1. Preparing Highly Qualified Personnel To Teach Students with Sensory Disabilities

2. Less than 2% of all children with disabilities, ages 6-21
(Multiple disabilities, 2.18%)
Autism, 1.67%
Orthopedic impairments, 1.26%
Hearing impairments, 1.21%
Visual impairments, 0.44%
Traumatic brain injury, 0.35%
Deafblindness, 0.03%
Developmental delay, 0.76%
25th Annual Report to Congress (2005)

3. Less than one-fifth of 1% of the estimated resident school-age population
Multiple disabilities, 0.19%
Autism, 0.15%
Hearing impairments, 0.11%
Orthopedic impairments, 0.11%
Visual impairments, 0.04%
Traumatic brain injury, 0.03%
Deafblindness, 0.00%
Developmental delay, 0.07%
25th Annual Report to Congress (2005)

4. What’s Different About the Preparation of Teachers of Students with Sensory Impairments??

5. Teacher preparation involves:
Specialized skills (e.g., braille, orientation and mobility, ASL, knowledge of medical supports)
More credit hours (generally more than the Master’s degree’s 30 hours)
Extensive field work

6. Teachers prepared for a variety of roles:
Itinerant
Resource room (usually found only in large cities)
Inclusive classes
Separate classes
Specialized schools

7. Teachers prepared for a heterogeneous population:
Typical cognitive development
Total blindness to “near-normal” vision
Total deafness to hard of hearing
Multiple disabilities
“No two alike,” but
“More alike than different.”

8. Teaching is different:
More than adjustments to the learning environment;
More than modifications of instructional methods;
More than adaptation of curricula;
More than use of positive behavioral supports and interventions;
More than accommodations . . .

9. But, simply not enough of them . . .

10. New Specialists Per State, 2003-04
Distance Education: The Future of Special Education
February 27, 1999
New Specialists Per State,
4.0 Teachers of Students with VI
2.6 O&M Instructors
.4 Dual-certified Teachers/O&M
.8 Deafblind Teachers
Kay Alicyn Ferrell, Ph.D.

11. Teacher Candidates

12. HQT at Specialized Schools
Curriculum Type
Number of Teachers Reported
Number of Teachers with Content Certification
Number of Teachers with TVI Certification F %
Elementary
340
204
60.0
213
62.7
Secondary
336
208
61.9
230
68.5
Alternative
231 73
31.6
141
61.0
Total
907
485
53.5
584
64.4

13. Underrepresentation?

14. Together we can do more. Kay Alicyn Ferrell, Ph.D.
Executive Director
National Center on Low-Incidence Disabilities
At the University of Northern Colorado
Campus Box 146, Greeley, CO 80639