Our Missions

Information Exchange

People with low-incidence disabilities and those who are part of their lives need information. They need it fast, and they need it to be accurate and correct. Using a variety of technologies, the National Center will provide that information to families, schools, teachers, and
researchers around the country. [View short Flash demonstration.]

Some examples:

Families can get contact information on service providers in their home state.
Teachers can access a Job Bank of openings around the country for teachers in low-incidence areas.
Quick how-tos and FAQs for parents who have children with low-incidence disabilities

Local Support

In many areas of the nation, local support for low-incidence disabilities is often difficult to locate or completely absent. The National Center has the capability to support these areas of the country in a variety of ways. [View short Flash demonstration.]

Some examples:

Providing Braille materials to a blind student in rural Nebraska.
Helping a student’s general education teacher adjust curriculum materials to accommodate the student.
Working with the administration of a school to find local resources to support a student’s needs.

Teacher Training

Teachers around the country can get a Master’s Degree in one of three emphasis areas: Blindness and Visual Impairment, Deafness and Hard of Hearing, or Severe Profound needs. These degrees are offered in large-part through the NCLID’s virtual campus at
http://vision.unco.edu. Teachers will also be able to take Professional Development modules that focus on critical areas but aren't part of a degree program, such as how to talk with parents about IEPs. [View short Flash demonstration.]

Some examples:

A kindergarten teacher in Houlton, Maine, might enroll for a MA in Blindness and Visual Impairment
A fourth grade teacher in Appalachia discovers a deaf student in his class on the first day of school. The National Center can provide that teacher with some immediate training in dealing appropriately with the situation.
Hawaii graduated an entire cohort of students with Master’s in Blindness and Visual Impairment, filling a huge need in that state.
Teachers can also go through self-paced professional development modules that will help them address issues in their classrooms.

Knowledge Advancement

The National Center is developing an extensive research agenda on Low-Incidence Disabilities. In keeping with our mission of information exchange, part of that agenda will consist of work being done in other venues and sharing that knowledge with practitioners as soon as possible. [View short Flash demonstration.]

Some examples:

The National Center will develop a database of on-going research in Low-Incidence Disabilities.
The National Center research agenda will identify gaps in the current knowledge in order to sponsor research in those areas.

The National Center on Low-Incidence Disabilities has a broad, and emerging, mission to provide a central resource for a variety of clienteles and disabilities. Our thanks to our sponsors, Senator Wayne Allard and the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado, for helping to make this vision a reality.