Division on Visual Impairments

VIDBE-Q.64.1.Winter.2019

A quarterly newsletter from the Council for Exceptional Children's Division on Visual Impairments containing practitioner tips for Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments, Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialists, and other professionals.

Issue link: http://dvi.uberflip.com/i/1070942

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 45 of 64

45 VIDBE - Q Volume 6 4 Issue 1 Parsons, 2007; Young, 2011). For the purposes of this article, the term dual licensure program will be used. The Need for the Program According to federal mandates, states are required to provide all students with a free, appropriate public education (FAPE). Critical shortages of special education teachers represent a serious challenge to achieving this goal for students with disabilities (Billingsley, 2003). In providing services to students with low - incidence disabilities, the availability of qualified special education teachers is limited; this is especially true when a direct focus is placed on the education of students who are blind or visually impaired. Nationally, the field of visual impairments has a teacher shortage. According to S ummers, Leigh, and Arnold (1996), "The ability to ensure that children with disabilities, especially those with visual impairments, receive an appropriate education may be compromised because of the critical shortage of highly qualified personnel." Mason, Davidson, and McNerney (2000) estimated that by the year 2000, approximately 5,000 new teachers would be needed to meet the needs of students with visual impairments; however, according to Ferrell (2007) the United States was only producing about 250 new e ducational personnel in visual impairments each year.

Articles in this issue

view archives of Division on Visual Impairments - VIDBE-Q.64.1.Winter.2019