Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Last updated
Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired TexasSchoolblind0.JPG
Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired TexasSchoolBlind.JPG
Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired

The Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI) is a Texas special public school, in the continuum of statewide placements for students who have a visual impairment. It is considered a statewide resource to parents of these children and professionals who serve them. Students, ages 6 through 21, who are blind, deaf-blind, or visually impaired, including those with additional disabilities, are eligible for consideration for services at TSBVI.

Contents

Founded in 1856, the school is currently located at 1100 West 45th Street in Austin and serves not only the local community but also most of the blind children in other schools across the state. The school has special equipment and classroom routines tailored to blind students, and according to a 2008 Texas Monthly article, blind students who previously attended ordinary public schools had a positive reception to TSBVI after enrolling there. [1] It is the subject of a documentary, The Eyes of Me. [2]

History

On August 16, 1856, the Texas Legislature enacted a measure providing for the establishment of a Texas Asylum for the Blind in Austin. The state leased the Neill–Cochran House as a temporary site for the asylum while a permanent campus was constructed. The asylum facility was designed and built by Abner H. Cook, a local architect who had recently designed both the Neill–Cochran House and the Texas Governor's Mansion. In 1857 the asylum moved into its new campus (now the University of Texas at Austin's Little Campus), where it operated until the end of the American Civil War in 1865. [3]

After having its facility commandeered by Reconstruction forces for a year, the asylum was reopened in 1866 and occupied its original campus from then until 1915, [3] while the program was renamed the Texas Blind Institute in 1905 and then the Texas School for the Blind in 1915. During World War I the School for the Blind was displaced by a military pilot training program, and it relocated to its current campus in 1917. [4]

The state transferred control of the school to the Texas Education Agency in 1953, from which point the School for the Blind became a self-contained school district. In the late 1960s the school was integrated with the all-black Texas Blind and Deaf School. In 1989 the program was renamed the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. [4]

Student body

As of 2008 50% of the school's students are of high school age. TSBVI may take up to 150 boarding students. Usually, blind students in Texas attend school in their local school districts, which are obligated to educate them under the law. Students who attend TSBVI do so only after their parents and their schools and school districts all agree that TSBVI is best-equipped for their education. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

Perkins School for the Blind, in Watertown, Massachusetts, was founded in 1829 and is the oldest school for the blind in the United States. It has also been known as the Perkins Institution for the Blind.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services</span>

The Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) was a Texas state agency that was part of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. The agency worked with Texans with disabilities and children with developmental delays to improve the quality of their lives and to enable their full participation in society.

The Louisiana School for the Deaf is a state school for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Louisiana, located in Baton Rouge, the state capital. It was established in 1852 as a joint school for blind students. In 1860, its first purpose-built facility was completed and admired as an elegant monument to philanthropy. The schools were divided in 1898, and in 1908, Louisiana School for the Deaf was renamed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School</span> Public special school in Vinton, Iowa, United States

Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School was a state-operated school for the blind. It was replaced by the Iowa Educational Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Vinton, Iowa, hosted the school and continued as host of the state agency that replaced it until 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florida School for the Deaf and Blind</span> Public school in St. Augustine, Florida, United States

The Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind (FSDB) is a state-supported boarding school for deaf and blind children established in 1885, in St. Augustine, Florida, United States.

The South Dakota Services for the Deaf (SDSD) is a state agency that supports deaf children in South Dakota. Formerly it was a state-supported school located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota that provided services to meet the educational needs of children who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, or have cochlear implants. SDSD is governed by the South Dakota Board of Regents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ohio State School for the Blind</span> Public, coeducational high school

Ohio State School for the Blind is a school located in Columbus, Ohio, United States. It is run by the Ohio Department of Education for blind and visually impaired students across Ohio. It was established in 1837, making it the nation's first public school for the visually impaired.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California School for the Blind</span> School in the United States

