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Eligibility

The New England Center Deafblind Project defines deafblindness as follows:

“Children and youth having auditory and visual impairments, the combination of which creates such severe communication and other developmental and learning needs that they cannot be appropriately educated in special education programs solely for children and youth with hearing impairments, visual impairments or severe disabilities, without supplementary assistance to address their educational needs due to these dual, concurrent disabilities.”

Individuals from birth to age 22 who have any combination of the disabilities described below are eligible for technical assistance under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). The following descriptions and classification codes apply to the chart:

A. Individuals who may have multiple disabilities due to generalized nervous system dysfunction, with documented hearing loss and vision loss. The child's etiology may be progressive in nature.

B. Individuals who have sensory loss of both vision and hearing (low vision; mild to moderate hearing loss).

C. Individuals who have a sensory loss of both vision and hearing, one of which is severe and the other less severe (20/200 acuity or greater; 71-90 dB or greater).

D. Individuals who have sensory loss of both vision and hearing (low vision to total blindness; moderate to profound hearing loss).

E. Individuals who have significant sensory loss of both vision and hearing (legal blindness; severe or profound deafness).

* Cortical Vision Impairment (CVI): Individuals who have a documented visual impairment caused by the disturbance of the posterior visual pathways and/or the occipital lobes of the brain. The degree of visual impairment can range from minor visual impairment to total blindness.