1. Mary C. Zatta, Ph.D. and Sharon Z. Sacks, Ph.D.
Good morning – I am pleased to be here with you today to talk about this very important topic. I share apologies from Dr. Sharon Sacks who was unable to be here today. This topic is so huge and I am not sure I can do it justice in ths short time but I am going to highlight some of the areas that Sharon and I believe were most critical. I apologize in advance because we are only going to hae time to touch on the topics. Because we only have about 2- minutes I will just dive right in and try not to talk too fast!
Quality Educational Programs for Students who are Visually Impaired/Blind with Multiple Disabilities including Deafblindness
Mary C. Zatta, Ph.D. and Sharon Z. Sacks, Ph.D.

2. Why is this topic important?
Increasing number of MDVI/DB students
Shortage of TVIs
Preservice programs struggling to meet the needs of all
Diversity of the student population
This topic is very important today because the number of students who are visually impaired with multiple disabilities or deafblindness has increased. It is believed that 70% of school-age students who have a visual impairment have additional disabilities. At the same time there is a shortage of TVIs and, due to the diversity of the population – academic students to students with significant multiple disabilities (including intellectual, motor, sensory, neurological, health) preservice programs are struggling to meet the needs of the MDVI population.

3. Who Are the Students w/ MDVI/DB?
A quality program must meet the needs of a child with a visual impairment with any combination of the following:
Intellectual disability
Neurological or other medical disability
Physical disability
Hearing impairment
Behavioral disability
Autism
In order to meet the needs of these students we have to provide a program that can address the combination of any of the following disabilities;

4. A Quality Program for MDVIDB
Adequate and Appropriately trained personnel
Ongoing staff development and expanded pre-service training
Child-centered Teams that includes the family
Assessment
Curriculum
Appropriate Instructional Strategies
Appropriate Instructional Environments
In turn, a quality program must include: appropriately trained staff ( this requires ongling staff professional development – inservice – as well as expanded preservice training. It includes child-centered teams which has families as equal members. It includes Assessment, Curriculum, Instructional Strategies, and Instructional Strategies that meet the needs of the child.

5. Appropriately Trained Staff
Expanded pre-service training
Ongoing professional development
Assessment strategies & Intervention strategies
Communication
CVI
Active Learning
Autism
Assistive Technology
Appropriately trained staff must have the skills to conduct appropriate assessment and identify appropriate curriculum and intervention strategies. They must be versed in the communication abilities of the child and be able to model a higher level. This often includes the use of alternative or augmentative communication and strong knowledge and skills in this area is critical. A large percentage of students today have CVI – interventions with these children requires very specialized training. Using an active learning approach is one that has proven successful with students with MDVI – so knowledge and skills in this area is improtant as well. Understanding the specific strategies /interventions used with the autistic population is helpful – those with a deafblindness background are often better trained for this population. And finally, knowldege and skills related to a wide range of assistive technology is critical in today’s educational program.

6. Personnel with expertise: Communication Development
All behavior is communication – educators need to:
Assess the meaning of the communication
Provide a model for appropriate modes of communication
Provide REASONS and OPPORTUNITIES for the student to communicate

7. Personnel with expertise: CVI
Leading cause of visual impairment in developed countries
It is estimated that 70% of school- age children with a diagnosed visual impairment have CVI
The training needs in this area are significant

8. Personnel with expertise: Active Learning
Students at the sensorimotor stage of development
Designing an environment to help the child become an “active learner”

9. Personnel with expertise: Autism
Difficulty with diagnosis
Characteristics of visual impairment?
Autism?
Intervention strategies e.g., communication & behavior to ensure success

10. Personnel with expertise: Assistive Technology
HUGE range of possibilities: no- tech, low tech, high tech
An IDEA mandate
A team approach

11. Child-Centered Teams that include the family
A collaborative approach
Ongoing communication
Consistency in interventions from home to school
Advanced planning for all transitions
In order to provide effectvie programs we must be sure that our teams are child-centered and ensure that the family is an equal member of the team. A collaborative approach that ensures there is ongoing communication and consistency in intervention approaches at home and at school. In addition, we must institutionalize a plan for all transitions. Not just transition from school to post-school out comes but for every transition. For every child we can identify the upcoming transitions in their lives and ensure that the team plans accordingly – there is not excuse to not be thinking ahead.

12. Assessment Strategies that provide meaningful information
Observational approach
Child-guided approach (Van Dijk)
Participation from all members of the team including the family
We must incorporate assessment strategies that provide meaningful information. Many of the assessment tools we have used in the past may not be relevant for these students. We must use observation and a child-guided approach (or Van Dijk approach). We must include all members of the team – again including the familiy

13. Curriculum Functional and meaningful curriculum
Expanded Core Curriculum
Curriculum alignment
Curriculum must be functional and meaningful – it must include the ECC and it must align with the general curriculum. However, first and foremost – when planning an instructional program for a student we must begin with the end in mind – what is going to help the student be the most successful when they leave school? What are the skills they need to reach their dreams?

14. Instructional Strategies
Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
Consistency and routines
Real-life activities and environments
Turn-taking, choice- making
Clear beginning, middle, end
Age appropriate
Partial participation
Community-based instruction
Active learning
Naturalistic teaching (child-guided approach)
We must include instructional strategies that we know are effective – we must ensure that staff embrace these strategies.

15. Appropriate Instructional Environments
Environments adapted to meet the sensory needs of the student
Natural environments
We must be sure that the environments are such that they meet the needs of the students – that they are adapted to meet their sensory needs. That we use natural environemnts to the degree possible. We know that students learn best in natural environments – let’s ensure that these are the environments w use to the degree possible. Generalization is typically not a strength for these students – we cannot “pretend” store or “pretend” banks, etc. We must expose them to the real thing.

16. Mary C. Zatta, Ph.D. and Sharon Z. Sacks, Ph.D.
Good morning – I am pleased to be here with you today to talk about this very important topic. I share apologies from Dr. Sharon Sacks who was unable to be here today. This topic is so huge and I am not sure I can do it justice in ths short time but I am going to highlight some of the areas that Sharon and I believe were most critical. I apologize in advance because we are only going to hae time to touch on the topics. Because we only have about 2- minutes I will just dive right in and try not to talk too fast!
Quality Educational Programs for Students who are Visually Impaired/Blind with Multiple Disabilities including Deafblindness
Mary C. Zatta, Ph.D. and Sharon Z. Sacks, Ph.D.