Updated at: 03-03-2023 - By: Eden Wise

Overview

Indispensable as it may be, a child must have the opportunity to attend elementary school. It’s not shocking that many modern nations provide free or low-cost higher education to their citizens. Including kids who are visually impaired. There are now more options than ever for visually impaired students, making it more challenging than ever to pick the right school. We have therefore categorized the best schools for blinds in the list below. The conventional and tried methods of teaching used in these schools are crucial to the growth of their visually impaired students.

Top Schools For The Blind

Top schools for the blind

Anova Education and Behavior Services

More than just a conventional school, the Anova Center for Education represents a groundbreaking approach to learning. K-12 ACE schools run by Anova are found in Santa Rosa, San Rafael, and Concord, all in California.

Also, in 15 counties throughout California, Anova provides services such as behavior analysis, early intervention, paraprofessional, and in-home support. The “Anova Method of Education” combines a highly individualized academic curriculum with a wide range of treatment modalities, such as Social Cognition Therapy, Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Sensory Integration, Behavior Analysis, and Positive Behavior support.

The best learning environment for students includes classrooms that are small, consistent, structured, and positive. Children with autism benefit from a more well-rounded education when diagnostic and therapy services are integrated into classroom instruction. In the Bay Area, only Anova caters to the social, emotional, and behavioral needs of students with autism.

California School For The Blind

California School For The Blind

The California School for the Blind is a specialized institution that caters to the educational needs of children with visual impairments. The fact that the institute provides for all the fundamental requirements of the visually impaired is one of its greatest strengths. It is because of the school’s collaboration with LEAs that blind students are given access to so many different types of educational resources and community-based initiatives. Because of the emphasis placed on innovation and excellence in the classroom, students are provided with a rich and rewarding educational experience that fosters lifelong learning and is infused with agency.

Kansas State School For The Blind

The Kansas School for the Blind is another illustrious educational institution in the state of Kansas. The needs of the visually impaired and the blind are constantly being addressed in the development of new programs and services at the school. This public school, which is supervised by the Kansas State Board of Education, accepts and educates students aged 3-21. The institute does timely placement in addition to providing a world-class education to help students get ready for the real world. KSSB has set the standard for excellence in the field of education for the visually impaired with its comprehensive and innovative offerings.

Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired ​

Students aged 6-21 who are blind or visually impaired can find a place to study at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Also, it serves as a statewide resource for parents and educators during the final years of formal education. Multiple publications covering a wide variety of subjects are issued by TSBVI. Children with visual impairments, their families, and the professionals who work with them have access to a wealth of information on their website. Gives out educational materials like textbooks and magazines like See/Hear.

Missouri School For The Blind

Missouri’s blind children can take advantage of educational and community outreach programs offered by the state’s school for the blind. Primary among the institute’s perks is that it costs nothing to enroll in the courses offered, as they are determined by the State’s Board of Education for Elementary and Secondary Education. The school not only provides the best comprehensive education available, but also involves the students’ families in their students’ academic progress. The school places an emphasis on the many educational programs available to the visually impaired, which improves their academic and social skills. In addition to academic achievement, children benefit from participation in extracurricular activities with their typically developing peers.

Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children

Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children

Students who are blind or visually impaired can take advantage of the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children’s residential services, and the school also offers outreach services and programs for infants, toddlers, and school-aged children who are blind or visually impaired and are enrolled in local schools.

The Perkins School for the Blind ​

Students ages 3-22 who are blind, visually impaired, or deafblind can attend the prestigious Perkins School for the Blind. Perkins, which was established in 1829 as the first school for the blind in the United States, is now a progressive and multifaceted educational community with a focus on providing children and young adults with the education, self-assurance, and skills they need to reach their full potential. The educators at Perkins are well-versed in the Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC), a disability-specific curriculum tailored to the needs of children with visual impairment. The ECC allows these kids to participate fully in mainstream classrooms while also addressing the social and independent living skills they would have otherwise missed. In addition to providing diagnostic evaluations, transition programs, an online learning platform for educators and TVIs, and information on Cortical Vision Impairment (CVI), Perkins provides a full range of educational and support services.

