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"Parent Professional Partnership's for Achieving National Goals"

Presented by Dr. Anne Corn and Susan LaVenture, Director, National Association for Parents of the Visually Impaired.

Please note: Donna Stryker is unable to attend due to funding availability. Dr. Corn was her co-presenter as detailed in the abstract that was accepted. Susan LaVenture is already going to be attending the conference and has agreed to step in for Donna Stryker. Dr. Corn has already submitted a biodata for her own presentation as has Ms. LaVenture under separate cover for her leadership of the Special Focus Day, August 6th, 1997 "Parent Family Involvement"

If there are any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact Donna Stryker at:

FOREVERD@zianet.com - EMAIL address

Biodata:

Donna J. Stryker's professional training is in mortgage lending, but as the parent of a 13 boy who is blind she has spent the last 12 years pursuing a passion. That parents of children who are blind and visually impaired, not allow their child's inability to see, to impair their vision for their child's future successes. Donna is currently Treasurer of the National Association for Parents of the Visually Impaired and serves as Co-Chair for the National Agenda for the Education of Children and Youths with Visual Impairments, Including those with Multiple Disabilities. Donna has spoken nationally to parents and professionals on the power of the Parent Professional Partnership and how those relationships can change the way blind and visually impaired children are educated.

Did you know that:

1 Sometimes months, even years go by between a child's diagnosis of visual impairment and a referral to educational services?
1 Blind and visually impaired children often receive an inferior education because there are not enough specialized teachers?
1 Often visually impaired students are placed in existing and easily available educational settings without regard for the setting that would best meet their needs.

The National Agenda for the Education of Children and Youths with Visual Impairments, Including Those with Multiple Disabilities holds a vision and is a plan of action for the future of the education of children who are blind or visually impaired in the U.S. It was developed by and for children, parents, and educators, and is responsive to the current educational needs of children and their families

We, as a field, knew many things were not right in the schools and communities where blind and visually impaired children were receiving their education. Although some children received excellent services, others were struggling just to receive an appropriate education. We knew something had to be done and we knew that we - parents, teachers, and adults with visual impairments were the only ones to do it. When we started, however, we were not certain that we knew how to make the overwhelming changes we believed were needed.

The National Agenda started with committees of parents, professionals and adults with visual impairments from all over the country who set priorities and identified 19 goals. Then through a process called a likelihood-impact analysis over 500 people in 40 stated indicated which of the goals they considered to have the most impact on educational services and which they deemed achievable by the year 2000. And it was through this process that the eight national goals of the agenda were developed. Through this process it became clear that parent-professional partnerships would be the foundation for success in achieving the eight national goals. Since that time, an ever-increasing environment of mutual respect between parents and professionals has emerged, drawing upon the specific strengths that both groups bring to the effort. The vision of an educational system that sets higher expectations for all students and service providers is the guiding force for parents and professionals to forge partnerships. The National Agenda effort also recognizes another important component, that of the adult with visual impairments who has much to offer this process. However, for purposes of this presentation the focus is on that of the parent and professional.

We would like to share the goals with you and ask you to thing whether your country's goals might look the same. Also, consider what would be the best approach for your country to establish its goals and to bring parents and professionals together in a united effort.

1 Students and their families will be referred to an appropriate education program within 30 days of identification of a suspected visual impairment.

1 Policies and procedures will be implemented to ensure the right of all parents to full participation and equal partnership in the education process.

1 Universities, with a minimum of one full-time faculty member in the area of visual impairments, will prepare a sufficient number of educators of students with visual impairments to meet personnel needs throughout the country.

1 Service providers will determine caseloads based on the needs of students and require ongoing professional development for all teachers and orientation and mobility instructors.

1 Local education programs will ensure that all students have access to a full array of placement options.

1 Assessment of students will be conducted, in collaboration with parents, by personnel having expertise in the education of students with visual impairments.

1 Access to developmental and educational services will include an assurance that instruction materials are available to students in the appropriate media and at the same time as their sighted peers.

1 Educational and developmental goals, including instruction, will reflect the assessed needs of each student in all areas of academic and disability-specific core curricula.

Each and every one of the goals cannot be achieved by professionals only, or by parents only. As a working partnership using proactive positive methods to build trust, it is our belief that the National Agenda can change the educational process for blind and visually impaired children in the United States.

