Thuy (pronounced “Twee”) Phan has joined A Shared Vision as our first extern! Thuy is a third-year doctoral student at the University of Northern Colorado. She has a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in Special Education, focusing on teaching school-age children with low vision and blindness. She accompanies our founder, Paula Landry, on home visits to observe how she supports families who have children, birth to age three, with visual impairments. While she finishes her doctorate, Thuy plans to return to her home country, Vietnam, and introduce an early intervention model like A Shared Vision’s. 
 
In Vietnam “we rarely conduct home visits with families. We focus on the center-based intervention model for children three to six years old. We need an appropriate early intervention model that focuses on children and parents of young children with visual impairments from birth to age three. In addition, most of the schools for children who are blind are in big cities. There is a shortage of services in rural areas and small provinces,” explains Thuy.
 
Thuy is learning how to coach the parent of a child with a visual impairment. “I believe if a child receives appropriate support and education, they can develop and enjoy their life," says Thuy.