Miss-Delectable
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The Morning Sun
Hearing encompasses speech, tone, rhythm and emotion, while vision takes in body language and context.
Now imagine that both those senses were taken away at birth and imagine how a child growing up would fit in with his or her peers or attend public schools or become independent.
At Central Michigan University DeafBlind Central works to provide free services to the more than 300 students with different combinations of hearing and vision loss.
”Kids that we are involved with come from a variety of settings, (such as) their home districts, a center school or the state school for the deaf," project director Beth Kennedy said. ”When children are born with combined vision and hearing loss, they face a lot of issues and communication is a major one. Movement, concept development and communication are things that have to be taught directly as opposed to incidentally learning them from the environment."
A recent grant from the U.S. Department of Education will help them continue their mission for another year.
DB Central received a $256,289 grant to provide free information, consultation, training and support for families and professionals, such as teachers, who are affected by children and young adults who are deaf-blind.
”If there is a professional team or family impacted by a deaf-blind child, then we can provide free services through this grant to make sure they have the knowledge and support they need to meet the children's needs," Kennedy said. ”Typical kids observe older siblings, parents and other adults and learn all sorts of things. But when they can't see or hear very well, that information must be brought directly to them."
Deaf-blind refers to a person who has a combined vision and hearing loss and often, additional disabilities. Complete vision and hearing loss is very rare, Kennedy said.
DB Central has roughly 300 students ranging in age from 0 to 26 years old who qualify for services across the state, but actively supports about one-fifth of that number at a time, Kennedy said.
”We provide consultation to whatever program they attend," Kennedy said. ”We make sure their individualized education plans are appropriate and geared towards their vision and hearing losses. Some of our students have graduated high school and there are some who have Ph.D.s. A lot depends on what their early education is like and how much support they received early on."
CMU first received a $1 million grant in 1999, through the psychology department, to operate DB Central for four years. Since the first grant, the operation qualified for renewed funding twice more after satisfying federal standards.
For more information on DB Central, go to DbCentral.
Hearing encompasses speech, tone, rhythm and emotion, while vision takes in body language and context.
Now imagine that both those senses were taken away at birth and imagine how a child growing up would fit in with his or her peers or attend public schools or become independent.
At Central Michigan University DeafBlind Central works to provide free services to the more than 300 students with different combinations of hearing and vision loss.
”Kids that we are involved with come from a variety of settings, (such as) their home districts, a center school or the state school for the deaf," project director Beth Kennedy said. ”When children are born with combined vision and hearing loss, they face a lot of issues and communication is a major one. Movement, concept development and communication are things that have to be taught directly as opposed to incidentally learning them from the environment."
A recent grant from the U.S. Department of Education will help them continue their mission for another year.
DB Central received a $256,289 grant to provide free information, consultation, training and support for families and professionals, such as teachers, who are affected by children and young adults who are deaf-blind.
”If there is a professional team or family impacted by a deaf-blind child, then we can provide free services through this grant to make sure they have the knowledge and support they need to meet the children's needs," Kennedy said. ”Typical kids observe older siblings, parents and other adults and learn all sorts of things. But when they can't see or hear very well, that information must be brought directly to them."
Deaf-blind refers to a person who has a combined vision and hearing loss and often, additional disabilities. Complete vision and hearing loss is very rare, Kennedy said.
DB Central has roughly 300 students ranging in age from 0 to 26 years old who qualify for services across the state, but actively supports about one-fifth of that number at a time, Kennedy said.
”We provide consultation to whatever program they attend," Kennedy said. ”We make sure their individualized education plans are appropriate and geared towards their vision and hearing losses. Some of our students have graduated high school and there are some who have Ph.D.s. A lot depends on what their early education is like and how much support they received early on."
CMU first received a $1 million grant in 1999, through the psychology department, to operate DB Central for four years. Since the first grant, the operation qualified for renewed funding twice more after satisfying federal standards.
For more information on DB Central, go to DbCentral.
