Employment Options for Young Adults with Deaf-Blindness—Philosophy, Practice, & New Directions (review) (1989)

Reviews Directory of Agencies and Organizations Serving DeafBlind Individuals (Revised Edition), 140 pages, Helen Keller Center for Deaf-Blind Adults, Sands Point, NY, 1987. An essential reference for libraries, rehabilitation facilities and social service agencies. Not only are organizations and agencies listed with addresses and phone numbers, but the Directory also lists the specific services provided, e.g. placement , homebound instruction, counseling services, communication skills training, group home, etc. The Helen Keller National Center has rendered a major service to deaf-blind persons and professionals in the field with the Directory. McCay Vernon, Ph.D. Editor, American Annals of the Deaf Westminster, Maryland Employment Options for Young Adults with Deaf-Blindness Â—Philosophy, Practice, & New Directions, Martin Alder, M.S.W., A.C.S.W., and Angela Covert, Ed.D., Editors, 271 pages, Helen Keller Center for Deaf-Blind Adults, Sands Point, NY, 1986. This book provides excellent information and guidelines for all professionals who work with the deaf-blind population . Many deaf-blind young adults have had poor training and have not been properly evaluated vocationally or psychologically , thus making it more difficult to provide additional vocational training and placement services. Training programs for independent living skills and communication skills need to be evaluated. Parents need early training to avoid over-protectiveness and skills to help their deaf-blind child enhance his or her skills. It is crucial for professionals to have in-depth training to understand what deaf-blindness feels like. The text acknowledges this and also offers information on how to guide and assist a deaf-blind individual. The discussion of feelings should help professionals lead their clients to deal with their emotions at a very early age and throughout their development . Transition for Persons with Deaf/Blindness and Other Profound Handicaps, Angela Covert, Ph.D., and H.D. Bud Fredicks , 155 pages, $10 paperback, Teaching Research Publications, Monmouth, OR 97361, 1987. Transition recounts an April 1986 Washington, D.C. conference geared toward providing strategy for service providers to deaf-blind and profoundly handicapped persons. The publication is limited in the tangible recommendations and information presented. Articles such as those by LyIe T. RÃ¶mer are beneficial and afford direction for community-based programs established to accommodate the large population of persons who have the concomitant disorder of deaf-blindness and other handicaps. Additional data are essential in the area of acquiring appropriate funding for leisure time and recreational activities as alternatives for idle deaf-blind persons. Documentation concerning adaptations of existing systems and curricula for persons who are deaf and others who are blind is needed. As a result of the delayed release of the manuscript, Transition 's contribution to the body of knowledge for assistance to deaf-blind consumers is lacking. Two manuscripts published by the Helen Keller National Center addressing communitybased living and employment options for young adult deafblind persons, provide substantially more data and history concerning this population, free of charge. The HKNC publications provide substantially more critical data than the Transitions text. Because of the cost of the text and the limited practical information therein, professionals servicing the multi-sensory -impaired should first look to the two HKNC texts. These two texts will prove to be more strategic and advantageous to individuals attempting to enhance their services for deaf-blind consumers. Cynthia L. lngraham, M.S. Student, Sensory Impairment Program Western Maryland College Westminster, Maryland Ann C. Black, M.A. Rehabilitation Counselor for the Deaf-Blind Washington, D.C. A.A.O. I March 1989 4 ...