Services
provided by the State Outreach Center for Visually Impaired, Schleswig (Germany)
The State Outreach Center for Visually Impaired, Schleswig, Germany, offers support
and training to families and professionals serving blind and low vision
children and young adults, including those with additional disabilities
throughout the state of Schleswig-Holstein. The center serves over 800
students from birth to adult life in different schools in the state.
Every student receives instruction and guidance from professionals who have
been specially trained to work with children and young people with
visual impairments. The students visit their home schools to be able to
live and learn in their home environment.
The staff
members (about 80) of the center network and cooperate with other institutions and
members of the students’ social background who are involved in their
educational process. The center’s main fields of activities are:
Support and
consulting which is provided by five professional teams depending on the student's needs. The foremost intention is to support
the direct learning process in inclusive settings. The contents
focus on diagnostic, consultation with parents, teachers and other
people involved, inservice trainings regarding visual impairment and
adaptations for lessons as well as training and use of
specific visual aids for visually impaired students.
Courses and
family weekends are offered to children and young adults with visual
impairments as well as to their families. The goal of the courses is to
introduce and teach techniques, skills and special knowledge and to
strengthen existing competencies. One main focus lies on developing and
strengthening self-confidence and social competencies as well as
teaching skills of how to deal with the individual visual impairment.
The opportunity of exchanging ideas and meeting other students with
visual impairments is a valuable asset of the courses.
Seminars
and inservice trainings are offered for personnel of organizations and
institutions involved in the educational process of children and young
adults with visual impairments. The seminars focus on the sensitization
regarding students with visual impairments and their needs.
Furthermore, they provide knowledge of how to adapt material to
optimize the learning process of the students in their learning
environment. The
following specific areas are covered by staff members with specific
qualifications, depending on the needs of the students:
Functional
Vision Assessment
Orientation
and Mobility
Daily
Living Skills / Rehabilitation
Computer Consulting
Psychology
Braille
Transcription
A media center provides special learning materials to the students on a loan
basis throughout the state.