VIDBE-Q Volume 69 Issue 3
individualized instruction and support to children with a visual impairment ages
birth to age 22. Children are referred to ESBVIC through eye doctors, schools, and
families. At any given time, approximately three hundred youth are being served
across the state. Once referred, ESBVIC completes a comprehensive Functional
Vision Learning Media Assessment that is shared with the educational team. As
part of the process, they are screening to identify if there are Orientation and
Mobility needs in which case they are referred for an O&M evaluation. Since
neither the O&M nor TVI are directly employed by the school, intentional
collaboration and teamwork is necessary to effectively serve each student.
Maine is the largest state in New England by total area, however, of the 50
US states it is the most rural. The children we serve are often the only student in
their school with a visual impairment. The Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC) is
delivered in a team approach where individual instruction is supplemented with as
much group instruction as possible. When children are younger this is done
through field trips that build social skills, independent living skills, self-advocacy,
and career awareness. Independence begins with expectations that are determined
well before transition age and services are delivered within the cultural context of
the family. It is important to develop the culture within the family that students
with a visual impairment are capable of being contributing members of the family
and society and we need to develop that expectation at an early age.
