How to find an intervention program, without first having to buy them all: The Database Intervention Programs for People With Sensory Impairments (DIPPSI) Initiative

Over the years, numerous intervention programs have been designed and published to help service providers of children and adults with auditory and visual impairments with or without additional disabilities. At the Department of Pedagogical and Educational Science, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, we have been collecting these programs for our courses in special education and rehabilitation. It is not mandatory for service providers in the Netherlands to use a formal program or a written individualized education program, as it is in the United States. However, university teachers advocate the use of methodologically sound, reliable, and empirically tested programs in intervention services for children and adults with sensory and multiple impairments. For this reason, bachelor students at the Department of Pedagogical and Educational Science, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, review intervention programs as part of their training in order to become a scientist practitioner. Our policy is that an academically trained behavioral scientist should be able to value the content and use of intervention programs, whether they are best practices or empirically supported treatments.