Serving Students with Sensory Impairments

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Serving Students with Sensory Impairments

• Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing
• Dual Sensory Impaired (Deaf-Blind)
• Blind/Visually Impaired
• Shelley Ardis, Resource Materials and Technology
  Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
• Suzanne Dalton, Florida Instructional Materials
  Center for the Visually Impaired
• Dawn Saunders, Florida Department of Education

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Our Goals

• Give you direction
• Give you the terminology
• Give you the knowledge
• To navigate the world of sensory loss in order to
  provide appropriate services for students!

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Deaf/Hard of Hearing
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Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing

• Hearing Loss -- Severity
• Normal range or no impairment 0 dB to 20 dB
• Mild loss 20 dB to 40 dB
• Moderate loss 40 dB to 60 dB
• Severe loss 60 dB to 80 dB
• Profound loss 80 dB or more
• American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

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Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing

• A ---------- Av---------AV------------Va----------
  V
• Auditory Auditory Auditory
  Visual Visual
• Only w/visual (Simultaneous
  w/Auditory Only
• support Communication) support
• 11 Communication Cooperative/
• Classroom Lecture Small group
• Classroom Discussion Theater
• Classroom Learning Groups Home
• Car
• Cheryl DeConde Johnson, Ed.D, March 2006

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DHH Special Considerations and Related Services

• Special Considerations Communication needs of
  the child 34 CFR 300.324(a)(2)(iv)
• Special Considerations Assistive Technology
  
• 34 CFR 300.324(a)(2)(v)
• Related Services Audiology
• 34 CFR 300.34(c)(1)

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Which of the following made you the most
uncomfortable?

• Difficulty understanding the presenter?
• Inability to read the handout
• Difficulty following the PowerPoint presentation.

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Approximately how many students with hearing loss
does your district serve?

• 0 25
• 26 50
• 50 100
• 100

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DHH Special Considerations and Related Services

• Related Services Interpreting 34 CFR
  300.34(c)(4)
• Related Services Speech Pathology 34 CFR
  300.34(c)(15)
• NOTE Districts are not responsible for the
  maintenance, replacement or optimization
  (mapping) of surgically implanted medical devices
  (cochlear implants) 34 CFR 300.34(b)(1)

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Implementing IDEA

• Educating IEP teams
• Unique needs of students with hearing loss
• Deaf versus Hard-of-Hearing
• Signing v. total communication v. auditory/oral
• Role of the educational interpreter
• Types of captioning as an accommodation

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Implementing IDEA

• Procuring Services
• District-based employees
• Contractual employees
• Remote services for interpreting and captioning
• Substitutes

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DHH Hot Topics

• Improving achievement of students who are DHH in
  Reading.
• Communication methods
• Service provision balancing communication needs
  and highly qualified requirements
• Critical Shortage of teachers of the deaf and
  interpreters
• Appropriate accommodations for both access to
  information and interaction with content

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Which hot topic affects your district the most?

• Reading
• Communication
• Service provision
• Teacher critical shortage
• Interpreter critical shortage

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DHH Resources

• Educational Interpreter Project
• www.interpreterproject.org
• Provides professional development for in-service
  educational interpreters
• Weekend seminars
• Summer Institute
• Provides preparation for interpreters-in-training
• Provides targeted technical assistance to school
  districts

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DHH Resources

• Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind
  Outreach Services
• www.fsdb.k12.fl.us/outreach
• Technical Assistance in-service workshops,
  on-site classroom visits and recommendations
• Information and referral services
• Assessments functional vision evaluations,
  orientation and mobility evaluations
• Parental input and involvement activities
  surveys, trainings
• Small and rural districts

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DHH Resources

• Resource Materials and Technology Center for the
  Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing (RMTC)
• www.fsdb.k12.fl.us/rmc
• Gives teachers of deaf and hard-of-hearing
  students the technology assistance, training and
  consultation they need to successfully integrate
  technology into their classroom routine
• serves teachers and interpreters with a lending
  library of over 1,300 captioned and/or signed
  videotapes

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Dual Sensory Impaired

• (Deaf-Blind)

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Approximately how many students with
deaf-blindness does your district serve?

• 0 10
• 11 20
• 20

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Dual Sensory Impaired (Deaf-Blind)

• Students have hearing and vision loss (not OR)
• Student may also be eligible if he/she has a
  condition that will lead to dual sensory loss
  (i.e. Usher Syndrome)
• Educational needs of these students vary
• Educational needs go beyond the scope of VI alone
  or DHH alone

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Dual Sensory Impaired (DSI) Special
Considerations and Related Services

• Considerations and related services for students
  who are deaf/hard-of-hearing and students who are
  visually impaired may apply
• Interpreting -- includes special interpreting
  services for students who are deaf-blind
• 34 CFR 300.34(c)(4)(ii)

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Implementing IDEA

• Educating IEP Teams
• Deaf-blindness ? deafness blindness
• Communication needs
• Additional disabilities

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Implementing IDEA

• Choosing services for the student
• Related services
• Interpreter versus intervenor
• Orientation and Mobility
• Other related services

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DSI Hot Topics

• Identification of students with DSI
• Educational placements and services
• Communication access and needs
• Transition

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DSI Resources

• Florida Outreach Project for Children and Young
  Adults who are Deaf-Blind
• www.deafblind.ufl.edu/
• Provides technical assistance and training to
  school districts and parents
• Has a lending library of materials specific to
  deaf-blindness
• Collects census information for the National
  Consortium on Deaf-Blindness

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What has been your interaction with the state
deaf-blind project?

