Spotlight on Interveners
Washington state currently has five nationally certified interveners working with students who are deafblind, and an estimated ten paraeducators a year receiving informal or formal training toward becoming a trained intervener. We answer questions on this topic on a weekly basis.
A year ago, in January 2023, the U.S. Congress appropriated $1 million across all state deafblind projects and the National Center on Deafblindness to “strengthen support of the abilities and needs of children with deaf-blindness, including through intervener services.”
What is an intervener?
Trained interveners help schools meet the challenge of providing students who are deafblind with access to communication and information they are unable to gather via vision and hearing. Without access to communication and information, they will not be able to participate in the general education curriculum or receive a free and appropriate public education, as required by IDEA.
Please share this information with IEP teams—including family members—serving children who are deafblind. The team can then refer to an IEP guide to determine whether an intervener is appropriate for the individual student. Contact us if you have questions.
We hope you have a wonderful holiday season!
Sincerely,
Katie Humes, M.Ed.
Director, WA DeafBlind Project | Associate Director of Outreach/DeafBlind Program | Washington State School for the Blind | Washington Sensory Disabilities Services
