In answer to this concern, last week the U.S. Department of Education issued a letter to every state to “reaffirm the importance of Braille instruction as a literacy tool for blind and visually impaired students, to clarify the circumstances in which Braille instruction should be provided, and to reiterate the scope of an evaluation required to guide decisions of IEP Teams in this area,” as OSEP Director Melody Musgrove and Acting Assistant Secretary Michael Yudin, wrote.
The Department’s letter makes clear that an IEP team of a student with a visual impairment must consider each child’s need for Braille instruction on an individual basis in order to receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE) and to have access to the general education curriculum.
Recognizing that there are chronic personnel shortages in the area of visual impairments, CEC has teamed up with its Teacher Education Division and the Higher Education Consortium for Special Education to support the IDEA Personnel Preparation program, which helps build the pipeline of new special educators – with a focus on teachers of students with visual impairments. Click here to learn more!
CEC appreciates the Department’s leadership and efforts to ensure that students with visual impairments have access to all of the resources needed to fulfill IDEA and the rights it affords.