Learning, Education, and Support of Deafblind Children and Adults: An Interdisciplinary Lifespan Approach

Learning, Education, and Support of Deafblind Children and Adults presents the latest research on topics relevant for learners with deafblindness based on the most important studies of the last two decades. The diversity of deafblind people is explored with the authors bringing together relevant information from the fields of congenital, acquired, and age-related deafblindness, and those who are deafblind from different syndromes and etiologies.

Opening with a case study of a deafblind adult who shares his perspectives on barriers and facilitators in deafblind education, the volume then presents chapters by leading researchers from around the world on deafblindness. Bridging the gap between research and practice by the researchers themselves, along with deafblind individuals, the authors describe their essential research findings and interpret them in terms of valuable implications for educational and rehabilitation practice.

Divided into seven sections, the themes covered include the identification of deafblind persons; specific learning areas and interdisciplinary support; learning, self-determination, and education; participation, work, and recreation; family perspective; professionalization and interdisciplinary approaches; and research, technology, and innovations. With over fifty contributors, this volume brings together the current international scholarship on deafblindness and aims to stimulate new research on this rare but significant disability.

Timothy S. Hartshorne, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Central Michigan University, Marleen J. Janssen, Professor Emeritus Special Needs and Inclusive Education, University of Groningen, Walter Wittich, Associate Professor, School of Optometry, Université de Montréal

Timothy S. Hartshorne is a Professor Emeritus of Psychology, specialized in school psychology, at Central Michigan University. His interests include understanding the challenging behavior exhibited by many individuals with CHARGE syndrome, a rare genetic disorder, and how severe disability impacts the family. Prior to his retirement he was the grant holder for Deafblind Central, Michigan’s deafblind project. He has been awarded a Star in CHARGE by the CHARGE Syndrome Foundation. He is first editor of the book CHARGE Syndrome, Second Edition. He holds a Diplomate in Adlerian Psychology from the North American Society of Adlerian Psychology.

Marleen J. Janssen is a Professor Emeritus of Educational Psychology, in the research unit for Inclusive and Special Needs Education at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Her interests include communication development and learning in people with deafblindness. Her research is focused on communication assessment and intervention studies with people who are congenitally deafblind. Previously she was Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Deafblind Studies on Communication, and Curriculum Coordinator of the MSc program in Pedagogical Sciences Communication and Deafblindness. She founded the University of Groningen Institute for Deafblindness and continues research and writing. Marleen was appointed Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion in 2019 and awarded the Deafblind International Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023.

Walter Wittich is an Associate Professor at the School of Optometry, University of Montreal, in Canada. His research focuses on the rehabilitation of older adults with combined vision and hearing loss. His research domains include basic sensory science, as well as medical, psychosocial, and rehabilitation approaches to sensory loss. He is the inaugural chair of the Deafblind International Research Network, the 2020 recipient of the Canadian Helen Keller Centre 10th Annual JT Award, is a Fellow of both the American Academy of Optometry, and the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, and is Quebec’s first Certified Low Vision Therapist.