Preparation Manual

Section 3: Overview and Exam Framework
Visually Impaired (182)

Exam Overview

Table outlining the test format, number of questions, time, and passing score.

Exam Name	Visually Impaired
Exam Code	182
Time	5 hours
Number of Questions	100 selected-response questions
Format	Computer-administered test (CAT)

The TExES Visually Impaired (182) exam is designed to assess whether an examinee has the requisite knowledge and skills that an entry-level educator in this field in Texas public schools must possess. The 100 selected-response questions are based on the Visually Impaired exam framework. Questions on this exam range from grades EC–12. The test may contain questions that do not count toward the score. Your final scaled score will be based only on scored questions.

The Standards

Domains and Competencies

Table outlining test content subject weighting by domain.

Domain	Domain Title	Approx. Percentage of Exam	Standards Assessed
I	Understanding Students with Visual Impairments	23%	Visually Impaired I
II	Assessment of Students with Visual Impairments	18%	Visually Impaired II
III	Fostering Student Learning and Development	41%	Visually Impaired III
IV	Professional Knowledge	18%	Visually Impaired IV

The content covered by this exam is organized into broad areas of content called domains. Each domain covers one or more of the educator standards for this field. Within each domain, the content is further defined by a set of competencies. Each competency is composed of two major parts:

• The competency statement, which broadly defines what an entry-level educator in this field in Texas public schools should know and be able to do.
• The descriptive statements, which describe in greater detail the knowledge and skills eligible for testing.

Domain I—Understanding Students with Visual Impairments

Competency 001—The teacher of students with visual impairments, including students with additional disabilities, demonstrates knowledge of the human visual system, including diseases and disorders that affect vision, and uses this knowledge to respond to individual student's needs.

The beginning teacher:

1. Understands the typical development, structure and function of the human visual system.
2. Understands diseases and disorders that affect vision.
3. Demonstrates knowledge of terminology related to the visual system and visual disorders.
4. Understands medical aspects of conditions related to blindness and visual impairments.
5. Understands the effects of various medications on the visual system and visual functioning.

Competency 002—The teacher of students with visual impairments, including students with additional disabilities, understands human developmental processes and recognizes the implications of visual impairments for students' growth in all developmental domains.

The beginning teacher:

1. Understands the role of vision in typical development and learning across domains (e.g., cognitive, communicative, motoric, behavioral, social-emotional).
2. Recognizes the impact of visual impairments on the development of hearing, touch, taste and smell.
3. Demonstrates knowledge of the cognitive, environmental, physical and social-emotional needs and sensory integration of individuals with visual impairments.
4. Understands the impact of etiology, degree of impairment, progressivity and age at onset of visual impairments on developmental processes.
5. Analyzes ways in which the presence of visual impairments may affect the development and learning of individuals at various developmental levels, including birth through six years old.
6. Analyzes relationships involving visual conditions, visual functioning and development across domains (e.g., cognitive, communicative, motoric, behavioral, social-emotional).
7. Relates characteristics of students with visual impairments to types and levels of support needed.
8. Knows how to access information related to the characteristics and needs of students with visual impairments, including those with additional disabilities.
9. Analyzes ways in which a visual impairment may affect an individual's social-emotional development, including self-esteem and relationships with others.

Competency 003—The teacher of students with visual impairments understands the effects of additional disabilities, including deafblindness, on children's development and learning.

The beginning teacher:

1. Analyzes how the presence of additional disabilities affects the development and learning of individuals who have visual impairments.
2. Understands characteristics of students with deafblindness and/or multiple impairments.
3. Understands the impact of deafblindness and/or multiple impairments on development and learning.

Competency 004—The teacher of students with visual impairments, including students with additional disabilities, understands how a variety of factors, including physical, environmental and social factors, may affect students with visual impairments.

