OSB has a long history of Providing outstanding educational services to students who are blind or visually impaired. One of the ways the school accomplished this quality programming was by supporting staff members with high quality professional development. Over the years, teachers, paraeducators and therapists have participated in numerous trainings in many areas, including CVI. As teachers learned more about CVI, they realized that teaching children with CVI requires a different approach. Teachers need a different set of skills to meet the needs of students with CVI.
In April 2014, a group of teachers formed a CVI planning group. The group compiled a list of overall needs, including hiring a full-time “CVI Leader.” The teachers suggested that this new role of CVI Leader would complete all the CVI assessments, write reports, guide teachers and therapists in developing IEPS, and support teachers in developing classroom accommodations. These meetings were also the first time that the idea was proposed for OSB to partner with a medical program, to assist in the diagnosis of CVI and reduce the amount of time between CVI diagnosis and referral for educational services.
For the next few years, OSB continued to provide considerable professional development in the area of CVI, including graduate-level courses, professional conferences and in-house trainings. However, it became clear that, although OSB was providing high quality professional development, there was still a need for consistent reliable scoring of the CVI assessments, as well as consultation for teachers in their own classrooms with their own students.
In 2018, OSB’s Board suggested that OSB operate a CVI clinic for non-enrolled students. They wanted to make Overbrook School for the Blind a regional, national and international leader in CVI. This idea, combined with the previous idea of a full-time “CVI Leader,” led to the formation of the CVI Task Force. The task force consists of OSB Board members and administrators. The task force met and developed a proposal, which became the current CVI Initiative. The proposal outlined goals for the school, an action plan to achieve the goals and a timeline. Goals included increasing student achievement for all OSB students with CVI, increasing teachers’ expertise in CVI and reducing the amount of time from when a student is diagnosed with CVI until they receive educational vision services.
During the first 2 years of the CVI Initiative, (school years 2019-2020 and 2020-2021), Dr. Beth Ramella served as our part-time CVI Consultant. Dr. Ramella was well-known in the field as an expert in CVI. During the first 2 years of OSB’s CVI Initiative, Dr. Ramella came to campus several times each year. She assessed OSB students on campus, consulted with their teachers and provided reports with recommendations for teachers to follow. She also provided training for OSB staff members, both virtually and on campus. In addition to assessing OSB students, Dr. Ramella assessed non-enrolled students, including a child from Qatar.
OSB’s CVI programming improved dramatically over these 2 years; however, as a part-time consultant, it was not possible for Dr. Ramella to assess all enrolled students with CVI or address all the goals in the CVI Initiative. It became clear that to address all aspects of the CVI Initiative as described in the proposal, OSB needed a full-time CVI Specialist. In July 2021, Dr. Ramella came on board at OSB full time. She now assesses all OSB students with CVI, provides recommendations and consultation to their teachers and provides training to OSB staff on various aspects of CVI. Dr. Ramella also assesses non-enrolled students and provides recommendations and training for their IEP teams. She audits the IEPs of all current OSB students with CVI to identify areas that need improvement. In addition to these responsibilities, Dr. Ramella is developing potential research opportunities, providing training to medical providers, presenting at educational and medical conferences, and working to develop a partnership with medical providers.
School year 2022-2023 will be the 4th year of the CVI Initiative. While there remains work to do, the CVI Initiative is continuing to move forward. OSB will continue to provide outstanding educational services for all students with blindness or visual impairment and to serve as a leader in CVI.
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