[rehab] Educating Blind Children

[Edward Bell]

Thank you Dick. 
Please consider the following
New Opportunities for Careers in Rehabilitation of the Blind
Scholarships are now available!
Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness
Louisiana Tech University

What?
Structured Discovery Cane Travel (SDCT) and Structured Discovery Rehabilitation have been demonstrated to be among the most innovative and effective forms of rehabilitation training for individuals who are blind or visually impaired. Louisiana Tech University now offers its Orientation and Mobility and Rehabilitation Teaching for the Blind programs on this model successfully for 18 years, with upwards of 90% successful employment and employer satisfaction rates. 

We Offer:
	Master of Arts in Counseling and Guidance with Concentration in Orientation and Mobility. 
	Master of Arts in Counseling and Guidance with Concentration in Rehabilitation Teaching for the Blind; Or 
	Orientation and Mobility Graduate Certification

Why me?
•	The field of educating and rehabilitating children and adults who are blind is deeply rewarding and life-changing. 
•	The job market is wide open; currently, we receive four times the number of employer requests than we have graduates to provide. 
•	No prior background or experience in blindness is necessary—we’ll teach you everything you need to know. 
•	Scholarships are provided on a competitive basis to qualified persons and can cover costs for attending the university.


Who can Apply?
Individuals must already possess a Bachelor’s (B.A.) degree from an accredited university, have a grade point average of 2.5 and obtain a minimum of 287 (Verbal and Quantitative) on the Graduate Records Examination (GRE). Individuals must also be willing to attend courses on campus in Ruston, Louisiana on a full-time basis.  

What’s the Catch?
•	Payback through service is required. Agreement to receive scholarship funding requires commitment for you to work in the field of rehabilitation for two years for each year of scholarship support you obtain. 
•	You have to move to Ruston, work hard, study harder, and have the heart to be an O&M or Rehabilitation Teacher of blind persons. 

Where do I get started?
o	For program details, visit: www.pdrib.com
o	Send an email for more information to: dreed at latech.edu
o	Or call Edward Bell to discuss your application: 318-257-4554

Edward C. Bell, Ph.D., CRC, NOMC
Director, Professional Development and Research
Institute on Blindness
Louisiana Tech University
210 Woodard Hall 
PO Box 3158
Ruston LA 71272
Office: 318.257.4554 		Fax: 318.257.2259 (Fax) 	Skype: edwardbell2010
ebell at latech.edu 	www.pdrib.com
**************************************************************
"I am somehow less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops." 
-- Stephen Jay Gould

-----Original Message-----
From: rehab [mailto:rehab-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Dick Davis via rehab
Sent: Monday, October 3, 2016 11:41 AM
To: jobs at nfbnet.org; rehab at nfbnet.org
Cc: Dick Davis <ddavis at blindinc.org>
Subject: [rehab] Educating Blind Children

Dear List Members,



If you are thinking of jobs you might want to do, or considering a career change, why not look at the fields of special education and orientation and mobility for blind children?  Many of the professionals in both fields are retiring, and there are lots of job vacancies coming up.  Orientation and mobility requires a master’s degree, and I can’t think of a better place to take your training than Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, where you can get your NOMC certification.  Louisiana Tech also offers two kinds of special education degrees, one for individuals who currently have a teaching license, and one for individuals with a bachelor’s degree but no education licensure.  They also offer joint certification in special ed and orientation and mobility.  Here’s the basic link to follow:
http://www.pdrib.com/.



There are some colleges and universities that provide bachelor’s degrees in teaching blind children.  To find them, you will need to pick carefully through the following list, which contains mostly master’s degree programs (including Louisiana tech):
http://www.teachingvisuallyimpaired.com/professional-preparation-programs.html.
I don’t know as much about the other colleges and universities as I do about Louisiana Tech, although Salus University does send its students to the BLIND, Inc.  English Language Learner Program so they can learn how to work with students for whom English is not their primary language.  Or you can get a general special eduation degree and teaching license, and go on to a master’s degree program.



The climate toward blind teachers of blind children is better now, so you might consider these careers.  Remember, though, a teacher who lacks blindness skills isn’t going to find a job as easy as one who has them, so please consider training at one of our NFB training centers or one of the good public or private ones.



Best wishes,

Dick Davis, Chair

NFB Employment Committee
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