I'm going to a special training...

I signed up for a training in October through PaTTAN (Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network.) Their mission is to support the efforts and inititative of the Bureau of Special Education and to build the capacity of local educational agencies that serve students who receive special education services.

PaTTAN Trainings
The trainings offered by PaTTAN are often targed to therapists and educators but many are also open to parents. Some of these trainings are offered online but many are at PaTTAN sites (Harrisburgh, King of Prussia, and Pittsburgh.)

This is the training I am attending - Developing Functional Skills for Children with Complex Needs: Focus on Vision and Hearing. Usually I am the only one in the room who wants to talk about blindness - a whole day focused on vision and hearing is going to be awesome!

Tom's occupational therapist recommended this training to me. It's so worth it to develop good relationships with your child's therapists. Not only do they have a wealth of theraputic knowledge but they also have access to resources that a parent just doesn't have. Tom's therapists know how motivated I am and they are nice enough to share their resources with me.

Be sure to check out the PaTTAN's section on Blindness- Visual Impairment in their Educational Inititatives section.

PaTTAN's Short Term Loan program
If you need a device for your child you may be able to request it through PaTTAN. We borrowed a big mac button from Pattan's Short Term Loan program last year with the assistance of Tom's speech therapist. Work with your child's Early Intervention therapist, teacher, or school based therapist to request the equipment your child needs. The Short Term Loan program is an ideal way to trial a device before purchasing it. We worked with the big mac button for a while but eventually decided Tom didn't need one of his own.

Working with his TVI on shape discrimination

Family Resource Guide - Allegheny County
Did you know there is an Allegheny County Family Resource Guide? I did contact someone at this guide because their description for Vision Therapy is wrong - that is not the type of service offered by Early Intervention.

Tom's TVI is also certified in
Orientation & Mobility

Vision Therapy as provided by EI is done by a Teacher of the Visually Impaired (TVI) and is done to assist children in meeting their developmental goals by learning to use their vision or learning techniques to use instead of vision. It is not the type of vision therapy done by a developmental optometrist. Other than that inaccuracy, you can find a lot of good information here.

Resources Near You
PaTTAN is obviously Pennsylvania based but you might have something similar in your area. Start searching the links of the special education resources/program websites in your area or ask your child's therapists for suggestions.

You'll never know what is out there until you look!