School for the Blind Outreach Services

Page Index:
Consultations
School Psychologist
Professional and Family Workshops
Summer Programs
Assessment within IDEA Process
Compensatory Skills
Orientation and Mobility
Short Term Courses

As the Colorado School for the Deaf and for the Blind mission statement states, CSDB’s aim is to meet the diverse needs of all Colorado students who are blind and visually impaired by providing educational programs, specialized materials, and resources vital to their success. Outreach Services helps to fill the needs that may be requested from school districts around the state of Colorado. CSDB’s Outreach Services support proficient student performance by assisting local school districts, reducing barriers to learning associated with a vision loss, and providing students access to the general curriculum, core content area and the Expanded Core Curriculum for students with visual impairments through the following services:

Consultations

The staff provides on-site observations (within the state of Colorado) and consultations that include recommendations for appropriate curricular materials and instructional methods, modifications, and adaptations at the request of the local educational agency and/or the parents.  A written report will be provided.  Consultations are also available through email and/or phone to serve as a resource for information about eye conditions, assessment, instructional materials, and other related information and services for students with a visual loss.
 

School Psychologist

The School Psychologist in the School for the Blind provides a number of services to students, families and staff. Assessment of a student's cognitive abilities, social skills, adaptive abilities, and/or possible learning disabilities, may be conducted for a triennial review or on a referral from a teacher or parent. Consultative services provide support to teachers and staff working with students who may present challenges in academic or behavioral areas. This includes conducting functional behavior assessments, and writing and implementing behavior plans. Direct services include individual counseling, group counseling or classroom interventions, such as preventative programs such as No Go Tell or social skills training. Other services include crisis management and staff training in the Crisis Prevention Institute model and outreach services to other school districts in the areas of assessment and consultation for blind and visually impaired students. The school psychologist is also a member of the School District #20 Child Find Team and the Pikes Peak BOCES Autism Team.

Ellen Trapp mailto:etrapp@csdb.org

Professional and Family Workshops

The staff assists local school districts and special education cooperatives in planning and presenting vision specific workshops, presentations, and in-service training aligned with CSDB’s professional development standards. The staff will connect families to the annual parent training conference, known as the “Family Learning Retreat,” during which specific disability information is shared. 

Summer Programs

The staff designs and runs four to five weeks of summer programming for students K-12 to enhance skills, network with friends, and learn new approaches to living with a visual impairment. Summer programs are designed with enrichment in mind.  The student has the opportunity to meet age-appropriate peers with a vision disability.
Summer Program Schedule

Assessments within IDEA Process

The staff work with parents and local educational agencies to develop plans and conduct evaluations of students in areas related to visual impairments, including functional vision, learning media, orientation and mobility, assistive technology, social skills, and recreational and leisure skills.  These evaluations are typically conducted in the student’s home school.  Assistance with psychological evaluation is also available. Outreach staff members are available to attend Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) and Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) conferences if requested

Short Term Courses

The School for the Blind at CSDB offers short term courses during the 2007-2008 school year. The major areas of focus will be as follows:

• Compensatory Skills
• Daily Living Skills
• Orientation and Mobility
• Computer Technology for the Blind/Visually Impaired

The Short Term Courses program, developed to serve students throughout the state of Colorado, helps students benefit from a short period of intensive instruction in an area of the expanded core curriculum for visually impaired students. We want your help in designing your student’s program. We have set aside specific weeks (see below) for the courses, but we can lengthen, shorten or change the dates based on specific needs for your student.
Short Term Courses Schedule

Compensatory Skills

Randy Witte is the Compensatory and Braille instructor for the School for the Blind.  Although most of our students receive Braille instruction infused into their academic classes, others require one-on-one or small group instruction. Students requiring more intense Braille instruction than their classroom teachers can provide, such as newly blinded students, or those who are currently or may potentially lose sight, are pulled from their classrooms 1-2 times per week for direct instruction.  

Direct Braille instruction focuses in on the mastery of the Literary Braille Code. Focus is placed learning how to both read and write the code accurately as well as on increasing Braille reading speed. Additionally, some instructional time is placed on learning slate and stylus skills.

Randy  Witte

rwitte@csdb.org

Orientation and Mobility/Low Vision Services

Orientation and Mobility is that part of the educational process that prepares the visually impaired or blind student to travel independently. Our team provides services to students from infants through age twenty-one who are visually impaired, and may have multiple disabilities. Our goal is to provide students with the skills to enable them to travel safely and as independently as possible in their home, school, work, and community environments. Our team provides services to CSDB students who are mainstreamed into public schools, training in their home environments, and transitional services. Outreach services are provided as requested

The low vision program at CSDB is a comprehensive program designed to evaluate students with a visual impairment including those who deaf/blind. Each student's functional vision is evaluated first. Students are then assessed by CSDB's certified low vision specialist and receive a low vision exam with a local optometrist, Dr. Thomas W. Theune with Optometrist Low Vision Services of Southern Colorado. Low vision exams are followed with training in the use of near and distance low vision aids as recommended on an individual basis. Instruction is provided on a one-to-one basis both in the classroom as well as the community environment. CSDB offers consultation/support low vision services to teachers and paraprofessionals who have students with specialized needs which may be difficult to test.

Our Orientation and Mobility/Low Vision Team:

You may contact us at: 719-578-2201 or at these addresses:
 

Donna Keale, COMS	dkeale@csdb.org
Cathy Kearney, OMS	ckearney@csdb.org
Jim Olson, COMS	jolson@csdb.org
Robin Theryoung, OMS	rtheryoung@csdb.org
Linda Witte, COMS	lwitte@csdb.org

For more information, contact Outreach Services at 719-578-2251.
Donna Keale, Outreach Coordinator
email: dkeale@csdb.org