Visual Disabilities (M.Ed.)

Work with students with visual impairments and collaborate with their teachers and families to promote independence and access to their education.

Program Overview

Learn how to collect data, do thorough assessments, and make informed recommendations to the educational team and family on how to support a child's equity within the school. Program graduates hold a range of positions, including preschool teachers, itinerant TVIs, resource room teachers, teachers in schools for the blind, special education teachers, school administrators, and jobs focused on transition or working with adults with visual impairments.

Careers

There is an estimated shortage of 10,000 teachers of students with visual impairments (TVIs) in the United States. Graduates are prepared to be licensed TVIs and work with students pre-K through 12th grade.

Program Facts

Program Coordinator: Rachel Schles
Admissions Coordinator: Kelly Limina
Admission Term: Fall and Summer
Enrollment: Part-time or Full-time
Credit Hours: 35 (+ 6 credits for student teaching for candidates seeking initial licensure)

Application Dates

  • Application Deadline 1

    Jan 3, 2024

  • Application Deadline 2

    Feb 3, 2024 

  • Rolling Admissions

    After Feb 3, 2024*

    *Applications received after the Feb 3rd second deadline are reviewed on a rolling basis and accepted as space and funds allow.

Training Grant

Funding opportunities are available through the U.S. Department of Education-funded personnel preparation training grant, Redefining Intersectional Special Education to Prepare Culturally Competent and Conscientious Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments (Project RISE-TVIs).

Coursework

  • Core Courses
    • SPED 7000 Education and Psychology of Exceptional Learners
    • EDUC 6010 Educational Psychology
    • SPED 7400 Management Procedures for Academic and Social Behaviors
    • CORE METHODS VISUAL IMPAIRMENT COURSES
    • SPEDV 7100 Medical and Education Implications of Visual Impairments
    • SPEDV 7200 Issues & Trends for Teaching Students with Visual Impairments
    • SPEDV 7300 Braille Reading and Writing
    • SPEDV 7400 Communication and Literacy Skills for Students with Visual Impairments
    • SPEDV 7600 Educational Access and Collaboration for Students with Visual Impairments
    • SPEDV 7700 Orientation and Mobility for Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments
    • SPEDS 7700 Characteristic of Students with Low Incidence Disabilities
    • SPEDV 7900 Teaching Braille
  • Field Experiences
    • SPEDV 7951 Fieldwork in Visual Impairments
    • SPEDV 7953 Advanced Fieldwork in Visual Impairments
    • SPEDV 7991 Extended Student Teaching for Graduate Students in Visual Impairments
  • Elective Courses
    • See Degree Audit for potential elective courses.
  • Thesis or Specialty Project
    • SPEDV 7960 Reading and Research in Special Education (Independent Studies)
    • SPED 7989 Specialty Project in Special Education
    • SPED 7990 Master’s Thesis in Special Education

Faculty

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