CIMC-Colorado Instructional Materials Center

Housed on the campus of the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind (CSDB), the Colorado Instructional Materials Center (CIMC) provides braille and large print textbooks and novels, and instructional products to Colorado public or homeschooled students with visual impairment, including blindness or deaf-blindness. The CIMC collaborates directly with teachers of students with visual impairments (TVIs) licensed by the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) who determine the instructional material needs of eligible students, including the need for braille materials. All materials are provided at less than a college level.

The CIMC receives federal Individuals with Disabilities Education (IDEA) Act (Part B, Section 611) funds from the Colorado Department of Education and Federal Quota funds from the American Printing House for the Blind (APH). IDEA-funded braille books are only provided to Colorado public school students, ages 3 to 21 years, with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and who have met special education eligibility requirements as learners with visual impairments, including blindness or deaf-blindness. APH quota funded braille textbooks or instructional materials are available to children and youth with blindness/low vision or deaf-blindness who meet APH-specific eligibility requirements. APH funded products are available as those funds permit and/or their availability in the CIMC’s repository. 

American Printing House for the Blind Federal Quota Funds

It is important for users of the CIMC to understand the fiscal timelines and allocation considerations of the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) quota funds. The program allocates funds to educational programs based on the number of students registered with the APH. The funds are placed in Federal Quota accounts, which are managed by APH and its Ex Officio Trustees. Jim Olson is the Ex Officio Trustee for eligible Colorado children ages 0-21 years.

Students who meet the definition of blindness as determined by an eye care specialist or medical doctor are eligible for APH quota funds. Students must be enrolled in a public or private, nonprofit educational program that is less than college level.

Eligible children and youth who are newly registered with the APH quota funds do not automatically generate quota funds but must wait until a new cycle of funding. Established eligible children and youth generate quota funds and will do so per an approved annual allocation. APH federal funds are finite and as the count numbers grow or decline nationally, the child-specific allocation amounts will change across funding cycles.

While the APH quota funds are invaluable to support the braille book and instructional material needs of eligible children and youth with visual impairment, including blindness or deaf-blindness, they are not sufficient to meet the full early intervention and school-based instructional needs of these learners. They are designed to supplement family-funded homeschool and early intervention or public-school program budgets for such materials. The Ex Officio Trustee has the prerogative to make decisions on filling APH orders based on the allocation generated by eligible children and youth, and the resources within the CIMC repository.

July 2024:

July 1, 2024: New state fiscal year begins. The CIMC operates on a state budget that runs from July 1st through June 30th annually.

September 2024:

September 29, 2024: Invoices for missing/damaged and non-returned volumes of braille textbooks and novels, technology and American Printing House for the Blind (APH) products will be mailed to administrative unit (AU) Directors of Special Education and parents of homeschooled children.

October 2024:

October 1: The new federal fiscal year begins. The APH Federal Quota Census operates on a federal budget that runs from October 1st through September 30th annually. October 1, 2024 is the day the CIMC can begin accessing the funds generated from the January 2024 Federal Quota Census count day (FY25) (although the actual dollar amount of the per-student allocation is not usually announced by October first).

October 1st (annually): The APH Federal Quota Count allocation is appropriated to the American Printing House for the Blind (APH). The allocation is made available to the CIMC/Colorado Department of Education/Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind. This allocation, for October 2024, is based upon the number of eligible registrations specific to the last Federal Quota Census count which occurred on the January 1, 2024, which is Federal Quota Census count day.

November 2024:

November  2024: CIMC will send administrative units (AUs) their current Statewide Student Registration Database Reports of students with "Visual Impairment, Including Blindness" via encrypted emails for teachers of students with visual impairments (TVIs) to edit and return to make sure each AU has an accurate statewide registration of ALL students with visual impairment, including blindness in their administrative unit. The CIMC will mail/email parents of homeschooled students a confirmation of their registered child/children. This is also part of the preliminary preparation for the next annual Federal Quota Census count day, scheduled for January 6, 2025. The Census is always the first Monday in January. These first-round edits are due back to the CIMC by Saturday, November 30, 2024.

November 30, 2024: First-round edits to the statewide registration database reports are due back to the CIMC by the end of the business day.

