Young Children with Additional Disabilities

Including Cognitive Impairments, Mobility Impairments, and Deafblindness

Children with multiple disabilities need intensive early intervention to stimulate their development. This section presents strategies and activities for that help such children develop communication methods, tactile skills, and the concepts that are the framework for further learning and developing their full potential.

Babies Like Me: A Guide for Parents of Babies who Have Other Disabilities as well as Vision Impairment, Vision Australia
This booklet was written in response to the universal question of parents, "How can I help my child?"  It offers suggestions on a wide range of topics, including the importance of touch, communication, play, and cause and effect.

The Deafblind Disabled Baby, National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness
Peggy Freeman's comprehensive program of care for parents of babies who are deafblind  with multiple disabilities includes sections on relationships, routines, vision, touch and touching , development of communication, moving/being moved, play, and signing.  Each section offers numerous concrete suggestions for activities to enjoy with your child.

Early Interactions with Children Who Are Deaf-Blind, National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness
Deborah Gleason offers parents a wealth of ideas on making a child's world safe and understandable, interacting, and sharing enjoyable conversations together; available in English, Spanish, and Indonesian.

Gross Motor Development in Infants with Multiple Disabilities, National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness
This article by Rita Snell covers the various gross motor skills from head control through walking. It examines how these skills occur in normal development, then looks at ways to adapt the environment as well as interactions with an infant who has multiple disabilities to encourage these developmental skills. Each of these activities will allow the infant to experience normal movement to increase the likelihood that typical movement patterns will develop.

Learning to Communicate: Strategies for Developing Communication with Infants whose Multiple Disabilities Include Visual Impairment and Hearing Loss, California Deaf-Blind Services
This 6-page article by Deborah Chen outlines specific strategies for developing communication, including observation, making use of the child's available senses, the use of cues, key word signs, interrupted routine strategy, and criteria for the selection of the child's first signs. (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

Multi-Sensory Activities for a Baby or Child who is Blind with Additional Needs, Vision Australia
This article offers suggestions for developing body awareness, encouraging hand awareness, smell and taste, sound, and light perception.

Multiple Disabilities, Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired
This section of Dr. Virginia Bishop's guide Infants and Toddlers with Visual Impairments  offers an overview of young children with multiple disabilities.

Occupational Therapy for Young Children with Visual Impairments and Additional Disabilities, Project SALUTE
This article by Jill Brody discusses the role of occupational therapists, definitions, and intervention strategies for working with young children with visual impairments and additional disabilities.

Parent Road Map, Minnesota DeafBlind Technical Assistance Project
Written by parents raising children with combined hearing and vision losses, this manual is a "road map" for other parents in the same situation.

Research: Additional Disabilities

Lessons from Project PLAI in California and Utah: Implications for Early Intervention Services to Infants who are Deaf-Blind and Their Families, Deaf-Blind Perspectives
This article describes Project PLAI (Promoting Learning through Active Interaction), the goal of which was to develop resource materials that early intervention programs could use to teach families how to promote their infants' communication development. (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

Organizations and Resources to Explore: Additional Disabilities

CHARGE Syndrome: An Overview, Perkins School for the Blind
In this webcast, Perkins School psychologist Pam Ryan outlines the features of CHARGE Syndrome and discusses how they affect a child’s learning and development.

Babies and Infants, National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB)
NCDB offers links to articles and other publications on the topic of babies and infants.

Early Intervention, National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness
NCDB offers a wide range of information on the topic of early intervention, including their own products, as well as links to articles and other publications, bibliographies, internet resources, and research.

Innovations, Working with Infants who have Multiple Disabilities
This website is for early intervention service providers. It provides information about resources for working with infants who have multiple disabilities and their families.

Multiple Disabilities, Family Connect for Parents of Children with Visual Impairments
This section of the Family Connect site is a gold mine for parents and other family members who are looking for information and resources on children who have additional disabilities.

Project SALUTE
This website is intended as a resource on tactile learning strategies for working with children who are deafblind or who are blind with additional disabilities.

See also Education of Students with Multiple Disabilities