There are 50 states with different policy makers, politicians, teachers, families, principals and people. The common bond that is shared by the families and professionals is the desire that the children are given the opportunity to learn to their highest ability. Neither of these groups can achieve this goal without the other. If each of the eight goals was left to one group, the possibility of the goal becoming a reality would be slim. Each goal needs two elements: the perspective that only a parent of blind and visually impaired child can bring as they live with that child each and every day, and the perspective that the professional has with the most up to date educational tools available on how to best promote learning. Each perspective is vital and builds upon the other to see success.

Dr. Phil Hatlen, a professional, and Donna Stryker, a parent, feel that as Co-Chairs of the National Agenda that they set a good example of the power in the parent- professional partnership. They are disappointed however that even in their own backyards they have continued to see many professionals continuing to view parents in a information receiving role, rather than partners. Many professionals still seem to view parents in a learning role. There is a powerful force to be reckoned with, that of the empowered parent. The National Agenda is seen as a "living document" one which will evolve and change as time goes on and which benefits from this unleashed power.

The National Agenda effort is a parent-professional partnership without a lead organization. In other words, no one organization, school, or group "owns" the effort. This, too, lends itself to equal opportunity for involvement and action to take place. A board of advisors consists of parents, professionals, and adults with visual impairments. For each of the eight goals, a National Goal Leader organization has assumed responsibilities. These organizations have committed themselves to help the U.S. achieve one of the goals and to work cooperatively with coordinators in each of the states. The National Goal Leaders include the National Association for Parents for of the Visually Impaired, professional organizations, private agencies, and specialized schools. At the state level, coordinators bring together the activities of the state to address all of the eight goals; some of the states have sole coordinators while others function as parent-professional partnerships, and of course, some are more active than others. The last component and certainly not the least is the endorsing organizations, schools, and agencies. These organizations have signed endorsements of the National Agenda and committed themselves to work toward achieving its goal; included are over 170 groups, from national organizations of parents, consumers, and professionals, to entire school systems, individualized schools, and local agencies. Parents are seen and heard at every level. From delivering speeches about the National Agenda at national and international conferences, to working at the local level to improve educational services; from advocating for a full time teacher where children are not receiving adequate teacher time to advocating for one child to receive an orientation and mobility assessment, parents are present and proactive. They develop strategies, they put into action plans for a child or a school, they speak up at conferences, they take leadership roles to achieve the goals.

The point we wish to stress, over and over again, is that parents are present at every level of the National Agenda effort, not as receivers of information but as partners in the activities to achieve the eight goals. Another important aspect of the National Agenda is that while the advisory board is available to assist the national goal leaders, state coordinators, endorsing organizations and the co-chairs, each national goal leader, each state, each endorsing organization finds its own ways in which to work toward achievement of the goals, within their own context, and within their own work for the education of children and their families.

On the national level, the co-chairs, help chart the course. To date, three documents are available. The American Foundation for the Blind published the booklet titled, The National Agenda for the Education of Children and Youths with Visual Impairments, Including Those with Multiple Disabilities. In addition, two articles have been published in the journal, RE:View; one describes the process of developing the National Agenda and other speaks to Goal 8, the Core Curriculum for Students with Visual Impairments. During the first year following establishment of the goals, each of the national goal leaders gathered data to determine the present national level of functioning for the goals. This information will be published in the near future, along with a companion document for parents and teachers, Both will also be available from the American Foundation for the Blind.

What can the National Agenda do that will result in equality between parents and professionals? Organizations such as the National Association for Parents of the Visually Impaired needs to train more parents to be positively empowered. On each level of contact, may that be internationally, nationally, state wide, regionally or locally, planned professional conferences and seminars should strive to include parents, and have parents present. The organizations that plan these events should remember that parents do not usually have experience usually writing grants, or asking for special funding. Parents have a message that is important to listen to and what better forum than a professional conference? There is a shared responsibility between organizations like NAPVI and the professional organizations. Empower parents to be advocates for their children, go the extra mile to include them.

Winston Churchill said, "Never, Never, Never, Never give up." This could also be said of parents and professionals. The parent that believes their child is more than their diagnosis, the professional that believes the child's potential has not been tapped. If the eight goals are achieved for all children, than that parent and that professional can better provide for the individual child. If the passion a parent and professional have for a child's success is backed up by early referrals, parent involvement, proper assessment, a core curriculum, an appropriate amount of time of a professional, and so forth, then individual children and their families will benefit. The education will truly be individualized for that child and that family.

