Deborah Telfer, PhD
Project Director and Principal Investigator
Deb Telfer joined the project in March of 2011 and oversees all aspects of the project as well as other initiatives coordinated through the University of Cincinnati Systems Development and Improvement Center. Prior to joining the university, she served as executive director of the Ohio Department of Education’s (ODE’s) Center for School Improvement where she was responsible for the development and growth of Ohio’s statewide system of support. In addition, Deb worked as the associate and interim director of ODE’s Office for Exceptional Children.
Lynne Hamelberg, PhD
Family Information & Outreach Specialist
Lynne joined the Ohio Center for Deafblind Education in April of 2016 after serving as a director of special education in Ohio for many years. Lynne supports Tier I dissemination and outreach efforts and provides consultation and technical assistance to families of children with combined hearing-vision loss. She coordinates the annual parent retreat and works in collaboration with the project’s deafblind education consultants to plan and deliver training and professional development to families, school district and agency personnel, and others.
Linda Bass-Johnoff, MEd
Consultant
Linda Bass Johnoff is an Educational Consultant, working with the Ohio Center for Deafblind Education and the Ohio Partnership for Excellence in Paraprofessional Preparation where she provides consulting services to districts, educational teams, students, and families. The support she provides fosters equity and inclusion for all students. Prior to consulting, she worked as an Intervention Specialist for 35 years, and an Early Childhood Special Education Consultant for the State Support Team.
Lyn Ayer, PhD
Consultant
Lyn Ayer, past Project Director of the Oregon Deafblind Project, has worked for more than 45 years as a teacher, principal of a school for the blind, and consultant, focusing her work on children with visual impairments, deafblindness, and/or multiple disabilities.
She served as the low incidence/traumatic brain injury (TBI) consultant for the Ohio Department of Education (ODE), Office for Exceptional Children in the late 80s and early 90s, and also worked as the Great Lakes Area Regional Center for Deaf-Blind Education (GLARCDB) coordinator for the state of Wisconsin.
Jodi Dowell, MEd
Research Associate for Low Incidence Disabilities
Jodi joined the Ohio Center for Deafblind Education in July of 2022. She is a former TESOL Instructor and Teacher of the Blind/Visually Impaired. Jodi served as an adjunct for the University of Rio Grande for the TVI Consortium, a program developed as part of the Low Incidence Sensory Disability (LISD) Collaborative of the Ohio Deans Compact. In her role at OCDBE, Jodi supports a variety of activities in the LISD focus areas and related projects.
About the Ohio Center for Deafblind Education
OCDBE provides services in Ohio for individuals birth through 21 years with deafblindness including free collaborative technical assistance to families, education personnel, and service providers through training and information dissemination.
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