Title page
Contents
Acknowledgments 5
Executive Summary 11
Chapter 1. Evaluation Background and Design 19
Overview of Deafblindness in the U.S 20
Evaluation Questions 20
Samples and Data Collection 23
State Deaf-Blind Project Grantee Survey 23
Direct Service Provider Survey 24
Extant Data on OSEP Deaf-Blind Program Funds 25
Data Analysis 26
Summary of the Design of the Evaluation 26
Chapter 2. Activities, Services, and Collaboration among State Deaf-Blind Projects 28
EVALUATION QUESTION 1: What technical assistance and dissemination activities do State Deaf-Blind Projects provide and how does this vary across the states? 30
Services State Deaf-Blind Projects Provide and Topics They Address 30
State Deaf-Blind Project Activities in the Area of Systems Capacity-Building with Their State Department of Education 37
State Deaf-Blind Projects' Activities in the NCDB Initiatives Areas 38
EVALUATION QUESTION 2: How do State Deaf-Blind Projects collaborate with other organizations in their state, with other TA providers, and across the network of State Deaf-Blind Projects? 44
State Deaf-Blind Projects' Collaboration with State, Regional and National Organizations 44
Collaboration among State-Deaf Blind Projects 46
Chapter 3. Direct Service Providers' Needs for Technical Assistance and Their Satisfaction with Services from State Deaf-Blind Projects 50
EVALUATION QUESTION 3: What are the needs for TA among direct service providers who work with children and youth with deafblindness? 54
Direct Service Providers' Needs for Assistance in Working with Children and Youth with Deafblindness 54
Alignment Between Direct Service Providers' Needs and State Deaf-Blind Projects' Activities 56
Variation in the Extent to Which Direct Service Providers' Need for Information or Support to Work with Children and Youth with Deafblindness Is Being Met Through Any Source 60
EVALUATION QUESTION 4: How satisfied are direct service providers with services received from the State Deaf-Blind Projects? 64
Direct Service Providers' Satisfaction with Support Received from Their State Deaf-Blind Project 64
Variation in Direct Service Providers' Satisfaction with Support from Their State Deaf-Blind Project 67
References 70
Appendix A. 2013 National Child Count of Children and Youth Who Are Deaf-Blind 72
Appendix B. State Deaf-Blind Project Grantee Survey 73
Appendix C. Direct Service Provider Respondents by Region 100
Appendix D. Direct Service Provider Survey 101
Appendix E. Supporting Data Tables 123
Exhibits
Exhibit ES-1. Technical assistance products and services that Projects provided, and those for which demand exceeded Project resources 14
Exhibit ES-2. Percentage of State Deaf-Blind Projects that collaborated with other Projects in creating a product, program, or service together 15
Exhibit ES-3. Extent to which direct service providers' need for information and support to work with children and youth with deafblindness was being met, through any source 16
Exhibit ES-4. Direct service providers' satisfaction with the overall support received from their State Deaf-Blind Project 17
Exhibit 1-1. The evaluation's main questions and sub-questions 22
Exhibit 1-2. Evaluation questions, purpose, data source, and respondents 27
Exhibit 2-1. Administrative location of State Deaf-Blind Projects 28
Exhibit 2-2. Percent of State Deaf-Blind Projects receiving different types of non-OSEP support 29
Exhibit 2-3. Technical assistance products and services that Projects provided, and those for which demand exceeded Project resources 31
Exhibit 2-4. Mean number of technical assistance service areas identified as ones for which demand exceeds resources, by total annual Project funding 32
Exhibit 2-5. Percentage of State Deaf-Blind Projects that reported providing TA on specific topics 33
Exhibit 2-6. Percentage of State Deaf-Blind Projects that reported providing customized support to different types of people, organized by type or location, and those who are among the top three recipients... 34
Exhibit 2-7. Primary way that child-specific technical assistance is initiated 35
Exhibit 2-8. Reasons State Deaf-Blind Projects might not provide child-specific technical assistance to service providers or parents for a child or youth identified as deafblind 36
Exhibit 2-9. State Deaf-Blind Project activities in capacity building with their State Department of Education 37
Exhibit 2-10. Brief description of five NCDB initiatives on which the evaluation focused 38
Exhibit 2-11. State Deaf-Blind Project activities in the area of Family Engagement 39
Exhibit 2-12. State Deaf-Blind Project activities in the area of Intervener Services 40
Exhibit 2-13. State Deaf-Blind Project activities in the area of Early Identification 41
Exhibit 2-14. State Deaf-Blind Project activities in the area of Literacy 42
Exhibit 2-15. State Deaf-Blind Project activities in the area of Technology Solutions 43
