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The National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB) is a national technical assistance and dissemination center for children and youth who are deaf-blind. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), NCDB builds on the technical assistance activities of NTAC, the information services and dissemination activities of DB-LINK and adds a third focus related to personnel training. NCDB brings together the resources of three agencies with long histories of expertise in the field of deaf-blindness. The consortium focuses on two major purposes as required by OSEP. The first is to promote academic achievement and results for children and youth (from birth to age 26) who are deaf-blind, through technical assistance, model demonstration, and information dissemination activities that are supported by evidence-based practices. Activities are directed toward families, service providers, state deaf-blind projects, state and local education agencies, and other organizations responsible for providing early intervention, education, and transition services. The second purpose is to assist in addressing state-identified needs for highly qualified personnel who have the necessary skills and knowledge to serve children and youth who are deaf-blind.
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