This presentation outlines the journey that a parent and school undertakes following enrolment of a student with vision impairment. The mother of the student with vision impairment will discuss the considerations she made in respect to her daughter’s education and the experiences she has had in dealing with the school and the teachers. The student’s current teacher and teacher assistant will elaborate on their involvement with the student and will outline the steps that they needed to undertake to ensure they worked effectively with the student. The classroom teacher will outline the accommodations and modifications required for students with vision problems in a mainstream setting. The student’s visiting teacher from Vision Education Services will outline the role they play in supporting a student with vision impairment and will look more specifically at the assistive technology that has been used by the student to enable her to access the curriculum.

Yvonne White is the current classroom teacher of Mrs Abbott’s visually impaired child, who is now in year four.  Over the years she has worked with children who had various disabilities. She has also worked as a learning support coordinator. The combination of these experiences has given her a broad perspective of the many issues surrounding the needs of children with disabilities, and their parents, within a mainstream classroom.

Caroline Sullivan has been an education assistant for twelve years. Her experience of working with a visually impaired child began six years ago.   Since then she has learned Braille and has worked closely with parents, vision education and classroom teachers, as part of a team, to promote the ongoing development of this student.

Julie Miles is a Visiting Teacher for the Vision Education Service, Dept of Education WA. Vision Education Service (VES) provides support statewide to students with vision impairment and their school communities. The service provides support to both public and private schools. Julie has been working for VES for 3 1/2 years, previous to this Julie has a background in primary teaching and working as a Vision Education teacher in Queensland.

Nicole Abbott is a mother of three children, one of whom was born blind. She has spoken about her experiences as the mother of a visually impaired child on many occasions to various groups including, nursing students and support groups for parents of children with disabilities.  She does voluntary work at community centres and is heavily involved with her daughter’s school community.