Center for the Visually Impaired (CVI)

Located in Atlanta, Georgia, the Center for the Visually Impaired (CVI) is a non-profit organization that serves people of all ages who are blind or visually impaired by providing them with a wide range of services, including but not limited to: education, employment services, and independent living skills development. It’s scary and overwhelming to find out your child has a vision problem, especially if you’re the parent. The staff at CVI is ready to assist you. Our services are individualized to meet the needs of your child and your family as a whole. In order to help children with vision impairments succeed in school, the community, and the workforce, CVI provides a variety of services, from developmental screenings and training for infants and toddlers to training in independent living skills for elementary and middle schoolers.

Children can learn Braille, orientation and mobility skills, how to cook and clean, and how to use assistive technology, among other things. Likewise, they provide avenues for parental education and welfare as well.

Georgia Academy for the Blind

The Georgia Academy for the Blind was established in 1852 to provide for the educational needs of students who were blind or had low vision. Located in Macon, Georgia, their goal is to equip students with visual impairments with the skills they need to live as independently as possible. They provide not only on-campus day and residential programs but also community outreach and continuing education.

Idaho School for the Deaf and Blind

Idaho School for the Deaf and Blind

The state agency responsible for educating the deaf and blind in Idaho is called Idaho Educational Services for the Deaf and Blind (I.E.S.D.B.). Serving the state of Idaho since 1906, I.E.S.D.B. Families and local school districts across the state benefit from their supplementary educational services, early intervention/education, consultation, and transition support. Their seven satellite campuses all feature full complements of teaching staff qualified as “Educational Specialists,” in addition to the main campus itself.

Foundation for Blind Children

Infants and toddlers up to the age of three can receive FBC services in the comfort of their own homes, with the intention of equipping and educating parents to better aid their child’s early education and development. Their trained teachers for the visually impaired consciously instill in each child knowledge that typically comes from observation and imitation.

Three different places in Arizona are home to FBC’s preschool and elementary school programs. When they reach kindergarten or first grade, most students will transfer to local schools. The elementary school program at FBC lasts through the fourth grade for those students who may benefit from staying longer.

By providing an adaptive recreation program, FBC helps teenagers cultivate interests and skills, make friends, and become more self-reliant. Teens who are interested in attending college can benefit from college readiness and teen-to-work programs, which help students develop the academic and personal skills they’ll need to make the transition to higher education and ultimately graduate with a degree.

The goal of Adult Transition Services is to help adults improve their employability and self-sufficiency by providing them with training in these areas. Some clients have been visually impaired since childhood and simply need to brush up on their abilities, while others become visually impaired as adults and require rehabilitation services to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to maintain employment or independent living.

When it comes to low vision, FBC has a full-time optometrist on staff who can provide services beyond those of a regular eye doctor. Patients are able to keep their jobs, keep driving, and keep their independence with the help of these aids and devices.

Anchor Center for Blind Children

Children from birth to age five who are blind or visually impaired can access Anchor Center for Blind Children’s early education and intervention services. Educators, therapists, and pediatric ophthalmologists at Denver, Colorado’s Anchor Center are among the best in the country. Infants and toddlers with severe visual or visual/hearing impairments, such as Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI), are well taken care of by this organization because of the exceptional services they provide (i.e., vision assessments, early intervention, and education). Supporting both the family’s and child’s journey in learning “to see life differently” is the hallmark of their programs, services, and strength-based philosophy.

Anchor Center provides services to children and families in Colorado at their cutting-edge facility, through remote telehealth and educational sessions, and in children’s homes and communities throughout the state. Some of the many specialized, all-encompassing, and reasonably priced services they offer are:

  • Checkups and evaluations of the eyes
  • Help for infants and toddlers right away
  • Primitive and regressive early childhood special education
  • Therapies such as gardening, music, and playing instruments, as well as more traditional ones like physical therapy
  • Supportive training and education for families and professionals, as well as individual and group consultation
  • Activities for the whole family and free time
  • Children currently enrolled at Anchor, as well as their siblings and former Anchor students, are eligible for our respite and summer day camp programs.
  • Innovative studies of CVI detection, evaluation, and treatment

Oklahoma’s School for the Blind

In 1897, what is now known as Parkview School was founded as the Oklahoma Schools for the Blind (OSB). It is a university that has received full accreditation and provides a free, all-encompassing education to students who are blind or visually impaired from the earliest grades all the way through high school.

