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The National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB) is a national technical assistance and dissemination center for children and youth who are deaf-blind.

There seems to be some confusion as to what Response to Intervention is and how teachers and schools can use this approach to help children. So, let’s start with some basics: RTI is not an action verb. You cannot RTI a student to support his or her learning and behavioral needs. RTI is not a place or a room in your school; you cannot send a student to the RTI room. So what exactly is RTI, then? RTI was added to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 2004 and became part of the nation’s approach to identifying and helping students who are struggling academically or behaviorally in school. It is a multi-tier approach to the early identification and support of students with learning and behavior needs. Struggling learners are provided with interventions at increasing levels of intensity to accelerate their rate of learning, and you, general education teachers, special educators, and specialists, provide th0se services.

We as parents spend a lot of time advocating for our children when they are young. However, there comes a time when our children become older and they have to learn how to advocate for themselves; knowing when the time is right will depend on your child. If your child is still attending elementary school, they are most likely NOT mature enough to participate. For those of you who have children in middle school, now is the time to think about the prospect of someday having your child attend their own IEP meeting.

You’ve probably heard a lot about this new initiative in education called the Common Core State Standards(CCSS). What’s it all about? How does it relate to you as an educator, administrator, or parent? How does it apply to students, especially those with disabilities? This resource page will help you find answers to questions such as these.

The longer there is a strong distinction between general and special education, the worse it is for students who are labeled with a disability. It perpetuates the language of us and them. These two worlds need to meet and the sooner they meet, the better. I will try to make it as simple as possible. In my opinion, there are the three things that need to happen in order for our schools to become better for all learners. Back to top Making things better for all 1) Acceptance – Create environments of acceptance in the classroom. We may not all be the same, but we are all deserving of understanding and acknowledgement of our strengths. 2) Access – A curriculum that is accessible to all learners! Modifications, accommodations and assessment are the key components to giving our students with special needs access to the general curriculum. 3) High Expectations – Never assume that what we are teaching is going over our students’ heads. This sells us (as educators) and them (as learners) short. We must always presume competence of our students and give them the support that they need in order to be successful. Oh…and I forgot about the wildcard: Technology! Assistive technology is often the missing piece to getting a reliable communication system for our students; not to mention accessing the curriculum by moving beyond paper and pencil work. The farther technology advances, the more access our students will be able to have.

With rare exception, instructional aides, paraprofessionals, or educational assistants — whatever we want to call them — are typically not placed in a specific place because they have had specific training. That is, people are placed in rooms by rank or seniority, often with little training, and sometimes against their desires. But within the constraints of a formal school environment, what choice do they have?

This resource page addresses one aspect of development that’s important not to ignore with children with or without disabilities—the development of sexuality.  There’s so much to know and consider on this subject–what sexuality is, its meaning in adolescent and adult life, and the responsibilities that go along with exploring and experiencing one’s own sexuality. 

There are many types of speech and language disorders that can affect children. Over one million students are being served in our schools under the speech or language impairment category of IDEA, the law that authorizes special education. Do you have a student in your classroom who struggles with articulation, fluency, voice, or language? Is the student’s academic performance being negatively affected? This blog will give you 8 tips to help support students in your class who have speech or language impairments.

Welcome to our new training curriculum on early intervention! The full curriculum isn’t done yet, but we are pleased to make three modules available for your reading, downloading, and training use, and have many more on the way.

More than 132,000 students with multiple disabilities receive special education and related services in our public schools. Is there a child with multiple disabilities in your class? He or she clearly has special learning needs, so how is teaching this student different than teaching a student with just one disability? How can you address the student’s learning needs in positive and effective ways that will help the student learn? If you are looking for ideas on how to address these questions and others, this blog is for you!

The individual education program (IEP) is of critical importance to educators, parents, and students. Through the IEP process school-based teams (a) assess the educational needs of a student, (b) develop meaningful and measurable goals that direct the student’s program, (c) develop and implement a program of special education and related services, and (d) monitor the student’s progress toward his or her goals. Our purpose in this article is to review the legal requirements in developing, implementing, and evaluating the IEP; examine the research that has been conducted on IEPs; and discuss the implications of the law and research for school-based teams in developing IEPs.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) of 2004 makes significant and controversial changes to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Two very significant changes in this law are provisions that (a) allow school districts to spend up to 15% of their IDEA Part B funds on early intervening services in general education settings and (b) prohibit states from requiring that school districts use discrepancy formulas to determine if students are eligible for special education services in the category of learning disabilities. Additionally, Congress recommended that school districts use a response to intervention procedure in both early intervening services and for the identification of students with learning disabilities. In this article we first describe two significant reports that recommended that Congress abandon the current eligibility system in special education for students with high-incidence disabilities. Second we explain how Congress and the U.S. Department of Education changed the special education eligibility system for learning disabilities in the IDEIA and the regulations that implemented the IDEIA. Third we review due process hearings and court cases that have addressed response to intervention. Fourth we offer recommendations to teachers, administrators, and teacher trainers to ensure that they meet the letter and spirit of these new requirements of the IDEIA.

Some of the listings below identify camps available to all children, while some are especially for children who have disabilities. It is also very likely that your community has summer camps or recreational opportunities available that you won’t find listed here.