Special Education Services

SOESD Occupational Therapists and Physical Therapists hold a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in their respective fields. Some staff have gone on to earn a specialist credential in pediatrics. Physical therapy (PT) focuses on postural and gross motor functioning such as head control, sitting, and standing balance. Occupational therapy (OT) focuses on fine motor functioning such as acquiring and manipulating objects or tools to work or play in their school environment. Other areas covered in both PT and OT are activities of daily living (safe feeding, hygiene, and toileting), sensory motor skills, assistance with adaptive PE, reasonable and safe access to school environments, and assistive technology.

Often a PT and OT will work closely together to provide a comprehensive and supportive program either through direct service with the student or consultation for staff. Direct services include therapeutic intervention in educational settings with training and technical assistance provided to educational staff, students, and parents. Consultation involves review and evaluation of the student’s program, equipment recommendations, and inservice training.

In addition to the Regionally funded service, at district request and as supported by local contracts, direct and consultative PT and OT services are also provided to less severe students that the district or early childhood provider has determined would benefit from this related service.

Services Provided by Physical Therapists in School Environments
Therapeutic intervention as applied in the school is typically divided into these functional areas:

• Communication
• Self help
• Sensory processing
• Adaptive equipment
• Fine motor
• Functional mobility
• Environmental adaptations
• Positioning
• Neuromuscular and musculoskeletal systems
• Prevocational and Vocational skill
• Physiological Functioning

Often the student will receive intervention services in more than one functional area simultaneously. For example, a student who is learning to become independent in toileting may receive services in the following areas:

Communication – To signal when s/he has to leave the room to go to the bathroom.

Functional Mobility – To ambulate from the classroom to the bathroom and back. To transfer from a walker to the toilet and back.

Environmental Adaptations – To use grab bars, an adapted bathroom stall and adapted faucet.

Self Help – To clean self, unfasten and fasten clothing and to wash and dry hands.

School based PT/OT interventions are always related to the educational needs of the student. Consequently, depending on the educational needs of the student, a variety of PT/OT interventions are provided across functional areas.

A matrix of functional areas, intervention services and educational relevance is provided.

Eligibility Criteria Required assessment information:

• The student’s residual acuity is 20/70 or less in the better eye with correction; or
• The student has an eye condition or a progressive eye disease which is expected to reduce either residual acuity to either a level of 20/70 in the better eye or a visual field of 20 degrees or less in the better eye; or
• The assessment results of a licensed ophthalmologist or optometrist are inconclusive; or
• The student demonstrates inadequate use of residual vision.

In addition to the required assessment information above, the IEP team decides whether:

• The student’s disability has an adverse effect on the student’s educational performance (kindergarten through age 21) or has an adverse impact on the student’s developmental progress (age 3 through 5); and
• The student needs special education services; and
• The student’s special education eligibility is not due to a lack of instruction in reading, math, or limited English proficiency.

Referral A student suspected of a vision impairment must go through the referral process before they can be made eligible for services. School-age children can be referred though their local school district. Children age 0-5 may be referred by either their parents or an Early intervention program. If your child is receiving services from Early Intervention they will contact the vision program with a referral. A report from an eye specialist is necessary to complete the referral process. Services are available to any child, birth through 21 years of age, with a qualifying vision loss. A qualifying vision loss is generally a corrected acuity of 20/70 or less in the better eye or a visual field limited to 20 degrees or less. Any child, age birth through 21, with a verified or functional vision and hearing loss is eligible for deaf-blind services.

The Needs and Rights of Children Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired

Prepared by the XIVth International Seminar on Preschool Blind June 1990

The impact of vision loss on the child and family must be understood and addressed.

Lack of vision limits much of a child’s ability to:

• know where he is and how to move from place to place.
• imitate and interact socially.
• understand what causes things to happen.

Children learn to play with others by watching, moving close to the action, and then joining in the game. A child who cannot see others playing, who doesn’t know how to move closer to them, and who has no way to find out how the game is played, often becomes isolated. As a result, this child may be perceived as withdrawn or developmentally delayed. Special training is required to understand the role that vision plays in development and to master the techniques for teaching the skills that deal with the effects of blindness and visual impairment.

