Ari DenOtter-Conroy, South Dakota’s first Certified Deaf-Blind Intervener

LifeScape Lead Teaching Assistant, Ari Den Otter, has been with LifeScape since May of 2011 and has recently earned a specialty certification as a Certified Intervener on behalf of the NICE Review Board and The Paraprofessional Resource and Research Center. The certification recognizes her excellent examples of intervener best-practices, strong sense of ethics, and respect for students. She is the first person in South Dakota to receive the Intervener certification.

“I took 27 online modules which consisted of readings, power points, journal entries and some assignments,” said Denotter-Controy. “It was a total of 200 training hours.”

As a certified Intervener, Denotter-Conroy will support children with deaf-blindness gain access to environmental information, facilitate communication, as well as promote social and emotional development. Since completing her certification, Denotter-Conroy has enrolled in a master’s program to become a future LifeScape teacher.

The National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness estimates there are approximately 10,000 children (ages birth to 22 years) who are deaf-blind in the United States.