Vision Program
Students who reside in any of the 92 member districts of DuPage / West Cook are eligible to be considered at an IEP/ED meeting for placement in the Vision Program operated by SASED.
A full continuum of programs is available from preschool through transition for those students who are determined to need an instructional or resource program for children with visual impairments. All of the elementary programs including preschool are housed in Salt Creek District 48. The high school is housed in DuPage District 88. This allows for a smooth continuity of curriculum for students who are mainstreamed. The District 48 program feeds into the District 88 High School. Mainstreaming is determined by the child's needs and abilities at an IEP meeting. A child may be fully mainstreamed with appropriate instructional materials and supports, or may be mainstreamed only for non-academic areas. In addition to mainstreaming opportunities, a full range of extra-curricular activities are also available.
Children with congenital visual impairments have little if any opportunity to obtain incidental information from their environment. The lack of vision severely interferes with a child's ability to read social cues as well as to seamlessly gain information that surrounds him. Therefore, in self contained / resource classrooms, in addition to standard curricula, equal attention is paid to the areas that prevent a child with a visual impairment from fully participating in his environment. Special attention is paid to disability specific skills (such as Braille reading and writing, abacus, use of low vision aids for near and distance, use of speech output programs, enlarging software, taped texts, closed circuit televisions, etc.). Daily living skills can be particularly challenging for a child with a severe visual impairment, since most of our information comes from observing others. Things as simple as use of utensils need to be taught and reinforced in a manner that allows the child with the visual impairment to be as independent as their ability permits. Most sighted persons teach skills across a table. For a child with a visual impairment, even if the skill is taught hand over hand, by teaching in front, it does not provide the correct proprioceptive information. Instead, working behind the child in a hand over hand manner allows the child to feel how the arm and not just the hand needs to be maneuvered to use most utensils. Again, for sighted children, opportunities to watch others use utensils are infinite; for the child with a visual impairment, the opportunities are limited to direct instruction. In addition, social interaction is an area that also requires specific teaching. A child with a severe visual impairment does not have any intrinsic need to face a person speaking to him, or to know when he is in a large group if anyone is speaking to him, since often a glance lets the listener know to whom one is directing their question.
Related services are an integral part of the vision program based on each child's individual needs and abilities. Orientation and mobility, which teaches each student to travel safely at an age and cognitively appropriate level, is a standard part of the program. Each child is taught at his/her ability level to travel safely and independently in school, community, and residential environments. Both regular staff and teachers of the visually impaired are reminded of safe travel techniques when escorting a child with a visual impairment. In addition to orientation and mobility, a full range of related services is available based on each child's needs and abilities as determined at an IEP/ED meeting. These services include: occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech and language services, etc.
In talking with adults who are blind, one of the needs identified by them was job experience, even for the college bound student. As a result the high school program is working to incorporate job shadowing and job experiences for all students. Part of the program for non-college bound students will be an in-depth work experience. Due to the visual impairment, opportunities to find out what work experiences are available are more limited. Therefore, experiences need to be provided so the visually impaired individual can have information to make a career choice that is right for him/her. A transition program is being implemented on an individual basis for each student as determined at their IEP.
For more information, please contact:
Joan Allison
630-834-0694
jallison@sased.org
