Senator YARBOROUGH. One question. Monsignor Dooling, in your long work that you have narrated, beginning back in the early days of the depression, the early thirties, I am certain you must have given some thought to the incidence of poverty as related to the handicapped.

Monsignor DOOLING. Yes, Senator, there is a very close relationship, and we are discovering this now in our approach in the antipoverty programs that we are trying to establish.

There is no question but that the handicapped, as Monsignor Hourihan has indicated, have suffered because of the fact that they were exploited, and the result is that they did run at very substandard levels. And we found that the area of poverty was very strong and very demanding, particularly where there were handicapped people in the family.

Senator YARBOROUGH. Thank you.

Senator MURPHY. Mr. Chairman, just for a matter of the record, I would like to say that I am very pleased in California that the Hughes Tool & Aircraft Corp. have had a most successful program for many, many years in employing handicapped people. It has been carefully supervised. There are no substandard wages. The conditions are the same conditions prevailing throughout. They have done a remarkable job. Maybe, as we go along, we might take something from their experience and spread it around to the fellows that are not up to date in these matters.

Monsignor DOOLING. I would like to add one thing, Mr. Chairman, to Senator Yarborough's question.

We have a program that we plan to start in September with 200 children-it is a research program-where there is definite handicap and other children in the family. And this comes under antipoverty, which indicates there is a very close alliance between poverty and handicapped.

Senator YARBOROUGH. If we have one handicapped child, generally the parents put more effort in trying to do something for that child.

Monsignor DOOLING. If they take advantage of the opportunities they have. But we also find, too, that the poverty does increase for the reason that the other children suffer because they handicap the other children.

Senator YARBOROUGH. Thank you. I think that is a very timely observation.

The CHAIRMAN. You spoke of the Hughes aircraft program, Senator Murphy. I recall here several years ago seeing a film that showed a handicapped gentleman who had no arms at all. He wasn't even able to have any artificial arms. Yet he evidently had a fine mind. They would bring to him a piece of paper with a problem on it, and he would give them the answer. Yet he could not hold that paper in his hand; he could not keep that paper before his eyes at all. This is an illustration of what you are saying, of the fine job they are doing there at the Hughes Aircraft Co.

Father Hourihan, I want to thank you for your most generous remarks today. I am sure Senator Murphy joins me in an expression of our appreciation. And I will give you warning; we will very likely be calling on you to come back soon again.

Reverend HOURIHAN. I am glad I brought the boss along.

The CHAIRMAN. Monsignor Dooling, we certainly appreciate your presence here this morning. We realize you are both busy men with many duties and many responsibilities. It is very fine indeed for you to come down and give your support to this legislation. We are deeply grateful to both of you. Thank you very, very much.

Now, the American Foundation for the Blind, Mr. Irvin Schloss.

We welcome you back to the committee. We have had the privilege of having you with us in the past. We are always glad to have you. You may proceed in your own way.

STATEMENT OF IRVIN SCHLOSS, LEGISLATIVE ANALYST,
AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR THE BLIND

Mr. SCHLOSS. Yes, sir. I have submitted a written statement which I would appreciate having included in the record of the hearings. I will summarize it very briefly.

Today I am speaking for the American Foundation for the Blind, the American Association of Instructors of the Blind, the American Association of Workers for the Blind, and the National Federation of the Blind-in effect, organized work for the blind, as well as the largest membership organization of blind people. All four of these organizations are heartily in favor of enactment of S. 1400.

These same four organizations participated actively in supporting what became Public Law 88-1964.

We are all extremely pleased with the administration of title III of that law. The only shortcomings we have been able to identify in title III of Public Law 88-164 stem from lack of adequate funds, as well as lack of additional legislative authority.

We believe that S. 1400 would take care of these particular shortcomings.

In connection with the training of teachers of visually handicapped children, for example, according to the Office of Education there are 175 students who are enrolled in full-time programs and will graduate this year, thereby being able to go next fall into educational programs for visually handicapped children. However, the number of existing teachers leaving as a result of attrition is conservatively estimated at around 300 a year.

In addition to that, on account of the growth in the numbers of blind children just as a factor of population growth, we have an additionally large backlog. So we certainly feel that the additional financing authorized by S. 1400 will be extremely helpful here.

One of the most critical areas of need is to train the highly skilled. well-qualified teachers of deaf blind children. At the present time there is only one training program for such teachers. That is the one operated by the Perkins School for the Blind in Massachusetts, in conjunction with Boston University.

