Helen Keller Education Act

This bill would change the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to add rules for students who are deafblind, meaning they have both hearing and vision loss. States would have to find and serve children with both losses even if they are listed under a different disability category, and report how many such children there are. Each state would have to file a written plan addendum within 2 years describing how it evaluates and serves deafblind students and ensures enough qualified staff. The bill adds intervener services as a related service, requires evaluations in the child's preferred way of communicating, adds language and communication planning for deafblind infants and toddlers, and allows federal training funds to prepare teachers and interveners for deafblind children.

Full text and official record on Congress.gov

Sponsors

• Morgan McGarvey Democrat sponsor
• 4 cosponsors