Today we have said many words many times over, "powerful", "parent", "professional", "positive", "proactive". But when you leave today it is my hope that you leave with those words firmly planted in your subconscious, so that the next time you have a meeting with a professional or visa versa that you remember that powerful relationships can be built between parents and professionals. That positive proactive partnerships can achieve great things for children that are blind and visually impaired.

In closing, a Parent/Professional National Agenda Questionnaire is offered for your use. As I read the questions, one for parents one for professionals, as yourself how the answers to the question impact the education program for your child or the children you teach. Use the questionnaire to gauge whether your education programs need improvement. To determine if you and your program promote the parent professional partnership.

Parent/Professional National Agenda Questionnaire

Goal 1: Students and their families will be referred to an appropriate education program within 30 days of identification of suspected visual impairment.
Parent Question: How soon after diagnosis was your child referred to a program?
Professional Question: Do opthamologists in your area have access to referral materials?

Goal 2: Policies and procedures will be implemented to ensure the right of all parents to full participation and equal partnership in the education process.
Parent Question: Do you feel that you are a equal partner in the educational process as it applies to your child?
Professional Question: How do you view the parents of the children you work with? Do you feel that full participation and an equal partnership exits? If not, why not and what would you do to change it?

Goal 3 Universities, with a minimum of one full-time faculty member in the area of visual impairment, will prepare a sufficient number of educators of students with visual impairments to meet personnel needs throughout the country.
Parent Question: Are you aware oaf the critical shortage of teachers in the vision field being graduated from colleges and universities throughout the country?
Professional Question: Does your state have a college/university program that prepares VI/OM teachers?

Goal 4: Service providers will determine caseloads based on the need of students and will require ongoing professional develoment for all teachers and orientation and mobility instructors.
Parent Question: Do you feel your child receives services frequently enough? Do you feel your child receives service appropriate for their visual impairment?
Professional Question: Does your district, region, state have caseload limits? And or guidelines for caseloads? Does your state have programs that would allow you to expand your education in the field of visual impairment and blindness or O & M?

Goal 5: Local education programs will ensure that all students have access to a full array of placement options.
Parent Question: Do you feel your child has an access to a full array of placement options?
Professional Question: Do you feel your students have access to a full array of placement options?

Goal 6: Assessment of students will be conducted collaboration with parents, by personnel having expertise in the education of students with visual impairments?
Parent Question: Has your child been assessed? Were you involved in the assessment? Did the assessment team have experience with visually impaired children?
Professional Question: Are assessments in your area conducted in collaboration with parents? Are they conducted by personnel having expertise in the education of students with visual impairments?

Goal 7: Access to developmental and educational services will include an assurance that instructional materials are available in the appropriate media and at the same time as their sighted peers.
Parent Question: Does your child receive his/her materials in the appropriate medium and at the same time as their sighted peers?
Professional Question: Do your students receive their materials in the appropriate media and at the same time as their sighted peers?

Goal 8: Educational and developmental goals, including instruction, will reflect the assessed needs of each student in all areas of academic and disability specific core curricula.
Parent Question: Do you feel your child's curricula addresses his/her disability specific needs? IE Braille, O&M, Sign, OT & PT, etc.?
Professional Question: Does your district, region, or state have curricula that addresses the assessed needs of each student in all areas of academic and disability specific core curricula

If the answers to these questions are disturbing, which I suspect they may well be, and if you would like to work on developing your own "National Agenda". Please contact Dr. Phil Hatlen at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired or Donna Stryker, NAPVI & National Agenda at the emails and phone and addresses listed below. They would be happy to send you the materials developed thus far that are included in our public education packets that have moved the National Agenda forward, and have proven the formula for success is truly the parent professional partnership. Again, if you would like a copy of the National Agenda booklet, they are available free from the American Foundation for the Blind and more than one can be purchased.

All of us, teachers, principals, administrators, state and national boards of education, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, extended families, politicians, consumers, professionals would all do well to remember the words of Sitting Bull, a Native American who in 1877 said:

"Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children."

Whether your country chooses to establish a National Agenda of its own, whether your country works toward achieving quality education for blind and visually impaired children in other ways, please understand that parents and professionals working together can establish clear priorities, make for positive change, and make sure a quality education for all blind and visually impaired children is a reality.

Thank you.

Donna Stryker, Anne Corn