“Intervention is not defined by the person acting as the Intervenor,
but rather by the needs of the person who is Deafblind.”
McInnes & Treffry (1993), Deafblind Infants and Children, A Developmental Guide, University of Toronto Press, Toronto.
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Deafblindness and Intervention Go Hand In Hand
The following is taken from Intervention - A Guide to Getting Started, (2002), Olson, J. (Ed.), A POPDB Publication, Richmond, BC.
Contributors: Kim Amiel, Barb Daley, Emma Dyck, Ellen Faustman, Gisela Froese, Lee Grant, Christine Herrick, Rebecca Hydamacka, Meg Johnson, Carol Lam, Robin Langin, Christine Larson, Patti McDougall, Brenda McGee, Tessie Rebello, Marlene Searls, Lenora Spencer, Darlene Waske
Intervention = Information
The greatest challenge for someone with deafblindness is gathering sufficient information to make sense of their world.
A person is considered to be deafblind, if they have a significant loss to both their vision and hearing, such that neither sense provides reliable access to information.
The Intervenor opens up the world for the learner who is deafblind by providing information that the individual would otherwise miss.
What Is Intervention?
Intervention is the process that takes place between the person who is deafblind and the person providing the support, the Intervenor. It is a very personal process directed and guided by the person with deafblindess. The Intervenor supplies the person who is deafblind with factual, nondistorted information about the environment. Based on the Intervenor’s knowledge of the needs of the person with deafblindness, the information is given in a way that is developmentally appropriate to the person’s level of learning and functioning. This enables the person with deafblindess to anticipate, make informed decisions and exercise control over his or her environment.
The role of the Intervenor is a very complex one. A good Intervenor is skilled in ensuring that the learner is an “informed” and “active” participant in every activity. Remember that the deafblind learner cannot learn simply by observing or listening to others. They must be directly involved in a very hands on manner in order to learn.
Intervention looks different with every person who receives it. The process is guided by each individual’s unique needs based on their own combination of visual and auditory strengths. It is the Intervenor’s job to determine what information the individual is able to gather on their own and what information they are missing, then fill in the gaps to ensure that the individual has enough clear information to make informed choices and decisions about their lives.
It is critical that the Intervenor provides a consistent presence in the learner’s life in order to gain their trust, and provide them with a safe base for exploration. It is through the establishment of this trust bond that the learner is motivated to reach out, to try new things, and to explore the world around them. The importance of this connection between the person who is deafblind and the Intervenor cannot be overemphasized - it lays the foundation for everything they do together.
Through this mutual feeling of trust and respect, the learner is motivated to learn, to explore, and most importantly to communicate. Communication does not come easily to the child who is born deafblind. For most hearing, sighted people, communication is a complex exchange of visual and auditory information, much of it at a very subtle level that we are often not consciously aware of. The deafblind learner has to be taught to communicate using a variety of methods that are adapted to meet each individual’s needs.
The first step in successful Intervention is to find ways to provide the individual with information, in a way that is going to make sense to them. In addition, the Intervenor must always be looking for opportunities to encourage the learner to be expressive, to make choices, to be actively involved in the communication process.
Exceptional Intervention is characterized by 6 key elements:
1. Establishing a trust bond with the individual who is deafblind, as a basis for motivation to learn and communicate, and ultimately to establish social connections.
2. Acting as a communication partner with the learner who is deafblind, in order to provide clear, non-distorted information, and to ensure that the child has control over their world by being an expressive communicator.
3. Ensuring that the learner is an active participant in every activity, and that he/she has the information needed to be an informed participant.
The Intervenors’ Motto is “Do with, not for!”
4. Helping the learner to explore, and communicate about the things that interest them by following the child’s lead and sharing in a two-way conversation about these interests.
5. Challenging the learner to think for his or herself, to problem solve.
6. Providing a constantly increasing range of experiences in an evolving and growing environment.
What Makes a Good Intervenor?
* The understanding that deafblindness is a unique disability.
* Understanding that the deafblind world is not deaf + (plus) blind, it is deaf x (times) blind, the effects of the combined visual and auditory losses are exponential.
* A desire to enter into the world of the child with deafblindness by offering a bond of trust.
* The ability to facilitate the gathering of information from the environment in a way that is meaningful to the learner.
