Special Education Eligibility Criteria and Professional Certification Requirements in the United States Related to Students with Visual Impairments and Deafblindness

The
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004) established federal
definitions for 14 disability categories under which students may be found
eligible for special education services in the United States. Although states
must abide by this federal law that broadly defines each disability category,
states may also develop their own unique definitions and eligibility criteria
to identify students. In addition, states have flexibility in determining the
requirements for professional licensure for the educators and professionals who
work with students with disabilities.

<br><br>For
this project, we reviewed state regulatory and policy documents to explore the
variability in eligibility requirements for students with sensory impairments
(i.e., visual impairment, including blindness; hearing impairment; deafness;
deafblindness) and licensure requirements for professionals who work with
students with visual impairments, teachers of the visually impaired (TVIs) and
orientation &amp; mobility (O&amp;M) specialists across the US. Specifically,
these data represent a state-by-state (including Washington DC and US
territories (American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and
the US Virgin Islands)) snapshot of variability in eligibility and licensure
requirements.

<br><br>Data
for this project were collected between January and October 2021. At the time
data were collected, measures were taken to ensure reliability (i.e., high
inter-rater agreement across states and variables). However, changes in state
regulations or policy documents may impact the accuracy of the data at the time
of download. Individuals using this data set to locate information for a
specific state should consult the state’s most up-to-date documents.

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