Research provides insight into students with significant cognitive disabilities and dual sensory loss

Accessible Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Systems (ATLAS) and the National Center on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB) have partnered to learn more about students who are deafblind with significant cognitive disabilities. 

The centers produced an extensive technical report, Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities and Dual Sensory Loss, that was published in 2021 and draws on expansive ATLAS and NCDB data to address that topic.  

Identifying Dual Sensory Loss in Students with the Most Significant Cognitive Disabilities is the first in what will be a series of report briefs based on that report. Brief #1 provides details about the student population, recommendations for identification and implications for instruction. 

The findings provide essential information to help educators, technical assistance providers, researchers and policymakers better understand the disparities faced by students with dual sensory loss. Researchers from the two centers address how to identify this population of students as early as possible. Early identification of dual sensory loss is essential to providing instruction and services that promote access to and progress in the general education curriculum. 

Read the report brief and the full technical report on the NCDB website. 

Learn more about this ATLAS/NCDB collaboration on the ATLAS website.