Once a request for technical assistance 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 (explained below). 

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 form. 

Targeted 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 (described below).

Intensive is the highest level of technical assistance we provide and 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.