supported to practice their professions. Yet, the educational systems within which they act must also be held accountable for results. (2) In 1817, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and a deaf teacher, Laurent Clerc, opened the first school in the United States for deaf students—the American School for the Deaf—with young Alice Cogswell as its first pupil. Ultimately the school grew into a national institution and the mother of many other schools. As Alice demonstrated, deaf, hard of hearing, or deafdisabled children can learn and achieve to high levels when they have full access to language, are taught by professionals with specialized training, and have access to educational placements that recognize and provide for their language, social-emotional, and academic needs. (3) Deaf, hard of hearing, and deafdisabled children who are identified early and receive appropriate early intervention from specialized, qualified providers achieve higher academic and language outcomes. However, as of the date of enactment of this Act, early intervention services often are limited to one language, many children are lost to follow up, and there are severe shortages of specialized early intervention professionals, resulting in many deaf, hard of hearing, and deafdisabled children not reaching their appropriate milestones and experiencing language deprivation, impacting their full lives. (4) Research demonstrates that children and youth who are blind or visually impaired are among the highest performing students with disabilities in terms of academic achievement, and yet they are among the least employed, even after successful accomplishment of postsecondary academic objectives. (5) Likewise, children and youth who are deafblind have the same capacity to learn and achieve as any other children. However, they must have ongoing access to the same environmental and educational information that their sighted and hearing peers can access automatically. These children require direct learning experiences, including hands-on experiences and