The beginning teacher:

1. Understands the impact of factors in the home (e.g., level of parental understanding and support) on the development and learning of students with visual impairments, including those with additional disabilities.
2. Recognizes the importance of early intervention for individuals with visual impairments, including deafblindness.
3. Demonstrates knowledge of the impact of physical factors (e.g., orthopedic impairments) on the development and learning of students with visual impairments, including those with additional disabilities.
4. Understands the impact of social factors (e.g., peer interactions) and cultural factors (e.g., value systems, social systems) on the development and learning of students with visual impairments, including those with additional disabilities.
5. Understands the effects of medications on the educational, cognitive, physical, social and emotional characteristics of students with visual impairments, including those with additional disabilities.
6. Recognizes factors in the learning environment (e.g., physical layout, organization, teacher behaviors and expectations) that affect the learning and behavior of students with visual impairments, including students with additional disabilities.
7. Recognizes factors within students (e.g., giftedness, motivation) that affect the learning and behavior of students with visual impairments, including students with additional disabilities.

Domain II—Assessment of Students with Visual Impairments

Competency 005—The teacher of students with visual impairments, including students with additional disabilities, understands the process of functional vision/learning media assessment, is familiar with a wide range of formal and informal assessments, understands how to adapt assessments for students with visual impairments and applies appropriate procedures for administering assessments.

The beginning teacher:

1. Understands procedures used for screening, prereferral, referral and determining eligibility for students with visual impairments and deafblindness, including vision screening methods, functional vision evaluation and learning media assessment.
2. Applies procedures for performing structured observations, functional vision evaluations, learning media assessments and evaluations of compensatory skills specific to students with visual impairments (e.g., orientation and mobility screening, independent living, assistive technology).
3. Understands specialized terminology used in evaluating individuals with visual impairments (e.g., functional vision evaluation (FVE), learning media assessment (LMA), low vision evaluation (LVE), primary learning media).
4. Knows the legal versus the functional definitions of terms such as functionally blind, visual impairment, legally blind and low vision.
5. Understands appropriate evaluation tools and procedures for infants, toddlers and preschoolers with visual impairments.
6. Understands appropriate evaluation tools and procedures for school-age children with visual impairments, including those with additional disabilities.
7. Understands state and federal laws and other key issues related to the evaluation of students with visual impairments, including those with additional disabilities (e.g., nondiscriminatory evaluation, early childhood evaluation, the significance of gender, home language, socioeconomic diversity and cultural diversity).
8. Understands how to adapt and use a variety of nondisability-specific evaluation instruments and procedures for students with visual impairments, including those with additional disabilities.
9. Knows how to select and administer appropriate assessments, including statewide and districtwide assessments, to students with visual impairments, including those with additional disabilities.
10. Knows how to collaborate with parents/guardians and with school and community personnel involved in the evaluation of students with visual impairments, including those with additional disabilities.
11. Applies procedures for creating and maintaining records related to visual impairments and documenting ongoing progress for students with visual impairments, including students with additional disabilities.

Competency 006—The teacher of students with visual impairments, including students with additional disabilities, knows how to interpret scores, reports and other formal and informal assessment data and communicates those results in oral and written reports.

The beginning teacher:

1. Interprets and uses information from formal and informal evaluations, including eye reports as well as vision-related and other diagnostic information.
2. Understands how to take individual factors into account (e.g., cultural background, age at onset of visual impairment, degree of visual functioning, home language) to ensure that interpretations of test results are valid and nondiscriminatory.
3. Synthesizes information from a range of sources (e.g., formal and informal assessments, parents' and teachers' observations, doctors' reports) to develop a comprehensive profile of a student's strengths and needs, make educational recommendations and prepare oral and written reports.
4. Uses effective communication skills to report evaluation results to students' parents/guardians, administrators and school and community personnel.

Competency 007—The teacher of students with visual impairments, including students with additional disabilities, uses assessment data and other information to make service and programming recommendations and to develop students' individualized plans (IEPs and IFSPs).