January 2025:

Happy New Year! January 6, 2025: In Colorado, we use the first Monday in January, annually, for both counts managed by the CIMC on behalf of administrative units and eligible homeschooled students. This year the count day occurs on January 6, 2025. This is the date used for (1) your statewide student registration database; and (2) your Federal Quota Census count of students who meet or function at the definition of blindness (legal blindness).

The week of January 1st, the CIMC will email updated statewide student registration database reports to district designated CIMC contact personnel and parents of eligible homeschooled students, via encrypted emails. TVIs will then edit their printouts to reflect total student enrollment of students with "Visual Impairment, Including Blindness" specific to the January 6, 2025 count date. 

January 6, 2025: This is also the date used for the APH Federal Quota Census day of legally blind students related to the 1879 Act to Promote the Education of the Blind. TVIs will also edit their printouts and gather the required documents for eligible students to be included in the January 2025 Federal Quota Census account. Parents of eligible homeschooled students will provide confirmation and any needed edits with the CIMC.

January 31, 2025: Database and Federal Quota Census count paperwork due back to the CIMC by the end of the business day (based on your student enrollment on Monday, January 6, 2025).

February 2025:

February: Braille Challenge

March 2025:

March 15, 2025:  March 15th is the last day for CIMC staff to access the "Student Registration System" (SRS) database online for the Federal Quota Census. The database closes at 4pm Eastern time. No new students can be added after the close of Phase 1. Contact the CIMC for specifics regarding possible exemptions.

April 2025:

April 1, 2025: This is not an April Fool's Day joke; April 1st is the annual due date for public school textbook orders for the following school year! Districts are encouraged to place textbook orders for the 2025-2026 school year even earlier than this deadline, if possible. Orders for the 2026-2027 school year can be placed in advance as well, since we know that it can take over two years to transcribe a math or science textbook that contains a lot of tactile graphics. Order forms for the 2025-2026, 2026-2027, and 2027-2028 school years are posted on our CIMC Forms website page. Contact the CIMC staff or email cimcbookorders@csdb.org for more information. Please remember to have your curriculum departments include the NIMAS language in all your district's textbook purchasing contracts. 

April 15, 2025: Around the second Monday of April, APH opens Phase Two of the Federal Quota Census. No new students may be added during this second phase, but the CIMC is able to update records of students entered during Phase I of the Census. This is the phase when the CIMC reviews our own data and works with accounts in other states to address possible duplicate student information. Phase Two closes two weeks after it begins.

April 30, 2025: As directed by the Colorado Department of Education (CDE), the CIMC will email final count database reports in the form of a pdf document attached to an encrypted email sent to each AU designated CIMC contact person as well as the Director of Special Education (or their designee) for each agency, administrative unit, or B.O.C.E.S.. As a reminder, districts may request a current report any day of the year from the CIMC for their eligible students only.

May 2025:

Phase Three of the Federal Quota Census usually begins in early May. The CIMC saves final reports in the federal database. The Ex Officio Trustee signs the Certificate of Attendance for each of our three Colorado accounts. Phase Three closes two weeks after it begins.

June 2025:

June 27, 2025 All textbooks must be received by the CIMC. Districts will be billed for volumes that are damaged or not returned.

June 30, 2025 Last day of the state fiscal year.

June through August 2025:

The APH Federal Quota Census, based on the count day that occurred on the first Monday in January, is generally finalized between June and August. Once finalized, the per-pupil quota fund allotment (that we began accessing and spending last October first) is announced.

A Colorado administrative unit (AU) is a school district, board of cooperative services, charter school network, charter school collaborative, or the State Charter School Institute that provides educational services to exceptional children. AUs are responsible for the local administration of Article 20 of Title 22, C.R.S. They oversee and provide educational services to gifted students and children with disabilities.

Step 1: TVIs obtain signed Parent Consent Forms and then register students in their school district/administrative unit (AU) with "Visual Impairment, Including Blindness":

• School-based teachers of students with visual impairments (TVIs) obtain signed Parent Consent Forms and then register new 3-21 year old students in their administrative unit (AU) with "Visual Impairment, Including Blindness" or “Deaf-Blindness.”

