Personnel Training

There are many resources available on personnel training. Below are some recommended websites.

Perkins Training Center
Perkins is the largest provider of training for teachers and other specialists in New England working with students who are blind, visually impaired or deafblind. Training takes place on campus, throughout New England and via distance learning for over 2,000 people annually. For more information, email PerkinsTrainingCenter@Perkins.org.

Teacher Preparation for the Education of Students who are Deafblind: A Retrospective and Prospective View, by Susan M. Bruce, Boston College
Nearly 15 years ago Barbara McLetchie wrote about the status and projected future of teacher preparation in the education of learners who are deafblind (McLetchie, 1993). McLetchie focused her discussion on (a) an ongoing need for federal funding of teacher preparation, (b) the expanding roles of teachers caused by increasing diversity of the population and more frequent inclusion of children who are deafblind, (c) the need for national standards for teachers, and (d) the need for meaningful links to adult services. In this article, Susan Bruce reexamines teacher preparation in these areas over the past 15 years, and addresses additional current challenges.

CVI Online Course: Damage to the Brain – A Common Cause of Visual Impairment to Children: Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER)
This course is a re-creation of a workshop on CVI conducted by Dr. Gordon Dutton, a pediatric ophthalmologist from Glasgow, Scotland, at the 2006 AER International Conference. The workshop entitled, CVI – DAMAGE TO THE BRAIN – A COMMON CAUSE OF VISUAL IMPAIRMENT IN CHILDREN, is an online course broken into nine sections. The course provides students an overview of the visual system and how it works, disorders of vision due to damage to the brain, and approaches to helping students with vision problems due to damage to the brain, Dr. Dutton provides participants theory and practical application from his expertise as a clinician working with children and their families having been diagnosed with CVI.

Professional Preparation/Certification Programs: Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER)
On this page you will find links to colleges and universities in the United States, Canada and other countries that offer courses in education and rehabilitation of people who are visually impaired, deafblind, or have multiple disabilities. You can search for colleges and universities by the following geographic categories.

DB-TRAC: National Consortium for Paraprofessional Training in Deafblindness: (Utah State University)
Currently, there are no preservice training programs in the United States that are designed specifically for paraprofessionals in deafblindness and that also interface with state paraprofessional standards. This Project is responding to this national need through a consortium of professionals in deafblindness, representatives from community colleges and two year programs of study, state deafblind projects, the National Clearinghouse on Deafblindness, and the National Paraprofessional Consortium.

University of Northern Colorado
The School of Special Education is committed to excellence in basic and advanced teacher preparation in special education. Undergraduate and graduate degree programs are offered.

UNC Chapel Hill /Family Centered Practices for Infants and Toddlers with Visual Impairments
Interactive multimedia training modules on the following five topic areas:

• Family-Centered Practices for Infants and Toddlers with Visual Impairments
• Visual Conditions and Functional Vision: Early Intervention Issues
• Developmentally Appropriate Orientation and Mobility
• Communication and Emergent Literacy: Early Intervention Issues
• Assessment of Infants and Toddlers with Visual Impairments