Early Intervention and Visual Impairments: A Prepared
Workforce
Mindy Ely, MS Ed., Project Coordinator, EL VISTA
Personnel Development Grant, msely@ilstuu.edu, and
Maribeth Lartz, Ph.D., Professor, Deaf/Hard of Hearing
Teacher Preparation Program, Illinois State University,
mnlartz@ilstu.edu
Children with visual impairments or deafblindness can
experience delays in a variety of developmental areas (Chen, 2014;
Ferrell, 2011). Early intervention services provided through Part C
of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) are
available to infants and toddlers and their families as a means to
mediate the risk of developmental delays when a visual impairment
is present.
Erickson, Lee, & von Schrader (2011) estimate the prevalence
of visual impairments to be approximately 0.3% in young children.
The Illinois Department of Public Health reported a 2013 birth rate
of 156,918 (Illinois Department of Public Health, 2016). Assuming
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