As with all SESA services, the Alaska Deaf-Blind project’s assistance is provided free-of-charge to families, schools, and community organizations. The Deaf-Blind project is different than other programs at SESA in that it’s under a federal, rather then a state, grant. The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) funds a project in each state to support and serve the needs of its deaf-blind infants, children and young adults.
The Alaska Deaf-Blind Project serves any individual from premature birth to age 22 with a hearing and vision loss as specified below. We serve those in urban as well as remote areas as well as individuals not enrolled in school and those in secondary school.
a. Deaf-blindness means concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or children with blindness.