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, as well as instructional products, to teachers of students with visual impairments (TVIs) licensed by the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) for use by students who have been identified with “Visual Impairment, Including Blindness” in Colorado schools at less than college level. The CIMC is able to purchase books through funds provided by CDE and the APH Federal Quota Program.
CIMC Year-At-A-Glance
July 2023:
July 1, 2023: New state fiscal year begins. The CIMC operates on a state budget that runs from July 1st through June 30th annually.
September 2023:
September 29, 2023: Invoices for missing/damaged and non-returned volumes of braille textbooks and novels, technology and APH products will be mailed to Directors of Special Education.
October 2023:
October 1: The new federal fiscal year begins. The federal quota census operates on a federal budget that runs from October 1st through September 30th annually. October 1, 2023 is the day the CIMC can begin accessing the funds generated from the January 2022 federal quota census count day (FY23) (although the actual dollar amount of the per-student allocation is not usually announced by October first).
October 1st (annually): The federal quota 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 2023, is based upon the number of eligible registrations specific to the last federal quota census count which occurred on the January 2, 2023 federal quota census count day.
October 16, 2023: CIMC will send administrative units (AUs) their current Statewide Student Registration Database Reports of students with "Visual Impairment, Including Blindness" via encrypted emails for 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 school districts. This is also part of the preliminary preparation for the next annual federal quota census count day, scheduled for January 1, 2024. The census is always the first Monday in January. These first-round edits are due back to the CIMC by Wednesday, November 30, 2023.
November 2023:
November 30, 2023: First-round edits to the statewide registration database reports are due back to the CIMC by the end of the business day.
January 2024:
Happy New Year! January 1, 2024: In Colorado, we use the first Monday in January, annually, for both of the counts managed by the CIMC on behalf of school districts. This year the count day occurs on January 1, 2024. 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, 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 1, 2024 count date.
January 1, 2024: This is also the date used for the federal quota census count 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 2024 federal quota census account. TVIs will then be able to access the repository of APH educational materials within the CIMC for their eligible students.
January 31, 2024: 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 1, 2024).
February 2024:
February: No due dates occur in February but TVIs can continue to submit updated Parent Consent Forms (with Parts I and II), the optional MDB/FDB Forms; etc.
March 2024:
March 15, 2024: This is the hard deadline that closes Phase 1 of the federal quota census. 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 2024:
April 1, 2024: This is not an April Fool's Day joke; April 1st is the annual due date for textbook orders for the following school year! Districts are encouraged to place orders for the 2024-2025 school year even earlier than this deadline, if possible. Orders for the 2025-2026 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 2024-2025, 2025-2026, and 2026-2027 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 of your district's textbook purchasing contracts.
April 15, 2024: 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 29, 2024: 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 district designated CIMC contact person as well as the Director of Special Education (or their designee) for each agency, school district, or B.O.C.E.S.. As a reminder, districts may request a current report any day of the year from the CIMC.
May 2024:
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 2024:
June 28, 2024 All textbooks must be returned to the CIMC. Districts will be billed for volumes that are damaged or not returned.
June 30, 2024 Last day of the state fiscal year.
June through August 2024:
The 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.
Registration Databases
Step 1: TVIs obtain signed Parent Consent Forms and then register students in their school district/administrative unit (AU) with "Visual Impairment, Including 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) the day vision services begin in your Administrative Unit (AU) or school district.
TVIs must first submit a signed Parent Consent Form, then TVIs may submit a completed 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 vision services stop or the day the student is withdrawn from your school district or administrative unit. Use 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 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 district 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.
APH Orders
School districts are required to register their students who meet or function at the definition of blindness (MDB/FDB) with the CIMC for inclusion into the annual Federal Quota Census if the student and the district have met all of the eligibility requirements of the quota program. The CIMC manages a repository of educational materials and instructional products specifically designed for use by persons who are blind/visually impaired by the American Printing House for the Blind (APH). School district TVIs may access APH materials from the repository for their eligible, registered, students. Materials should be returned to the CIMC repository so they can be used by other Colorado students.
Book Orders
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 a school district 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.
- School districts 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 the 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 school district 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 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.
Braillers, Technology, and Software
School districts may request to check out one (1) Perkins brailler for their students with IEPs identifying a need for braille instruction. The brailler remains the property of the CDE/CIMC. 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 school district, the brailler should be returned to the CIMC and not sent to the new district. After the new district submits a signed brailler order form, the CIMC will process and ship the same brailler to the student's new school district.
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.
Professional Lending Library
TVIs 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)
- Woodcock-Johnson IV (WJ IV) (in large print or braille)
- Wrat5 (in large print or braille)
Resources
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:
Contact Us
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