You will log into a passcode protected course site. The site is available to you 24/7. The course content is delivered through narrated power point presentations and videos of specific evaluation and intervention techniques. You will participate with classmates and instructors in online discussion boards to analyze cases and discuss intervention application. Online chats are held throughout the courses to allow students to interact with experts who provide low vision services.
Because the courses are sequential and build upon on another to provide basic professional competence, you must commit to taking all of the courses in sequence within your cohort.
No. Universities do not function as certifying organizations such as NBCOT. Therefore we can’t offer you a credential. However you will receive a certificate diploma from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The diploma reflects completion of formal graduate educational preparation to work as a low vision rehabilitation specialist. As such it carries equal weight with potential employers as certification. In addition, completing the Graduate Certificate prepares you to obtain AOTA Specialty Certification in Low Vision Rehabilitation.
Our success in preparing graduates for advanced credentialing has not gone unnoticed by ACVREP. In 2016, the organization completed a rigorous review of our curriculum and determined that graduates of the UAB Graduate Certificate in Low Vision Rehabilitation qualify for accelerated pathways to the CLVT.
It is not possible, even with an extensive curriculum, to comprehensively address intervention for both children and adults. The program focuses on adults because of the great demand for occupational therapy specialists to work with adults with age-related eye disease and vision impairment from brain injury. However, many of the interventions used for adults are applicable to children and we have graduates who only work with children.
Yes. As long as your degree is from a program accredited by the World Federation of Occupational Therapy (WFOT) you may be accepted. You must provide documentation that you graduated from a school with WFOT accreditation.