Visual Impairment/Blindness

 

Resources of interest in special education and disabilities studies

See also related guides education | special education

 

 

Encyclopedias

Provide excellent background/overview information. An excellent place to begin research. Contain articles written by experts for a general audience. Provide indexes indicating scope of coverage of a topic and pinpointing in which articles a concept will be discussed. Provide bibliographies for further reading.
Encyclopedia Of Disability And Rehabilitation
Encyclopedia Of Special Education : A Reference For The Education Of The Handicapped And Other Exceptional Children And Adults
The Family Encyclopedia Of Child Psychology And Development
The Gale encyclopedia of medicine

Handbook of Child Psychology
v. 1. Theoretical models of human development /
v. 2. Cognition, perception, and language /
v. 3. Social, emotional, and personality development / v. 4. Child psychology in practice

Handbook Of Child And Adolescent Psychiatry
V. 1. Infants And Preschoolers : Development And       Syndromes
V. 2. The Grade School Child : Development And       Syndromes
V. 3. Adolescence : Development And Syndromes
V. 4. Varieties Of Development
V. 5. Clinical Assessment And Intervention Planning
V. 6. Basic Psychiatric Science And Treatment
V. 7. Advances And New Directions
Medline Plus Health Topics Encyclopedia

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Reference Books

Handbooks, dictionaries, statistical sources, tables; detailed or procedural information specific to the subject areas addressed.
International Dictionary Of Medicine And Biology
Principles of Internal Medicine
Resource Guide To Special Education : Terms, Laws, Assessment Procedures, Organizations
Merck Manual

Merck Manual - print edition
Stedman's Medical Dictionary

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Databases and Indexes

Magazine, periodical and journal articles provide information on current developments, research trends, experiments and hot topics in a discipline. For every discipline, there are specific databases or indexes that provide article level information. Once articles are identified through the database or index search, look up the source journal in Vikat, PSU Library's online catalog, to locate them in the library. For a complete list of online databases and indexes, see the Library's Online Databases pages.

ERIC Database (Ebscohost)
ERIC is THE major database for education (including special education).

  Dept. of Education interface to ERIC

ERIC Thesaurus online

Professional Development Collection
Provides " abstract and index coverage for over 585 well-known professional development titles, and searchable full text for 504 journals covering the most current topics in the field of education."
Health Source Plus
Provides consumer health information
PsycINFO
The psychological and related disciplines literature. This database is particularly strong for human and child development topics
CINAHL (Cumulated Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature)
The CINAHL (Nursing & Allied Health) database provides comprehensive coverage of the English language journal literature related to nursing and the allied health disciplines. Focus is more towards clinical and research rather than in school settings.
Medline (PubMed interface)
A database providing citations to the medical research literature. (Ovid interface)
Health and Psychosocial Instruments
Provides citations to journal articles about measures and instruments. Helpful in identifying instruments and assessing their value.
Mental Measurements Yearbook
Primary source for identifying tests and measures. Includes test descriptions and extensive scholarly test reviews.

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Online Journals

Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness
RE:view
Teaching Exceptional Children
Technology and Disability
American Rehabilitation

 

Subject Headings

Subject headings allow you to search library catalogs for materials on a particular topic. Often subject heading searching can be more productive than searching by simple keywords. Listed here are some major subject headings of interest for research in special education and specific disabilities. Copies of the complete set of the Library of Congress Subject Headings are available at the reference desks throughout the library. 
 
 
special education

children with disabilities
(prior to ~1999:physically handicapped children)

Vision disorders
people with visual disabilities

 

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Call Numbers

Browsing the library shelves by call number ranges is another strategy for locating information on a topic; call numbers can help you get to the "right neighborhood" in the library stacks.

RE 48 Blindness in Children
RJ Pediatrics
LC 3950-4806.5 Exceptional Children and Youth, Special Education
HV Social Service to:
   
      888-907 Handicapped Children
      1421 -1441 Young Adults, Youth, Teenagers
      1551-3024 Persons with disabilities (including blind, deaf,        persons with physical and mental disabilities)

 

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Organizations

Often the best way to find information on a topic is to look for material published by a professional society 
or an organization.
Council for Exceptional Children
American Foundation for the Blind
National Center for Accessible Media
National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research
U.S. Dept. of Education. Office of Special Education Programs

 

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Web Resources

Web Accessibilty in Mind
Large Print and Speech Access to the World Wide Web
Council for Exceptional Children
Portal for special education and disabilities education resources.
Family Village
National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities
Blindness Resource Center

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Sarah Beasley
 
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