All requests for child-specific technical assistance begin at the Foundational Technical Assistance level. A CDBS staff member will meet with you on the Zoom meeting platform to learn more about your child or student and determine your specific needs and expected outcomes. Based on this information, we will recommend trusted resources that other family members and/or educators have found to be useful. These resources may include any of the following:
- Open Hands, Open Access deafblind learning modules
- Webcasts
- Archived training videos
- Articles
- Fact sheets
- Other resources as identified.
It is likely that these resources will meet your needs and help you achieve your identified outcomes. If—after making complete use of these recommended resources—you and your assigned CDBS staff member determine that additional support is needed, CDBS will provide Targeted Technical Assistance.
Targeted Technical Assistance is typically provided to the entire educational team (i.e., educators and family members working together in partnership) to meet outcomes that have been determined to be too complex to be met solely through Foundational Technical Assistance. In some cases this level of technical assistance could be provided solely to an individual, although technical assistance delivered to well-functioning teams is typically more effective in improving student outcomes. Targeted Technical Assistance will include team meetings and training activities using the Zoom meeting platform. Targeted Technical Assistance represents a commitment by team members to improving educational practices (i.e., ongoing continuous improvement). Teams must meet a set of nationally recognized readiness indicators for child-specific technical assistance:
- Recognize a need for improvement in the child’s program.
- Agree about concerns and desired outcomes (e.g., the teacher, TVI, and family all agree about what the child needs).
- Have a positive attitude toward family–school collaboration.
- Are open to trying new ways of doing things.
- Recognize their own need for training related to deaf-blindness.
- See the advantages of the new practices and believe them to be better than other options (including what they are currently doing).
- View the new practices as being easy to understand and use.
- See the practices as having flexibility (i.e., can be adapted for changing situations or circumstances).
- There is a champion on the team—someone with influence who puts energy into supporting new practices.
In some cases, educational team members and CDBS may agree that more intensive support is needed in order to reach your identified outcomes. (See Intensive Technical Assistance below)
- Attitudes and beliefs
- Knowledge, and
- School characteristics.
These readiness indicators for Intensive Technical Assistance can be found at: https://www.nationaldb.org/media/doc/Readiness-Indicators.pdf.
Intensive Technical Assistance represents a minimum commitment of one year (academic or calendar) and will likely include onsite classroom observations, face-to-face training activities, and evaluation processes to assess programmatic change. Because onsite Intensive Technical Assistance activities necessitate the maximum use of CDBS staff time and limited travel funds, it is important that all team members, including administrators, demonstrate a commitment to improving educational results at both the child and system levels.
Designed for educational teams that successfully complete foundational and targeted TA and require this intensive/sustained level of TA in order to design and implement evidence-based strategies to best meet the needs of children and youth who are deafblind. Key features include:
- Agreement of entire team: family, teachers, specialists, and administrators.
- Minimum time commitment of one academic or calendar year.
- Onsite school and home-based TA and training activities as required.
- Commitment to programmatic and systemic change to meet clearly identified TA outcomes.
(If you are not able to see or access the form online, please contact Brian Devereux at devereux@sfsu.edu. )
Once we receive your request, we will assign a CDBS staff member to be your primary point of contact for your technical assistance activities.
Questions? Contact anyone at CDBS for help.
Frequently Asked Questions about
CDBS Technical Assistance Activities
The term "technical assistance" is not specifically about assistive technology. It is a term used in education, government, and industry to mean "consultation" or, at its most simple, "help."
CDBS technical assistance can pertain to anything related to deafblindness (e.g., communication and language, instructional activities, recreation, visual and auditory adaptations, transition to adulthood, etc.). Although it does not specifically relate to technology, CDBS technical assistance can address high and low-tech issues if this is an area of need for you.
CDBS technical assistance (TA) basically means consultation with CDBS staff to address specific challenges you are experiencing with a child or young adult who is deafblind. CDBS staff members understand the uniqueness of deafblindness and the profound impact that a combined vision and hearing loss can have on all areas of development. You might request technical assistance for a number of reasons. Here are some of the reasons individuals have requested CDBS technical assistance:
- Your child/student has been recently diagnosed with vision and/or hearing problems.
- You have concerns about a child/student’s hearing and/or vision.
- You have a new student in your classroom and aren’t sure how to best meet their needs.
- You are puzzled by one or more aspects of your child/student’s development.
- You need ideas on how the child/student can be more actively engaged in valued home and school activities.
Technical assistance is different from direct services and therefore technical assistance is not written into IEPs/IFSPs. Technical assistance is also different from assessments. In education, “assessment” is a legal term with specific definitions, processes, timelines, etc. Technical assistance can, however, support the assessment process in many cases.
CDBS staff members may request the following supporting documentation:
- IFSP or IEP
- Triennial IEP
- Most recent vision report
- Most recent audiological report
- Orientation and mobility assessment
- OT assessment
- Other assessments and reports as needed
If requested, please take whatever action is required by your
LEA or agency/program to be able to share these documents with CDBS.
USE THE LINK HERE, simply complete the CDBS Technical Assistance Online Request form through the text link.
(If you are not able to see or access the form online, please contact Brian Devereux at devereux@sfsu.edu. )
Once we receive your request, we will assign a CDBS staff member to be your primary point of contact for your technical assistance activities.
Questions? Contact anyone at CDBS for help.
CDBS Technical Assistance Online Request Form — English AND Spanish Language options