Making The Difference for Infants And Toddlers Who Are Visually Impaired: The Effect Of Professional Learning Opportunities for Early Intervention Practitioners

Blindness and visual impairments (BVI) are physical disabilities that can contribute to longstanding impacts on the developmental and life-long achievement of young children identified with vision loss. Early intervention services for this population demonstrate the potential to increase the meaningful and longstanding impact on the trajectory of a child and their caregiver. According to researchers Ely and Ostrosky (2017), there is a significant deficit in access to early childhood intervention practitioners with the expertise and skillset needed to address the unique needs to support this population. A needs assessment study revealed that early intervention practitioners valued working with families of children who have BVI and recognized their perspective. However, practitioner respondents held limited knowledge specific to visual impairment and the potential impacts on a child's development. This mixed methods study investigated whether participation in professional learning affected early intervention practitioners' perception of their role and potential application of intervention practices (i.e., evaluation and assessment). The study focused on strengthening participants' knowledge specific to aspects of vision impairment and increasing practices employed through service delivery. Seventeen participants participated over five months. The online intervention was provided across three synchronous and two asynchronous sessions. Findings revealed that participants demonstrated increased knowledge about BVI content and the ability to facilitate service delivery on topics specific to the field following the intervention. The personal learning goals created by participants focused on BVI, and they all achieved their goal(s). Participants indicated that they considered the professional development program a critical step to support their work with infants and toddlers who have BVI and their families