Overbrook School for the Blind (OSB), a specialized school serving students with blindness and visual impairment, has provided, since the early 1990s, paid summer work experiences as part of the school's Work Experience Program. In this article, the authors discuss how OSB has strengthened its original program as a result of the Workforce…

Techniques for teachers to use in mainstreaming visually handicapped students in instruction of English as a second language are discussed. They include: (1) having an initial student interview to explore the student's knowledge of braille and gather other relevant information about student skills; (2) not developing negative attitudes or becoming…

Focuses on the shortcomings and advantages of rural special education itinerant service delivery and suggests practical strategies for dealing with difficult work conditions. Includes implications for school administrators and teacher-training personnel. Emphasizes that itinerant teachers themselves must adjust to change, modify expectations, and…

Special and general education faculty articulate issues and concerns regarding inclusive education within the fields of hearing loss, learning disabilities, emotional/behavioral disorders, severe disabilities, and visual impairments. Reflections from a general educator follow. The need for adequate classroom supports and increased collaboration in…

The Summer Transition Training Project was designed to address the needs of visually impaired adolescents and young adults by providing training in transitional and rehabilitation teaching to educators of the visually impaired and to rehabilitation professionals in six western states. This paper describes program design, implementation, and…

Discusses future directions for training teachers of students with visual impairments, based on relevant literature and the history of teacher preparation at George Peabody College (Tennessee). Two issues are examined: how to train enough teachers and how to provide the necessary competencies for teaching children with various abilities. (SM)

Describes graduate teacher education program at University of Northern Colorado emphasizing full and equal training in three competency areas: academic instruction, orientation/mobility, and needs of severely/profoundly handicapped blind children. Finds program serves rural/small schools and districts lacking sufficient population of visually…

A curriculum for disorders of oculomotor control, binocular vision, and visual perception, adopted by the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry, is outlined. The curriculum's 14 objectives in physiology, perceptual and cognitive development, epidemiology, public health, diagnosis and management, environmental influences, care delivery,…

This article describes a train-the-trainers course that provided training in sound instructional strategies to 10 assistive technology specialists who work with people who are visually impaired. Topics included conducting assessments, writing training proposals, developing the curriculum, planning lessons, and analyzing learning styles. All…

Discussion of new factors in legal requirements for school accommodation of persons with disabilities highlights statutory and case-law interpretations for persons with disabilities such as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, sensory impairments, orthopedic impairments, learning disabilities, and drug and alcohol addiction, and includes policy…

This article discusses two collaborative efforts of classroom and computer teachers to integrate adapted technology into the elementary and secondary curriculum of 24 students with visual impairment. In the primary-level project students developed computer Internet and word processing skills while studying desert life. In the secondary-level…

Previous reports in this series (#32 and 36) have discussed online software features of value to disabled learners in distance education. The current report evaluates four specific assistive software products with useful features for visually and hearing impaired learners: "ATutor", "ACollab", "Natural Voice", and "Just Vanilla". The evaluative…

The American with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 was a landmark legislative initiative that outlined the protection of individuals with disabilities. The 1997 amendment of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (U.S. Congress, 1999) stipulates that students with disabilities are to be educated in the general education curriculum.…

Community residences for small groups of people and day activity programs designed to increase functional levels for severely multiply handicapped persons with visual problems, are proposed as the only viable, humane alternative to institutionalization. Sources of funding for these goup home and day activity programs, which cost the same as…

This theme issue discusses the special information needs of older adults and library services designed to meet these needs, especially focusing on the problems of mobility, visual, and hearing impairments. Several contracted projects in Illinois, developed to assess and meet the needs of older adults, are also described and evaluated. (CLB)