We hope you will participate in a survey to help us better understand the challenges and successes students with visual impairments, including those with multiple disabilities and deafblindness, are experiencing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We want to hear from all families, all teachers of students with visual impairments, and all Orientation & Mobility (O&M) instructors in the United States and Canada. We want to hear from families and professionals whose children are receiving educational services as well as those who are not receiving services. We really mean all families whose children have visual impairments, including those with multiple disabilities and deafblindness.
Teachers of students with visual impairments and O&M instructors who were delivering in-person services have had to swiftly shift gears when schools around the country started closing their doors to slow the spread of the COVID-19.
But that doesn’t mean that education has to come to a halt for students who are blind or have low vision and receive services based on their Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP), Individualized Education Program (IEP), or 504 Plan. And if education has come to a halt, we need to understand why.
The survey will be open April 22 – May 13 (3 weeks).
The data will be used to allow educators, administrators, policy makers, and families to better understand the challenges and successes students with visual impairments, including those with multiple disabilities and deafblindness, are experiencing when educational services are being delivered in unique ways. We hope to identify novel ways families and educators are working together to provide instruction in the expanded core curriculum. We want to document how teachers and O&M instructors who don’t have access to all of their materials and resources are providing instruction in unique ways.
For example:
Please share the survey link widely with your networks, so we can make sure all voices are heard.
Thank you for helping us better understand and document the current challenges surrounding access and engagement to education for students.
The following 19 organizations, companies, and universities are collaborating on this project.
This article was reprinted from AFB with permission.
By Diane Brauner