Family Specialists

If I can be more effective in my personal relationships with professionals we form a stronger alliance and bond of mutual trust. This does help improve services. I have seen services change because if teams trust me/my team they are much more willing to implement the suggestions we make.

~ Family Specialist

What is a Family Specialist?

Most of the deaf-blind projects have at least one person on staff that provides support and assistance to families of children who are deaf-blind. This person is usually called a Family Specialist or Family Consultant. This person is often the parent of a child who is deaf-blind. The role of the Family Specialist is to assist the deaf-blind project to understand the needs of families and help deliver assistance that is supportive and effective.

A few examples of family activities that are often provided by deaf-blind projects:

• Training for family members in the home, school or community
• Sharing information about deaf-blindness and services
• Providing one to one support for families
• Helping families connect to other families

Find out about your deaf-blind project's family services and if there is a Family Specialist in your state

Read Supporting Families: Training Family Support Specialists