a parent's guide to...
Fighting for (and Receiving) Services for Your Blind Child
Why is it so hard to find good help? In many states, services for visually impaired children, though mandated through strict federal laws, are very hard to come by. Many parents find themselves battling with their state in order to receive the simplest services, such as the opportunity to meet with a vision specialist once a month.
A big part of the problem is there just aren't enough vision specialists (also called Teachers of the Visually Impaired, or TVIs) to go around. However, lack of adequate pay and heavy workloads turn many TVIs away from the job. What can we, as parents, do to help?
First of all, know your rights. Read The Parent's Guide to the Americans with Disabilities Act and Chapter Nine: Legal Issues in Children with Visual Impairments: A Parents' Guide. This will get you started.
Next, figure out what it is you're fighting for and how you can accomplish your goals. Here are some suggestions:
- Will your state implement a program to test children and detect vision problems as early as possible? Children need to be recognized as Visually Impaired by the school system in order to qualify both the students and the district for services.
- Do you have vision specialists and orientation and mobility specialists who can work with your children and who aren't overloaded with too many cases? You need to keep the specialist-to-student ratio as low as possible so that our specialists aren't over worked and our children receive the attention they deserve.
- Schools need to be able to provide students with necessary equipment, like large print or braille books, braillers, computer screen readers, or other assistive technology.
- All of this, of course, costs money and money in government can be hard to come by without someone out there fighting for it. Parents can get involved by heading fundraising events, but it's also a good idea to know your politicians and find someone who can help you put together an adequate state budget for blind services.
The Hawai'i Association for the Blind (HAB) has suggested creating a political position in this state who will oversee blind budgeting and work to bridge the gaps between Department of Health and Department of Education services, a sort of buck-stops-here type of person. We'll see if this helps the situation in Hawai'i, which, currently, is pretty abysmal. - Try being creative. If your local district has extra funds or if you can organize a group of concerned parents to raise extra funds, you can have your local school district hire specialists and purchase equipment without having to wait for the money to be allocated by the state government.
- When desperate, find your own vision specialist! Contact schools around the country and ask them if anyone is looking for a job (The Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired keeps an updated list of colleges around the country that train TVIs), place ads on the internet, or contact organizations like AER. Once you have interested applicants, send them to the proper administrator. If you still don't get the specialists you need, it may be time to look into filing for a due process hearing.
- Write letters to your governor and representatives. Contact your local newspaper. Get as many people involved as possible!
TVI Job Opportunity in Hawai'i!
Here in Hawai'i, we're experiencing a serious TVI shortage: There is no vision specialist to work with children aged 0-3 in the entire state, and there hasn't been one for almost three years now.
A full-time TVI position is now being advertised on the Hawai'i government website (see below). The job pays $3,652.00 - $3,652.00 monthly.
Working as a TVI in Hawai'i would mean living on the island of O'ahu while servicing families on all islands. Applicants should (but aren't required to) have experience with young children (ages 0-5). The mandatory qualifications include an MA in SPED and certification in orientation and mobility. The primary roles of the vision specialist are as follows:
- Evaluations of children with diagnosed vision conditions including:
- A review of the nature of the vision condition (explain in lay-terms as needed).
- An explanation of the any vision screenings/assessments performed during your evaluation.
- An explanation of how the child is currently using his residual vision and/or how the child is functioning in terms of orientation and mobility.
- Recommendations to the family and Early Intervention (EI) therapists as to how to support the child's use of vision, OM skills including orientation, movement, self-help, social, and so on.
- Consultation to the family and EI therapists regarding how to implement the recommendations.
- Training of EI staff on matters related to how to support children with vision conditions.
- Training and consultation to EI staff to support their use of the Photoscreener (detects amblyopia).
- Represent EI at Hawai'i Association of Parents of the Visually Impaired (HAPVI).
- Remain up to date on other groups and resources such as Sky High and VIISA.
If you are interested in applying for the full-time position, visit http://agency.governmentjobs.com/hawaii/ and type "Special Education Teacher IV" in the "Enter Keywords" box toward the middle of the page. You can also click here for the direct listing, but this link may change periodically, so if you are taken to a "404 Not Found" page, just try the above instructions.
You can also contact Tammy Bopp at 808-594-0062 or the main DOH office at 808-594-0000.