Orders and Braillers

APH Orders

Colorado administrative /units, approved agencies who serve young children with blindness/visual impairment, or parents of homeschooled children and youth with blindness/visual impairment are required to register their students who meet or function at the definition of blindness (MDB/FDB) with the CIMC for their inclusion into the annual Federal Quota Census. The student must meet all the eligibility requirements of the quota program. The CIMC manages a repository of educational materials and instructional products specifically designed for use by children and youth with legal blindness by the American Printing House for the Blind (APH). Only registered children and youth can access APH materials using allocated quota funds and APH materials from the CIMC repository. A TVI or an O&M Specialist are the only professionals who can order materials for eligible students based on the specially designed early intervention or instructional needs of their students. In the situation of homeschooled students, the CIMC Coordinator will provide guidance to parents of homeschooled children on recommended materials based on quota funds or repository materials. Materials should be returned to the CIMC repository so they can be used by other Colorado students.

Book Orders

The Colorado Instructional Materials Center (CIMC) is a collaborative service of the Colorado Department of Education (CDE), the CIMC, and the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind (CSDB). It is the ultimate responsibility of to the administrative unit to provide accessible materials in the format needed for their students. The CIMC is here to assist administrative units/B.O.C.E.S. in the transcription, acquisition and production of large print and braille textbooks and novels and to provide some adaptive equipment for students with visual impairment, including blindness and deaf-blindness.

• Colorado administrative units may request access of one (1) copy of each specific textbook or novel needed in braille or large print formats for their students who are registered with the CIMC. Registered students may access one (1) copy of an available e-book textbook or novel in electronic large print format for access on a tablet or computer.
• Large Print: If a title is available for purchase from the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) using Federal Quota funds, then the CIMC will purchase the title for you. If a title is available from a vendor other than APH, the CIMC will share the sourcing information you, but will not encumber funds for the production or purchase of the title in large print format.
• Braille: The CIMC sources our own inventory, a national database, a listserv or materials/resource centers in other states. If a title is not available for purchase or loan from one of these agencies, then we will encumber funds to have the title produced. We would then need your administrative unit to provide us with at least one ink print copy that you may or may not get back (the vendor may need to cut off the binding and distribute chapters to multiple braille transcribers as part of the production process). 
• Please understand that new productions of math, science, and social-studies can take up to 2 years to produce in braille format, due to the large numbers of tactile graphics they contain and the technical nature of the textbook formatting.

Braillers, Technology, and Software

Colorado administrative units may request to check out one (1) Perkins brailler for their school-age students with IEPs who are identified for a need for braille instruction. The brailler remains the property of the CDE/CIMC. This is the only brailler provided to the student for the duration of their public-school career. The brailler is intended for use in the student's school building only and should not be sent to the student's home. If the student transfers to another Colorado administrator unit, moves to another state, drops out, or is no longer enrolled in the school program, the brailler should be returned to the CIMC. It should not be given to another student. It should not be sent to the new administrative unit if the child has moved to another Colorado school district. After the new administrative unit submits a signed brailler order form, the CIMC will process and ship the same brailler to the student's new administrative unit.

Use the current version of the Brailler, Technology, and Software Order Form.

Brailler Repair:

The CIMC will continue to inventory and repair braillers issued after July 1, 2013. The CIMC will not be providing a replacement brailler during the time it takes to repair the brailler. The administrative unit/district will be expected to use their own brailler inventory while the brailler is being repaired.

Please use the current version of the Brailler Repair Form and email it as an attachment to cimcBraillerTechSoftware@csdb.org.