[Missouri-l] Fwd: Helpful Resources for Estimates of Severely Visually Impaired Children

[Chip Hailey]

>Delivered-To: chiphailey at cableone.net
>From: "AFB DirectConnect" <blemoine at afb.net>
>To: "AFB Subscriber" <afbweb at afb.net>
>Subject: Helpful Resources for Estimates of Severely Visually 
>Impaired Children
>Date: Mon, 11 May 2009 14:08:19 -0400
>
>Helpful Resources for Estimates of Severely Visually Impaired Children
>
>For further information, contact:
>Dr. Stacy Kelly, COMS
>Policy Research Associate
>202-822-0835
><mailto:skelly at afb.net>skelly at afb.net
>
>The Federal Child Count, a statutory provision of the Individuals 
>with Disabilities Education Act conducted by the Office of Special 
>Education Programs (OSEP), renders a considerable number of students 
>with educationally significant visual impairments systematically 
>invisible. Because the count is based upon a primary disability 
>category model, students who have disabilities in addition to visual 
>impairment are often not represented as having a visual impairment 
>in OSEP's annual report to Congress.
>
>Using other sources of information, such as the American Printing 
>House for the Blind (APH), the magnitude of the issue is obvious. 
>APH conducts an annual count of students who are legally blind. As 
>such, the APH count is a more restrictive count than the OSEP count. 
>Yet, the APH count consistently reports numbers that are more than 
>twice that of the OSEP count. For example, in 2004, APH reported 
>56,700 students who were legally blind and receiving services, while 
>the OSEP count reported there were only 25,500 students who were 
>visually impaired and receiving services.
>
>A sign on letter was sent to the U.S. Secretary of Education last 
>week articulating this issue and requesting assistance in solving 
>this persistent problem affecting special education services for 
>blind and visually impaired students.
>
>You're welcome to use the text of this letter in your own advocacy 
>work. The text of the letter is posted on the American Foundation 
>for the Blind (AFB) web site at 
><http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=3&TopicID=138&DocumentID=4756>www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=3&TopicID=138&DocumentID=4756. 
>The letter was endorsed by 160 individuals and organizations across 40 states.
>
>An additional resource pertaining to the issue is located at 
><http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID>www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=3&TopicID=377&SubTopicID=119&DocumentID=3350. 
>This document compares the OSEP and APH estimates of children who 
>are severely visually impaired over a thirty year time period.
>