The California School for the Blind is a public educational institution for blind children, K-12, located in Fremont, California. Its campus is located next to the California School for the Deaf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maryland School for the Blind</span> School in Baltimore, Maryland, United States

The Maryland School for the Blind (MSB) is a school in Baltimore for children and youth who are blind or Low-vision, including those with multiple disabilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neill–Cochran House</span> Historic house in Texas, United States

The Neill–Cochran House Museum is a historic home in north-central Austin, Texas. Master builder Abner Cook designed and built the house in 1855 as a suburban estate many years before the surrounding area was settled by other homes and businesses. The two-story Greek Revival home features prominent Doric columns and Mr. Cook's signature "sheaf of wheat" balusters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kansas State School for the Blind</span> Public school in the United States

Kansas State School for the Blind (KSSB) is a fully accredited public high school located in Kansas City, Kansas, U.S., serving students in grades Pre-K through 12. The school was established in 1867. It is located on 10 acres (40,000 m2) located in downtown Kansas City, Kansas. It opened its doors in May, 1868 and admitted the first five students.

The Vermont Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, a non-profit organization, was the primary educational and support services resource for Deaf and Hard of Hearing residents in Vermont and surrounding areas. The Vermont Center, headquartered at Brattleboro’s Austin’s School For The Deaf, was launched by the Austine School in 1998 and operated until 2014. The Austine School was one of four independent schools and twelve outreach programs through which the Vermont Center assisted thousands of Deaf Vermonters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Texas School for the Deaf</span> School for the deaf school in Austin, Texas, United States

Texas School for the Deaf (TSD) is a state-operated primary and secondary school for deaf children in Austin, Texas. Opened in 1857 "in an old frame house, three log cabins, and a smokehouse", it is the oldest continually-operated public school in Texas. The school struggled under inadequate funding during the American Civil War, and its aftermath, with the students eating food that they grew themselves on the school farm. In 1951 the State Board of Education assumed oversight of the school.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired</span> School in Alamogordo, New Mexico, United States

The New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired is a state special education school with a residential campus in Alamogordo, New Mexico and a preschool in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It operates outreach programs throughout the state.

The Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind(ASDB) is an Arizona state agency, with its administrative headquarters in Tucson. It operates three schools for the deaf and blind, and five regional cooperatives throughout the state:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arkansas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired</span> Public/blind school in Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas, United States

The Arkansas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, is a state-run public school in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States, serving blind and vision impaired students of kindergarten through high school grades through residential, day school, and part-time enrollment programs.

The Council of Schools and Services for the Blind (COSB) is a consortium of specialized schools in Canada and the United States whose major goal is improving the quality of services to children who are blind and visually impaired.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children</span> School in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States

Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children (WPSBC) is a private chartered school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for individuals with blindness and visual impairment. It serves nearly 500 individuals ages 3 to 59 from 33 counties through on-campus school programs, A Child’s VIEW inclusive childcare, LAVI adult program, residential program and outreach services.

Texas Blind, Deaf, and Orphan School was a school for blind and deaf black people in Austin, Texas. Throughout its history, due to educational segregation in the United States, the school served only black students and had black teachers; whites attended the Texas School for the Deaf (TSD) and the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Campus</span> Historic district in Austin, Texas

The Little Campus is a historic district and part of the University of Texas at Austin campus in Austin, Texas. Originally built in 1856 as the Texas Asylum for the Blind, the complex was used for a variety of purposes through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It was acquired by the University of Texas after World War I and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

References

  1. 1 2 Colloff, Pamela. "Out of Sight" (Archive). Texas Monthly . August 2008. Retrieved on April 1, 2016.
  2. ↑ "The Eyes of Me." PBS. Retrieved on April 1, 2016.
  3. 1 2 "NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY – NOMINATION FORM (74002091)" (PDF). National Park Service . August 13, 1974. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  4. 1 2 Markham, James W.; Delahoussaye, Paulette (September 19, 2010). "Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired". Handbook of Texas Online . Texas State Historical Association . Retrieved June 21, 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.