Associations for Education of the Deaf (AED) were formed in 1978 to conduct business of the Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf and the Conference of Educational Administrators Serving the Deaf. AED is the corporate National office of the CAID and the CEASD. For many years the CAID and the CEASD maintained a joint National office. In addition to serving the staff and management requirements of the separate organizations, the Office was made responsible for management of the production and distribution of the journal, the American Annals of the Deaf. The Office also was responsible for management of separately funded contracts and grants sponsored by unrelated agencies. The joint National Office was a composite of the National Office of the several entities. A small central staff was assigned to carry out the work of the parent organizations and the Annals.

There were several issues developed in this operation. The issues were: more costly to maintain separate payrolls; how to determine which of the organizations would bid for available contract or grant activities when there was in interest on the part of more than one parent entity; and the concern of maintenance of a National Office, for organizations which had traditionally not required a central office, represented a cost against organizational income from dues and other sources.

To resolve this issue, a Joint Administrative Committee for the National Office was established in 1975. In 1977 the Executive Director of CEASD/CAID/AAD was directed to explore approaches to establishing the composite National Office as a freestanding entity which would continue to serve the management requirements of the parent organizations. Finally, in 1978, the Executive Committee of the CAID and CEASD each approved the incorporation of the National Office as a separate entity. The name became Associations for Education of the Deaf.