The 2014 National Child Count of Children and Youth Who Are Deaf-Blind

The National Child Count of Children and Youth who are Deaf-Blind is the first and longest running registry and knowledge base of children who are deaf-blind in the world. Begun in 1986 on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education, it represents a nearly thirty year collaborative effort between the National Center on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB), its predecessors, and each State/Multi-State Deaf-Blind Project throughout the country, as well as those projects funded in the Pacific Trust territories, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Initially requested by the Department of Education as an examination of the discrepancy between the National Child Count of Children and Youth who are DeafBlind and OSEP's annual December 1 counts, the child count has continued based on the work scope of the deaf-blind program national center, technical assistance and dissemination centers, and state/multi-state projects that have been federally funded in ensuing years. It has been collaboratively designed, implemented and revised to serve as the common vehicle to meet federal grant requirements for both State/Multi-State and National DeafBlind Technical Assistance Projects, as well as serving as a common data collection and reporting mechanism for use across the country. Consistent with the priorities under which NCDB, its predecessors, and the state/multi-state deaf-blind projects are funded, this national child count is used to help identify national and state technical assistance needs for children and youth who are deaf-blind, their families and the service providers and systems which serve them. [For the 2013 report see ED548230.]