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Dr. Mindy Ely

Associate Chair, Special Education Department
Special Education
Office
DEG DeGarmo Hall
  • About
  • Education
  • Awards & Honors
  • Research

Current Courses

498.091Professional Practice

540.001Seminar In Contemporary Topics In Special Education

Teaching Interests & Areas

Braille, Nemeth Code, Introduction to Visual Impairments, Neurologic Visual Impairments

Research Interests & Areas

Early Intervention workforce development in the area of low vision and blindness

Cerebral Visual Impairments

PhD Early Childhood Special Education

University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign

MS Elementary Education

Western Illinois University
Macomb

BS Special Education: Low Vision and Blindness

Illinois State University
Normal

Outstanding University Teacher Award: Teaching Initiative

Illinois State University
2020

Impact Award

Illinois State University
2019

J. David Sexton Doctoral Student Award

Council for Exceptional Children - Division of Early Childhood
2019

Special Education Student Award

University of Illinois
2015

Distinguished Service Award

Illinois Association for the Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired
2012

Spungin Fellowship for Leadership

American Foundation for the Blind
2012

Honored Alumni

Illinois State University - Dept. of Special Education
2008

Book Review

Ely, M. (2022). A Book Review of Babies with CVI: Nurturing Visual Abilities and Development in Early Childhood, by Anne McComiskey. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, 116(3), 440-441. https://doi.org/10.1177/0145482X221112005

Journal Article

Peterson, J., Borders, C., & Ely, M. (2023). Prevalence of educationally significant disabilities in deaf and hard of hearing students. American Annals of the Deaf, 167(5), 583-596.
Ely, M. & Ostrosky, M. (2022). Single case design: Changing practices of early intervention professionals serving children with visual impairments. Early Childhood Education Journal, 50(6), 937-947. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-021-01222-0
Ely, M., Ostrosky, M., & Barton, A. (2022). The social validity of using the matrix approach in early intervention with children who are blind or visually impaired. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, 116(2), 230 – 239. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0145482X221086644
Ely, M., Ostrosky, M., & Burke, M. (2020). Self-Efficacy of providers in early intervention visual impairments. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness. https://doi.org/10.1177/0145482X20913138
Ely, M. & Lartz, M. (2019). Building our early childhood training programs on aligned standards of practice. Division on Visual Impairments, Council for Exceptional Children, 64(4), 20-30.

Other

Mazel, E., Morse, M., Ely, M., & Zatta, M. (2020). Role and responsibilities of vision educators (TVIs and O&Ms) when learners have CVI. Position paper of the Division on Neurological Visual Impairments, Association for the Education and Rehabilitation of those who are Blind and Visually Impaired (AER). Arlington, VA: AER.
Hatton, D., Chen, D., Snyder, D., Smyth, C., Greeley, K., Anthony, T., Ely, M., Lind, L., Hillier, L. & Dewald, H. P. (2018). Family-centered practices for infants and young children with visual impairments. Position paper of the Division on Visual Impairments, Council for Exceptional Children. Arlington, VA: Council for Exceptional Children.

Presentations

An assessment framework for CVI: Including ventral and dorsal stream (part 1). Illinois AER. Illinois AER. (2022)
Building individualized CVI teaching strategies by utilizing assessment results (part 2). Illinois AER Conference. Illinois AER. (2022)
Family centered practices and the coaching model: Using the matrix approach. Access Academy. American Printing House for the Blind. (2022)
Meeting needs of children with sensory disabilities: DEC/DCD/BVI standards. Council for Exceptional Children. (2022)
Perspectives on CVI: A survey of professionals. Illinois AER Conference. Illinois AER. (2022)
Cerebral Visual Impairment in Children: A Deep Dive into the Role of the Teacher for the Visually Impaired. Ministry of Education Provincial Outreach Program in Vancouver, British Columbia. Ministry of Education Provincial Outreach Program. (2021)
Cerebral Visual Impairment in Children: Collaborations of Multidisciplinary Providers. Ministry of Education Provincial Outreach Program based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Ministry of Education Provincial Outreach Program based in Vancouver, British Columbia. (2021)
Increasing parent-professional collaboration during home visits. International Council for the Education of People with Visual Impairments. World Blind Union – International Council for the Education of the Visually Impaired (WBU-ICEVI) Joint Assemblies. International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment. (2021)
Meeting needs of children with sensory disabilities: DEC/DCD/BVI standards. 36th Annual International Conference on Young Children with Special Needs and Their Families. Council for Exceptional Children - Divisions for Early Childhood. (2021)
One state’s approach to building competence around CVI. Perkin's eLearning. Perkins School for the Blind. (2021)

Grants & Contracts

Leveraging Instruction to Maximize Interdisciplinary Teaming in Learning Environments in family Systems when children have Sensory disabilities (LIMITLESS). US Department of Education - Office of Special Education Programs. Federal. (2019)
Interdisciplinary Early Intervention Sensory Disabilities: A U.S. Dept. of Ed Personnel Development External Grant. Research and Sponsored Projects. Illinois State University. (2018)
Prepping Study: Determining Learning Media when a child has Cerebral Visual Impairment. Research and Sponsored Projects. Illinois State University. (2018)
Determining Learning Media when a child has Cerebral Visual Impairment. Research and Sponsored Projects. Illinois State University. (2017)