Unfortunately, all of the American students trained by that program have to be employed by Perkins for its own deaf blind department. As a result we find situations like the one I learned about this spring at the Michigan School for the Blind, where a deaf blind child had to be withdrawn because her teacher left to raise a family of her own.

We hope that with enactment of S. 1400 the Office of Education will give urgent priority to establishment of several additional university training facilities for teachers of deaf blind children.

Another area of need is to train orientation and mobility specialists to teach blind children mobility skills, how to get around with the use of a cane, how to learn where they are in relation to their surroundings. At the present time, thanks to the Vocational Rehabilitation Administration, there are two university programs which are training orientation and mobility specialists, one at Western Michigan University at Kalamazoo and the other at Boston College. These two are doing an excellent job, but they are just not turning out enough graduates to meet the demand. And we would hope that the Office of Education with enactment of S. 1400, would be able to finance several additional training centers for these specialists.

Also, there is a severe shortage of leadership personnel both in terms of college faculty members, who will train teachers to go out and teach blind children, and supervisory personnel for educational programs for visually handicapped children.

Here again, we hope that S. 1400 will remedy this.

One of the most critical areas of need is in connection with blind children who have additional disabilities, like cerebral palsy, mental retardation, emotional disturbance. These children just seem to have no place to go, generally speaking. They are usually rejected by educational programs that are limited to blind children, programs for the cerebral palsy, and the like.

About half a dozen programs across the country have developed, either with public support or under private auspices, usually as a result of the pressure and interest of the parents of these children in getting something going for them. There is one here in the District of Columbia. All of these programs are really feeling their way. They are handicapped by lack of tested methodology, lack of adequately trained and skilled personnel.

Here again, we feel that S. 1400 would help, not only in training of the very highly skilled specialist who is needed here, but also in connection with the university-affiliated research centers, which would include experimental schools that could actually develop facilities for such children and observe and test the methods of getting through to them over a period of time.

This is what will be needed. And from the demonstration of the pilot school here, for example, where a couple of the children, after 2 or 3 years, went to the Maryland School for the Blind-we believe some of these university-affiliated research centers and experimental schools can make a major contribution toward helping to solve the educational problems of these children.

In conclusion, I would just restate that all of the four organizations I am representing here today respectfully hope that the committee will favorably report S. 1400, and that the Congress will act favorably on it as well.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

47-909 O - 65 - 6

(Mr. Schloss' prepared statement follows:)

STATEMENT OF IRVIN P. SCHLOSS, LEGISLATIVE ANALYST, AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR THE BLIND

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I am pleased to have this opportunity to appear before you in support of S. 1400, a bill designed to expand and improve the program for assisting the education of handicapped children under title III of Public Law 88-164.

In endorsing this vital legislation, I am expressing the views of the American Foundation for the Blind, which is the national voluntary research and consultant agency in the field of services to blind children and adults; the American Association of Instructors of the Blind, which is the professional associa tion of educators and other specialized personnel in programs for blind children; and the American Association of Workers for the Blind, which is the professional association of individuals engaged in providing services of all types to blind persons of all ages.

All three of these national organizations have intensive collective experience etxending over most of this century in working directly with blind children and adults as psychologists, teachers, therapists, vocational counselors, research workers, and other types of specialists in all types of programs throughout the country. As a result of this experience, all three organizations have had an exceptional opportunity to identify pressing unmet needs in services to blind persons. Consequently, all three organizations can speak as one in endorsing S. 1400 as a bill which provides effective means of meeting some of the most urgent of these needs.

In the spring of 1963 while appearing before this committee, I had the pleasure of expressing the deep appreciation of these same three organizations for your favorable action on S. 1576, the landmark bill which became Public Law 88-164. Title III of this law, which S. 1400 would extend and expand, provided urgently needed Federal aid to train teachers, research workers. administrators, leadership personnel, and other specialists for educational programs for handicapped children. In addition, title III also established a special program of research and demonstration projects in the education of handicapped children. We have been extremely pleased with the operation of these programs to date and their administration by the Division of Handicapped Children and Youth of the Office of Education. The only shortcomings we can identify stem from the need for additional funds and for additional legislative authorization. The bill you are considering would substantially correct both of these shortcomings.