The beginning teacher:

1. Understands referral procedures and the full and individualized evaluation process for determining eligibility for special education services for students with visual impairments and/or deafblindness.
2. Understands the relationships among evaluation, IEP development, instructional management and vision-related services.
3. Knows the legal requirements for the development of IEPs and IFSPs and understands the role of the teacher of students with visual impairments in the development of those plans.
4. Applies knowledge of visual impairments, evaluation findings and the continuum of instructional arrangements to recommend appropriate services and educational settings for individual students.
5. Knows how to develop measurable goals and learning objectives to meet assessed needs and understands how to evaluate student progress toward those goals and objectives.
6. Uses evaluation results to identify individualized instructional strategies that enhance learning for students with visual impairments through modification of the environment, adaptation of materials and the use of methodologies and technologies specific to students with visual impairments and deafblindness.
7. Applies knowledge of human development and visual impairment to plan and implement appropriate curricula.
8. Understands the collaborative roles of students, parents/guardians, classroom teachers and other school and community personnel in planning and implementing students' IEPs and IFSPs.
9. Understands how to collaborate with members of the Admission Review Dismissal (ARD) committee to meet the needs of students with severe multiple and visual impairments by writing integrated IEPs that incorporate collaborative teaming, joint action routines and role releasing.
10. Knows how to use information from informal evaluations (e.g., Oregon Project, Hawaii Early Learning Profile [HELP], Vision Impaired In-Service in America [VIISA] project) for children from birth to 6 years old with visual impairments to design intervention strategies in areas such as concept development, communication, gross/fine motor coordination and early literacy.

Domain III—Fostering Student Learning and Development

Competency 008—The teacher of students with visual impairments, including students with additional disabilities, understands how to plan and organize instruction, based on assessment, in a variety of learning environments to facilitate students' acquisition of concepts and skills, including concepts and skills specific to visual impairment.

The beginning teacher:

1. Knows how to interpret and use assessment data for instructional planning for students with visual impairments.
2. Understands how to organize learning environments to facilitate students' acquisition of concepts and skills in both the general education curriculum and the expanded core curriculum (i.e., the curriculum for students with visual impairments and the compensatory skills needed to access the general education curriculum).
3. Knows how to sequence skills, implement instruction and evaluate progress toward disability-related learning objectives in students' IEPs and IFSPs.
4. Understands strategies for creating a positive, productive learning environment that fosters student achievement.
5. Applies effective instructional planning and management strategies (e.g., time management, caseload management, collaborative planning) related to various models and systems of service delivery (e.g., itinerant, resource, residential, transdisciplinary teaming).
6. Understands how to work with members of the educational team (e.g., general education teachers, parents/guardians, related service providers, paraprofessionals, administrators), including classroom teachers, to implement organizational strategies and instructional modifications and adaptations to meet students' needs.
7. Understands ways to adapt instruction across a variety of instructional arrangements to meet the learning needs of students with visual impairments, including those with additional disabilities.
8. Knows how to select and use appropriate assistive technologies to enhance instruction and facilitate student learning.
9. Knows how to create, obtain, organize, modify and adapt instructional materials (e.g., brailled, enlarged, outlined, highlighted) and how to assist teachers and students in using those materials productively.
10. Knows how to use visual, tactual, auditory and other adaptations to design multisensory learning environments that promote students' full participation and independent learning in a variety of group and individual contexts.
11. Applies strategies for teaching students to use organizational and study skills (e.g., organizing their own workspace, gaining access to needed resources, managing materials and time).
12. Applies strategies for conducting structured observations in a variety of settings for the purpose of recommending modifications and promoting student independence.

Competency 009—The teacher of students with visual impairments, including students with additional disabilities, knows how to foster the development of students' communication and literacy skills.

The beginning teacher:

1. Understands strategies for promoting communication and literacy development in students with visual impairments, including those with additional disabilities.
2. Applies strategies related to augmentative and assistive technologies for fostering students' development of expressive and receptive communication skills.
3. Uses a variety of instructional methods, materials and resources to promote students' expressive and receptive communication skills (e.g., low-vision devices, brailled materials, slate and stylus, handwriting and signature writing, listening and compensatory auditory skills, keyboarding skills, calendar box, electronic note takers).
4. Understands a variety of effective research-based methods of reading instruction.
5. Applies a variety of literacy methods to support alignment between direct instruction provided by the teacher of students with visual impairments and instruction in other educational settings.
6. Knows how to teach braille literacy skills.
7. Understands resources for accessing information on and providing instruction in specialty braille codes and formats (e.g., music, foreign language, computer).