Children who are blind or visually impaired and their families require early intervention services.

Childhood blindness or impairment has an impact on the entire family system. Services should begin as soon as a vision problem is diagnosed in order to encourage a child’s development and to prevent or minimize secondary conditions such as withdrawal, stereotypic behaviors (for example, eye poking, rocking), school failure and family stress.

Children who are blind or visually impaired and their families have a right to qualified instructors and specialists.

The people specifically trained to provide educational services to a child who is blind or visually impaired are:

• Teachers of the visually impaired.
• Orientation and mobility instructors.

Children who are blind or visually impaired and their families have a right to appropriate special services and instruction.

The following services must be integrated into a program that promotes independence for each child.

• Cognitive development opportunities (learning basic concepts, problem solving skills)
• Communication skills instruction (listening, turn-taking, personal expression, braille readiness)
• Gross and fine motor training (developing physical control and stamina)
• Low vision training (learning to use vision)
• Orientation and mobility instruction (learning to move independently in the environment)
• Parent education and family support (developing understanding, skills, and the ability to access personal and community resources)
• Recreation opportunities (enhancing creativity and enjoyment)
• Sensory training (learning to use the senses)
• Social skills instruction (learning skills for daily living and relationships)

What You Should Know About Blindness and Visual Impairment in Children

• The development of the child who is blind or visually impaired is highly individual, as it is with all children.
• Vision is the primary learning modality and source of information for most children.
• No other sense can stimulate curiosity, integrate information or invite exploration in the same way, or as efficiently and fully, as vision does.
• The child who is blind or visually impaired has many needs in common with all children. Among these are the needs for a sense of worth and accomplishment.
• Children who are blind cannot learn to do things by visual imitation. Children who are blind or visually impaired often require more “hands-on” experience, time, practice, and guidance in order to learn skills.
• More efficient hearing and a finer sense of touch, smell or taste do not develop automatically in an infant who is blind or visually impaired.
• Specialized training in the effective and efficient use of vision, hearing, touch, smell and taste can bring about increased skill in their use.
• Because most parents have not had the opportunity to know a child who is blind or visually impaired, they can often benefit from the assistance provided by trained professionals and other parents who have had such an experience, and adults who are blind or visually impaired.
• Many children who are blind or visually impaired have other disabilities.
• The relationship between blindness and other disabilities is complex. Assessment and programming become complicated and may require the services of a variety of disciplines.
• Instruction specific to their disability is essential for young children who are blind or visually impaired in order to meet their unique developmental needs.

The Opportunity To Be Equal

The opportunity for an equal education for blind and visually impaired students depends on the skills of qualified teachers, the availability of appropriate books and materials, plus providing the time needed for students to participate in specialized learning experiences.

Our local schools are fully prepared to meet the challenge of offering students without disabilities an equal opportunity to learn. But are they equally prepared and equipped to provide the same opportunity to learn to students who are blind and visually impaired?

In many cases, local schools have the specialized teachers, the adapted materials and books, and provide the instructional time needed for blind and visually impaired students to have an equal opportunity to learn. However, what if no qualified teacher of visually impaired students is available, or if not enough qualified teachers are available to meet all of the needs of the blind and visually impaired students. Will these students still have an equal opportunity to learn? And is an equal opportunity to learn being afforded to a student who needs ten hours of instruction weekly from a qualified teacher to learn braille but receives only one hour of instruction weekly?

At the Southern Oregon E.S.D. Program for the Visually Impaired, we believe that the opportunity for an equal education means that blind and visually impaired students must be provided learning experiences that are comparable to the learning experiences provided for sighted students.

• Vision loss permanently impacts learning, creating barriers that require specific solutions
• Students with a visual impairment are a diverse group
• Factors such as amount of vision loss, age of onset; and the presence or absence of other disabilities create the diversity.
• Literacy requires adaptation of media and specialized reading instruction.

