ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the experiences of the North East consortium of Local Education Authorities which has administered Grant for Educational Support and Training 29 funding, designated as provision for deafblind children, for the three years of that funding, from April, 1992 to March, 1995. Placement of children with dual impairments of both distance senses has closely followed the categories identified by the 1989 Department of Education and Science policy statement. The chapter is entitled 'Coals to Newcastle' because if the regional service is to survive it must avoid wasteful repetition and replication of existing services. Any regional or even national service should seek to enrich, enhance and extend existing services for dual sensory impaired children rather than to replicate any of these services by setting up a parallel provision. The role for specialists is in the early diagnosis of dual sensory impaired children as part of a multi-disciplinary and multi-agency team.
