Tag: Visual Disabilities Program
For five college graduates interested in new careers with guaranteed employment and emotional rewards, the future is now at NIU. Thanks to a five-year $1.25 million grant recently awarded to NIU by the U.S. Department of Education, the Visual Disabilities Program of the College of Education’s Department of Special and Early Education (SEED) has launched...
Want a challenging and rewarding career with guaranteed employment and free tuition? Thanks to a five-year $1.25 million grant recently awarded to NIU by the U.S. Department of Education, the Visual Disabilities Program of the College of Education’s Department of Special and Early Education (SEED) will enable the launch of a new master’s degree. Beginning...
NIU’s Department of Special and Early Education and the eLearning Services Digital Convergence Lab have secured a federal grant to develop an online training tool to meet the needs of teachers of students with visual impairments nationwide. The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services awarded the five-year, $500,000 grant in September. Stacy Kelly, an...
The ranks of the visually impaired are expected to rise dramatically in the United States during the next few decades. According to a 2008 Centers for Disease Control study, some 3.4 million Americans are either legally blind or visually impaired. The National Eye Institute projects that by 2030 that number will more than double, to...
Use a chainsaw while wearing a blindfold. Would you do it? Two students from the NIU Special Education program were champing at the bit to be able to do so after being accepted into the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) Teacher of Tomorrow Program. The program debuted in 2010 with a cohort of 16 students...
Nathan LaForte served eight years in active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps and one year in the reserves, working as a mechanic and a journalist. Other Marines showed him those ropes. “They always had me do the on-the-job training,” says LaForte, who received his undergraduate degree in psychology from NIU in May of 2011,...
Albinism. Some have heard the word before, but few people fully understand the difficulties a person with albinism faces. Individuals with albinism lack pigmentation, usually in the hair, skin and eyes. The lack of pigmentation in the eyes causes visual impairments and can also cause nystagmus (involuntary movements of the eyes). While these impairments can...
On Molly Clesen’s last day of teaching, one of her students asked her for a token of remembrance. They had formed a special bond over the summer, and Clesen was touched that the child had asked. She found a bracelet with her name on it and described what it looked like to the young girl,...
