Personnel Preparation and CVI at Vanderbilt University

摘要

Cortical visual impairment (CVI) has been one of the two most prevalent conditions in children who receive services for visual impairments from specialized agencies and schools for the past 20 years; the majority of these students have additional disabilities (Ferrell, 1998; Hatton, Schwietz, Boyer, & Rychwalski, 2007; Steinkuller et al, 1999). For that reason, the needs of students with CVI must be addressed by university personnel preparation programs that prepare teachers of students with visual impairments. As a relatively new professor in the field, I recognize that it is much easier to make that assertion than actually to adopt the practice. In many cases, personnel preparation programs are already challenged to prepare teachers of students with visual impairments adequately to serve students from increasingly diverse families, ages birth to 22 years, and with various abilities (gifted to multiple severe disabilities) and visual function (corrected acuities of 20/70 to total blindness) in a variety of settings (rural, suburban, urban, high poverty). In addition, teachers must be prepared to work in local education agencies as itinerant or resource room teachers or in specialized schools and agencies.