H. R. 3535

• Introduced September 17, 2015
• U.S. Congressmen Matt Cartwright (D-PA,
17) and David McKinley (R-WV, 1)

• Mark Takano (D-CA)
• Tony Cardenas (D-CA)
• Kathy Castor (D-FL)
• Alan Grayson (D-FL
• Michael Honda (D-CA)
• Jared Huffman (D-CA)
• Tim Ryan (D-OH)
• Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
• David Jolley (R-FL)

• Rep. Eshoo, Anna G. (D-CA-18)
10/20/2015
• Rep. Crowley, Joseph (D-NY-14)
10/28/2015
• Rep. Israel, Steve (D-NY-3)
11/16/2015
• Rep. Swalwell, Eric (D-CA-15)
11/18/2015
• Rep. Welch, Peter (D-VT-At Large)
12/10/2015
• Rep. Napolitano, Grace F. (D-CA-32)
01/07/2016

• Under-reporting of students with sensory disabilities (estimated that 2/3 are not reported under IDEA)
• Shortage of highly qualified professionals for students with sensory disabilities
• Shortage of (and erosion of) services for students with sensory disabilities

(1) To better ensure delivery of high quality special education and related services to students with visual disabilities or who are deaf or hard of hearing or who are deaf-blind through specialized instructional services and methodologies designed to meet their unique language, communication, and learning needs.
(2) To better ensure delivery of high quality early intervention services to infants and toddlers who are deaf or hard of hearing or who are deaf-blind and their families through specialized services and methodologies designed to meet their unique language, communication, and other developmental needs.

(3) To foster the proliferation of research supporting the development and evaluation of effective and innovative assessments and instructional methodologies consonant with the unique learning needs of students with visual disabilities.
(4) To enhance accountability for the provision of such services.
(5) To support the development of personnel serving students with visual disabilities or who are deaf or hard of hearing or who are deaf-blind.

• TITLE II—IMPROVING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF
SPECIAL EDUCATION AND RELATED SERVICES
FOR STUDENTS WITH VISUAL DISABILITIES
• Subtitle A—General Provisions
• Subtitle B—Anne Sullivan Macy Center on
Visual Disability and Educational Excellence

If students are visually impaired, but their primary disability is classified in another disability area, the state and federal government will also count the number and percentage of these children by each disability category who are also visually impaired.

(A) children with visual disabilities are evaluated for instruction and services, including instruction which may be needed by children without disabilities or with other disabilities but which must be specifically designed, modified, or delivered to meet the unique academic and related learning needs of children with visual disabilities;
(B) there is sufficient personnel within the State qualified to provide the instruction described to all children within the State requiring such instruction; and
(C) all children who need special education and related services receive such instruction whether or not being served solely by 504
Plans

the needs of students with visual disabilities for instruction in communication and productivity (including Braille instruction and assistive technology proficiency); self-sufficiency and interaction
(including orientation and mobility, self- determination, sensory efficiency, socialization, recreation and fitness, and independent living skills); and age appropriate career education; the methods to be used within the State to properly evaluate students’ need for low vision devices and the process by which such devices will be provided to each student for whom such devices are determined appropriate by the IEP team

Provide instruction meeting the child’s unique learning needs, including instruction which may be needed by students without disabilities or with other disabilities but which must be specifically designed, modified, or delivered to meet the unique learning needs of students with visual disabilities.

Such instruction includes assistive technology proficiency (inclusive of low vision devices); self sufficiency and interaction
(including orientation and mobility, self determination, sensory efficiency, socialization, recreation and fitness, and independent living skills); and age appropriate career education.

consult with individuals and organizations with expertise in the education of children with visual disabilities, including parents, consumer and advocacy organizations, and teachers of students with visual impairments and others the State may identify.

CONTINUUM OF ALTERNATIVE PLACEMENTS.—Ensure that a full continuum of alternative placements… including regular classes, special classes, special schools… and must make provision for supplementary services (such as resource room or itinerant instruction) to be provided with regular class…

MAINTAINING A CONTINUUM OF PLACEMENT OPTIONS.—
A State’s closure of a special school serving children who are blind or…deaf (or the consolidation/merger of such school with another school), shall be considered a reduction of the State’s financial support for special education and related services.

Anne Sullivan Macy Center on Visual Disability and Educational Excellence
(1) development and dissemination of curricula, courses, materials, and methods supporting the continuing education of personnel teachers of students with visual impairments and related services personnel;
(2) support for the establishment of new programs within institutions of higher education to prepare TVIs to serve students with visual disabilities who also have additional disabilities;
(3) model local, regional, and national enrichment projects open to students with visual disabilities intended to supplement State and local educational agency provision of specialized instruction and services meeting such students’ unique learning needs; and

Anne Sullivan Macy Center on Visual Disability and Educational Excellence
(4) research identifying, developing, and evaluating valid assessments and effective interventions measuring and addressing the unique needs of students with visual disabilities…
- communication and productivity (including braille instruction, and assistive technology proficiency inclusive of low vision devices)
- self-sufficiency and interaction (including orientation and mobility, self- determination, sensory efficiency, socialization, recreation and fitness, and independent living skills)
- age appropriate career education.

