Our Work

Independent evaluations

Children aged 3-21 who are blind, visually impaired, or deafblind—and who may have additional disabilities—will benefit from a comprehensive independent educational evaluation conducted by the experts at Perkins School for the Blind.

Perkins is proud of its reputation as an educational leader of students with visual impairment. For over 35 years, we have provided thorough, effective evaluation services. We understand their unique learning needs and can help their educational team better understand these needs, too.

We are currently pausing on accepting new evaluation referrals. A new evaluation package will be launching in 2025.

If you have any questions, please contact [email protected].

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Alex and Cathy New Hampshire

“The evaluators spent quality time with our son and got to know him. Being able to walk away with six thorough reports was so helpful to us and extremely useful in developing his IEP. They understood him and made really helpful recommendations that were very easy to incorporate into our lives. During our interviews we felt heard as parents and he had a great time.”

Bonnie and Adam Hawaii

“Our experience having our daughter evaluated at Perkins was life changing, I wish we had done it sooner. We felt at home and excited that a school finally understood our daughter and her complexity.”

we’re here for you

Perkins has offered independent educational assessments for children with visual impairments and deafblindness for more than 30 years.

Perkins School for the Blind

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Frequently asked questions

How Perkins can help?

View all FAQ’s

Perkins is proud of our reputation as an educational leader of the visually impaired. We’re also proud of our proven track record of providing thorough, effective evaluation services for more than 30 years, which includes:

A team of experts in visual impairment who work daily with children like yours
Timely, objective and comprehensive evaluations
Thorough, customized reports with specific recommendations
Follow-up consulting and progress monitoring

Formally evaluating a child’s strengths and needs allows teachers and parents to develop individualized education programs that provide the best learning experiences for each student. Our experts can assess a specific area of development, such as cognition, communication, motor or vision-related compensatory skills, or provide a comprehensive evaluation in several areas. This approach allows evaluations to be customized.

If you are not sure which form is appropriate or if you would like to have a Cortical/Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI) Educational Assessment in addition to another evaluation, please contact us for more information.

The evaluation takes one to two days to complete on the Perkins campus.

We use a team approach, which includes teachers and related service professionals who work directly with the students enrolled in one of our on-campus programs. Our evaluation teams have unparalleled knowledge of and experience with students who are blind, visually impaired or deafblind, including those with additional disabilities.

After the evaluation is completed, Perkins will provide a comprehensive evaluation report with recommendations for the student’s educational program and community environment.

Perkins’ assessment areas include:

Educational skills
Psychological assessments
Speech and language, communication
Occupational therapy
Physical therapy
Orientation and mobility
Functional low vision
Expanded Core Curriculum areas and more

No. All children and young adults, ages 3-21, who are blind, visually impaired or deafblind, including those with additional disabilities, are eligible for evaluation services at Perkins.

As the parent of a son or daughter with special needs, you have the right to an independent educational evaluation for your child, as allowed under the federal special education law Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). You can read detailed descriptions of your parental rights in “A Parent’s Guide to Special Education,” a free online publication produced by the Massachusetts Department of Education and The Federation for Children with Special Needs. If you reside outside of Massachusetts, the Center for Parent Information and Resources has a helpful guide. In addition, our staff will be happy to answer any questions or concerns you may have about your parental safeguards.

Yes! We offer independent post-evaluation consulting to provide additional input and strategies for your child. This service is designed to help you clearly understand your child’s strengths and challenges, customize strategies and techniques for further success and analyze areas of concern to develop additional intervention and progress monitoring.