Louisiana Department of Education – Students with Exceptional Needs – Programs for Children and Youth who are Deaf-Blind

Address: P.O. Box 94064
Baton Rouge Phone: (225) 342-0520 Email: joyce.russo@la.gov Website: http://www.louisianaschools.net/divisions/specialp/deaf_blind.html

The Louisiana Services to Children and Youth with Deafblindness Project, administered through the Louisiana Department of Education, Division of Educational Improvement and Assistance, is designed to improve state, regional and local capacity to meet the unique needs of children and youth with deafblindness and their families through multi-level technical assistance, thereby resulting in enhanced services and improved outcomes for students.  This project has as its purpose to aid the state by assisting in the early identification of children and youth with deafblindness and to promote the delivery of age-appropriate curricula in the least restrictive environment. The project aims to achieve this by providing information, training opportunities and technical assistance to parents, school systems, and institutes of higher education and agency personnel.
This project is designed to achieve the following outcomes:

• Student services will reflect the general education curriculum within natural settings
• Standardized procedures for early identification will be applied
• Parents, teachers and service providers will have an increased knowledge of appropriate educational practices for this population as well as available services
• Students will have increased options for participation in post school opportunities