* The creativity to seek ways of “DOING WITH, NOT FOR” the individual.
* Recognition that skills will be accomplished through hundreds if not thousands of consistent repetitions and routines.
* The ability to help individuals ANTICIPATE, become MOTIVATED, PARTICIPATE, COMMUNICATE and CONFIRM an understanding of an activity.
* Understanding that all interactions are an opportunity for communication to take place.
* The ability to encourage an awareness of the environment.
* The ability to encourage self awareness.
* The ability to promote problem solving.
* Allowing enough time for the individual to process information and respond.
* The ability to foster curiosity.
* Understanding how to provide a safe environment conducive to exploration and learning.
* A willingness to challenge the individual to progress and develop new concepts and skills.
* Encouraging relationships with peers and community members.
* Working to include the individual in a variety of experiences in a variety of settings.
* The ability to redirect an activity and follow the lead of the learner.
* Recognize individual learning styles.
* The ability to break down tasks into small portions.
* The ability to plan, organize and modify learning opportunities.
* Being respectful of the individual’s family, their desires and goals.
* Maintaining a positive working relationship with a variety of team members.
* Advocating for the needs of the individual currently and in the future.
* Willingness to share acquired knowledge about the deafblind world and intervention.
* Patience and a sense of humor to go with the flow.
Qualities of Good Communication as an Intervenor
* Make sure you are knowledgeable about the deafblind person, their residual vision and hearing ability, for example, which ear is better or which eye can see more.
* Be knowledgeable and familiar with sign language, gestures, fingerspelling, Braille and other communication systems. It is important to be at least 3 steps ahead of your learner. You can hold the learner back if you do not have the signs or communication symbol they need at your finger tips.
* Be comfortable using hand over hand, or hand under hand touch to communicate.
* Find ways to motivate the deafblind person to communicate, because no one will communicate unless they have a reason.
* Be a good observer, notice the person’s facial expression, body language and vocal attempts.
* Ensure that everyone is using consistent communication methods.
* Be persistent. Don’t give up.
* Be creative.
* Have a great sense of humour and be playful during the communications.
* Try different ways of communicating, use all of the individual’s senses to provide information - touch, smell, movement, as well as adapting materials to encourage the use of any residual vision or hearing that may be present.
* Encourage the learner’s peers to interact, this may help stimulate the deafblind individual to want to communicate.
* Wait for the deafblind person to process the information and give them time to respond.
* Be an advocate. Speak up for the deafblind person when someone misinterprets the message they are trying to send. Help others to understand how this person communicates.
Wisdom from Intervenors
To the world
you might be one person,
but to one person
you might be the world.
Unknown
Intervention isn’t dry, lifeless, perfect, totally structured or earth shattering. It is real life, fun, and a journey with an individual that you care about. It is the key that helps to open doors, resulting in the development of desire that will encourage the individual to step through the door with you. I am so grateful to be involved in this adventure and hope that I will be able to maintain the energy to do so for many years to come.
Christine Larson
I have learned the importance of observing, waiting, and giving time for the child I support to be an active participant and to try to fulfill the expectations I have of him. It really is a dance between the Intervenor and the individual, where the dance changes subtly everyday, even though most of the steps stay the same.
Ellen Faustman
Heart seems to be the key ingredient in being a successful Intervenor. I’ve been bitten by “the deafblind bug”. When you have been bitten, I assume the “bite” travels right through you and settles in your heart ... and thankfully, there is no cure!
Lenora Spencer
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Intervention is an ongoing process of learning, a journey one embarks on with every interaction with someone who is deafblind, one where you are constantly learning more. Most importantly, it is not the destination that is so important but the journey there. This also holds true for the person with deafblindness - the process is always more important than the product.
Intervention looks different for each individual who is deafblind. All the various aspects of Intervention flow together, overlapping, intertwining throughout every activity, an intricate tapestry of support.
The key to good Intervention is making sure the individual is an active participant. Ensure that the goals they are working towards are truly their goals - set them high, but be realistic. An Intervenor must constantly be offering choices, feedback and confirmation to the individual so that they can learn through their experiences. You have to BELIEVE that each individual has the ability to be a learner - and if we place limits on them, then we also place limits on ourselves.
