Understanding and preventing learned helplessness in children who are congenitally deaf-blind

The absence of both distance senses creates the need for children who are congenitally deaf-blind to rely on others to motivate them to explore and to provide the connections between exploration and communication, which is the foundation of concept development. This article links the literature on learned helplessness with best practices in teaching children who are deaf-blind to address how caregivers and teachers can prevent or reduce learned helplessness in these children.