Competency 010—The teacher of students with visual impairments demonstrates knowledge of the academic curriculum and modifies lessons and materials to facilitate students' development of subject matter skills and concepts and problem-solving skills.

The beginning teacher:

1. Knows how to access and is familiar with the general education curriculum (i.e., Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills [TEKS] and the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness [STAAR]), including physical education and fine arts, and applies strategies for ensuring that necessary modifications and accommodations are in place to make the general education curriculum accessible to students with visual impairments.
2. Understands a variety of instructional approaches (e.g., cooperative learning, direct instruction, theme-based instruction, discovery learning) and applies those methodologies effectively with students who have visual impairments.
3. Knows techniques for modifying instructional methods, materials and strategies (e.g., braille translation programs, magnification, tactile graphics) to promote achievement across the academic curriculum, including physical education and fine arts, for students with visual impairments, including those with additional disabilities.
4. Knows how to access sources of specialized materials for providing instruction for students with visual impairments.
5. Knows how to use a variety of instructional materials and strategies to make subject-matter concepts (e.g., science, social studies) accessible to students with visual impairments.
6. Knows how to teach students to use a variety of assistive technologies to facilitate their own learning and achievement in the content areas (e.g., Cranmer abacus, talking calculator, tactile graphics, adapted science equipment).
7. Selects and uses appropriate technologies to meet specific student needs and achieve instructional objectives for students with visual impairments and integrates technologies appropriately into the instructional process.
8. Applies techniques for promoting students' ability to use a variety of cognitive strategies (e.g., logical reasoning, problem solving, critical thinking) to meet their own learning needs.
9. Understands a variety of effective research-based methods of mathematics instruction.
10. Applies various methods of mathematics instruction to support alignment between direct instruction provided by the teacher of students with visual impairments and instruction in other educational settings.
11. Knows strategies for assisting students in expressing themselves creatively (e.g., through writing, fine arts).

Competency 011—The teacher of students with visual impairments, including students with additional disabilities, understands how to assist students in learning to use their visual ability in functional contexts and in making efficient and effective use of all their senses to interpret information about the environment and to guide their actions.

The beginning teacher:

1. Knows how to assist students in learning to use their vision effectively in functional contexts, including the development of basic visual skills (e.g., localizing, tracking, scanning), the use of environmental adaptations (e.g., contrast, size, distance) and the use of low-vision devices (e.g., monocular, magnifier).
2. Knows how to develop students' listening skills, including basic skills (e.g., sound recognition and localization), the use of sound in functional contexts (e.g., to orient themselves in space) and listening comprehension.
3. Knows strategies for promoting students' development of tactual, vestibular and kinesthetic skills (e.g., tactual discrimination, systematic searching and exploration) and their use of smell and taste, as appropriate, to supplement information gained from other senses.
4. Enhances students' ability to interpret and integrate information about the environment obtained through the use of their senses.

Competency 012—The teacher of students with visual impairments, including students with additional disabilities, knows how to assist students in developing the skills and behaviors necessary for positive social interactions in a range of cultural contexts and for lifelong participation in personal recreation and leisure activities.

The beginning teacher:

1. Understands how to promote students' awareness of the social skills typically learned through visual observation (e.g., facial expressions, body language).
2. Applies strategies for promoting students' understanding and use of appropriate behaviors in varied social, cultural and interpersonal contexts.
3. Knows how to promote students' understanding of various communicative functions (e.g., requesting, refusing) and contexts (e.g., casual versus formal).
4. Understands how to assist students in appropriately using nonverbal behaviors (e.g., maintaining social distance) in their interactions.
5. Applies strategies for promoting students' understanding of body image and human sexuality.
6. Assists students in developing skills that promote lifelong participation in personal recreation and leisure activities.