• A Shared Vision, Anchor Center for Blind Children, or CSDB early intervention program TVIs obtain Parent Consent Forms and then register new 0-2 children and, if applicable, 3-5 aged students from their agencies with visual impairment, including blindness or deaf-blindness.

• Parents of new homeschooled children sign the Parent Consent Form to register their child/children who have visual impairment, including blindness or deaf-blindness.

Use the most current version of the Parent Consent Form and the CIMC Registration Form to register your students with visual impairment, including blindness (VIIB) or deaf-blindness the day TVI services begin in your Administrative Unit (AU), A Shared Vision, Anchor Center for Blind Children, or  CSDB early intervention program.

TVIs must first submit a signed Parent Consent Form, then TVIs may submit a completed CIMC Registration Form to have your student added to the statewide registration and library databases. If necessary, TVIs may submit partially complete Registration Forms and submit the missing information at a later date.

You may submit Registration Forms every day of the year.

Step 2: TVIs Exit students:

Exit students with VIIB the day TVI services stop or the day the student is withdrawn from your administrative unit, approved agency, or homeschool program, the most current version of the CIMC Exit Form.

Exit Forms may be submitted every day of the year.

Step 3: Update your district's statewide registration report:

Update your statewide registration database report on a regular basis. Monthly updates are highly recommended.

Administrative Units, A Shared Vision, Anchor Center for Blind School, CSDB early intervention program, and parents of eligible homeschooled children will be asked to edit Statewide Registration Database Reports to reflect any changes that have taken place (new Registration Forms, Exit Forms, updated eye exam dates, updated signed parent consent forms, updated MDB/FDB Forms, etc.).

Statewide Registration Database Reports may be updated every day of the year. Call the CIMC staff if you need a current copy of your district's Statewide Registration Database Report.

Step 4: On the first Monday in January: complete your annual federal quota census:

Update your Federal Quota Census count information to reflect the current count cycle which occurs on the 1st Monday in January, annually.

Look at your statewide registration database report and identify those students who meet the eligibility requirements of the Federal Quota Census (see below).

Notify the CIMC which students should be included in the current January Federal Quota Census count. 

Your administrative unit / approved agency / homeschool program must have a current eye health report on file, from an Optometrist or an Ophthalmologist, which verifies legal blindness along with a signed Parent Consent Form. A signed MDB/FDB form is optional document that can be used for an eye doctor to verify legal blindness. Beginning with the January 2023 Census, a new IDEA eligibility category was added for public school students, ages 3 to 21 years, with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and who have met special education eligibility requirements as learners with visual impairments, including blindness or deaf-blindness.

Colorado administrative /units, approved agencies who serve young children with blindness/visual impairment, or parents of homeschooled children and youth with blindness/visual impairment are required to register their students who meet or function at the definition of blindness (MDB/FDB) with the CIMC for their inclusion into the annual Federal Quota Census. The student must meet all the eligibility requirements of the quota program. The CIMC manages a repository of educational materials and instructional products specifically designed for use by children and youth with legal blindness by the American Printing House for the Blind (APH). Only registered children and youth can access APH materials using allocated quota funds and APH materials from the CIMC repository. A TVI or an O&M Specialist are the only professionals who can order materials for eligible students based on the specially designed early intervention or instructional needs of their students. In the situation of homeschooled students, the CIMC Coordinator will provide guidance to parents of homeschooled children on recommended materials based on quota funds or repository materials. Materials should be returned to the CIMC repository so they can be used by other Colorado students.

The Colorado Instructional Materials Center (CIMC) is a collaborative service of the Colorado Department of Education (CDE), the CIMC, and the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind (CSDB). It is the ultimate responsibility of to the administrative unit to provide accessible materials in the format needed for their students. The CIMC is here to assist administrative units/B.O.C.E.S. in the transcription, acquisition and production of large print and braille textbooks and novels and to provide some adaptive equipment for students with visual impairment, including blindness and deaf-blindness.

