Why Professional Development Matters

  • Stay current with best practices in braille, assistive technology, and specialized instruction.​
  • Enhance your instructional toolkit with strategies you can share with IEP teams, families, and administrators.
  • Network and collaborate with fellow professionals nationwide and globally.
  • Strengthen leadership and advocacy skills to elevate the field and improve student outcomes.
  • Earn professional development credits (e.g., ACVREP) needed for certification renewal.

Professional Development Activities 

If you work in a setting where you are the only VI professional, it may take extra effort to find vision-specific training. These ideas will help you stay connected and continue growing:
Attend Conferences
  • Local, state, regional, and international conferences focused on blindness and visual impairments (e.g., AER International Conference, state AER chapters, Getting in Touch with Literacy, CSUN Assistive Technology Conference, etc.).
  • Look for events offered by:
    • APH (American Printing House for the Blind)
    • TSBVI (Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired)
    • Perkins School for the Blind
    • Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Join Professional Organizations Engage Online
  • Subscribe to listservs and email groups like AERNet, Paths to Literacy, or VI-TVI Listservs.
  • Follow professional blogs and websites focused on VI education and assistive technology.
Take Online Courses & Webinars
  • APH Hive: Free online learning modules on a variety of VI topics.
  • Perkins eLearning: Courses, webinars, and video libraries.
  • Paths to Technology: Focused on assistive tech for students with visual impairments.
  • TSBVI Outreach: Workshops, conferences, webinars, and downloadable training materials.
  • Consumer organizations like ACB, NFB, and AFB also offer sessions on accessibility and advocacy.
  • Vision vendors (e.g., HumanWare, Freedom Scientific) often host training on new tools.
Read Widely
  • Subscribe to the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness (JVIB).
  • Read professional books on instructional strategies, ECC, and emerging tech.
  • Access archived conference handouts and presentation slides, even if you couldn’t attend.
"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." ​-Mahatma Gandhi

On Demand Recordings

The following are available for individual purchase ($25/each) or as part of the All Access Membership ($100/year)
  1. Foundations of Teaching the ECC in Age of Virtual Instruction & Social Distancing
  2. Strategies & Activities for Working with Students with Severe & Profound Disabilities (SIDPID)
  3. Strategies & Activities for Working with Students with Mild to Moderate Disabilities (MIMO)
  4. Job Tasks for Job, Career, and Life
  5. Itinerant Teaching Tips & Strategies
  6. Accommodations for Individuals with Visual Impairments
  7. Strategies & Activities for Students Following the Standard Course of Study
  8. Using Themes to Teach the ECC
  9. Accessible Content for Individuals who are Blind or Visually Impaired
  10. Strategies & Tips for Conducting a FVLMA
  11. Developing SMARTER Goals 
  12. Strategies for Selecting the Right AT ​
  13. Tips for Being a "Physically Fit" TVI"
  14. The Art of Teaching the ECC
  15. Activities to Teach the ECC
  16. Determining Service Intensity Using the VISSIT
"I find that a great part of the information I have was acquired by looking up something and finding something else on the way." ​ - Franklin P. Jones

Resource Access

Instructional articles on this site are open access and do not require an account. Free Members may access select free resources and goal banks.
Downloadable printable resources, lesson plans, recorded presentations, and ECC instructional units are available to Premium Subscribers.

Full Article List

Guide: Start Here
Tools (VI Basics)
Plan: Referrals & Eligibility
Referral & Eligibility​ ​Medical Vision Information 
FVLMALow Vision Evaluations
Other Evaluations
Plan: IEP Planning
Plan: Collaboration & Accessibility
​Collaboration Accessible Materials ​Classroom Access Instructional Access Technology Access ​Additional Supports Service Delivery Models  ​
Teach: Compensatory Skills
Compensatory Skills
Concept Development ​Alternative Communication ​Emergent Literacy ​Braille Code
​Beginning Braille ​ Braille Fluency & Comprehension  Writing Braille ​​​Nemeth Code Instruction 
​​​Tactile Graphics ​Print Concepts ​​Abacus  ​​Organization Skills​ ​​Study Skills ​​Time Management
Teach: Sensory Efficiency Skills
​Auditory & Listening Skills ​​Visual Efficiency Skills ​​Optical Device Use ​Tactile Readiness
Teach: Assistive Technology 
AT Overview ​AT Use & Maintenance Braille AT ​iOS Instruction Audio Access​ ​Video Magnifiers ​​​Basic Computer Use Computer Access ​Productivity
Teach: Social Skills
Social Skill Basics​
Non-Verbal Skills​​​​ Verbal Communication Skills Cooperative Skills Identity & Self-Awareness ​Interactions & Relationships Managing Challenges & Safety
Teach: Self Determination
Teach: Independent Living Skills
Personal Care ​Hygiene & Grooming ​Personal Health Mealtime Skills ​​​ Food Preparation
Household Skills Clothing Management ​Money & Budget Shopping & Consumerism Phone Use ​Safety & Emergency Preparedness ​​Services & Community Resources
Teach: Orientation & Mobility
Teach: Recreation & Leisure
Teach: Career & Vocational
Printables
Free Resources​ Premium Resource Library 
Teaching Strategy Printables 
​Premium Program Printables
​Premium FVLMA Printables
​ECC PrintablesCompensatory Skills Printables
Sensory Efficiency Printables
Assistive Technology Printables
Social Skills Printables
Self Determination Printables
Independent Living Printables
Recreation & Leisure Printables
Career & Vocational Printables
Evelyn Jane Stories 
Learn: Teaching Strategies & Planning
Learn: ​ECC Units
Beginning of the Year Units ​​Fall UnitsWinter Units ​​Winter Units ​​Spring UnitsAnytime Units
Learn: ​Interactive Activities
Learn: Recorded Presentations
Learn: Complete Set Bonus ​