Competency 013—The teacher of students with visual impairments, including students with additional disabilities, promotes development of the concepts and skills needed for independent living and for learning to travel safely, confidently and efficiently in a variety of environments.

The beginning teacher:

1. Understands the skills and behaviors that students with visual impairments, including those with additional disabilities, need for independent living (e.g., methods for accessing printed information, public transportation, entertainment and community resources; methods for keeping personal records, managing time and conducting personal banking activities).
2. Understands how to promote students' competence in performing tasks and functions required for independent daily living, including concept and skill development related to personal hygiene, eating, shopping, housekeeping and time and money management.
3. Assists students with visual impairments in understanding societal attitudes toward visual impairment and promotes students' development of positive and productive response strategies to become effective self-advocates.
4. Applies strategies for creating and structuring learning environments that encourage the development of self-advocacy and independence in students with visual impairments, including those with additional disabilities.
5. Knows techniques for working with students on basic orientation and mobility skills (e.g., sighted guide, protective techniques, trailing).
6. Knows procedures for collaborating with the certified orientation and mobility specialist to reinforce students' orientation and mobility skills.

Competency 014—The teacher of students with visual impairments, including students with additional disabilities, fosters students' awareness of career and vocational opportunities, promotes students' ability to set and work toward realistic personal goals and assists students in learning to manage transitions in their lives.

The beginning teacher:

1. Applies skills for working effectively as a member of an educational team to assist students in learning to manage life changes and make successful transitions.
2. Applies a variety of strategies for familiarizing students with career and vocational options, promoting awareness of their own interests and abilities and providing them with access to role models with visual impairments.
3. Promotes student understanding of the education, training and adaptations required for various jobs and how to obtain relevant services, equipment and information from general education and disability-specific resources.
4. Knows how to promote students' self-confidence, assertiveness, self-advocacy skills and knowledge of their legal rights.
5. Assists students in developing basic employment skills (e.g., social skills, work ethic) and works with others to provide opportunities for students to apply those skills in practical work experiences.
6. Knows strategies for facilitating students' maintenance and generalization of skills across environments to aid transitions (e.g., home to school, between classrooms, across grade levels, into community and work environments).
7. Applies strategies for promoting students' ability to set and work toward realistic personal goals and to manage transitions in their lives.
8. Understands the importance of role models with visual impairments in promoting learning, personal growth and self-confidence in students with visual impairments.
9. Understands strategies for working collaboratively with families, agencies and other professionals to plan and implement transitions for students with visual impairments.

Domain IV—Professional Knowledge

Competency 015—The teacher of students with visual impairments, including students with additional disabilities, knows how to establish partnerships with other professionals, paraprofessionals, service providers and organizations to enhance learning opportunities for students with visual impairments.

The beginning teacher:

1. Demonstrates knowledge of strategies for working collaboratively with professionals, family members and other personnel to assist in providing child-centered intervention for infants, toddlers, preschoolers and school-age students with visual impairments.
2. Understands factors that promote or hinder effective communication and collaboration with teachers, administrators, paraprofessionals and other school and community personnel.
3. Applies skills for communicating and collaborating effectively with teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators and other school and community personnel to enhance learning opportunities for students with visual impairments and ensure that students receive the services they need.
4. Demonstrates knowledge of the collaborative and/or consultative roles of teachers of students with visual impairments in relation to administrators, classroom teachers, paraprofessionals, related service personnel and other professionals.
5. Understands collaborative roles and responsibilities of teaching in various service delivery models (e.g., itinerant, resource room, residential).
6. Knows strategies for collaborating with teachers and other school and community personnel to integrate students with visual impairments, including those with additional disabilities, into various learning environments.
7. Understands the roles of regional educational service center personnel, related service personnel (e.g., physical therapists, assistive technology specialists, school nurses, counselors, rehabilitation staff) and paraprofessionals (e.g., sighted readers, transcribers) in the education of students with visual impairments, including those with additional disabilities.
8. Demonstrates knowledge of the range of services provided by the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
9. Understands the role and function of the certified orientation and mobility specialist and the criteria for referral.
10. Knows effective strategies for assisting and supporting classroom teachers to ensure that students have full access to needed adaptations and resources.
11. Knows how to collaborate with teams to create coordinated teaching activities and environments (e.g., develop joint action routines, role release) to promote learning and skills development in students with severe multiple and visual impairments.
12. Demonstrates familiarity with organizations of and for persons who have visual impairments, including deafblindness and those with additional disabilities, and knows how to access unique services, networks, organizations and resources at the local, regional, state and national levels (e.g., American Printing House for the Blind [APH] materials, adapted textbooks).
13. Understands the collaborative roles of local education agencies (LEAs) and the Texas Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) program.

