HomeMy WebLinkAboutBack-Up DocumentChildren Served by Miami Lighthouse for the Blind who live in zip codes within the City
of Miami
Our Early Intervention Program provides high quality services for 80 visually impaired blind
babies, toddlers and their parents. Through individualized child and family plans, the program
provides developmental training for young children as well as addressing their needs and builds
upon the assets of the adults in each child's life. Program goals include facilitating
developmental functioning of participating children, increasing the level of parent involvement in
their child's development; and increasing the capacity of other service providers to address
visual impairment problems.
Our Pre -Kindergarten Program is an inclusion model serving 13 three and four-year old
children. Our partnership with M-DCPS creates a unique opportunity for the very youngest
learners to ultimately enter our public schools prepared to fulfill their potential. Prior to 2016,
inclusion programs with specialized instruction to support school readiness of visually impaired
children from birth to age five did not exist. To fill this gap, Miami Lighthouse for the Blind (MLB)
launched our pilot Pre -Kindergarten (Pre -K) for 3 -and 4 -year-olds in August 2016, as the first
phase of our Lighthouse Learning Center for Children TM. No other pre -kindergarten exists in the
United States with visually impaired students learning alongside their sighted peers in
collaboration with their local school district.
Our Transition Program is a year-round program that provides 45 youth who are blind or
visually impaired between the ages of 14-18 the opportunity to develop skills to enter the
workforce or post -secondary education. Students learn important life skills like home and
personal management, assistive technology, job readiness, orientation and mobility, social skills
and community integration. They are able to prepare their own meals using safe techniques,
and learn how they can label and organize their own home. Students keep up-to-date resumes,
participate in job interviews and are able to prepare for careers through on-the-job training,
especially through internships. As part of our High School High Tech initiative, our Industrial
Advisory Committee assists in providing job experiences. The overall goal of our Transition
Program is to help these students reach their full potential.
Our Year -Round Braille and Technology Literacy Program serves 50 children who are blind
or visually impaired between the ages of 6 and 12 years. Classes are offered on teacher
planning days, Saturdays, and school holidays during the school year, and for an intensive
seven weeks of instruction during the summer. Instruction is individualized and differentiated,
based on each child's age and skill level. Braille literacy and accessible technology are the keys
to successful employment and full participation in society. The National Federation of the Blind
(NFB) reports that Braille literacy in blind Americans is alarmingly low. Today, in America only
ten percent of blind children are learning to read Braille in school. However, studies have shown
that 80 percent of all employed blind people read and write Braille fluently (NFB).
Our Hieken Children's Vision Program provided 4,655 comprehensive eye examinations to
financially disadvantaged schoolchildren in the City of Miami during the last school year. Eighty
percent of these children failed their eye examination and required and received prescription
eyeglasses at no cost to their family. Based on research funded by the Health Foundation of
South Florida, 74% of the parents responded that their child's school performance improved
after they received their eyeglasses.