Developing Vocational and Transition Programs for Students who are Visually Impaired with Multiple Disabilities

Abstract

The Shanghai School for the Blind's program for blind children with multiple disabilities was established as an educational research project in 1993. At the time, it was the first such program in China. Since 1999, the program has received support from the Hilton/Perkins Program of the Perkins School for the Blind, Watertown, Massachusetts, through a grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation of Reno, Nevada. The foundation provides training and instruction to enhance the instructional strategies of teachers and improve the quality of education for students. THE ROLE OF TRANSITION For all students who have visual impairments and additional disabilities--whether they function at the informational, instructional, or advocacy level--transition is critical. As they become young adults, some students will leave residential schools, such as the Shanghai School for the Blind, to live in their communities. A vocational curriculum has been designed by staff members at the Shanghai School for the Blind specifically to meet the individual needs, abilities, and interests of students, including those with multiple disabilities. I have learned from my experiences at Perkins that it is important to provide a variety of work experiences for students both on and off campus. Family perspectives are another important consideration, as there is the need to identify potential vocational, recreational, and employment opportunities within the student's community. Completion of school represents the beginning of adult life. It is a time when young people and their families face many options and decisions about the future. We have found that parents struggle to understand both what is important for their children to learn and what their children are able to learn. Some parents think their children do not need to be taught independence because they can teach them at home and can care for them as well. Some parents think that job opportunities are very limited for people with disabilities and that it will be difficult for a person with a single disability to find a job. From this perspective, they wonder how their own children will be able to find work. They question whether the knowledge their children gain at school will be useful after they have completed school. At the Shanghai School for the Blind, we are also faced with many challenges in terms of transition. How can we work effectively with parents to provide consistency in their children's education and gain parental support for the educational program? How do we work with the community? What kind of vocational training should we provide for students? How can we make transitional planning successful? Thinking of the students' future life and providing services for them is a new aspect of special education in China. At the Shanghai School for the Blind, we try to work with each student's family and community to prepare them to live as independently as possible. GOALS OF VOCATIONAL TRAINING To address the many questions that we have identified related to transition, we consider what the goals could be in the area of vocational training and have identified two main goals. The first is to improve the student's skills through vocational training in environments. We emphasize self-care skills, such as using money, taking transportation, and developing problem-solving and communication skills in the context of working with real tasks. …