Virtual Service Delivery in a Global Pandemic: National Data and Local Expertise

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Description

This session will review the experience of teachers of students with visual impairments, O&M specialists, family members, and students throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and how services were provided at various points from spring 2020 through the end of the 2020-2021 school year. Join Dr. L. Penny Rosenblum and Tiffany Conrad as they describe both the national trends in how educational needs of students with visual impairments, including those with additional disabilities and deafblindness, were addressed and learn about how a large school district worked to meet the needs of their 350 students. Topics covered will include the pros and cons of virtual learning, creative ways to deliver services, access to curriculum and materials, apps and websites that were found to not be accessible, and supporting students with additional disabilities. Both presenters will reflect on what lessons have been learned from the COVID-19 pandemic experience and how we can use these lessons moving forward.

Contributors

Dr. L. Penny Rosenblum

Dr. Rosenblum is the Director of Research at the American Foundation for the Blind. She joined AFB in January 2020. Prior to joining AFB she was a university faculty member at the University of Arizona where she prepared teachers of visually impaired students and ran research. She is a certified teacher of students with visual impairments. Dr. Rosenblum has presented and published on a wide range of topics.
Tiffany Conrad

After receiving both her Bachelor’s and Master’s in Visual Disabilities from Florida State University, Tiffany has served as an itinerant teacher of the visually impaired and orientation and mobility specialist in various counties all over Florida including Broward, Lee and Hillsborough. For the last five years, she coordinated visually impaired services for Hillsborough County Public Schools' very large school district in Tampa, FL. Tiffany is dedicated to providing equal access with increasing levels of independence for all students with special needs.