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Short-Term Programs
 

NMSBVI strives to adapt to the ever changing needs of students with visual impairments. A review of the service delivery model—which has revolved around placements on the NMSBVI campuses in Alamogordo and Albuquerque and through the state wide Outreach program—has revealed the need for an addition to the previous options. Some students with visual impairments have identified needs for VI specific skills that are difficult to meet in the itinerant based model employed by many New Mexico school districts. At the same time, those students are not in need of placement on an NMSBVI campus.

To assist the district Teachers of the Visually Impaired (TVI) and Orientation & Mobility (O&M) staff meet the needs of their students, NMSBVI has developed a program for short-term stays in which students will focus intensively on one or two VI specific skills. The VI specific skill areas are those which can prove challenging for some district TVI/O&M personnel to teach due to factors beyond their control, such as lack of the ability to transport students to meaningful O&M lesson sites, difficulty in obtaining needed materials, or time pressures. District TVI/O&M personnel will now have another option when it comes to ensuring that students with visual impairments have the opportunity to master much needed VI specific skills.

The focal areas for the short-term stays are included in the links below. Selecting a link will open a page with more specific options, including the times needed for instruction (1 or 2 weeks) and descriptions of what will be taught. Students will bring work for the duration of their stays from the district to help minimize the disruption to their core curriculum classes. NMSBVI staff will send reports to the district TVI/O&M personnel recapping what the students learned so the skills can be reinforced and built upon.

• Orientation & Mobility

• Math

• Independent Living Skills

• Science

• Technology

• Braille

• Transition

• Overarching Skills

• Request a VI-Specific Skill

 

Acceptance Process:
Once district TVI/O&M staff have identified students who will benefit from a short term stay with an intense focus on one or two VI specific skills, there is an abbreviated process by which students are accepted. The link below includes contact information as well as the steps in the acceptance process.
Acceptance Process

Downloadable PDF Info. Sheets:
Introductory Handout (2 pages)
(Feb.2011)