Providing Orientation and Mobility Support via In-Person and Teleintervention Home Visits for Children with Visual Impairment in Early Intervention

The purpose of this study was to show that teleintervention can be used to provide early intervention (EI) services, specifically orientation and mobility (O&M) support services, to very young children and their families in the sensory impairment field of blindness and visual impairment (BVI). Teleintervention has been shown to be an effective method of providing EI services to very young children and their families in the sensory impairment field of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH). However, there are no previous empirical studies that address the use of teleintervention in providing any specialized instruction/services to young children with BVI and their families in the EI system. A qualitative investigation using a multiple case approach was used to explore O&M support services when they were delivered through in-person consultations and via teleintervention for three families (n = 3) of children with BVI in EI. The data for this study were collected through multiple sources and analyzed using multiple methods. Data collected from interviews, field notes, video-recorded sessions of home visits, and documents were analyzed to obtain the results for this study. The results of the data analyses revealed that participants perceived O&M support services in person, as they were currently being provided in EI, as the best way to help them and their children learn skills and concepts related to O&M, with teleintervention being a good supplement or alternative if needed. Additionally, home visiting practices were observed to be similar when O&M support services were delivered in person or via teleintervention. The results of the study also found that the costs of in-person O&M support home visits were higher than the costs for teleintervention O&M support home visits. Conclusions drawn from the study suggest that teleintervention has the potential to be a successful and viable way to supplement, not replace, in-person O&M support home visits with families of children with BVI, particularly to increase the availability and frequency of services. However, guidelines are needed to help direct families and providers in successfully implementing teleintervention home visit sessions to accommodate the dynamic aspects of O&M support visits, such as travel out in the community. Concerns associated with maintaining the safety of the children and their caregivers while engaging in teleintervention O&M support visits must be addressed as this model of service delivery is evaluated further

Audible Image Description as an Accommodation in Statewide Assessments for Students with Visual and Print Disabilities.

Introduction:Although image description has been identified as an accommodation for presentations conducted in the classroom, only a few U.S. states have approved it for use in high-stakes assessments. This study examined the use of audible image description as an assessment accommodation for students with visual and print disabilities by investigating student comprehension under multiple conditions. Methods: Students in three western states in grades three through eight who had visual (n= 117) or print (n= 178) disabilities participated in an abbreviated test constructed of retired assessment questions in English language arts, mathematics, and science, that were aligned with each state's instructional standards, under conditions with and without standardized description of graphic images. The study used a within-subjects block design to collect and compare comprehension data under conditions where audible image description was both used and not used in an abbreviated test. Results: Results indicated that students who read braille were more likely to respond correctly under the audible image description condition, and students with visual and print disabilities who used print were equally likely to respond correctly regardless of condition. Discussion: Braille readers were more likely to obtain a correct answer when audible image description accompanied the question. Audible image description did not affect the likelihood of a correct response from students with print disabilities or students with visual disabilities who read print. Implications for practitioners: Audible image description is an accommodation that may help braille readers perform better on tests. Although the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and Smarter Balanced consortia are taking steps to include image (or picture) descriptions in their assessment accommodations, teachers may want to develop a standard method for describing images and familiarize their braille readers to the strategy by including it in instruction and in classroom tests. Readers are referred to the National Center on Accessible Media’s online guidelines for image description