On November 17, 2004, a bipartisan House-Senate conference committee approved a final special education reform bill that reauthorized the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and set in motion important reforms that helped teachers, parents, and schools ensure every student with disabilities receives a quality education. The bipartisan agreement is based on legislation authored by House Education Reform Subcommittee Chairman Mike Castle (R-DE) that passed the House in 2003 with bipartisan support. The measure includes reforms recommended in 2002 by President Bush's special education commission, as well as key elements of the IDEA reauthorization bill passed by the Senate in 2004. On December 3, 2004, the President signed IDEA 2004 and stated:

"All students in America can learn. That's what all of us up here believe. All of us understand we have an obligation to make sure no child is left behind in America. So I'm honored to sign the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, and once again thank the members for being here."

Family members are the most important people on the educational team and in the life of a child or youth with deaf-blindness.

They are the one consistent presence as children move from early intervention to school, and then transition to adult life. Educational settings change and practitioners come and go, but the family is always there. In this section of the website, you will find resources to help you:

Connect to agencies and organizations
Learn about deaf-blindness and key topics for families
Access family stories
Find events

Welcome to NCDB's Info Center. Here you will find information about deaf-blindness, educational practices for children and youth, and the National Child Count. Our goal is to help users find high-quality resources and avoid information overload.

Information includes links to a wide variety of resources—factsheets, websites, articles, videos—for families, service providers, and anyone else involved in the life of a child with deaf-blindness. We have also kept all of our popular legacy publications from previous OSEP-funded projects (see bottom of page).

If you are having trouble finding what you need, please email support@nationaldb.org.

Practice Guides
One of NCDB's current product development projects is the creation of practice guides that outline essential components of instructional practices commonly used with children who are deaf-blind. They are primarily intended as a tool for state deaf-blind project personnel and practitioners to inform training and coaching needs.

A key purpose is to let technical assistance providers or coaches and practitioners know what a practice involves when implemented correctly. The more clearly the components of an intervention are known and defined, the better it can be successfully implemented (Fixsen et al., 2013). NCDB Practice Guides also serve as quick reminders of the purpose and key elements of a practice. The guides are not intended to provide instruction on how to implement a practice and should be used in combination with technical assistance/coaching and information resources (e.g., factsheets, articles, videos, modules).

Accessibility & Accommodations
Assessments should be designed to ensure that all test takers have the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and skills on what the assessment is measuring. Critical to realizing this is providing accessibility features so that assessments are fair, valid, and reliable.

“Accessibility” is a general term currently used for three levels of supports. Universal features, which might include use of a highlighter for example, are available to all test takers. Designated features, which might include text-to-speech, are available to all students for whom an adult or team of adults has indicated a need for them. Accommodations are provided only to students with disabilities and English learners for content assessments (general and alternate), and only for English learners with disabilities for English language proficiency (ELP) assessments.

Accessibility policies are state-determined, and often vary by content area. Universal features, designated features, and accommodations may be embedded in technology-based assessments or may be provided by a human. The terminology used for the levels, and the specific features included in each level, may differ by state and by assessment.

We believe that all deaf people can THRIVE.GROW.BLOSSOM.
As deaf people leave high school and prepare for college or careers, the National Deaf Center wants them to succeed. Our research shows that deaf people are not completing college degrees, getting jobs, or earning as much as hearing people. We’re here to change that.

Find guides, templates, overviews, publications, videos and more. Our resources are developed by experts, covering a variety of topics to support evidence-based practices in postsecondary outcomes for deaf individuals.

This website provides a list of webinars on the topic of Deaf education.

The focus of many open education projects is to provide access to education. But what does access mean? If the materials are not accessible for each and every student, do they fulfill the mandate to deliver fully open education? The open education movement has helped people in different parts of the world access content that they would otherwise not be able to view or interact with. Open education resources reduce costs for students and allow for greater flexibility for instructors. Accessibility can help push the movement even further forward.

The goal of the OER Accessibility Toolkit is to provide the needed resources needed to each content creator, instructor, instructional designer, educational technologist, librarian, administrator, and teaching assistant to create a truly open and accessible educational resource — one that is accessible for all students.

This is a list of the IDEA Part B and Part C Leads for each state.

The purpose of providing accessible educational materials (AEM), formerly known as accessible instructional materials (AIM), is to ensure that all students with print disabilities have the opportunity to perceive the information contained in educational materials. This site is designed for Oklahoma educators, parents and students. AEM services offered throughout our state are outlined below.

The materials in this module -- including PowerPoint slides and a handout -- were developed for the Washington State Canvas Conference (WACC) 2019, co-presented by an Instructional Designer and OER Librarian. Therefore, the focus is on best practices of integrating UDL and OE principles and materials into Canvas courses. However, many concepts are basic and universal and could be adapted to any learning management system. These materials were also designed for a 60-minute session but could easily be adapted for a longer session or workshop. These materials were designed for educators already familiar with the basic concepts of UDL and OER.

Audio Books
Books come on cartridges that are customized to a user’s requests and preferences. There can be up to 8 books on each cartridge. You can add, remove, or update your preferences at any time by contacting our helpful staff at 800-452-0292 or talkingbooks.info@slo.oregon.gov.

Our Very Own Tree: Tactile Graphics and Slide Presentations
Science, literacy, tactile graphics, concepts, slide presentation, identifying/labeling pictures, and more all rolled into these tree-related activities!

Personalizing the Writing Experience

A person using both a paper notebook and pen alongside a laptop computer
We often take for granted just how complex the act of writing is, and the range of mental and motor skills it involves. While we each go about the process of writing in our own unique way, some distinct steps are typically involved: pre-writing, drafting, revising and editing.

You may experience barriers in any of these steps of the writing process that can keep you from being a successful writer. Fortunately, the devices many of us already own have a range of built-in features to support you at each stage of the writing process, and many free or low-cost apps and extensions are also available.

Information and video tutorials to help teachers and students take advantage of built-in features, apps and extensions on a variety of devices to support a personalized and accessible reading experience for everyone.

This document is a revised version of a document originally developed by the Chicago Office of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to clarify the requirements of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (Section 504) in the area of public elementary and secondary education. The primary purpose of these revisions is to incorporate information about the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 (Amendments Act), effective January 1, 2009, which amended the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and included a conforming amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that affects the meaning of disability in Section 504. The Amendments Act broadens the interpretation of disability. The Amendments Act does not require ED to amend its Section 504 regulations. ED’s Section 504 regulations as currently written are valid and OCR is enforcing them consistent with the Amendments Act. In addition, OCR is currently evaluating the impact of the Amendments Act on OCR’s enforcement responsibilities under Section 504 and Title II of the ADA, including whether any changes in regulations, guidance, or other publications are appropriate. The revisions to this Frequently Asked Questions document do not address the effects, if any, on Section 504 and Title II of the amendments to the regulations implementing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that were published in the Federal Register at 73 Fed. Reg. 73006 (December 1, 2008).

The purpose of the Protocol for Creating Accessible OER is to provide detailed yet easily implemented techniques for creating accessible OER with Microsoft Office and Google Workspace. These are the two most commonly used authoring suites in schools, and documents created with them are often the source files for other formats, such as PDF and EPUB publications.The techniques presented can be implemented by any educator who creates or adapts materials for use by students and families.

This course investigates the psychosocial aspects of vision loss. Coping techniques and issues of self-esteem are explored, along with principles of self-determination. Other topics include the psychosocial aspects of personal life management such as orientation and mobility, use of volunteers, sexuality, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Psychosocial issues specific to people from diverse cultures are also addressed.