Specialized Personnel Educating Children with Visual Disabilities

The ability to provide an appropriate education to children with visual disabilities is absolutely dependent on a school district's ability to hire specialized personnel to provide instruction. In this section we will be providing information on specialized personnel as well as identifying critical issues in pre-service and in-service training.

Specialized Professionals Who Serve
Students with Visual Impairments

The main intervention roles in schools are played by Teachers of the Visually Impaired (TVIs) and certified orientation and mobility specialists (COMSs).

Other professional that can play important roles are

Certified Rehabilitation Specialists, which can be Rehabilitation teachers or Rehabilitation Councilors, Low Vision Optometrists and Ophthalmologists.

Teachers of the Visually Impaired

Many youngsters will require the services of both of these professionals. Even though there is some overlap in their areas of expertise, and some individuals have training in both fields, the competencies that these professionals bring to your school district are very different.

Some examples of the role of TVIs are,

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Add: provide in-service training

awareness of local, regional and national resources

interpreting eye conditions – educational implications

interpret information to other staff and parents

modify environment in all school settings

arranging for accessible materials

University TVI Programs

University TVI Programs

Certified Orientation & Mobility Specialist COMS

Orientation and Mobility Specials typically work one-on-one with their students. Instruction may begin in the student's classroom or home, but expands our to cover independent travel in all environments, including the use of public transportation for students where this is an appropriate learning objective.

Some of the skills taught by the Orientation and Mobility Specialist include,

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O & M is not travel training and is not specific to blindness.

University O&M Programs

Competency Assurance

When hiring either of these two professionals, it is important that school district administrators be assured that the people they are considering for employment have the competencies to perform these complex jobs. Many states have established their own standards for certification or licensure of TVIs. In some cases, these standards do not reflect the profession's definition of the competencies needed to perform the TVI job adequately. One way that administrators can know that applicants have demonstrated these competencies is to check to see if they have graduated from an AER approved program. These programs have demonstrated to their peers that the CEC/AER competencies are systematically addressed in their courses.

AER also approves university training programs that prepare orientation and mobility specialists and certifies (until December, 2000) these professionals. This role will be changing in the next several months, as a new entity, the Academy for Certification of Vision Professionals, has been established to add rigor to the certification process. To avoid liability issues, it is prudent to hire only certified orientation and mobility specialists.

[Define AER,]

Critical Issues in Personnel Preparation

These issues will be presented one at a time. Discuss each

TRENDS SINCE 1989

Increasing the Supply

The numbers reflecting the severe shortage of COMSs and TVIs are overwhelming. These are ways, however, that states can increase the supply of these educators.

1.If your state does have a university preparation program, be aware that it is likely to be small, and potentially at risk within the university, which typically prefers programs with large numbers of students. Support these programs by contacting deans, provosts, college presidents, legislators, and other policy makers makers, informing them of the critical service they provide by training TVIs and O&M specialists for your state.

2.Include additional funding for faculty for these programs, which often are dependent on federal dollars for existence, in your CSPD and SIG proposals. The Feds are increasingly reluctant to fund programs that can't demonstrate evidence of state support.

3.Finally, consider having your state support activities that recruit new people into this exciting field: educators looking for new challenges, classroom assistants wishing to move into teacher positions, and younger people trying to identify a rewarding profession. Many states have had good luck with forgivable loan programs for students entering this field and who promise to work for a certain number of years in that state following graduation.

Advertise on the Internet – Professional sites

Contact University programs

Advertise in professional journals

Offer work study programs

Attend and advertise at professional conferences

Professional Development

(with some financial support)

One final area related to personnel preparation is the professional development of currently practicing TVIs and COMSs. Unlike many areas of special education, retention of these specialized educators traditionally has not been a problem. Still, these educators have some unique professional development needs, primarily because there are so few of them who work in any one district.. TVIs and COMs often feel isolated from their colleagues in the field and report that locally provided in-service programs often do not meet their specific needs. They seek opportunities to be mentored by others with expertise in this specific field of special education and they ask for compensatory time or some financial support to attend professional conferences. Some states organize statewide professional development opportunities for teachers and specialists. In some states, these workshops are organized by the State School for the Blind.

Components of Specialization
Personnel

In summary, the Personnel components of specialization to provide children with visual impairments and appropriate education include.

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