Special Announcement from TX SenseAbilities! New Family Initiative
Listen to the Article
Deaf-Blind Network Family Engagement Flyer
We know that families are the stable foundation of most children’s lives. TSBVI Outreach is committed to following the lead of our families and using the Deaf-Blind Network Family Engagement report as our guide for all of our Texas family engagement efforts (click on above link to access). It will take professionals learning together with families to deepen sensitivity and understanding of the unique experiences of families with children/young adults who are blind, have low vision, and are deafblind.
Family members are the most important people on the educational team and in the life of a child or youth with deaf-blindness. They are the one consistent presence as children move from early intervention to school, and then transition to adult life. Educational settings change and practitioners come and go, but the family is always there. National Center on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB)
TX SenseAbilities will share additional information from this DB initiative in our upcoming special issue. We hope that the information in the Deaf-Blind Network Family Engagement report found on the NCDB website will entice and encourage all of our readers to join us in our endeavors to support all families of students with disabilities throughout Texas.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to Edgenie Bellah, Family Engagement Coordinator for the Texas DeafBlind Program, for sharing the Deaf-Blind Network Family Engagement report, as well as the articles she has provided and written for our upcoming special issue. I also appreciate her meaningful explanation of the term engagement: she asked me what I would think or how I would feel if my son told me that he was involved with someone. Then she asked what I would think or feel if he told me he was engaged to someone. That difference is profound! Engagement is so much more significant—and serious! For professionals to be engaged in the work that we do is so much more important than just being involved. Please join me in being engaged in your children’s lives!