Teachers of the Blind and Partially Sighted
Teachers of the blind and Partially Sighted working in Early Childhood Special Education settings serve children who are blind and visually impaired in the following ways:
- Perform functional and developmental assessments of young children who are blind or visually impaired including children with multiple disabilities
- Recommend specialized evaluations as needed, such as orientation and mobility, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech/language, and psychological
- Assist in the development of IFSP/IEP objectives according to children and family’s needs/concerns and appropriate outcomes
- Inform other IFSP/IEP team members of the child's medical and educational implications due to loss of vision
- Offer information and instructional strategies to the child's team, which may include:
- Explaining the child's visual impairment and how it affects the way he sees
- Describing:
- the distance the child should be to certain activities
- preferred colors or size of toys and materials
- how and where toys, objects, and materials should be presented in order for the child to be able to see them better
- lighting requirements
- optical and non-optical aids the child needs
- how activities can be modified
- Providing suggestions for how the physical environment can be modified
- Provide special instruction in the following areas, as developmentally appropriate:
- Visual efficiency
- Compensatory skills: tactual skills, auditory skills
- Orientation and mobility
- Developmental skills
- Use of optical and non-optical aids
- Provide other information and support services to IFSP/IEP team members
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Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood Education |