[Cagdu] FW: San Francisco State University Expands Unique Guide Dog Training Program

[tina thomas]

This is totally awesome.  
 
 Subject:  
 
 San Francisco State University Expands Unique Guide Dog Training Program



SF State News 
San Francisco State University
http://www.sfsu. <http://www.sfsu.edu/~news/2008/spring/28.html>
edu/~news/2008/spring/28.html

Unique guide dog program set for expansion

March 19, 2008 -- When a visually impaired person
starts using a guide dog they can look forward to
increased independence and a new canine companion --
but not before they have undergone a month of
intensive training. The University's Special Education
Department, together with the nonprofit Guide Dogs
for the Blind, is preparing the professionals who
train both visually impaired clients and guide dogs.

Photo of student Wendy Mellberg Haecker as she hugs
Carnegie, one of the guide dogs she is training

Student Wendy Mellberg Haecker with trainee guide dog,
Carnegie.

The program is the first university-based program of
its kind in the world. "The International Guide Dog
Federation set goals to upgrade the training of
instructors by 2010, and we were the first to rise to
the challenge," said Sandra Rosen, professor of
special education and coordinator of the guide dog
mobility program.

Rosen devised a joint curriculum with Guide Dogs for
the Blind. She upgraded their existing training
program to include classes on working with clients
with multiple disabilities and cultural diversity. The
course was also enriched with aspects of orientation
and mobility, the sister discipline to guide
dog mobility. Students can gain a graduate level
certificate in guide dog mobility or a master's degree
in Special Education with an emphasis in guide
dog mobility.

The program graduated its first student in 2007, and
three more will graduate this summer. Wendy Mellberg
Haecker is one of them. "I knew I wanted to get
an advanced degree that would enable me to work with
animals in an interactive way, but I never imagined I
would find a masters course in this field,"
Mellberg Haecker said. She has a bachelors in wildlife
management and was previously a seabird researcher for
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Photo of Professor Sandra Rosen

Sandra Rosen, professor of special education

Mellberg Haecker spends weekdays at the Guide Dogs for
the Blind headquarters in San Rafael and attends
classes at SF State during evenings and weekends.
"Being a trainer is physically very demanding," she
said. "It's harder than it looks. The dogs each have
their own personalities and you have to be outside
with them whatever the weather. But it's very
rewarding, especially when you see your clients
'graduating' with their new dog."

"It's been wonderful to see the program grow," Rosen
said. "We now have eight students in San Francisco. It
may not sound like a lot but due to the nature
of this intensive training, it requires a low
student-teacher ratio."

In fall 2007, the program began offering courses at
the second Guide Dogs for the Blind campus in Boring,
Ore., where students gain practical training from
local instructors, take SF State courses through
distance learning and receive mentoring support from
Rosen.

Now in its third year of operation, Rosen plans to
extend the program to students across the U.S. and
abroad. "We are planning a distance education
curriculum
for guide dog mobility instructors overseas," Rosen
said. "We hope to have the first modules available in
September 2008. We are also working with out-of-state
guide dog training schools in the U.S. to explore how
we can make our existing graduate certificate
available to them through distance learning."

For more information, visit the Web site of the
Guide Dog Mobility Program.
http://online. <http://online.sfsu.edu/~guidedog/> sfsu.edu/~guidedog/

SF State Home
http://www.sfsu. <http://www.sfsu.edu/> edu/

. Contact
Elaine Bible
ebible at sfsu. <mailto:ebible%40sfsu.edu> edu 

San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Avenue 
San Francisco , CA 94132 
Tel (415) 338-1111

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