Closing the Gap, Inc. This organization focuses on computer technology for people with special needs through its bi-monthly newspaper, annual international conference and extensive website. http://www.closingthegap.com
DOTS FOR FAMILIES. Ongoing Literacy for Families of Children with Visual Impairment. This site offers families and others the opportunity to learn about braille and how the young child might use braille to develop literacy skills. Starting with the braille alphabet, families and others can learn to read and write beginning braille through 15 short lessons. Other pages on this web site include Who's Who in Braille, Fun and Games, Stories, and Resources. This web site will continue to grow, so be sure to come back and visit it often! http://www.asdb.state.az.us/ecfe/projects.html .
Advisor. A site dedicated to facilitate communication among parents, teachers and doctors to Assist the Development of Visually Impaired Students through Online Resources. http://www.e-advisor.us/HighContrast/history.htm
Early Childhood Curricula and Resources. The Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired offers an extensive bibliography of resources that pertain to early intervention for children with visual impairment/blindness. http://www.tsbvi.edu/bib/early.htm
Early Childhood Educators and Family Web Corner is an interesting site with lots of links. Developed by an individual whose hope was to help people interested in the education of young children find what they need on the internet, this site is an index to early childhood activities, information and issues. http://users.sgi.net/~cokids/
The Early Childhood Research Institute on Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services. The CLAS Institute identifies, evaluates, and promotes effective and appropriate early intervention and preschool practices that are sensitive and respectful to children and families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. This web site presents a dynamic and evolving database of materials describing culturally and linguistically appropriate practices for early childhood/early intervention services. In this site, you will find descriptions of books, videotapes, articles, manuals, brochures and audiotapes. http://www.clas.uiuc.edu
The National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center. NECTAC is a national technical assistance consortium working to support states, jurisdictions, and others to improve services and results for young children with disabilities and their families. The consortium is composed of six organizations that bring specialized expertise to the project. Information regarding the Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities (Part C) under IDEA is at http://www.nectac.org/default.asp.
Family Village! This website offers information, resources, and communication opportunities on the Internet for persons with disabilities and their families and for professionals who provide services and support. http://www.familyvillage.wisc.edu
Kinderstart.com is a comprehensive index-directory of information about parenting, pregnancy, child development, health, education, learning activities and the wide range of issues related to children seven years and under. The section on child development includes subtopics of visual development and visual development with disabilities. http://www.kinderstart.com/childdevelopment/visualdevelopment/index.html
Lighthouse International. A leading worldwide resource on vision impairment rehabilitation. http://www.lighthouse.org/
Lilliput and Dr. Lilli Nielsen. Dr. Lilli Nielsen, who developed the active learning technique, has designed a number of special materials to promote the optimal development of individuals with multiple challenges. These special materials are manufactured and sold by Lilliput to promote more rapid development of basic perceptual skills. http://www.lilliputnorthamerica.com
LilliWorks Active Learning Foundation, the exclusve provider of Dr. Lilli Nielsen's Active Learning Equipment for North America. Committed to providing the optimal Active Learning environments to the learners that can benefit from them, LilliWorks also educates and consults on Active Learning topics. Active Learning was developed by Dr. Lilli Nielsen over the course of her 40 year career, as the premier authority on the education of multiply-disabled children. It is popular in Europe, and now spreading to the US. Previously the equipment, specially designed by Dr. Nielsen, which Active Learning uses, was only available from Europe. See About Active Learning for more information. http://www.lilliworks.com/
SpecialEd Solutions, Inc. and SpecialEd.com offer the Noisy Box (sensory stimulation room), Noisy Board (resonance board) Pre-Canes and related Accessories to Teachers of the Visually Impaired, Special Education Teachers, occupational therapists, and parents for use under the active learning concept with children who are blind, deaf-blind or have visual and/or multiple impairments. http://www.specialed.com/pages/1/index.htm
National Association for the Visually Impaired. NAVH is the only nonprofit health agency in the world solely dedicated to providing assistance to the partially sighted. We are committed to ensuring that impaired vision does not result in impaired life. Our mission is to help the "hard of seeing" worldwide cope with the psychological effects of visual impairment and to provide low vision services, visual aids and training to anyone in need of these services. http://www.navh.org/index.html
V. I. Guide. This guide to Internet resources about visual impairments is for parents and teachers. It includes many topics such as vision-related services, parenting, assistive technology and products, medical information, organizations and research. http://www.viguide.com
Vision Screening
The Wisconsin Early Childhood VisionSurvey is a simple tool for recognizing eye and vision problems in young children. VisionSurvey can easily and reliably be used by a child care provider, parent, early childhood teacher, or other early childhood professional to pinpoint eye conditions that warrant referral to a health care professional. VisionSurvey is perfect for use with young children, children who have cognitive or developmental delays, or any child who is unable to accurately respond to standard vision tests (such as those done in school or the doctor's office). http://visionsurvey.net/
The Colorado Department of Education Vision Screening Guidelines: Children Birth through Five Years. This guide is designed to assist in identifying children with a visual problem. http://www.cde.state.co.us/earlychildhoodconnections/pdf/early_vision_manual.pdf
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment Vision Screening Guidelines for Infants, Toddlers, Children and Youth. This guide is designed to assist in identifying children with a visual problem. http://www.kdhe.state.ks.us/bcyf/download/VisionGuidelines2004.pdf
Development and Blindness
Center for Early Education and Development. CEED provides information regarding young children (birth to eight), including children with special needs, in the areas of education, child care, child development, and family education. http://education.umn.edu/ceed/default.html
National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities. NICHCY is the national information and referral center that provides information on disabilities and disability-related issues for families, educators, and other professionals. http://www.nichcy.org/
Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families. ZERO TO THREE is a national non-profit organization founded more than 20 years ago by leading pediatricians, researchers, and child development specialists to share new knowledge on how children develop in the early years. ZERO TO THREE focuses on the first three years of life because this is the time of greatest human growth and development. http://www.zerotothree.org.
