Program Description

The Center is adding First Grade to its Educational Program in September 2008. The First Grade Program will serve children who are blind or visually impaired, ages six to seven years. The program has been designed to offer a fully inclusive environment with a limited number of sighted children in the classroom. The program will meet all state curriculum standards for first grade, while continuing to provide support and expertise relating specifically to visual impairments.

The program provides comprehensive, individualized education and training in sensory development, utilization of low vision, literacy (including Braille), speech/language development, orientation and mobility (including cane travel), and occupational therapy (fine and gross motor skills) in combination with the required state curriculum for the first grade level. This unique program benefits both students and parents through extended instruction and specialized training directed toward individual needs. Classes have a ratio of one staff member to five students and class size is limited to ten students.

Need For First Grade Program
The Blind Childrens Center’s First Grade Program gives the children an additional critical year of comprehensive specialized education and training. It significantly improves the children’s chances of successfully integrating into mainstream classrooms and decreases the risk that they will fall behind their sighted peers.

The Blind Childrens Center is aware of the multiple needs of children with visual impairments and has made adaptations to curriculum and teaching techniques to better suit the students’ needs while meeting State requirements. The Center’s First Grade Program builds upon its successful infant, educational preschool and Kindergarten programs.

The First Grade Program will utilize the State curriculum with the classroom teacher and assistant teacher. Additionally, the students will experience a unique physical environment including a specially designed terrain that assists in mobility, and therapeutic services that are provided by the Speech & Language Specialist, Occupational Therapists (motor skills and adaptive physical education), Orientation and Mobility Specialist (including cane travel), Teacher of the Visually Impaired (literacy and Braille use), and Music Specialist. The resources and skills available through the Center’s facilities and staff are invaluable tools to help first grade students who are blind or visually impaired prepare for mainstream classrooms and develop skills to initiate their success in a sighted world.

The First Grade Program will also support parents by continuing to encourage involvement and learning. With a predetermined degree of participation agreed upon by each family, parents continue to develop their skills and knowledge of their child’s specialized needs. They benefit from access to resources not available to them through mainstream schools. Specially trained professionals help assist the families as they forge a better understanding of their child’s diagnosis and future development.

Parents of Center students often express the need for a First Grade Program. In fact, many who have left the Center have told us that although they were promised specialized services for their children, they have not received them. This may be due to a number of factors facing the public school systems, such as limited budgets and the lack of qualified specialists.

Community Issues
The nation is facing a serious deficit in literacy, especially for the blind. An important focus for the Center’s First Grade will be literacy. The Program will address this issue at the most effective age. Because we identify the tools of literacy both in the home and in the school, learning occurs at all times and the adults in the child’s life are promoting literacy skills. The Center’s program embodies the innovative approach which focuses on the family and the child. Parents are intimately involved in the program to a far greater degree than is usual. This means that the child is provided with an environment at school and at home which promotes his/her success.

Additionally, the Los Angeles Unified School District houses only one school (Frances Blend) that primarily supports children who are blind or visually impaired. Unfortunately, this school has a limited catchment area and a cap on enrollment. Parents at the school continue to express concern over the closure of classes and other cutbacks in services.

Students attending other local schools are served in generic special education or regular classrooms. With a shortage of teachers trained in supporting the visually impaired and the paucity of funds, students often receive services based on availability, rather than specific needs. This puts them at greater risk of falling behind their sighted peers and weakening the foundation upon which their future learning depends.

Goals & Objectives
The goal of the First Grade Program is to provide a fully inclusive educational environment to assist children who are blind or visually impaired to develop their knowledge of subjects determined by the California State First Grade Curriculum. The Center strives to maximize each student’s potential and prepare him/her to enter a classroom in their public school system. The program further seeks to empower parents to support their children’s development and to advocate on their children’s behalf. To these ends, the program has the following academic objective for students: 99% will meet the requirements set forth by California First Grade Curriculum and 100% will increase their literacy skills. The program has the following developmental objectives for students: 98% will improve their gross motor skills; 98% will increase their fine motor skills; 99% will enhance the clarity of their speech/language; and 99% will develop appropriate social and communication skills. The program objectives for parents are: 98% will strengthen parenting skills enhancing their child’s development; 98% will utilize supportive resources; and 95% will demonstrate increased knowledge and advocacy.

Program Personnel
The Center’s First Grade Program Team will consist of an experienced head teacher, an associate teacher and the Center’s parent mentor. The parent mentor has been with the Center for nine years after completing an intensive three-year mentor training program at the Center. Additionally, the Program will work in conjunction with Bianca Ciebrant, MA Orientation & Mobility Specialist; a Licensed Occupational Therapist (we are currently interviewing to replace the Center’s retired O.T.); Elizabeth Gallardo, Speech/Language Pathologist, Certificate & License of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology – American S-L-H Association; Rosalinda Mendiola M.A., Teacher of the Visually Impaired; Alfredo Kertzman, MSW; and Sarah Nwineh, LVN. The team is supervised by the Center’s Director of Education and Family Services, Fernanda Armenta-Schmitt, Ph.D, Licensed Clinical Psychologist.

Methodology
Each school year, the Center’s interdisciplinary staff members develop an Individual Educational Plan (IEP) for each child with special needs. The IEP identifies the issues and goals for each child and details the services to be provided through the Center. Having participated in the development of the IEP, the parents must approve the plan before it is complete.

First Grade class sessions will be held Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., with extended daycare available for working parents. Class size is limited to ten students to ensure personal attention and a ratio of one adult to every five children. The Center, in harmony with best practices, offers a fully inclusive educational environment, therefore the first grade class will be comprised of children who are visually impaired and children who are sighted. The classroom operates under the guidance of the head teacher and an associate teacher who specialize in the area of childhood blindness.

The classroom teacher and the associate work with students daily to educate each child on a wide range of academic subjects such as language arts, including both conventional and Braille literacy, mathematics, social studies and science/health. As determined in each child’s IEP, additional support is offered by the specialists mentioned above.

While children are enrolled in the Center’s First Grade Program, parents simultaneously continue to build their skills. With the assistance of the Family Worker, Orientation and Mobility Specialist and others, parents learn specific techniques to use at home to reinforce the gains their children make at school. Individual and group/classroom instruction further teaches parents to use Braille, to advocate for their children for needed services and access additional community resources. Parent groups enable family members to share experiences with their peers, to give and receive emotional support and to gain knowledge from a variety of guest speakers.

Evaluation
Evaluation of the First Grade Program is the responsibility of the Center’s Director of Education and Family Services. The teacher and the Center’s specialists review the students’ outcomes throughout the year and at year-end utilizing the students’ IEP (Individual Educational Plan) and the State requirements. Regular report cards will be sent to the parents. If the student is not making expected progress, adjustments are made and additional services may be added at any time.

Budget
2008-2009: $201,056

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