The road to being an exceptional Intervenor is never ending. The curves and hills are a challenge, but the rewards are great. The rest stops along the way provide much joy and pleasure and everyday inspires me to walk a little more.
Ellen Faustman
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No matter how much information or lack of information I have about the child that I will be intervening with, it is important to see the child as a child first, and just let him teach me what I need to know about him. As his Intervenor, I am there to listen with my eyes, ears, mind, body and soul to what he has to tell me. Because his way of telling me is so different than the way that most of the seeing/hearing world communicates, I have to be very in tune with his style and level of communication. For this I just need to place myself into his world; to try to see, hear and sense it the way that he does.
Gisela Froese
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Self-determination is really about teaching the individual with deafblindness to think for themselves on whatever level that may be. It looks different for each person, but for each individual it will be empowering because they have some level of control. We all need that! We all need power. When an individual is making things happen by making choices, it helps others to see them as capable. My job as an Intervenor is to make sure I am building in opportunities for the person I support to think for his or herself.
Ellen Faustman
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Intervention is a process - an ongoing process, not to be rushed.
A person with deafblindness needs clear non-distorted information and cues to fully understand what is expected of them. Lack of interest may only be lack of information that has not been delivered.
Darlene Waske
Intervention does not happen in a vacuum.
I feel a need to share with others what a person with deafblindness needs to succeed in learning, growing, and becoming an informed participant in the world. The importance of advocacy as part of good Intervention can not be overemphasized.
Meg Johnson
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I increasingly see the importance of placing myself into the child’s world and having him teach me about himself and his wants and needs. Then I can use this information to bring into his world an awareness of what is happening in his environment and the valid role that his contribution makes in shaping and changing his environment.
It is crucial to be totally nonjudgemental and unbiased in the information that I bring to the learner I support. I have to rid myself of all my preconceived ideas of the world, and more importantly of my preconceived ideas about the person with deafblindness. I must attempt to put myself into his world. Based on my knowledge and understanding of how he perceives his world, it is then my responsibility to give him factual information at a level that he can comprehend so that he can take control of and be an active participant in his environment.
Gisela Froese
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Intervenors are like gardeners. Some may water seeds faithfully, never seeing anything appear above ground. Others willl continue to nurture young shoots and others will have the privilege of seeing this being blossom. No one can predict when it will bloom, or hurry it into blooming, but each person works with a belief in potential, and each gives while it is her time to give, and in her own way.
Meanwhile, that seed is doing its own work, all along, working with what is given. For quite some time it is a hidden progress, yet these are some of the most important stages of growth. The seed has the potential, and it inherently wants to do the work, but it is the gardener that helps the seed to make use of the rain, the fertilizer, the sun. It really is a partnership.
Barb Daley
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The Reverse Black Hole of Interaction Theory
The Intervenor through bonding and communication empowers the student in his continuously expanding universe, taking the learner who is deafblind from impulse power to warp speed. The student and Intervenor will go where no one has yet gone, always following the prime directive of “doing with, not for”.
Barb Daley
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I have been working with a 39 year old man living with deafblindness. He has taught me so many things over the years. Looking back to when we first met, I am struck by how much I had to learn about time, patience, and being a good observer. At first his world seemed so dark and silent. Through my observations and a desire to reach him, I realized how important it was to take every opportunity he gave me to enter his world, to share his experience. We will never stop learning new ways to enter his world. It took me over a year to understand how best to do this, and to be able to know that he trusted me. We became friends. He showed me his world and taught me to look at my sighted, hearing world in a different way. Through his facial expressions and his physical reactions he showed me when he really understood what I was communicating. He
showed me he has a great sense of humour, and how much he enjoyed life.
One story stands out in my memory. As a team we had worked so hard to set up a program to help him learn who and how many people he shared dinner with. Each person had something unique at mealtime, from a special plate to a raised area for eating. We decided to have him help set the table and hopefully make the connections between the special adaptations and the people who used them. It took months, but one day, he got it. He pulled the napkins out and found his way around the table feeling the different spaces smiling all the way. It was a great experience for all of our staff to witness what consistency and Intervention could do. The best part was knowing that the other residents and staff saw him as a capable individual who could learn and make connections.
Patti McDougal
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