Competency 016—The teacher of students with visual impairments, including students with additional disabilities, collaborates and communicates effectively with families to enhance students' ability to achieve desired learning outcomes.

The beginning teacher:

1. Applies strategies for working and communicating effectively with parents/guardians, including those from diverse cultural, socioeconomic and language backgrounds and for assisting parents/guardians in understanding their child's visual impairment and its impact on learning and experience.
2. Understands ways in which a child's visual impairment and/or other disabilities may affect the family (e.g., prompting feelings of grief, anger, protectiveness) and reciprocal effects on the child (e.g., feelings of rejection or overdependence).
3. Knows strategies for encouraging positive, constructive partnerships between parents/guardians and school personnel that serve to promote and reinforce student development and learning.
4. Uses the observations of parents/guardians and their knowledge of their child to assist in guiding instructional and transitional planning and decision making.
5. Knows strategies for working collaboratively with parents/guardians to assist them in participating actively in their child's education, including in the reinforcement of their child's learning goals.
6. Knows strategies for consulting with parents/guardians, keeping them informed and communicating with them about their child's progress and needs.
7. Understands how to serve as a resource for parents/guardians and others in the school and community in regard to students with visual impairments and knows how to promote the students' learning and address their needs.

Competency 017—The teacher of students with visual impairments, including students with additional disabilities, understands historical foundations, legal requirements and ethical considerations in regard to the education of students with visual impairments and actively seeks to expand his or her professional knowledge and skills.

The beginning teacher:

1. Knows the historical foundations for the education of students with visual impairments and/or deafblindness.
2. Understands federal laws and regulations related to the educational rights of all students with disabilities (e.g., the Americans with Disabilities Act [ADA], the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act [IDEA], Section 504, Section 508) and those that specifically address students who are blind or visually impaired (e.g., federal entitlements for the provision of specialized equipment and materials such as the American Printing House for the Blind Federal Quota Program).
3. Understands Texas laws and rules designed to ensure a free and appropriate public education for students with visual impairments, including students with additional disabilities.
4. Understands the process for obtaining specialized instructional materials available through the American Printing House for the Blind Federal Quota Program and state-adopted textbooks available from the Texas Education Agency.
5. Understands legal requirements and documentation related to issues such as referral, evaluation, eligibility criteria, due process, confidentiality and least restrictive environment.
6. Understands state requirements and professional guidelines regarding the provision of services to students with visual impairments and/or deafblindness (e.g., caseloads, funding, array of service options).
7. Recognizes the ethical responsibilities of teachers of students with visual impairments (e.g., advocating for students and their families, seeking improvements in the quality of students' educational services, pursuing ongoing professional development).
8. Applies knowledge of research-based best practices, model educational programs and current trends and issues in the field of visual impairment to provide students with the educational programming, materials and services they need to achieve to their full potential.
9. Understands the functions of agencies, consumer organizations and initiatives that promote nationwide standards of excellence for the provision of services to students with visual impairments.
10. Understands the functions of professional organizations, publications and activities relevant to ongoing practice and professional development in the field of visual impairment.
11. Recognizes the importance of reflecting on one's practice and developing a personal plan to enhance professional knowledge and skills related to the education of students with visual impairments, including students with additional disabilities.

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