TITLE: Welcome to the National Center on Deafblindness

Narrator:
The National Center on Deafblindness.
Our mission is to improve the services, educational results, and quality of life for children age birth to 21 who are deafblind and their families.
Today in the US, there are about ten-thousand children who've been identified as deafblind. And no two are alike. They vary in ways like the cause of deafblindness, level of sensory loss, and additional disabilities. Because it's so individualized, services and support must be designed to meet each child's unique needs and abilities.
As a national technical assistance and information center, NCDB is part of and collaborates with a network of projects that helps those who support children and youth with deafblindness.
Our key focus is to assist state deafblind projects in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, the Pacific Basin, and the Virgin Islands.  We support their efforts to provide a range of services, from child-specific assistance to system-wide efforts to create or improve state and local services.
For more than 45 years, the Department of Education has supported this work. And today, thanks to funds from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, we’ve expanded our services and the deafblind network by partnering with other high-impact organizations -- each with extensive expertise in the highly specialized field of deafblindness.
Most of NCDB's goals and services are aligned with four national initiatives, 

Family Engagement helps families partner with service providers and advocate for their children.
Identification and Referral works to identify and refer children with deafblindness for appropriate services as early as possible.
The Interveners and Qualified Personnel initiative focuses on personnel development and promoting the use of interveners and teachers of the deafblind.
 
And the Transition initiative helps to enhance the educational opportunities and planning that result in a meaningful adult life. We also keep track of the demographic details of children with deafblindness. With our National Deafblind Child Count we annually compile, analyze, and publish this valuable data.

The Child Count and a wealth of other resources can be found on our extensive website, which includes a comprehensive collection of free products, tools, and materials.


Included are webinars, training modules, and information on high-quality instructional practices. The National Center on Deafblindness, working together to improve educational results and quality of life for children who are deafblind and their families. To learn more, visit nationaldb.org.