Introduction:

The purpose of this study was to determine how many young children and students (birth to 22 years old) were identified with visual impairments and receiving special education services in the United States. Professionals estimate at least 50% of students with visual impairments have additional disabilities and are not identified as having a visual impairments for the purposes of the federal Child Count census; therefore, the differences between Child Count and states’ total population counts were explored.

Methods:

A mixed-methods survey was sent to each U.S. state to determine the total population of students with visual impairments (birth to 22 years old) during the 2016–2017 school year.

Results:

The 49 responding states reported an average total population four times greater than the number of students with visual impairments than were documented in Child Count data. Many states had limited or no data on their total population of students with visual impairments.

Discussion:

The findings demonstrate many states are making policy and administrative decisions based on Child Count data not their total population data of students with visual impairments (e.g., planning for 100 students with a primary disability of visual impairments rather than a total population of 405 students with visual impairments). Misuse of Child Count data contributes to underfunding and under-hiring of teachers of students with visual impairments and orientation and mobility instructors. How to address these issues at a systemic level so all students with visual impairments receive appropriate access to resources and quality instruction is also discussed.

Implications for practitioners:

Practitioners can use available population data across states to educate decision makers at local and state levels regarding the differences between Child Count and total population data for students with visual impairments. Statewide vision programs can also circumvent limited data collection programs at the state level by developing their own systems for total population counts of students with visual impairments.

中文翻译：

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美国视力障碍学生的人口数据

介绍：

这项研究的目的是确定在美国，有多少幼儿和学生（出生至22岁）被识别为视力障碍并接受特殊教育服务。专业人士估计，至少有50％的视力障碍学生有额外的残疾，并且出于联邦儿童计数普查的目的，未被视作视力障碍；因此，探讨了儿童人数与各州总人口数之间的差异。

方法：

向美国各州发送了混合方法调查，以确定2016-2017学年有视力障碍（出生至22岁）的学生总人数。

结果：

49个做出回应的州的平均总人口是视力障碍学生人数的四倍，这是“儿童计数”数据中记录的人数的四倍。许多州的视力障碍学生总人数有限或没有数据。

讨论：

调查结果表明，许多州正在根据儿童计数数据而不是视力障碍学生的总人口数据制定政策和行政决策（例如，规划100名视力障碍原发性残疾的学生，而不是405名视力障碍学生的总人数损害）。误用儿童计数数据会导致视力障碍，定向和行动指导老师的教师资金不足和雇用不足。还讨论了如何系统地解决这些问题，从而使所有视力障碍的学生都能获得适当的资源和质量指导。

对从业者的启示：

从业者可以使用各州的可用人口数据来教育地方和州一级的决策者，以了解视力障碍学生的儿童计数与总人口数据之间的差异。全州范围的视觉计划还可以通过开发自己的视力障碍学生总人数统计系统，在州一级规避有限的数据收集计划。