Located in Muskogee, Oklahoma, this institution serves children with visual impairments from infancy through high school at no cost.

The curriculum covers the basics of education as well as mobility and orientation, orientation to the world around them, Braille, independent living skills, and the use of assistive technology.

At OSB, students can participate in extracurriculars like wrestling, cheerleading, and band. To help more students get training in the manufacturing sector, we have collaborated with the Indian Capitol Technology Center.

OSB was established to serve the educational needs of blind and visually impaired Oklahomans in grades K through 12.

Indiana Institution for the Blind (ISBVI)

Indiana Institution for the Blind (ISBVI)

ISBVI was established in 1847 and serves the general public. The Schools for the Blind has expanded over the years to become a comprehensive educational resource, offering its students a variety of academic opportunities including a day school, a residential program, outreach activities, and consulting for businesses in the area.

In terms of enrollment, ISBVI is among the best schools in the country for the visually impaired and the blind. ISBVI is routinely commended for its outstanding national practices by similar organizations.

ISBVI’s goal is to make it easy for students, teachers, and families to gain entry to and make use of these materials.

The goal of the School is to become a hub for study and professional development in the area of education, with a particular focus on the needs of educators, students, and their families. Because of this, the lives of blind and visually impaired children would be greatly enhanced, and their access to education would be greatly enhanced as well.

The 114 students at ISBVI range from preschool to 12th grade. About half of the student body identifies as a member of a minority group. District-wide, a ratio of 4 students per teacher is the norm.

Approximately 58% of the student body is comprised of males, while 42% are females. 98% of the school’s students come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. There is one school counselor on staff and 32 classroom teachers.

The Maryland School for the Blind

The MSB in Baltimore serves children and teenagers who are blind or visually impaired, as well as those who have other types of impairments.

Originally established in 1853 and renamed in 1868, MSB is a private, non-profit organization that serves the entire state of Maryland through its outreach, educational, and residential programs.

There are approximately 2,000 blind or visually impaired children in Maryland, and each year more than 65 percent of them are educated by this Schools for the Blind.

Moreover, it helps students with visual impairments from infancy through age 21, including those with multiple impairments.

Students at the Maryland School for the Blind have the opportunity to learn not only how to read and write using Braille or low-vision methods, but also how to navigate their environment and get around independently.

The school also offers psychiatric evaluations, speech, physical, and occupational therapy, as well as therapeutic recreation, assistive technology, audiology, career education, health and dental services, services for infants and toddlers, and more.

FAQs

What is a blind school?

Many schools for the blind are residential and accept students from all over the state. They offer a wide range of specialized programs for people with visual impairments, including Braille and assistive technology instruction, orientation and mobility training, and occupational and physical therapy.

What are test blind schools?

In light of the epidemic, more and more schools in the United States have stopped using SAT/ACT scores as part of their admissions process in recent years. If you’re looking for a school that doesn’t factor standardized test scores into admissions decisions, you’re looking for a test-blind institution. If you apply to a school that practices test blindness, the admissions office will not see your standardized test scores even if you send them in.

What are requirements for getting into blind schools?

College admissions would consider scholastic performance, extracurricular involvement, and civic engagement. This means that students’ work in all areas, not just academics, will be taken into account when making grades. The following institutions remain among the most selective in spite of the elimination of the aforementioned criteria for admission.

Universities no longer consider standardized test scores when making admissions decisions, and as a result, stress the importance of a strong commitment to one’s area(s) of interest and/or specialty. The increasing significance of the Common Application essay and the supplemental essay cannot be overstated.

Conclusion

Now we’re done. We created this list with the intention of helping you find the best blind schools possible.

The time you’ve spent reading this is greatly appreciated.