Intervener Services
Why Are Intervener Services Important?
Deafblindness severely limits access to visual and auditory information that forms the basis for learning and communication and creates challenges for educational systems mandated to provide a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment. (Are Intervener Services Appropriate for Your Student with Deaf-Blindness: An IEP Team Discussion Guide, National Center on Deaf-Blindness, 2016). Intervener services help meet the challenge of providing students who are deafblind with access to information they are unable to gather through vision and hearing. Intervener services provide students with a means to compensate for the challenges related to communication and concept development that occur as a result of a combined vision and hearing loss.
What Is the Role of an Intervener?
“An intervener is defined as a person who works consistently one-to-one with a child who is deafblind and who has training and specialized skills in deafblindness” (A Family’s Guide to Interveners for Children with Combined Vision and Hearing Loss, 2012).
According to Deafblindness and the Role of the Intervener in Educational Settings (Utah State University, SKI-HI, 2010), the role of an Intervener is to support children with combined hearing-vision loss by improving:
Individuals who provide intervener services:
- Increase and clarify information
- Facilitate access to information
- Facilitate the learning of concepts
- Provide consistency and constancy
- Facilitate both receptive and expressive communication development
- Serve as motivating and trusted partners who consistently respond to a child’s communication
- Provide opportunities for conversations and interactions with others
- Develop a bond of trust with the child that decreases anxiety
- Help the child know where he is and who is around him
- Encourage interactions with others
- Support self-determination by helping the child make choices, solve problems, and develop self-esteem
What Knowledge & Skills Do Individuals Providing Intervener Services Usually Possess?
An intervener typically demonstrates knowledge and skills related to:
- Deafblindness and its impact on learning and development
- The role of the intervener, the process of intervention and the ability to facilitate that process
- Communication including methods, adaptations, and the use of assistive technology, and the ability to facilitate the use of communication skills
- The impact of deafblindness on psychological, social, and emotional development and the ability to facilitate social and emotional well-being
- Sensory systems and issues, related to all five senses and the ability to facilitate the effective use of the senses
- Motor, movement, and orientation and mobility (O&M) strategies that are appropriate for children/students who are deafblind, and have the ability to facilitate the development of orientation and mobility skills
- The impact of additional disabilities on the child/student who is deafblind and the ability to provide appropriate support
- Professionalism and ethical practices
Developing Intervener Knowledge and Skills: Available Training Options
The Open Hands, Open Access (OHOA) intervener training modules – available through NCDB at www.nationaldb.org – are useful in supporting the development of knowledge and skills for individuals working with children with combined hearing-vision loss and children with multiple disabilities including sensory loss.
Individuals interested in developing intervener skills to work with students with deafblindness may complete the online modules independently or as part of a facilitated training. The Ohio Center for Deafblind Education (OCDBE) offers facilitated intervener services training using the OHOA module content. OCDBE offers contact hours to individuals who complete OCDBE facilitated training.
Content addressed through OHOA modules are organized into the following five topical categories:
Open Hands, Open Access (OHOA)
For more information on how OCDBE can assist individuals or teams in scheduling Intervener Services trainings using the OHOA module content, contact OCDBE at (614) 897-0020 or by using the Contact Us page.
OCDBE Intervener Services Training
OCDBE intervener services training is provided through a variety of formats as shown below and offers contact hours to individuals who complete the assignments and participate in the webinars associated with the training.
Teams of educators and parents working with an individual student may contact OCDBE and arrange a facilitated online training using specific OHOA modules that focus on the student’s or team’s needs.
Groups of educators (general education teachers, intervention specialists, related service providers, etc.) with common needs and interests can arrange for an OCDBE facilitated, online training using specific OHOA modules based upon the needs or interests of the group
Individual educators, educator teams, and parents may participate in OCDBE advertised, facilitated online training on predetermined groupings of OHOA modules that focus on specific topics.
Parents or educators may select may select one or more modules of interest and complete them as an independent student
Interested in Obtaining an Intervener Services Certificate?
Shawnee State University offers a 30-credit hour program offering undergraduate level coursework leading to a Shawnee State University issued Intervener Certificate. The Intervener Program is designed to be completed in two years. Applicants must meet the admission requirements at Shawnee State University. Coursework is primarily completed in an online format, culminating with a 2-credit hour face-to-face practicum experience.
Interested in Becoming Credentialed or Certified as an Intervener?
Several universities offer intervener training through coursework and coaching leading to a national credential through the National Resource Center for Paraeducators. Some universities offer both on-campus and online intervener training programs that lead to a certificate of completion and/or the National Intervener Certification. Utah State University is n example of a university that offers both on-campus and online intervener training.
Interested in Obtaining National Intervener Certification?
The National Center on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB) and the Paraprofessional Resource and Research Center (PAR2A Center), with support from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), have created a national certification system for interveners. The National Intervener Certification E-portfolio (NICE) System is an assessment process that individuals can use to submit evidence of their knowledge and skills via a portfolio. More information is available on the NCDB site.
Would you like to be a member of NIAA?
National Intervener & Advocate Association (NIAA) is a national organization dedicated to the profession and excellence of highly trained Interveners. Membership in NIAA is open to members who hold a National Intervener Credential after completing a training program through a university or college.
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