Although the number of institutions of higher learning with programs for the preparation of teachers, administrators, and leadership personnel needed in the education of visually handicapped children has almost doubled (from 8 to 15) as a result of title III of Public Law 88-164, the shortage of adequately trained personnel is still acute. According to the Office of Education, about 175 students are enrolled in full-time teacher preparation programs for visually handicapped children during the current academic year. If all of these students actually became personnel in educational programs for visually handicapped children next fall, the shortage will still be acute. Conservative estimates place the number of teachers of blind children lost through attrition each year at 300; and in addition, the numbers of blind and visually handicapped children are steadily increasing each year simply as a factor of population growth. Thus, unless the number of qualified teachers can be increased to keep up with the number needed to replace those lost through attrition and to keep pace with the increase in the population of blind children, the shortage will remain acute.

There is an even more pressing shortage of qualified teachers of deaf-blind and multihandicapped blind children. At present, there is only one teacher preparation program to train teachers of deaf-blind children-the one operated by the Perkins School for the Blind in conjunction with Boston University. However, all of the teachers produced in this program are absorbed by Perkins to meet its own needs.

The impact of this lack of adequate teacher preparation programs for deafblind children was brought home to us recently when we learned that a deafblind child at the Michigan School for the Blind had to be withdrawn from school because an irreplaceable teacher left. Even though every deaf-blind

child is not a potential Helen Keller, I cannot help wondering how many deafblind children are deprived of an opportunity to enrich their own lives through education and perhaps make a real contribution to American life. Needless to say, enactment of S. 1400 with its increased authorization of funds for teacher preparation, followed by prompt implementation through appropriations and administrative processes, will provide the only solution to the problem of adequate education of the deaf-blind.

Another highly specialized specific area of shortage is for adequately trained orientation and mobility specialists to teach blind children how to get around by themselves. At present, thanks to the support of the Vocational Rehabilitation Administration, two institutions-Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo and Boston College are preparing specialists to teach orientation and mobility skills to blind persons. However, the number of graduates of these two programs is not large enough to meet the demands for this essential service by agencies serving blind adults. Enactment of S. 1400 into law would make possible similar programs at institutions of higher learning with graduates trained to teach these essential skills to blind children.

The need for leadership personnel is also acute. We understand that positions as college teachers needed to train teachers of visually handicapped children are going unfilled because of the shortage of adequately trained people. For the same reason, supervisory positions in educational programs for visually handicapped children cannot be easily filled.

One of the most pressing unmet needs identified by the three organizations I am representing here today is the need for the development of special programs for the education and training of blind children who have additional physical or mental impairments, such as mental retardation, emotional disturbance, cerebral palsy, etc. Because of their multiple disabilities, these children are usually refused by programs for blind children, for the mentally retarded, for the emotionally disturbed, for whatever disability group a special program has been established. These children literally have no place to go; and too frequently, too hastily, and at great cost to their families or to local and State governments, they are committed to public or private mental institutions to vegetate for life.

In 1963, I submitted for the files of this committee several copies of a then new publication of the American Foundation for the Blind entitled "No Place To Go." This short book describes the plight of blind children who are emotionally disturbed and the need for programs which will enable them to overcome their problems. The book was reprinted in the record of the hearings on S. 580.

In some instances, the parents of these multihandicapped blind children have rightfully rejected the idea that their children have to be institutionalized or kept at home without the benefit of a formal training program. In some localities parents have banded together and have stimulated the establishment under public or private auspices of small educational programs for their children. There are perhaps a half dozen of these programs throughout the country; and all are handicapped by lack of adequate personnel, lack of funds, and lack of a tested methodology for working with the children. In effect, they are experimental programs which are feeling their way.

One such program exists here in the District of Columbia and serves a small group of children from the District and the suburban area. It operates as the Pilot School for Blind Children and I know that both the teachers and parents would welcome a visit by members of the committee and staff.

S. 1400 would assist materially with the problem of educating the multihandicapped blind child. The increased authorization of appropriations for training of personnel would permit the training of the urgently needed, highly skilled teachers, therapists, research workers, supervisors, and other specialists. In addition, the authorization of construction grants for research centers affiliated with institutions of higher learning, including experimental schools, will provide the only practical approach to developing the methodology for teaching these children. Observation of children exposed to experimental teaching techniques over a period of several years is required if multihandicapped blind children are to receive adequate diagnosis of their educability and if the effectiveness of techniques is to be properly tested.

Some blind children, owing to overprotection and consequent lack of learning experiences, give the impression of being mentally retarded when they are not. At present, there is no completely accurate and adequate method for determin