The Right To Be Different

Offering an equal learning opportunity for blind and visually impaired students requires providing different educational materials and teaching methods than those provided for students without a disability. For example, blind and visually impaired students require a different reading medium: either braille, large print, or regular print with the assistance of an optical device. Also, students learning to read braille require completely different instructional strategies and teaching techniques than those that students learning to read print require. Even the manner in which blind and visually impaired students learn simple concepts such as large and small; tall and short; and hot and cold is different from how sighted students learn these concepts.

As educators, we know that a vision loss profoundly impacts learning. But we know that the impact on learning doesn’t need to result in a delay in. or a lack of educational opportunity. And we know what makes the difference: having qualified teachers, using very special materials and equipment, and providing sufficient instructional time for students to learn. These conditions are requirements for blind and visually impaired students to achieve the same educational results as sighted students achieve without adaptations.

Blind and visually impaired students must have the right to be different: to read in a different medium, to use devices to assist them in traveling through their environment, to use different materials, and to learn through different instructional methods. Blind and visually impaired students are entitled to an opportunity for an equal education. And they have a right to receive that education in a different manner, with different techniques, and in different educational settings.

The Program for the Visually Impaired provides free, itinerant, special education services for all identified students, birth through age 21, who are blind, deaf-blind or have low vision and live in these Southern Oregon counties: Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Lake and Klamath. The program provides:

• Assessment of needs.
• Ongoing inservice and consultation for classroom and support staff.
• Compensatory skills development (e.g. braille, orientation and mobility and assistive technology).
• Equipment and materials (curriculum materials, educational aids, CCTV’s and large print materials.
• Individualized instruction.
• Home instruction and parent training.
• Transition activities.
• Social and recreational activities to further communication and enhance social skills.

There are four full-time and three part-time teachers of the visually impaired. Three of these teachers are certified to teach orientation and mobility.

The program for the visually impaired also employs five braillist/compensatory skills assistants, four of whom are certified by the National Library of Congress. This assures that students receive national certification quality Braille materials. Braillists are based in three production centers. Each production center is fully computerized with braille translation software, scanners, braille embossers, and printers.

In addition to braille and large print production, braillists support teachers of the visually impaired by assisting in the instruction and practice of compensatory skills with students. The program has three offices/production centers located in Phoenix/Talent, Grants Pass, and Klamath Falls. Supervision is provided by a program coordinator who is trained in the fields of vision impairment and orientation and mobility. The following are services that are offered to students who qualify for services:

• Visual Efficiency
• Communication
• Orientation and Mobility
• Socialization
• Daily Living Skills
• Sensory-Motor Skills
• Use of Adaptive Aids
• Knowledge of Eye Condition
• Concept Development
• Technology
• Career Education
• Vision Stimulation
• Compensatory academic skills

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Do you use sign language? No, we teach Braille. However, if the student is deaf/blind we coordinate with the Program for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and may use some form of sign language.
2. How does that blind person know how to cross the street at the right time? Orientation and Mobility Specialists, who are also Teachers of the Visually Impaired, teach students how to be safe, efficient travelers using all of their senses other than vision.
3. Do blind people use radar like bats? People with visual impairments use a multi-sensory approach to gather information while traveling. A person who is blind may identify objects by interpreting sounds in the environment.
4. Is it true that blind people have perfect pitch or extra sensitive hearing? No, people with a visual impairment learn to develop all of their remaining senses with proper training from qualified teachers of the visually impaired.
5. At what age do you start working with children? Teachers of the visually impaired start working with children from the age of identification. This can be as early as birth through the age of 21.
6. Do you just teach Braille? No, we teach academic skills in conjunction with the local school district. In addition, we teach social skills, living skills, orientation and mobility and adaptive technology.

Referral

Services from the Program for Deaf/Hard of Hearing are available for any child between the ages of birth-21, with an educationally significant hearing loss. When a hearing loss is suspected, a referral can be made to PDHH through the child’s resident school district or Early Intervention Program. A parent, an educator, an audiologist, or anyone who is knowledgeable about the child may make a referral. The referral to PDHH must include an audiological evaluation (hearing test information), a completed physician’s statement form, and signed consent for evaluation form and signed release of information from the parent or guardian of the child. A teacher of the DHH will gather information about the child’s language development, speech skills, academic achievement, and auditory skills, using a variety of tests and observations. Once this information is collected, an Eligibility meeting will be held to determine whether the child is eligible for special education services.

