Communicating with people who have multiple sensory impairments

The good news is that we can be effective teachers, clinicians, interactors, and consultants, enabling the learner, ourselves, and significant others to communicate more effectively with one another. The bad news is that we can be ineffectual, often leading the learner to learned helplessness, prompt dependency, and possibly self-injurious behaviors. Extreme measures may be the only means that we have given the learner to communicate intents such as, "Stop intruding on my space," or "Come attend to me." We can set ourselves and the learner up for success or for failure. We, as service providers, have choices and options as well.