VIDBE-Q Volume 65 Issue 4
Eileen M. Bischof, Ph.D., TVI, COMS
Florida State University
bischof@fsu.edu
In our professional roles, how do we prepare pre-service and newly certified
teachers to demonstrate the skills they will need to positively affect the trajectory
of their future students' lives? Both personnel preparation program faculty and
practicing professionals must ask themselves this guiding question if we are to
collectively prepare the next generation of teachers of students with visual
impairments (TVIs) and orientation and mobility (O&M) specialists.
Collectively, TVIs and O&M specialists recognize the importance of
maximizing students' access and increasing their meaningful interactions with
others and the world around them. As a result, educators and professionals in the
field adopted the expanded core curriculum (ECC), providing a framework within
which to teach the skills and strategies learners with visual impairments can use to
reach their full potential and levels of independence. Comprising nine primary
domains, ECC skills in the areas of compensatory access, sensory efficiency,
Preparing the Next Generation of Expanded Core
Curriculum Teachers