Eligibility

An Eligibility team consisting of a teacher of the deaf, a regular educator, the parent and a district representative review the child’s audiogram and developmental information. The pure tone average hearing loss must be 25dB or greater in the better ear at 500Hz, 100Hz, and 200Hz, or 35dB or greater in the better ear for frequencies of 3000Hz, 4000Hz, 6000ZHz. A child with a unilateral hearing loss will be considered for eligibility if the pure tone average loss is 50dB or greater in the affected ear for the frequencies 500Hz to 4000Hz. Once it is determined that the hearing loss is not medically treatable and meets one of the eligibility requirements, the IEP team will review the developmental information. The team will decide whether the hearing loss has had an impact on the child’s developmental or educational progress and whether specialized instruction is necessary. If the team decides that the hearing loss does have a significant educational impact, an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) meeting is held to discuss the child’s specific educational needs and to write an individualized educational plan.

ASL/Deafness Links

These links are provided for informational purposes only and do not imply any affiliation or endorsement. Some links could fit into more than one category. If links are broken, inactive or lead to the wrong site. Please contact the PDHH Resource Administrator.

Some sites require Quicktime, RealPlayer, Adobe  Reader, Windows Media Player, and/or Adobe Flash/Shockwave player. All of these programs can be downloaded for free.  We encourage you to check your plugins on the ESD plugin test page.

VLOG/BLOG/VIDEO

• OICmovies.com – News and information in American Sign Language. Practicing your sign-to-voice skills, or looking for new signs? This site provides you with frequently updated videos in ASL.
• Deafnewsdaily – Signed news and events.  This site provides interpreters/parents an opportunity to see sign language in use and view new signs from around the world.
• ideafnews – Signed news and events.  This site provides interpreters/parents an opportunity to see sign language in use and view new signs from around the world.
• Joey Baer Vlog – ASL video blog, new way to see what is going  on in the deaf community.

Online Dictionaries

• RIT – Math and Science signs
• ASL Source – Country Signs
• ASLpro.com – Instructional and educational website used primarily for dictionary and vocabulary.  Requires Quicktime.
• Texas Math Sign Language Dictionary – Math signs to help students, teachers, parents and interpreters.
• Deafhealth.org – Medical issues and terminology presented in ASL.  Requires Quicktime.
• ASL Browser – Hundreds of videos of signs, listed alphabetically. Requires Quicktime.
• ASL University Online Dictionary – Various signs listed alphabetically, explained with words and photos.
• Embe Outreach – Features video clips containing ASL vocabulary that is generally going to be presented in specific academic classes in elementary school through high school. In many cases, the videos include using the vocabulary in an ASL sentence. Requires Quicktime.
• Signing Savvy Dictionary