• Technical assistance received
• Staff has attended seminars
• Deaf-blind census completed annually
• No interaction

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Blind/Visually Impaired
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Approximately how many students with visual
impairments does your district serve?

• 0 25
• 26 50
• 51 100
• 100 200
• 200

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Blind/Visually Impaired

• Visual Impairment in Education
• Blind the student has little or no functional
  vision and accesses information primarily through
  auditory and tactile means

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Blind/Visually Impaired

• Low Vision the student has residual vision
  which allows the use of printed materials, but
  may also use tactile and auditory information

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Blind/Visually Impaired

• Degenerative Eye disorders student may not meet
  acuity or field loss requirements, but nature of
  eye condition results in the need for instruction
  in unique skills

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VI Accessing the Curriculum

• V ---------- Va---------VA------------Av----------
  A
• Visual Visual Visual Visual
  Alternative
• Only w/alternative and
  Alternative Only
• support Alternative w/visual
  support
• Visual Print, either enlarged or using
  magnification devices
• Alternative braille, audio (i.e. talking books)
• Most students use multiple means of accessing
  text in different situations

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VI Special Considerations and Related Services

• Special Considerations Need for braille
  instruction
• 34 CFR 300.324(a)(2)(iii)
• Special Considerations Assistive Technology
• 34 CFR 300.324(a)(2)(v)

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VI Special Considerations and Related Services

• Related Services Orientation and Mobility
• 34 CFR 300.34(c)(7)

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Implementing IDEA

• Educating IEP teams
• Unique needs of students with visual impairments
• Expanded Core Curriculum
• Role of the itinerant teacher of the visually
  impaired

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VI Hot Topics

• Nation-wide critical shortage of teachers of the
  visually impaired and orientation and mobility
  specialists
• Learning media the appropriateness of braille
  instruction for certain students

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VI Hot Topics

• Caseloads
• National Instructional Materials Accessibility
  Standard (NIMAS)

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Which of the Hot Topics affects your district
the most?

• Teacher critical shortage
• Learning media assessments
• Caseloads
• Accommodations/ accessible materials

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VI Resources

• Critical Initiatives in Visual Impairments Low
  Vision Initiative (Florida State University)
• www.careersinblindness.com
• Provides clinical low vision evaluations and low
  vision devices to eligible students
• Students must be referred to the project by a
  teacher of the visually impaired
• Students, parents, and teachers are provided
  training on how to use the devices

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VI Resources

• Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind
  Outreach Services
• www.fsdb.k12.fl.us/outreach
• Technical Assistance in-service workshops,
  on-site classroom visits and recommendations
• Information and referral services
• Assessments functional vision evaluations,
  orientation and mobility evaluations
• Parental input and involvement activities
  surveys, trainings
• Small and rural districts

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VI Resources

• Florida Instructional Materials Center
• for the Visually Impaired
• www.fimcvi.org
• provides books and other materials in accessible
  formats (braille, large print, digital-audio) for
  students with visual impairments, including
  deaf-blindness
• Students are registered with FIMC-VI annually
• Materials are at no cost to districts
• Orders (especially braille orders) must be in by
  March to ensure delivery by the beginning of the
  school year

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Do your teachers attend Weekends with the Experts
or other FIMC-VI workshops?

• Yes
• No

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Has your district received technical assistance
from FIMC-VI?

• Yes
• No

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New Online FIMC-VIStudent Registration Module!

• Even though school districts must still register
  all students prior to receiving materials and
  services from FIMC-VI,
• blind and visually impaired students can now be
• registered online!!!!

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New Online FIMC-VIStudent Registration Module!

• As in the past, only District ESE Administrators
  have the authority to designate teachers of the
  visually impaired or other specified personnel as
  Authorized FIMC VI Users.
• Given confidentiality issues related to accessing
  student information, administrators must
  maintain close oversight of these appointments.

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New Online FIMC-VIStudent Registration Module!

• Authorized FIMC-VI Users are able to
• register new students
• edit existing students registrations and
• order instructional materials.

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National Instructional Materials Accessibility
Standard

• (NIMAS)

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Definitions

• NIMAS National Instructional Materials
  Accessibility Standard
• Standardized file format which facilitates the
  conversion of textbooks to alternative formats
• Braille
• Large Print
• Digital/Audio
• Students must meet eligibility requirements of
  Chafee Amendment to utilize books created from
  these files

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Definitions (cont.)

• NIMAC National Instructional Materials Access
  Center
• Housed at the American Printing House for the
  Blind
• Repository for NIMAS files
• Authorized Users obtain files to be
  transcribed/converted

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NIMAS and IDEA

• Section 612(a)(23) of IDEA requires states (SEAs)
  to adopt the National Instructional Materials
  Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) for the purpose of
  providing instructional materials to persons who
  are blind and other persons with print
  disabilities, and to ensure that these materials
  are provided in a timely manner.

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NIMAS and IDEA

• Section 613(a)(6) of IDEA includes similar
  requirements for local educational agencies
  (LEAs)
• Included in district assurances

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NIMAS and IDEA

• SEAs and LEAs have an obligation to provide
  accessible instructional materials in a timely
  manner to children with disabilities who may need
  educational materials in accessible formats, but
  who are not eligible to receive materials
  produced from files obtained through the NIMAC.

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NIMAS and Florida

• Prior to December, 2007, Florida was unable to
  coordinate with the NIMAC due to an indemnity
  clause in one of the required agreements
• With that clause removed, Florida is anticipating
  moving forward with coordination plans
• Floridas authorized user will serve as
  coordinating units with districts

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How can we help you?

• Technical assistance
• Professional development
• Resources materials for teachers

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Questions?

• Answers!