Screening and Assessment
DB-Link, The National Information Clearinghouse on Children Who are Deaf-Blind. There are a few articles regarding assessment of infants and toddlers who are deaf-blind. Look at the Assessments and Early Intervention sections. http://www.tr.wou.edu/dblink/
Lighthouse International Assessment Compendium: Instruments for Assessing the Skills and Interests of Individuals with Visual Impairments. This compendium is an extensive listing and description of assessment tools for teachers, psychologists and others who assess children with visual impairments. It includes sections for assessing infants and preschoolers with visual impairments. http://www.lighthouse.org/assessment/index.htm
Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired has a comprehensive web site with many resources for children with visual impairments, their families, and the professionals who collaborate with them. http://www.tsbvi.edu/index.htm
Eye Condition and Functional Vision
American Association For Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus. The AAPOS web site is primarily for medical personnel though there is a wealth of information of interest to parents and teachers, especially through the Public Information link. The Journal of the AAPOS is available on-line through the site with abstracts and some articles free while others require a paid subscription. http://www.aapos.org/
American Foundation for the Blind. This non-profit organization provides information, directories, publications, and links on visual impairment and blindness issues. http://www.afb.org
American Printing House for the Blind, Inc. APH is the world's largest company devoted solely to creating products and services for people who are visually impaired. Their publications, assistive devices, and materials are available through catalogs and on line at http://www.aph.org.
Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired. AER is an international membership organization of professionals who work in all phases of education and rehabilitation of blind and visually impaired children and adults. http://www.aerbvi.org.
Blind Babies Foundation. Fact sheets on CVI (also available in Japanese), ROP, retinal diseases, optic nerve hypoplasia, and albinism are available in the Goodstarts section of this web site. http://www.blindbabies.org
Closing the Gap, Inc. This organization focuses on computer technology for people with special needs through its bi-monthly newspaper, annual international conference and extensive website. http://www.closingthegap.com
Country Hills Eye Center. A group of eye physicians and surgeons located in Ogden, Utah provide a technical, informative and complete description of causes, manifestations, and treatments for retinopathy of prematurity. http://www.checdocs.org/dr_retino.htm
DB Link. DB-LINK is a federally funded, national information clearinghouse that identifies, coordinates, and disseminates information related to children and youth who are deaf-blind. It provides publications, databases, and other resources for deaf-blindness. http://tr.wou.edu/dblink/
Department of Pediatric Ophthalmology at The Children's Hospital of Buffalo. This website offers an overview of a pediatric eye exam and gives medical information on a number of prevalent eye conditions found in the children. http://www.smbs.buffalo.edu/oph/ped/index.html
Early Childhood Curricula and Resources. The Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired offers an extensive bibliography of resources that pertain to early intervention for children with visual impairment/blindness. http://www.tsbvi.edu/bib/early.htm
Focus for Our Children's Unique Sight. This is a parent-driven site with information about optic nerve hypoplasia and septo-optic dysplasia, both in terms of vision and other concerns that often accompany these eye conditions. http://www.focusfamilies.org/focus/usdefault.asp
Dr. Lea Hyvarinen, a pediatric ophthalmologist shares information on vision tests, assessment and educational strategies. http://www.lea-test.fi/index.html
Lighthouse International. A leading worldwide resource on vision impairment rehabilitation .http://www.lighthouse.org/resources_lowvision.htm
Low Vision Gateway. This site is not directed specifically at infants and toddlers, but has descriptions of many eye conditions and related support groups. http://www.lowvision.org/disease.htm
Magic Foundation. A thorough description of septo optic dysplasia and other concerns related to this eye condition. http://www.magicfoundation.org/www/docs/101/septo_optic_dysplasia_optic_nerve_hypoplasia.html
Types of Vision Loss/Arizona Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired. This site displays a video and audio presentation which includes simulated photographs of various eye conditions. http://www.acbvi.org/albums/Vision/index.html
Communication and Emergence Literacy
Project Salute, A resource on tactile learning strategies for working with children who are deafblind or who are blind with additional disabilities. http://www.projectsalute.net/
D-B Link has articles and information regarding communication for deaf-blind and visually impaired children with other impairments. http://www.tr.wou.edu/dblink/
Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired has materials and information about communication and learning. Go to the Instruction section, and click on MIVI to look at Experience Stories for Functionally Blind Pre-Readers and Object Books. http://www.tsbvi.edu
Self-Help Skills
