Tips and facts
Five reasons to consider a Perkins independent evaluation for your child
Experts at Perkins provide parents with a roadmap to success for students with visual impairment and deafblindness.
Perkins School for the Blind has offered independent educational assessments for children with visual impairments and deafblindness for more than 30 years.
These independent evaluations, conducted on campus by trained Perkins educators, serve to clarify a student’s learning capabilities, while simultaneously providing specific recommendations to ensure each student gets the most out of his or her education. Evaluations are available for children in the U.S. and abroad, from preschool to high school.
Here are five reasons you should consider a Perkins independent evaluation for your child with visual impairment or deafblindness:
- Every Perkins evaluation is unique. Perkins teachers and specialists tasked with conducting evaluations aren’t merely checking boxes. They’re communicating with families and schools to make sure the evaluation addresses any areas of concern and provides relevant information about a student’s abilities. No two children are exactly alike, and their evaluations shouldn’t be either.
- You’ll save time. Getting a comprehensive evaluation can be a piecemeal process, requiring families to seek out and schedule appointments with speech pathologists, physical therapists, psychologists and orientation and mobility specialists. Not only is this time consuming, it doesn’t always yield the best result. “When you have to piece together isolated assessment areas through different agencies, how does it all come together?” said Justine Rines, Perkins’ associate director of admissions and evaluations. “At Perkins, we have dedicated experts in several assessment areas, all under one roof, who all contribute to one comprehensive report.”
- Our evaluators work together. Perkins being a one-stop evaluation center is doubly beneficial because it makes the process more collaborative. “We do separate evaluations, but afterwards the team comes around the table to discuss the whole child and share our impressions,” said Rines. This chorus of expert voices results in a detailed written report that parents and educators can refer to when developing a student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP).
- Get practical, actionable advice. Perkins evaluators are teachers working in the classroom day in and day out. They’re in a unique position to provide practical and effective advice that’s informed by their own experiences. “If they make a recommendation for a particular intervention approach or technique, chances are they’ve tried it,” said Rines. Evaluators are also attuned to the resources commonly available in public schools and work to craft recommendations that can be implemented in a student’s learning environment.
- You’ll be supported every step of the way. Families will walk away with a written report detailing the results of an evaluation, but that doesn’t mean their relationship with Perkins has ended. We offer post-evaluation consultations to all families – so if a recommendation isn’t working, or new challenges arise, you can reconvene with our teachers and therapists to discuss alternative routes. It’s all about establishing a foundation from which progress can grow.
To learn more about how your child could benefit from a Perkins Evaluation, contact [email protected] or call 617-972-7571 today. We pride ourselves on scheduling evaluations promptly and delivering evaluation reports in a timely fashion.