Interpreter Resources

• ESD Interpreter Lending Library list 2016 – Please download the Loan Agreement and send in the hard copy to the Grants Pass ESD office Attn: Lending Library. To make your Lending Library request please email the Lending Library specialist.
• SOESD Media Materials Library Client Login  – Access to many of the videos you may find being presented in you classrooms.
• Boys Town Workshops – Register for the Boys Town EIPA video conference training workshops at the ODE website. You will find dates, times, locations and the registration access portal.
• APPs – We will be building this area as more APPs are sent in. Please send in your favorite APPs for interpreting and we will add them to the list.
• EIPA written tests, What to study! – Here is an outline with some suggestions from Boys Town on how to study for the EIPA written exam.
• EIPA Written – The information on this site will help answer some questions you may have about the EIPA written test.
• EIPA (Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment) – The information on this site will help answer some questions you may have about the EIPA performance test.
• EIPA Sample Evaluation Report – Shows you what the results and feedback will look like.
• EIPA Rating Form – Shows the interpreter how they will be evaluated on the assessment.
• Nigel Howard – ASL Youtube videos can be very helpful in providing interpreters with dependable models showing proper use of space and classifiers. Nigel Howard has some videos that were created by the CATIE Center at St. Catherine University.  (Must have youtube access to view video.
• Kevin William’s training videos are available online again.  He is one of the authors of the EIPA and he is the guru for K-12 interpreting.  I encourage anybody wanting to understand more about educational interpreting and the EIPA to watch some/all of his videos.
• NCIEC – National Consortium of Interpreter Education Centers, Providing information related to Interpreters.
• Top Notch Interpreting –  Web site with interpreter related info.
• ASL University – Various lessons and resources, for free.
• Think Workshop – ASL Fingerspelling and Initialization
• Fingerspelling  – Practice your receptive finger spelling skills online.
• Online Workshop – Perpetual Development, LLC is dedicated to providing professional development opportunities for sign language interpreters.
• Wink Workshop – online educational opportunity
• Quizlet – Increase your academic ability
• Lumosity – More academic training
• Deaf Newspaper – ASL video clips. Requires Macromedia flash 7.
• ESD How to Videos – Here you will find helpful videos on how to setup your Google Drive account and how to share your videos with your ESD Mentor.

Teacher Resources

• Kahoot.it – multiple choice, interactive, game making website. Challenge your class and see who has been paying attention. Kahoot.it was shared at the January PDHH teachers in-service.
• Deaf Education Info – Deafed.net offers additional resources and current information.
• IDEA – Link to official documents.
• Described and Captioned Media Program – Open captioned media on a wide variety of topics – from Arts to Science to History. It is free to those who work with or are related to Deaf/Hard of Hearing individuals. Some media available for online streaming. Great for teachers, interpreters and parents.  Includes extensive section on Deafness & Sign Language.

Parent Resources

• Hands and Voices – “Who are we? We are parents of ASL signers, cued speech users…. parents of kids with cochlear implants or total communicators… we are people who have common interests connected through the community of deafness.
• Healthy Hearing – Hearing Aids and Hearing Loss Help and information.
• Deaf Resource Library – Various articles and information about deafness, ASL and Deaf culture. This site is a good resource for anyone to use.
• Just for (Deaf and Hearing) Kids – Links to organizations and web sites for deaf/hard of hearing kids, as well as hearing kids with some connection to deafness.
• Deaf Culture
• Deafness/Hard of Hearing at about.com – Many articles and links to various issues dealing with Deafness/Hard of Hearing.
• DeafNation – The latest news in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community. Requires Windows Media Player.
• SignWriting – Read and write sign languages!
• Lessons – Learn how to read and write SignWriting.

Communications

• Telephone Relay Services – Relay numbers by state.
• How to use TRS – Instructions on how to use the Telephone Relay Service
• TypeWell – Educational Transcription System.

Foreign Sign Language Dictionaries

• BSL Alphabet Coloring Pages
• British Sign Language
• LSF – French Sign Language Dictionary of words in alphabetical order.
  (It is estimated that about 60% of ASL & LSF are mutually intelligible.)
• Manos Que Hablan – Sign dictionary by alphabet and category. Also has fingerspelling alphabets from various countries. English translations are not given.
• German Sign Language – This dictionary uses drawn pictures. English translations are not given.
• Fachgebärdenlexikon Hauswirtschaft – Mostly words to do with housekeeping. Requires Quicktime.
• German Sign Language of Psychology– English translations are not given. Requires Quicktime.

Other Foreign Sign Languages

• Arabic Sign Language – Keyed to English words – use the links for the manual alphabet.
• Croatian Sign Language – English translations are not given. Requires Windows Media Player.
• Flemish Sign Language – English translations are not given. Requires Windows Media Player.
• Flemish Sign Language Dictionary – This site has an English version.
• Indian (Native American) Sign Language – Described by words and drawn pictures.
• American Indian Sign Language – Videos of Native Americans using sign. (With voice interpretation)
• Sign Language Alphabets from other countries – From deafblind.com