Description :  

An important function of the Long-term Training Grant (CFDA# 84.129P) is to assist the Rehabilitation Service Administration to achieve its purpose “to empower individuals with disabilities to maximize employment, economic self-sufficiency, independence and inclusion and integration into society.”  The Louisiana Rehabilitation Service (a designated state unit) has a long and vital partnership with Louisiana Tech University and the Louisiana Center for the Blind (LCB).  One of the programs from this association is the Orientation and Mobility (O&M) graduate program at Tech.  The O&M program was conceived through an Experimental and Innovative (E&I) grant.  Even though the program has been in existence for only a short time, the graduates of the program are highly skilled professionals who are eagerly sought by state agencies throughout the nation.  Throughout the grant, there are a number of Program Action Goals.  These provide the framework for strengthening the program as well as a timeline for the management plan.

            One of the Program Action Goals is to visit five other programs and invite the faculty of these five other programs to visit the Tech program.  Our desire is to build cooperative relationships with other programs for the purpose of sharing ideas and best practices.  This projects main goal is to produce thirty five (35) highly skilled orientation and mobility instructors over the five years of the project.  This will help to meet the critical shortage of O&M instructors that certainly exists.

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Principal Investigator:  Bell, Edward  --  Professional Development & Research Institute on Blindness

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Collaborators:  

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Funding Agencies:  U.S. Department of Education

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Amount Awarded:  $499,975

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Start Period:  09/01/2004

End Period:  08/31/2009