Vermont Sensory Access Project (VSAP)

Vermont Sensory Access Project: Vermont’s Deafblind Project

The Vermont Sensory Access Project (VSAP) was a free, federally funded, statewide resource that designed to improve the quality of services available to Vermont children and youth with combined vision and hearing loss.

Current Status: Completed

At the close of September 2018, The Vermont Sensory Access Project (VSAP), formerly known as Vermont’s Deafblind project, finished its final days of being housed at the Center on Disability and Community Inclusion. Weeks earlier, VSAP’s project director Emma Nelson started her own new adventures out West with her family. As CDCI cycles through projects and personnel, there is a bittersweetness as we have to say goodbye to friends and permit room for new relationships and services to bloom.

Project History

VSAP, the DeafBlind Project, and Vermont

The Deafblind project came to CDCI in 1987 and has helped to augment services provided by the Vermont I-Team as well as other Vermont vision and hearing service-providing agencies. This U.S. Department of Education-funded project works to increase the capacity of educational and early intervention teams, including families, in order to improve the lives of Vermont learners who have vision and hearing impairments. This technical assistance and training also works to prepare individuals for success after school.

The combination of hearing and vision impairment is often referred to as “dual sensory impairments” as well as “deafblindess.”

In 2013, the project underwent a name change from the Vermont Deafblind Project to the Vermont Sensory Access Project. This change came about in order to use language that was more inclusive and centered around access instead of impairment. While the name changed, the goal, to serve all children who need specialized supports for learning related to combined vision and hearing loss, has always been the same.

Changing Tides

Challenges with funding for infrastructure and personnel often occur throughout the cycle of projects. The five-year cycle of this project’s funding ended in September of 2018. After a year of planning and problem solving, the project team decided the best way to support the more than 30 Vermont students who are Deaf-Blind was to support the New England Consortium of Deaf-Blind Projects.

Project Activities

VSAP collaborates with the I-Team, the I-Team Early Intervention Project, the Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, 9 East Network: Vermont Program for Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Children’s Integrated Services- Early Intervention, and the Vermont Agency of Education to:

  • Identify children with combined vision and hearing loss as early as possible:
    • VSAP has the responsibility of identifying all children in Vermont who have, or are at risk of having, dual sensory impairments (deafblindness). Once a child is identified in the Census, it allows the project to follow the educational progress of that child from early intervention through exiting school as a young adult. Each year a student is included in the Census, their families and team members are offered supports and resources by the Project to address their sensory access needs.
  • Provide support and networking opportunities for family and team members.
  • To provide quality technical assistance and training to families to strengthen home-community-school partnerships
    • Using research based practices and technology, The Vermont Sensory Access Project helps to provide interdisciplinary technical assistance and training to families and educational team members of students with dual sensory impairments. Visit the AT Tryout Center for examples and more information on Assistive Technology.
  • To collaborate with statewide partners to support the education of children and young adults with combined vision and hearing loss and to provide quality technical assistance to early intervention and school teams in the use of evidence-based practices to improve educational outcomes and to improve access to the grade level general education curriculum.
    • This initiative pairs VSAP with the I-Team to provide technical assistance and training to teams and families in the planning and delivery of effective instruction to improve learning outcomes for learners who are deafblind. Through specific tools and collaborative teaming, the educational team and family work together to develop strategies to support learners who are deafblind in achieving general education outcomes with appropriate individualized supports and accommodations.
  • To provide intensive training and technical assistance to teams in the development and implementation of intervener services:
    • VSAP works with local teams including the family to support the increase of knowledge around the unique learning needs of individuals with combine vision and hearing loss. Intervener.org defines an intervener as a person who “works consistently one-to-one with an individual who is deafblind” and “who has training and specialized skills in deafblindness.” VSAP’s goal is to increase the number of interveners and professionals with training in deafblindness in the state to enhance educational and developmental outcomes.
  • Provide intensive training and technical assistance to teams and families in the area of Transition Planning for learners who are deafblind age 14 or older.
  • Collaborate and coordinate with local, state, and national agencies to increase awareness of the unique needs of learners who are deafblind and to inform policy development related to their needs in Vermont.

What’s Ahead

This project will continue in the hands of the three agency partners who have been supporters of VSAP and the DeafBlind population, including Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, CDCI’s I-Team and I-Team Early Intervention projects. In collaboration with Early Intervention Part C and the Agency of Education, these entities will be working with the New England Consortium of DeafBlind Projects. This New England Consortium already includes Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.

The new grant is led by Tracy Evans Luiselli at the New England Consortium, and Vermont’s Nine East Network’s Greg Weisel is providing training and TA to Vermont schools. CDCI will continue to be involved with the work of VSAP’s newest iteration, especially through the work of the I-Team and I-Team Earlyl Intervention projects.

We are thankful for all of the opportunities, challenges, personnel, and expertise that hosting this project for 31 years provided, and we look forward to seeing it and our Center grow in the years to come.

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