A state report says school resources are inadequate and teachers are not trained to serve visually impaired students.

10:08 AM EST on Monday, January 30, 2006

BY JENNIFER D. JORDAN
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Blind and visually impaired children in Rhode Island do not receive the services and support they need to thrive in school, according to a recent report by a state commission.

Journal photo / Bill Murphy

Aria Mia Loberti, 11, of Johnston, examines labels on canned vegetables during a mobility class at the Super Stop & Shop in Johnston.

Many students rarely see a vision specialist who can help them learn Braille, use new technologies or master skills such as walking with a cane, the report said.

Often, these children are unable to fully participate in their classes because new textbooks and curriculum are not available to them. Well-meaning teachers try to help, but lack the training to adequately serve these students.

"We really haven't had a plan," said state Rep. Eileen S. Naughton, D-Warwick, who has chaired the Special House Commission to Promote and Develop a Comprehensive System of Education for Visually Impaired Children since its inception in April 2002. The group is pushing to improve services to blind students.

"It was unbelievable," said Naughton. "We had people testify before us that they were in the fourth grade before anyone knew they were blind."

The facts in the commission's report, released last year, were not pretty.

Until a year ago, there was scant data on how many children were designated as legally blind, or what their needs were. As recently as six months ago, 48 infants and toddlers who were eligible for vision services were being served by one part-time specialist who was only able to perform "triage."

Until this month, there was no law for a vision testing and reporting program for children ages 3 to 6, to detect vision problems as early as possible. And a lack of specialists to help blind students -- a national as well as a state problem -- means that in some school districts, students do not receive services they need.

"The severe shortage of vision professionals throughout the State of Rhode Island prohibits adequate instruction in literacy, communication and orientation and mobility skills that provide full access to the academic curriculum offered in schools," the report found.

PAUL AND AUDREY LOBERTI, of Johnston, learned their daughter Aria Mia was legally bind due to a genetic condition called acromotopsia when she was 18 months old. The condition prevents Aria Mia's eyes from filtering out white light. As a result, she has extreme light sensitivity and wears magenta-tinted glasses, both indoors and outdoors.

Aria Mia, now 11, has some vision at a limited range, but what she can perceive at 20 feet is what a person with 20-20 vision sees 800 feet in the distance. In addition, acromotopsia renders Aria Mia colorblind, so the world appears in shades of silver and gray.

"The best way I can describe it is if you are watching a black and white TV show," Aria Mia said of her vision. "The dark glasses I wear help a lot."

Aria Mia dances with the Heritage Ballet in Lincoln, acts in a local theater group and loves the Harry Potter books and the American Girl Series, a program linked to the doll line that she listens to on tape or watches on close-circuit television.

She no longer attends public school, however. After the third grade, her mother began teaching her at home.

"I just remember all the work was extremely small -- the print was so small. And I got headaches from the bright lights [in the classroom]," Aria Mia said. "It's been a lot easier since my school work has been modified."

The school district now provides vision, orientation and mobility specialists who come to the Loberti's home and work with Aria Mia each week.

Aria Mia's parents say the Johnston schools tried to help their daughter remain in public school. But their daughter was not receiving the education there that they felt she deserved.

"It was not a good experience, despite some excellent educators with very good intentions," said Paul Loberti, who serves on the state commission in his capacity as vice president of Rhode Island Parents of Blind and Visually Impaired Students. "But the schools didn't have the capability of coordinating the array of resources she needed. There just weren't enough professional vision educators to call upon. And the availability of large print materials just wasn't there. It was virtually impossible to get all her materials in the 24 font that she needed."

THIS SCENARIO is all too familiar, says Katrena Traut-Savino, coordinator for Rhode Island Vision Education and Services Program. Traut-Savino was hired in 2004, shortly after the commission issued a preliminary report and recommended that the vision program be moved from the Rhode Island School for the Deaf to the Paul V. Sherlock Center on Disabilities at Rhode Island College. The commission also recommended that a full-time coordinator be hired to strengthen and expand the program.

"When I started, I found no equity between districts in terms of what children were getting," Traut-Savino said. "Some children were getting services; other children were getting none."

The first challenge was figuring out how many children required services. Initially, about 300 children were identified as having visual impairments, although not all qualified for services. About one-third of these students have other disabilities in addition to blindness, Traut-Savino said. The state Department of Education estimates that about 85 students ages 3 to 21 are receiving services through the vision program. To qualify, a student must have visual acuity of 20-70 or less.

The second challenge was finding enough well-trained specialists. Teachers of the visually impaired, or TVIs, teach blind children skills such as reading Braille, using slant board to write and adapting computer technologies that help them read or process information through audio or television. Orientation and mobility specialists help students with visual impairments gain important social skills and navigate their surroundings.

"The problem in Rhode Island, and across the nation, is the shortage of TVIs and orientation and mobility specialists," Traut-Savino said. To address this, Rhode Island has accessed federal grant money to train specialists in a program at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. So far, two vision specialists have been trained and hired to not only work with visually impaired students and their families, but also train and guide classroom teachers. Traut-Savino says she hopes to hire two more specialists this fall.

The third problem was the scarcity of Braille and large text materials for visually impaired children. Despite the fact that a federal law signed by President Bush at the end of 2004 -- the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act -- requires schools to provide blind students with current textbooks in Braille and large print, getting such materials is still difficult and expensive, Traut-Savino said. She hopes to expand the program's current Braille transcription center into a larger instructional resource center that will also be a lending library to schools throughout the state.

WHILE THE WORK of the commission has already achieved some important changes, much more needs to be done, Naughton says.

Along with the law for vision testing for young children that went into effect Jan. 1, Naughton wants the revamped vision program to have a permanent advisory board, with fleshed out "authority and mission." The commission, which includes education, health and human services officials, parents and teachers, also wants Rhode Island to adopt national standards for access to technology and materials for visually impaired students, and to train eye doctors and school nurses to look for signs of visually impairment in children.

Last year, about $500,000 was set aside to help strengthen the center, train specialists and acquire materials, according to the education department. Advocates for the visually impaired say they hope the state will continue to support the vision program. At 4 p.m. on Feb. 6, Traut-Savino will update the commission on recent accomplishments and outline plans for the future in Room 203 at the State House.

Educating visually impaired children needs to be a priority for the state, Naughton says.

"We are looking to increase the opportunities for people who are visually impaired to get good jobs," Naughton said. "We know that 70 percent of the visually disabled community is unemployed, and that is not acceptable."

For more information on the Rhode Island Vision Education Services Program, call Katrena Traut-Savino at (401) 456-8910.

jjordan@projo.com / (401) 277-7254