New Visions is a web site developed and maintained by Suzanne Evans Morris, Ph.D., a speech and language pathologist, who has specialized in working with infants and children with feeding, swallowing, oral-motor and pre-speech problems. There are several in-depth papers such as food progressions for biting and chewing and expanding children's diets that can provide insight for those living with and working with a visually impaired child. http://www.new-vis.com
Safety Tips for Children with Vision Loss. http://www.cshcn.org/resources/VisionSafety.htm
Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired TSBVI's newsletter SEE/HEAR has a couple of articles discussing daily living skills and routines. See Toilet training children with deaf/blindness: Issues and strategies in the Summer 2000 issue, and Make it routine in the SEE/HEAR archive. http://www.tsbvi.edu/Outreach/seehear/index.htm
Careers
AFB CareerConnect® is a free resource for people to learn about the range and diversity of the jobs that are performed throughout the United States and Canada by adults who are blind or visually impaired. http://www.afb.org/careerconnect/
Organizations and Agencies
American Council of the Blind. A non-profit organization of blind and visually impaired. http://www.acb.org/
Association for
Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired
The Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually
Impaired (AER) is an international professional organization whose mission is
to provide comprehensive support and assistance to those who work in all phases
of education and rehabilitation of children and adults who are blind and
visually impaired. AER was founded in 1984 as the result of a consolidation
between the American Association of Workers for the Blind and the Association
for Education of the Visually Handicapped. http://www.aerbvi.org/
The Blind Babies Foundation is a non-profit organization that provides services and programs to families, professionals and the broader community to meet the unique needs of infant and preschool children who are blind or visually impaired. http://www.blindbabies.org/
The Blind Children’s Center is a family-centered agency that serves children with visual impairments from birth to school age. The center-based programs and services help the children acquire skills and build their independence. The Center has produced and currently offers 11 booklets, two training manuals, two videos, and one diagnostic packet on parenting and working with visually impaired children. http://www.blindcntr.org/
DEC - The Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children is one of the largest divisions in CEC. It publishes the Journal of Early Intervention, Young Exceptional Children, and position papers on many topics. DEC has subdivisions in 11 states and sponsors an international conference annually.
DVI - The Division on Visual Impairments of the Council for Exceptional Children is a professional organization comprised of teachers of students with visual impairments, certified orientation and mobility specialists, administrators, and parents. DVI has adopted position papers on many topics that are available on their web page and a quarterly publication entitled the DVI Quarterly. http://www.ed.arizona.edu/dvi/welcome.htm
National Federation of the Blind. A national advocacy organization of blind people that publishes two free magazines: The Braille Forum and Future Reflections. http://www.nfb.org/default.htm
NAPVI - National Association for Parents of Children with Visual Impairments is an organization for parents of children with visual impairments. NAPVI's newsletter Awareness has a variety of information of interest to families of children with visual impairments. NAPVI provides leadership and support to families of children with visual impairments. They sponsor workshops and conferences throughout the year. http://www.spedex.com/napvi
NAEYC has over 100,000 members who are professionals in early childhood education. NAEYC promotes inclusion of children with special needs in early childhood programs. They publish the journals Young Children and Early Childhood Research Quarterly. In addition they have position papers and other publications available for purchase. They provide conferences and workshops throughout the year. http://www.naeyc.org/default.htm
NOPBC - The National Organization of Parents and Blind Children provides families with support, encouragement, and information. The organization works to overcome lack of understanding about childhood blindness. Although membership to this organization is open to professionals serving children who are blind, its mission is focused toward families. http://www.nfb.org/nopbc.htm
The SKI-HI Institute. The SKI-HI Institute is a unit of the College of Education's Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education at Utah State University, Logan. Outreach programs to Utah citizens and to families and professionals in nearly all 50 states and Canada are a part of their focus. The Institute's primary purpose is to identify and respond to real needs of young children who are deaf/hard of hearing, blind/visually impaired, deafblind, multi-disabled, or who have any special needs. http://www.skihi.org/
Visually Impaired Preschool Services, Inc. a private, non-profit agency providing services to infants, toddlers and preschoolers who are visually impaired (VI) and to their families. VIPS produced the Can Do! video series and offers a glossary of early childhood VI terms on their website. http://www.vips.org/