• Colorado administrative units may request access of one (1) copy of each specific textbook or novel needed in braille or large print formats for their students who are registered with the CIMC. Registered students may access one (1) copy of an available e-book textbook or novel in electronic large print format for access on a tablet or computer.
• Large Print: If a title is available for purchase from the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) using Federal Quota funds, then the CIMC will purchase the title for you. If a title is available from a vendor other than APH, the CIMC will share the sourcing information you, but will not encumber funds for the production or purchase of the title in large print format.
• Braille: The CIMC sources our own inventory, a national database, a listserv or materials/resource centers in other states. If a title is not available for purchase or loan from one of these agencies, then we will encumber funds to have the title produced. We would then need your administrative unit to provide us with at least one ink print copy that you may or may not get back (the vendor may need to cut off the binding and distribute chapters to multiple braille transcribers as part of the production process). 
• Please understand that new productions of math, science, and social-studies can take up to 2 years to produce in braille format, due to the large numbers of tactile graphics they contain and the technical nature of the textbook formatting.

Colorado administrative units may request to check out one (1) Perkins brailler for their school-age students with IEPs who are identified for a need for braille instruction. The brailler remains the property of the CDE/CIMC. This is the only brailler provided to the student for the duration of their public-school career. The brailler is intended for use in the student's school building only and should not be sent to the student's home. If the student transfers to another Colorado administrator unit, moves to another state, drops out, or is no longer enrolled in the school program, the brailler should be returned to the CIMC. It should not be given to another student. It should not be sent to the new administrative unit if the child has moved to another Colorado school district. After the new administrative unit submits a signed brailler order form, the CIMC will process and ship the same brailler to the student's new administrative unit.

Use the current version of the Brailler, Technology, and Software Order Form.

Brailler Repair:

The CIMC will continue to inventory and repair braillers issued after July 1, 2013. The CIMC will not be providing a replacement brailler during the time it takes to repair the brailler. The administrative unit/district will be expected to use their own brailler inventory while the brailler is being repaired.

Please use the current version of the Brailler Repair Form and email it as an attachment to cimcBraillerTechSoftware@csdb.org. 

Colorado TVIs or Orientation and Mobility Specialists serving 0-21 year of children with visual impairments, including blindness or deaf-blindness may check materials out of the CIMC's Professional Lending Library for a period of 60 days. The library includes assessments in large print and braille formats as well as professional books from APH Press (formerly AFB Press) and other publishers. A searchable inventory is not currently available. Please call the CIMC at (719) 578-2196 or send an email to cimcaphorders@csdb.org if you would like to know if a particular title or item is available. 

Assessments available include:

• Boehm-3 Preschool (Big Picture Kit or Tactile Kit)
• Boehm-3 K-2 (Big Picture Kit or Tactile Kit)
• Brigance Diagnostic Comprehensive Inventory of Basic Skills (Green), Revised, 1999 (CIBS-R), Student Braille Edition
• Brigance Diagnostic Comprehensive Inventory of Early Development (Yellow), APH Tactile Supplement, Revised, 1991
• KeyMath3 (in large print; uncontracted braille, contracted braille)(an optional UEB math supplement is available)
• Woodcock-Johnson IV (WJ IV) (in large print or braille with Nemeth)(an optional UEB math supplement is available)
• Wrat5 (in large print or braille)

Click the link below to download an accessible Word document of resources related to blindness/visual impairment. This document was updated on October 23, 2020. Check back for updates. 

CIMC Resources document to share with Colorado TVIs

Click the image below to view the clinic video shared at the CDE Office Hours Zoom meeting on October 21st:

Email: cimcaphorders@csdb.org - Use for "APH order form" & "CIMC Professional Lending Library" submissions & related questions.

Email: cimcbookorders@csdb.org - Use for braille and large print "Book Order Form" submissions, sourcing inquiries, and questions.

Email: cimcBraillerTechSoftware@csdb.org - Use for "Brailler, Technology, & Software Order Form" & the "Brailler Repair Form" submissions and questions.

Email: cimcregistrations@csdb.org - Use for questions and to submit "registration" and "exit" forms and questions about your district's statewide VIIB registration database report and the Federal Quota Census.

(719) 578-2196 - CIMC Pilot Phone number. This will ring all of the CIMC computer-based Skype for business phones simultaneously but this pilot number does not have a voicemail message capability.

Mailing Address: CIMC, 1015 East High Street, Colorado Springs, CO 80903-3559

Visit the Forms Page