VI professionals serve as consulting, itinerant, resource room, or classroom instructors. Due to the critical shortage of these professionals and the vast geographic distribution of children, a full array of service options is seldom available. A full array of options will range from consultation to services in a residential setting. Assessment Assessment of students will be conducted, in collaboration with parents, by personnel having expertise in the education of students with visual impairments. An educator of students with visual impairments and the child's parents must be co-captains of the assessment team.
Parents can provide important information about their child and their priorities for their child.
Personnel who administer assessments must understand necessary adaptations of the testing instrument for a child who is visually impaired. If not, the test will not be valid and will not result in accurate information about the child. Standardized instruments that address the learning methods of children with visual impairments are often required. Instruments with standardized terminology addressing every area of the core curriculum are also necessary. Access to Instructional Materials Access to developmental and educational services will include an assurance that instructional materials are available to students in the appropriate media and at the same time as their sighted peers.