VIDBE-Q
Volume 62 Issue 2
computer skills, social engagement, and disability-specific skills such as orientation and mobility, reading and
writing with braille or using optical devices and assistive technology (Capella-McDonnall, 2010, 2011; Wolffe
& Kelly, 2011; Wolffe, 2014). However, ensuring that students with visual impairments have opportunities to
effectively learn these prerequisite employability skills and secure jobs prior to graduation is challenging. Most
of these students are served in mainstream public schools where the staff with whom they work may not feel
they have time with the students' busy academic schedules to also teach employability skills or guide them in
job seeking. To be ready to exit secondary programs, join the workforce, and integrate into local communities,
students with visual impairments may benefit from off-campus or extracurricular instruction in self-awareness,
career exploration, job seeking and job maintenance skills to help them secure jobs.
The Perkins School for the Blind is known widely for its stellar on-campus programming for students
with visual impairments, including those with additional disabilities. In 2015, Perkins Administration with Board
support decided to expand the school's short course offerings to meet this transition need of students with
visual impairments throughout New England and its CEO established a program planning committee with
faculty, staff, and an external consultant. During the last six months of 2015, the committee edited materials
from the Transition Tote System (Wolffe, 2012) and the RNIB Pre-Employment Program Trainer's Manual
(Wolffe, 2011), and collected a variety of resources from the Internet. These curricular materials were chosen
based on evidence of their effectiveness in similar training situations (Jorgensen-Smith & Lewis, 2004;
McMahon, Wolffe, Wolfe, & Booker, 2013; Wittich, Watanabe, Scully, & Bergevin, 2013). With this content,
the team designed and wrote up a proposed curriculum and syllabus to launch the Perkins PEP in January
2016.
The pilot was offered at the Grousbeck Center, on the Perkins' campus, as a ten-session classroom
program (every other Saturday during the spring semester) with online learning support between sessions via
Yammer. It was designed specifically for youth with visual impairments, intending to enter competitive
employment settings. The ten PEP sessions included self-awareness and career exploration activities; as well
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