VIDBE-Q Volume 64 Issue 4
28
As teachers of students with visual impairments and orientation and
mobility specialists work in early intervention, it is important that they
possess knowledge of the specialized skills that are foundational to the
education of very young children as well as children with visual
impairments. Therefore, close inspection of the standards from each
profession is a valuable exercise for university programs that endeavor to
train professionals who will work with this population. While most programs
for the education of the visually impaired do not have the luxury of devoting
multiple courses to the topic of early childhood as we were able to do in the
EL VISTA program, each training program can highlight important themes
for students throughout their coursework. Toward that end, from our
experience we propose the following themes as foundational content
related to very young children with visual impairments that are likely to
prove valuable to all visual impairment preparation programs:
• practices in assessment which actively involve families and
differentiate between the young child functioning in a home
environment vs. an academic setting,
• value of using natural routines for learning,
• use of parent-driven and child-led learning opportunities,
