We are pleased to announce the expansion of our programs for infants, toddlers, kids, and teens who are blind and visually impaired.
Message from INSIGHT Executive Director Christopher Butler:
I am writing to share some very exciting news with you regarding services for kids and teens at INSIGHT.
For the past several summers INSIGHT has offered a program called Carroll Kids, an intensive two-week program that develops math, science, literacy, Braille, technology, and independent living skills. As INSIGHT had not offered services to youth in more than a decade when we established this program in 2006, we were proud to partner with several other agencies including the Carroll Center for the Blind to make this initiative possible.
The experience of having a successful program for kids and teens for two weeks during the summer gave our Board of Directors the confidence that we could sustain a full-time program to focus on the comprehensive needs of kids and teens who are blind and visually impaired. Not wanting to duplicate the services already available in the community however, we opted to wait for the right opportunities to arise as opposed to building our own program. I am very pleased to say that those opportunities recently arose.
Last week the provision of specialty early intervention services for blind and visually impaired infants and toddlers were transferred to INSIGHT from the Rhode Island Office of Rehabilitation Services (ORS). This program provides functional vision assessments, case management, family counseling, orientation and mobility, and early childhood education services for the infants and toddlers as well as their families. The goal of the program is to insure that these kids have the skills and supports they need to successfully compete with their peers when they reach school age. We are very fortunate that everyone who worked on this project at ORS has come on board at INSIGHT and so we anticipate no disruption of services during the transition.
I was also very excited to announce that Linda Hughes, who recently retired from Rhode Island State Services for the Blind, has agreed to come on board at INSIGHT as a part time director of youth vision rehabilitation programs. Linda, along with other professionals in the field, will be coordinating specialty programs during school vacation weeks, weekends, and in the summer. Similar to our past summer programs, these initiatives will be focused on helping kids and teens to develop the skills they need to succeed at home, at school, and in the community.
Like the two-week summer program, these initiatives will only be successful through collaboration and so I am looking forward to strengthening our ties with other agencies in the community who also serve kids and teens who are blind and visually impaired.
After many years of focusing primarily on the needs of adults, I am very proud that INSIGHT can now say that we truly serve all blind and visually impaired Rhode Islanders - from birth to senior adulthood.
Please know that these programs would not be possible without the support you have provided to us in the past, and for that I am very thankful.
