Improving Family-School Relationships for Students with Visual Impairments

CEC Division on Visual Impairments and Deafblindness

Join DVIDB to learn more about how to improve family-school relationships for students who are visually impaired or deafblind.

Powerful Partnerships: Improving Family-School Relationships for Students with Visual Impairments or DeafblindnessJoin Dr. Beth Jones &amp; Dr. Belinda Rudinger from East Texas A &amp; M University as they discuss how to improve family-school relationships.This presentation highlights the importance of partnerships between parents and teachers of students with visual impairments and/or deafblindness. Several tools will be shared to provide concrete ways for facilitating this partnership. These resources are cumulative over time, a way of building the relationship and being responsive to student needs. Using a case study spanning from age two to eighteen, this presentation will highlight relevant and cumulative collaborative techniques that can be used at different stages of education in response to the changing needs at each point. These strategies are introduced in a step-by-step fashion representing the order in which they would first be used, but they can be repeated and/or maintained throughout the student’s educational career resulting in an additive model of collaborative tools.Learning Objectives:1. Participants will understand the unique dynamics that make collaboration between itinerant teachers of students with sensory impairments and their families so crucial.2. Learners will be exposed to a case study scenario illustrating how student, family, and teacher characteristics change throughout the educational journey and how mutual respect and trust can be facilitated at each point.3.Participants will learn how to implement five data-based tools to foster collaboration and information sharing between itinerant teachers and families.Dr. Beth Jones earned her doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction, with a concentration in special education, from Louisiana State University.  She also holds a Master of Education in Educational Psychology, with specializations in special education and school counseling, and a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies, with a concentration in special education, both from Texas A&M University. Beth is currently a Professor of Special Education and Graduate Program Coordinator at East Texas A&M University (ETAMU).  Appointed by Governor Abbott, she serves as a Board Member at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI). She is also a recipient of the TAER Texas Chapter Award for Outstanding Contributor (2021). Beth’s research interests include collaboration with families, visual impairments, and assistive technology. She designed and co-runs an assistive technology lab at ETAMU with Dr. Rudinger, which ties heavily into her research and the training of pre-service teachers in assistive technology. Dr. Belinda Rudinger's experience in special education includes serving a teacher of students with visual impairments, a certified assistive technology instructional specialist, and an assistant professor. Her research interests include braille and assistive technology. Dr. Rudinger was recently appointed to the board of the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. She currently serves on the Council of Exceptional Children (CEC) Division on Visual Impairments and Deafblindness board (DVIDB.), as well as the Vice President for the USA in the North American-Caribbean Region of the International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment (ICEVI). She believes in the power of technology to facilitate growth and connection.