The article considers career development needs of blind and visually impaired individuals and discusses results of a survey of schoolteachers (grades K, three, six, nine, and 12), rehabilitation counselors, management staff of rehabilitation agencies, and agency administrators. Respondents cited the need for greater accessibility to career…

In a study of career development needs of 134 blind ninth graders, Ss reported that a number of their career development needs were not being met by the school they attended, and that even those services which were not perceived as necessarily meeting their needs were not readily accessible to them. (Author/CL)

The article discusses the need for a developmental curriculum that covers the steps toward vocational readiness for visually/multihandicapped students, and outlines one such curriculum presently being field-tested in four Texas school districts. Worksheets, checklists, and tables illustrate aspects of the five-point curriculum. (Author/CL)

A study of self-perceptions of 41 working-age visually impaired women found that they perceived themselves as having substantially more barriers to employment than their sighted counterparts, and that this could have a critical impact on their pursuit of work. (Author/CL)

The author examines the history of segregation for blind and handicapped persons and the relationship of segregation to social attitudes and opportunities. He also questions the relevance of sheltered workshops today. The El Paso Lighthouse "enclave with industry" program is presented as one model for moving toward a "natural proportion"…

Five articles focus on school-to-work transition issues from the perspectives of administrators, consultants, and parents of visually handicapped and multiply impaired/blind students. Programs described include community-based training, state-sponsored vocational training, one-day training seminars, and a job readiness clinic. (Author/CL)

The article describes one teacher's innovative attempt to involve 10 visually impaired adolescents in a public day school in "Career Month," an activity to assist them in making realistic career choices. (Author/CL)

The Occupational Schedule (OASIS-IS) was administered to 117 visually handicapped eighth to twelfth graders. As a group they showed positive though relatively undifferentiated occupational interests. Compared to normally sighted peers, Ss showed a preference for repetitive factory work. Findings suggested a broader outlook for occupational choices…

An overview of vocational assessment cites problems such as using "trait" oriented approaches rather than more specific "real-work" task techniques for visually impaired and blind employment candidates. However, with more properly aligned technology geared to the particular needs of handicapped persons, recent trends are emerging, and suggestions…

A visually impaired high schooler learned a series of operator call tasks in the real work environment as part of a community-based, secondary vocational training program. Over a five-month period the student maintained and generalized 10 different telephone calls at high rates of performance. Performance on live telephone call tasks was also high…

Implications of career education for blind and visually impaired students focus on providing general employability skills and fusing the career development process and the teaching/learning process into the curriculum. (Author/CL)

Career awareness is defined and emphasized as a fundamental need of blind and visually impaired persons. (Author/CL)

Thirty visually impaired children (6-12 years old) were administered The Word Test which does not use visual stimulus. Correlation between age and scores and comparisons of test results for individuals with test norms indicate that The Word Test can be used in assessing language disorders among visually impaired children. (Author/CL)

Two studies examined on the effectiveness of behavioral training for improving prevocational work performance of three blind, severely retarded women. Combined response-contingent prompting and reinforcement procedures increased the quantity of tasks completed. Data also demonstrated that attentional behavior was enhanced following training and…

To test ways of predicting how efficiently visually impaired children learn travel skills, a criteria checklist of spatial skills was developed for close-body space, local space, and geographical/travel space. Comparison was made between predictors of efficient learning including subjective ratings of teachers, personal qualities and factors of…