Open Hands, Open Access (OHOA): Deaf-Blind Intervener Learning Modules

OHOA online modules are a national resource designed to increase awareness, knowledge, and skills related to intervention for students (ages 3 through 21) who are deaf-blind and being served in educational settings. Come join the Washington Cohort series which is tailored specifically for our State’s unique needs. Training modules are free, self-paced, and offer clock hours.

Teams or individuals are encouraged to register:

  • Paraeducators

  • Interveners

  • Teachers, TVIs and TODs

  • OTs, PTs, SLPs

  • Administrators responsible for paraeducator training for children with complex needs

  • IEP teams of children with significant support needs

Modules you can register for this session:

–Welcome and Orientation for Cohort (Open January 22 – April 14)

–Module 1: An Overview of Deaf-Blindness and Instructional Strategies (January 22 – February 11)
–Module 2: The Sensory System, the Brain, and Learning (February 12 – March 3)
–Module 3: The Role of Interveners in Educational Settings (March 4 – March 24)
–Module 5: Availability for Learning (March 25 – April 14)

Each module is available 24/7 for three weeks, and then closes, as listed above.

Registration will close January 12, 2024, or when registration is full.

Fall Modules

The OHOA series will be available for clock hours in Fall 2024 (Oct-Dec). Please check for registration link in August / September 2024. Thank you!

Participant Quote:

“I’ve been thinking about my student since I started this module. I realize that she has been left alone without the support she needs. Because of her physical limitations, it has been difficult for us to find activities to keep her engaged. Her limited vision, profound deafness, and adverse reaction to tactile information…we have had many unsuccessful engagements.

I have started working with her by incorporating activities using some and/or all her senses. She particularly responds well to “touch” which is something that she refused in the past. I have learned to build my relationship with her and to know when a situation or lesson is becoming stressful for her, which in the past, I’ve failed to notice. Our time together is becoming more productive and she has been more engaged than she ever was before.”

– Teacher of the Visually Impaired/O&M Specialist

Note: as with any educational resource, the modules alone do not constitute a formal training program. Completion of the modules in isolation from a training program does not result in one becoming a trained intervener.

Learn more about steps to become an intervener >