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Parent praises Utah Schools for the Blind early intervention program during public comment
Summary
A Salt Lake City parent told the Utah State Board of Education that the Parent Infant Program for Blind and Visually Impaired at the Utah Schools for the Blind provided essential early support after her child's diagnosis, describing multi-year services and community connections that helped her family.
Sarah Herb, a parent of a 10-year-old charter school student in Salt Lake City, told the Utah State Board of Education during the public comment period that the Parent Infant Program for Blind and Visually Impaired (PIP BVI) at the Utah Schools for the Blind provided critical support after her child’s diagnosis.
Herb said her daughter was diagnosed at five months with optic nerve hypoplasia and that the condition “was an automatic qualifier for early intervention services due to the known risk of developmental delays associated with a visual impairment.” She described provider visits, mentorship by a teacher for blind students and introductions to the local blind and visually impaired community as central to her family’s experience.
The parent said support occurred over multiple years; she described services between 2014 and 2017 and interactions during her child’s first five years through 2019 that included early intervention visits and later attendance at a preschool for the blind. Those services, she said, “turned something intimidating and unknown into many opportunities to learn and grow.”
Herb contrasted her family’s experience with accounts she heard at a recent Office of Special Education Programs focus group, saying, “Because of the blind school and the deaf school's programs through early intervention, our experience was totally different than everyone else's.” She closed by thanking the board for its support: “And we're just so grateful for the supports that we have available. Thank you so much for supporting these programs.”
The remarks were made during the Board’s public comment period; the transcript does not record any formal Board action or response on the specific programs Herb described.