Consortium will include:
(1) at least two national nonprofit organizations with experience publishing, professional development, and curricula supporting the preparation or continuing education of TVIs and related services personnel;
(2) at least one national nonprofit organization (which may include a special school) with demonstrated experience directly serving students with visual disabilities… through in-person instruction and services…
(3) at least one institution of higher education that—
(A) has consistently maintained for at least ten years a program of instruction preparing TVIs or O&M instructors; and
(B) offers a program of doctoral study in special education; and
(4) any other entity or entities with which the entities described in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) choose to partner with.

Students classified in a disability category other than deaf-blindness, but
IDENTIFIED as deaf-blind, must still be provided special education and related services, including such services determined appropriate based on proper evaluation as would be provided to children classified in the State as having deaf-blindness.

ACCOUNTING FOR CHILDREN WITH DEAF-BLINDNESS
If students are deaf-blind, but their primary disability is classified in another disability area, the state and federal government will also count the number and percentage of these children by each disability category who are also deaf-blind.

Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of the Alice Cogswell and Anne Sullivan Macy Act, the
Secretary shall, after notice and comment, publish regulations that provide definitions for ‘deaf-blindness’ and ‘intervener services’.

Deaf-Blind State Plans
Within two years the plan shows how children with deaf-blindness will be
- evaluated by qualified professionals including teachers of deaf-blind
- using valid and reliable assessments for instruction and services meeting their unique language and communication, literacy, academic, social and related learning needs
- including instruction which may be needed by children without disabilities or with other disabilities but which must be specifically designed, modified, or delivered to meet the unique language and communication, academic, and related learning needs

- sufficient availability of personnel, including
teachers of the deaf-blind and interveners, qualified to provide the evaluation, instruction, and services
- all children with deaf-blindness who need special education and related services, whether or not such children have other disabilities, receive instruction and are not being served solely in accordance with section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

(A) specifically address how the State meets the needs of children with deaf- blindness to support ongoing progress in language development and in the child’s preferred mode of communication, including the provision of school-related opportunities for direct communications with peers and professional personnel in the child’s preferred mode of communication…

…and opportunities for direct instruction in (but not limited to) concept development, functional skills for academic success, self-determination and advocacy, social-emotional skills, visual and auditory sensory efficiency skills, orientation and mobility, assistive technology proficiency, independent living skills, ageappropriate career education, and support for the student through family education;

(B) consult with individuals and organizations with expertise in the education of children with deafblindness including parents, consumers, advocacy organizations, national and State organizations focused on deaf-blindness and others the State may identify.

• Guidance document to be sent out to Special
Education Directors and posted on the ISBE website.
Students with a visual impairment, deaf-blind, deaf, or hearing impaired should have eligibility stated as such on the IEP whenever possible.
• Intervener approval language has been drafted.

- language and communication proficiency levels, - ability to access grade level content in the child’s preferred mode of communication, including non-symbolic and symbolic communication and tactile sign language.

Qualified personnel trained in deafblindness, who communicate in the child’s preferred mode of communication, shall be actively involved in assessments and evaluations.

(B) The evaluations shall, at a minimum, include evaluations assessing the need for services and supports to assist children who are deaf-blind in developing and maintaining language and communication skills in their preferred mode of communication, including non-symbolic and symbolic communication and tactile sign language.

In the case of a child who is deaf-blind, provide for the child’s language and communication needs, including, but not limited to, tactile sign language, tactile and visual adaptations to sign and fingerspelling, and object and tangible symbol systems.

For an infant or toddler who is deaf-blind, a statement of the ongoing language and communication assessment that will be provided to the child, language and communication development goals commensurate with the child’s cognitive abilities, the language and communication access that will be provided…

Covered in Title I and III:
For infants and toddlers with sensory disabilities, such as deafness, blindness, or deaf-blindness, the natural environment shall include—
• specialized schools, centers, and other programs where the child’s language, including American
Sign Language and spoken English with or without visual supports, is the primary language and mode of communication

…ongoing opportunities for direct language learning and communication access to peers, early intervention service providers, and other professional personnel trained in the child’s preferred mode of communication

support and instruction that will be provided to families to learn and support the child’s language and communication mode…

Qualified teachers of the deaf-blind
Early intervention specialists
- Develop communication and literacy skills,
- Access, organize and utilize information about the environment
- Acquire concepts essential for learning

Preparing personnel to be qualified interveners as individualized supports to assist children with deafblindness in school and school related activities, and infants and toddlers and preschool children with deaf-blindness in early intervention and preschool programs.

The National Coalition on Deafblindness will be joined
by American Foundation for the Blind, Council of
Schools for the Blind, National Association of the Deaf, and Conference of Educational Administrators of
Schools & Programs for the Deaf.
• WHEN: March 2, 2016
• WHERE: Washington, DC

Press release from Congressperson Matt Cartwright; has talking points
• https://cartwright.house.gov/media-center/pressreleases/reps-cartwright-mckinley-championcomprehensive-bipartisan-legislation
From Intervener.org, has good information about impact of deaf-blind interveners.
• http://intervener.org/please-read-legislation-forchildren-who-are-deafblind-h-r-4040/
• CEC archived webinar http://community.cec.sped.org/dvi/dbportal/partern shipswebinar