WHAT WE DO
Guide
Overview
Our students mean everything.
Perkins School for the Blind is the school you can trust to deliver the very best education and services for your child. Perkins serves students with visual impairments, CVI, deafblindness and CHARGE from birth through age 22. Our continuum of services addresses every need, ability and age – infancy through college prep. We offer day and residential programs on our campus, and direct and consultative services in public schools.
Browse our admissions information to determine if Perkins is the right place for your child.
Perkins’ schools
Early Learning Center
The ELC takes the youngest learners and gives them the supportive foundation they need for a lifetime of learning. Every student has an individualized program that includes communication modes, vision and cortical/cerebral compensatory skills, and other physical and developmental needs. Children, ages 3 to 6, learn and play with a focus on concept development, orientation and mobility, behavior regulation, and friendship building.
Deafblind
The Total Communication environment of our Deafblind School takes each student’s unique communication needs into account. We offer a wide spectrum of comprehensive educational services for students ages 3 to 22 who are deafblind or deaf with additional disabilities. The Deafblind School is home to the world’s largest concentration of students with CHARGE syndrome, a condition that results in complex birth defects that often result in vision and hearing loss.
Lower School
Elementary and middle-school age students ages 7 through 14 benefit from a combination of academics and the Expanded Core Curriculum subjects such as social skills and an introduction to vocational activities. Our Lower School is one of our newest facilities on campus, with accessible, modern spaces it provides ample space for optimum learning.
Secondary
The Secondary School provides students ages 14 through 22 the chance to spread their wings while having a safety net. Rigorous academics and Expanded Core Curriculum subjects combine with extracurricular activities such as chorus, goalball and the radio station. While vocational skills also prepare students for the next step.
Educating the whole child
Expanded Core Curriculum
The Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC) is a disability-specific set of skills that compensates for vision loss and is foundational to all other learning.
Total communication
The Deafblind School supports a total communication philosophy, where any and all means of communication are developed and encouraged.
Community experiences
Perkins makes community experience trips possible for every Lower School student by utilizing individualized accessibility tools. Getting off campus is a wonderful opportunity to address multiple areas of the expanded core curriculum and promote the generalization of goals and objectives.
Our leadership team
Meet the people who help make Perkins School for the Blind a wonderful place to learn.
A message from our President of Educational Programs
Ed Bosso Executive Director of Educational Programs“Engaging parents and families must begin with a listening journey for professionals, one that will provide foundational information leading to strong and sustainable partnerships. As professionals, we must be ever cognizant of our assumptions and biases and understand how they inform our interactions with families.”
FAQ’s
Learn more about Perkins School for the Blind.
Perkins uses a combination of curricula to create a customized learning approach for every child based on unique needs and strengths. The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Learning Standards and Curriculum Frameworks guide all curricula choices. We incorporate the Expanded Core Curriculum throughout the day along with adapted core curriculum lessons and the Unique Learning System™.
Perkins offers swimming, student interest groups, friendship groups, radio club and several sports teams, including goalball, cheerleading, track and field, and more!
All students must go through an admission process to determine eligibility and acceptance into a Perkins Educational Program. Some general eligibility criteria include the presence of a documented vision impairment, the presence of a documented hearing impairment for the Deafblind program, and eligibility for an IEP. Contact our Admissions department today to learn more.
Contact our school
Is Perkins School for the Blind the right fit for your student?
Our Admissions Team is available to answer your questions. Contact us today to get started!
We’re here to help you every step of the way.
Find out about Admissions to any one of Perkins educational programs.