Contact: Sammy McDavid
Two Mississippi State University administrators are co-editors of a new comprehensive guide for a major field of rehabilitation services.
J. Elton Moore and William H. Graves, along with Floridian Jeanne B. Patterson, recently completed work on "Foundations of Rehabilitation Counseling with Persons Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired." AFB Press of New York City is publishing the nearly 500-page book.
Moore directs the MSU-based Rehabilitation Research and Training Center in Blindness and Low Vision, the only one of its kind in the U.S. Before coming to the Starkville campus, he was director of Mississippi Vocational Rehabilitation for the Blind.
Graves, dean of the College of Education, said the book is the first of its kind compiled in almost three decades. In addition to being founding director of the blindness research center at MSU, he is former director of the U.S. Department of Education's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research.
"Rehabilitation professionals long have recognized that needs of the blind and visually impaired are unique and require special knowledge and expertise," Graves said. "This book presents the latest techniques available to strengthen the delivery of rehabilitation services."
Moore said that, while designed as a reference for rehabilitation counselors, the book also may serve as a class text for students completing master's degrees in the field. In addition to editing duties, he and Graves are among two dozen experts sharing the latest research.
A former president both of the National Council of State Agencies for the Blind and Prevent Blindness/Mississippi, Moore contributes to two of the book's three sections: the overview and the selections on rehabilitation services and resources.
Graves, a contributor to sections on assessment and rehabilitation services, is, like Moore, a professor of counselor education.
The third co-editor, Jeanne Patterson, directs the Florida Council on Rehabilitation Education. She is past president of the National Council on Rehabilitation Education.