The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has contracted Blindness Skills Specialists to consult with public schools in the identification and service planning for students who are blind.
From the Missouri State Plan for Special Education Regulations Implementing Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (Visual Impairment/Blindness Definition Regulation III – Identification and Evaluation Pages 29-30)
Visual Impairment, including blindness, means an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness.
Any legally blind citizen of Missouri who regularly attends a public school district, a special school district, a Missouri college, university, technical or professional school that is legally authorized to grant degrees, other than an institution established for the regular instruction of the blind, may apply to Rehabilitation Services for the Blind (RSB) for RBP services. Public schools educating such student should submit applications to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), Division of Special Education for processing, approval and payment.
House Bill 401
Requires an annual report from DESE to the State Legislature about the literacy of blind and visually impaired children; requires DESE and Rehabilitation Services for the Blind to develop a joint referral system; creates the Blindness Skills Specialist Fund; requires school districts to give preference in purchasing textbook materials to textbook vendors that make materials available in Braille, or an electronic format approved by DESE; requires that every infant born in Missouri shall be screened for hearing loss, and establishes the Newborn Hearing Screening Advisory Committee; requires that health insurance companies provide coverage for the Newborn Hearing Screening, Re-screening, Audiological Assessment, and Follow-up, and Initial Amplification.
The part of House Bill 401 that requires school districts to give preference in purchasing textbook materials to textbook vendors that make materials available in Braille, or an electronic format is approved by DESE.
MO Accessible Textbook Statute
The citation in RSMo 170.132
Provision of Braille Instruction and Provision of Materials
Two statutes relate to HB401