sign the petition to save IDEA Part D for FY2026 appropriations and to reach our Congress representatives.
2. Use the link below to find your "Who Represents You", you type your address and it identifies your Representative and Senators. Email or call their offices and tell them to save the DeafBlind programs in IDEA, Part D.
Sign the Petition
Who Represents You?
Strong together!
National Family Association for DeafBlind
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