1. Learn to use the “hand-under-hand” technique to communicate directly with the student. Place your hands under the learner’s hands and guide them with either signs or actions to learn about a given topic. The hands of a learner with deaf-blindness should be treated with as much care as the eyes of a sighted person, never poked or prodded. Use a cautious approach in initiating hand-under-hand by slowly sliding your hands into position. If the child moves away, it is a way of communicating, “Not now.” If the child allows the contact, it is an acceptance of your invitation to share an experience. Teaching this practice to all students will create an inclusive environment by giving them the opportunity to communicate with each other and their peer with deaf-blindness in a new, tactile way.
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2. Learn your name sign. This is a physical hand gesture that corresponds to your personal name or identity in some way; it is not a sequence of individual signed letters. If you don’t already have a name sign, it’s best to get one from a Deaf person, but an interpreter or other sign-language speaker may help in a pinch. When possible, students should also learn their own name signs and those of their peers. This sign can be used with the hand-under-hand technique to let the student know who they're interacting with. Once the student knows your name sign, they can also ask for you by name in class. This practice includes all students by giving them access to their own name in another language, and helping them to communicate directly with one of their peers.
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3. Both the teacher and students should interact in ways that respect everyone's unique needs and challenges. For students with deaf-blindness, this includes the use of touch cues, slow movements, pauses for processing time, and giving notice of the end of the interaction. This policy allows for students to be included in the respectful culture that you should be building in your classroom for every student, regardless of their individual differences.
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5. Limit the sensory environment. Competing stimuli, such as sights, smells, and sounds, that are not related to what students are learning can distract students and decrease student learning. Perform observations to see if students are responding to external stimulus in a way that indicates distraction. Remove sensory sources of distraction and keep the classroom environment focused on the learning task at hand. This practice provides for an inclusive space for all students to learn in a focused way.
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6. Accommodate vision impairments by providing optimum lighting. Many students with deaf-blindness will have some seeing ability, however limited. Help students learn to use their visual abilities by ensuring that the environment is brightly lit. Position lighting so that the learner does not create shadows while working, and remember that sudden lighting shifts may temporarily affect vision. A thoughtfully lit environment benefits and includes the whole class by providing a space where work can be done effectively and with minimum unnecessary difficulty.
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7. Accommodate vision impairments by reducing glare, which can impede vision and cause pain while looking. Glare can be reduced by: using blinds at windows, seating the learner with their back to the window, providing a hat with a bill, using a slant board for reading, or putting a rug on a shiny floor, among other things. Low-glare environments benefit all students by making the room more user-friendly and enjoyable to be in.
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8. Accommodate hearing impairments by ensuring clarity of sound. As with vision impairments, your student with deaf-blindness may not be profoundly deaf, but could instead retain some hearing ability. Ensure that hearing aids, cochlear implants, or other hearing assistance devices have batteries and are properly deployed. Speak clearly and face your audience so that sound is not muffled by bouncing off walls or other objects. Ensure that amplification devices such as microphones and classroom speakers are in working order and turned on at the appropriate time. Keeping sounds clear ensures that all students can participate in the auditory elements of the classroom.
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9. Enhance students' feelings of security and safety by following routines. All students benefit from having routines in place so that they can anticipate what is coming next. Teach routines by informing the students of the steps involved, the prompts used, and the rewards for following the routine. Students with deaf-blindness may feel exceptionally insecure in the classroom environment, and having routines in place and following them well is key to improving their sense of well-being and helping them learn. Inform students of the day's schedule at the start of the day, and if anything unusual or potentially frightening is going to take place, something that doesn't have an assigned routine, be sure to alert your student with deaf-blindness well in advance, so that the disruption of the norm will not cause undue alarm.
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10. Place students in the room strategically. All good teachers think strategically about where students will sit, considering things like social dynamics, sight lines, and quick physical access to students to create an inclusive, productive, and safe environment. Ensure students with deaf-blindness are seated appropriately to minimize sensory distractions and maximize their seeing or hearing abilities, if they have them. Ensure also that they are included in the social dynamics of the room. They should not be secluded far away from classmates or the teacher.
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