Visual Impairment

"Visual impairment including blindness" means an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness.

Common Characteristics

• • • Limited incidental learning possible delays or deficits in motor developments

    • Often experience social isolation and/or difficulties in social interactions with sighted peers

Criteria

• Documented visual impairment

• Educational Impact

VDOE Guidance/Resources

• Guidelines For Working With Students Who Are Blind Or Visually Impaired In Virginia Public Schools

  • Word - ADA Compliant Version

  • PDF - Original version

• Training & Technical Assistance Centers (TTAC)

Services for Students Identified as Hearing or Visually Impaired

The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) provides information on services for students with hearing and/or vision impairments at its Web site. The following links to information and resources are excerpted from the Virginia Department of Education’s (VDOE) Web page, Specific Disabilities.

• Guidelines for Working with Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing in Virginia Public Schools

• Guidelines for Working with Students who are Blind or Visually Impaired in Virginia Public Schools

Other specific resources that should be available to teachers and parents include the following:

• • • Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind - The Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind (VSDB) is located in Staunton, Virginia and provides a day program as well as a residential setting exclusively to students who are deaf, have a hearing impairment, blind, or have a vision impairment, and who are deaf-blind. VSDB’s admission policy is available at the above website.

    • Virginia Department for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (VDDHH) - The VDDHH provides standards for educational interpreting services and other services to reduce the communication barriers between persons who are deaf or hard of hearing and their families and the professionals who serve them.

    • Virginia Project for Children and Young Adults with Deaf-Blindness – This office provides technical assistance, training, distance education and networking information to families, service providers, and individuals who are deaf-blind/dual sensory impaired.

    • VDOE-Deaf-blindness Eligibility

    • Educational Interpreting Services

    • Virginia Communication Plan

    • Strategies for Teaching Mathematics to Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

    • Virginia Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired (VDBVI) – VDBVI’s primary focus is to assist Virginians who are blind in achieving quality employment outcomes. Vocational evaluation, job training, job development, placement, follow-up, and other services are provided to assist consumers in obtaining jobs in the public and private sectors. VDBVI’s education services program provides services to early intervention providers, school personnel, and families to help children to be successful in school and the community and to prepare for the future.

    • Virginia Rehabilitation Center for Blind and Vision Impaired

    • Virginia’s Accessible Instructional Materials Center (VA-AIM) - VA-AIM’s extensive library, has developed an alternative system of providing accessible educational media under standards set by federal law (NIMAS) to students who meet the federal requirements for print disabilities and who are eligible for accessing educational media under individual IEPs, as required under Part B of IDEA. AIM-VA, in conjunction with partnering agencies, provides required accessible educational materials to students with an IEP and training for staff, at no cost to Local Education Agencies in a timely fashion.