Exhibit 2-16. State Deaf-Blind Project collaboration with state, regional and national organizations 45
Exhibit 2-17. Percentage of State Deaf-Blind Projects providing information and training to one another 46
Exhibit 2-18. Percentage of State Deaf-Blind Projects receiving information and training from one another 47
Exhibit 2-19. Average number of other Projects in the network to which State Deaf-Blind Projects have provided information and training, by level of total annual Project funds 48
Exhibit 2-20. Collaboration among State Deaf-Blind Projects in creating a product, program, or service together 49
Exhibit 3-1. Background characteristics of direct service providers who participated in the survey 51
Exhibit 3-2. Number of children and youth with deafblindness with whom direct service providers work 52
Exhibit 3-3. Age and communication level of the children and youth with deafblindness with whom direct service providers work 53
Exhibit 3-4. Percentage of direct service providers who work with children and youth with deafblindness reporting a need for information or support in different areas 55
Exhibit 3-5. Percentage of direct service providers who work with children and youth with deafblindness and had a need for support on a topic, but work in a state where the State Deaf-Blind Project did not offer support on the topic 57
Exhibit 3-6. Sources to which direct service providers commonly turned to access information and support on how to work with children and youth with deafblindness 58
Exhibit 3-7. Extent to which direct service providers' need for information and support to work with children and youth with deafblindness were being met, through any source 59
Exhibit 3-8. Percentage of direct service providers reporting that their need for information or support was completely or nearly completely met, by receipt of customized support from their State Deaf Blind Project 61
Exhibit 3-9. Percentage of direct service providers reporting that their need for information or support is completely or nearly completely met, by profession 62
Exhibit 3-10. Percentage of direct service providers reporting that their need for information or support was completely or nearly completely met, by specialization in working with children and youth with deafblindness 63
Exhibit 3-11. Direct service providers' satisfaction with the overall support received from their State Deaf-Blind Project 65
Exhibit 3-12. Percentage of direct service providers who agree or disagree that different characteristics describe the customized support received from their State Deaf-Blind Project 66
Exhibit 3-13. Percentage of direct service providers reporting that they are very satisfied with support received from their State Deaf-Blind Project, by profession 67
Exhibit 3-14. Percentage of direct service providers reporting that they are very satisfied with support received from their State Deaf-Blind Project, by specialization in working with children and youth with deafblindness 68
Exhibit 3-15. Percentage of direct service providers reporting that they were very satisfied with support received from their State Deaf-Blind Project, by total annual Project funding 69
Appendix Exhibits
Exhibit A-1. Number of children and youth identified with deafblindness through the Child Count ages 0-21, by state, December 2013 72
Exhibit C-1. Distribution of direct service providers who participated in the survey by region 100
Exhibit E-1. OSEP funds and external funds per year, by State Deaf-Blind Project 124
Exhibit E-2. Percentage of State Deaf-Blind Projects providing child-specific technical assistance to children and youth of different ages 125
Exhibit E-3. Comparison of background characteristics between State Deaf-Blind Project-identified respondents and district or school-identified respondents 126
Exhibit E-4. Percentage of direct service providers reporting different types of support from their State Deaf-Blind Project 127
Exhibit E-5. Number of direct service providers who received customized support, by the source by which they were nominated for the survey 128
Exhibit E-6. Percentage of direct service providers reporting locations in which customized support was received 128
Exhibit E-7. Direct service providers' reports of the number of children and youth with deafblindness for whom they received child-specific support from their State Deaf-Blind Project since September 2013 129
Exhibit E-8. First year of contact between direct service providers and their State Deaf-Blind Project 129
Exhibit E-9. Comparison between State Deaf-Blind Project-identified respondents and district or school-identified respondents on satisfaction with overall support received from their State Deaf-Blind Project, based on... 130
Exhibit E-10. Comparison between State Deaf-Blind Project-identified respondents and district or school-identified respondents in the percentage reporting they "strongly agree" with individual dimensions of satisfaction... 131