Student Referral for Technical Assistance

  • ODBP provides a variety of levels of Technical Assistance (TA) based on the needs of the student, family and educational team.  ODBP staff are ready to provide child specific technical assistance to families, educators, and educational teams.  Child specific technical assistance is custom designed to help you meet the complex and specialized needs of children and youth who are DeafBlind.  We do not provide direct services to children/students.  The role of the state DeafBlind project is to build the knowledge, skills, and capacity of educational team members and families to meet the unique needs of learners who are DeafBlind.  

    To make an initial referral, please complete this brief form then you will be contacted by the ODBP staff for a follow up conversation.  

    What is Technical Assistance? 

    ODBP provides a variety of levels of Technical Assistance (TA) based on the needs of the student, family and educational team.  ODBP staff are ready to provide child specific technical assistance to families, educators, and educational teams.  Child specific technical assistance is custom designed to help you meet the complex and specialized needs of children and youth who are DeafBlind.  We do not provide direct services to children/students.  The role of the state DeafBlind project is to build the knowledge, skills, and capacity of educational team members and families to meet the unique needs of learners who are DeafBlind.  

    Below is a summary of technical assistance supports offered by ODBP. 

    All requests for child-specific technical assistance begin at the Universal Technical Assistance level. Once a request is received, a ODBP staff member will meet with you by phone or virtually to learn more about your child or student and determine your specific needs and expected outcomes. Based on this information, we will recommend trusted resources that other family members and/or educators have found to be useful. These resources may include any of the following:

    • Open Hands, Open Access DeafBlind learning modules

    • Webcasts

    • Archived training videos

    • Articles

    • Fact sheets

    • Other resources as identified.

    It is likely that these resources will meet your needs and help you achieve your identified outcomes. If—after making complete use of these recommended resources—the team and ODBP staff member determine that additional support is needed, ODBP will provide Targeted Technical Assistance.  

    To continue with Targeted Technical Assistance, teams must obtain a Release of Information for the Oregon DeafBlind Project from the parent or guardian.   We also ask the team to complete additional information for Targeted Technical Assistance by completing this Child Specific Request form. 

    Targeted Technical Assistance is generally provided to the entire educational team, which includes both educators and family members working together in partnership, to address outcomes that are too complex to be achieved through Universal Technical Assistance alone. While this support is typically team-based, it can sometimes be offered to an individual if needed. However, assistance delivered to a well-coordinated team is generally more effective in improving student outcomes.  Targeted Technical Assistance may involve team meetings and training sessions, in person or virtually, with a focus on continuous improvement of educational practices. In some cases, if the team and ODBP agree that more intensive support is necessary, additional resources and strategies may be provided to help achieve the identified outcomes through Intensive Technical Assistance.

     

    Intensive Technical Assistance is the highest level of technical assistance provided.  Intensive Technical Assistance involves a commitment from the team for ongoing planning as a team including school-based personnel, family, student, and community providers when appropriate.  Typically, Intensive Technical Assistance includes onsite classroom observations, in-person training sessions, and evaluation processes to assess changes in the program. Since onsite activities require significant staff time and limited travel resources, it is crucial that all team members—including administrators—demonstrate a strong commitment to improving both individual student outcomes and broader system-level results.

    Key features of Intensive Technical Assistance include:

    • Agreement and commitment from the entire team, including family members, teachers, specialists, and administrators.

    • Partnership and planning for a scope and sequence of onsite school and home-based training and technical assistance activities with child outcomes identified by the team. 

    • A shared commitment to programmatic and systemic change to achieve clearly defined outcomes.