CATIS is ACVREP's certification for specialists who teach assistive technology to people who are blind or have low vision. You become certified in four steps: create an ACVREP account, apply for eligibility under the category matching your background, schedule and pass the certification exam, then apply for certification. This guide walks through each step, the four knowledge domains to master, fees, the free first retake, and a worked feature-matching exercise.
What the CATIS credential covers
CATIS certifies specialists who teach people who are blind, have low vision, or have functional visual limitations to use assistive technology for education, employment and independence.
ACVREP describes the Certified Assistive Technology Instructional Specialist for Individuals with Visual Impairments as an expert who empowers consumers to reach life goals through technology, working across visual, physical, cognitive and psycho-social aspects of vision rehabilitation.
The role is instructional rather than purely technical. ACVREP notes that these specialists use guided exploration and problem-solving customized to each learner's goals and skills, and that no single strategy or device suits everyone.
Certification requires more than the exam. Candidates must also complete a supervised internship of 350 or more hours under an experienced certificated specialist, and certificated specialists recertify every two years to keep pace with the field.
The four knowledge domains you must master
ACVREP's Body of Knowledge defines four core domains: Assessment, Instruction, Configuration and Exploration.
The Body of Knowledge and Clinical Competencies document lists what a CATIS must know and demonstrate in each domain. Use it as your primary content map, because the exam tests these competencies.
Assessment covers the visual system and eye conditions, reading vision reports, interviewing consumers about technology needs, matching device features to sensory, motor and cognitive skills, and stating rationales for specific recommendations, including lower-cost alternatives.
Instruction covers teaching screen readers, magnification, braille displays, OCR, productivity software and mobile devices, plus planning lessons, adjusting pace to the learner, keyboard orientation and environmental modifications such as lighting and ergonomics.
Configuration covers installing and customizing hardware and software, account and email setup, connecting peripherals by Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or NFC, antivirus installation, tracking updates, and basic troubleshooting. Exploration covers continuing education, vendor resources, beta testing and building professional networks to track new technology.
If you follow a syllabus organized around assessment, screen access, accessible documents and professional practice, you can map it onto these domains: assessment content belongs to Assessment, screen readers and documents belong to Instruction, installation and troubleshooting belong to Configuration, and ethics plus professional development belong to Exploration.
| Domain | What you must know and do | Study priority for candidates |
|---|---|---|
| Assessment | Vision reports, interviewing, feature matching, task analysis, recommendation rationales | Anchor study here; recommendations must be justified by goals and skills |
| Instruction | Teaching screen readers, magnification, braille displays, OCR, productivity and mobile tools with graded pacing | Practice explaining features in learner-appropriate language |
| Configuration | Installing software and drivers, peripherals, antivirus, updates, remote training setup, basic troubleshooting | Rehearse setup and isolation of faults on real systems |
| Exploration | Continuing education, vendor and accessibility resources, beta testing, professional networks | Build a personal resource list you can cite in scenarios |
Sources: CATIS Body of Knowledge and Clinical Competencies - ACVREP — Sections 4 and 5
Eligibility categories and documents
You apply for eligibility under one of three categories: Category 1 for students or graduates of an ATIS Master's or Certificate program, Category 2 for those qualifying through a core-domain education checklist plus verified work experience, and Category 3, whose details sit in the handbook.
Category 1 applicants who are still students need no documentation at the eligibility stage, but must upload their Clinical Competency Evaluation with the later certification application. Graduates upload the Clinical Competency Evaluation form now, and their official transcript must reach ACVREP before certification.
Category 2 applicants must upload everything except transcripts at application time: the Core Domain Education Checklist, work experience verification, and a CATIS-signed Clinical Competency Evaluation form. Employees use employer letters on letterhead stating cumulative direct-service hours; independent contractors use contracts, paid invoices or letters from contract parties.
In every category, official transcripts must be sent directly from your educational institutions to ACVREP. The review cannot declare you eligible until those transcripts arrive, so request them early.
If your background fits none of the first two categories, read the eligibility details in the CATIS Certification Handbook, which the certification page links as a Word download.
- Category 1: ATIS Master's or Certificate students and graduates; transcripts required before certification
- Category 2: Core Domain Education Checklist, verified work experience, CATIS-signed Clinical Competency Evaluation, direct transcripts
- Category 3: see the CATIS Certification Handbook for the full requirements
Scheduling, accommodations and the free retake
After eligibility approval you can schedule the exam through your ACVREP account, with a mandatory 30-calendar-day waiting period before your first available date.
Scheduling runs through your online account. You select the CATIS exam, complete the Exam Registration Form, and receive a voucher code for the Webassessor test-taker platform. Note the date-change rule: if you book a date and then change it, the system requires another 30-day wait.
If you need accommodations or a privately proctored exam, check that box on the registration form. You will supply three preferred dates, times and locations, create a test-taker account, and allow seven business days for ACVREP to process the request. Supporting documentation from a physician or school counselor must be uploaded before ACVREP can schedule you.
If you do not pass on the first attempt, one free retake is allowed. Once notified of the failure, log in and schedule the retake; the system recognizes it as the free second administration and charges nothing.
Fees in USD
The certification examination fee is $490, which covers up to two exam administrations, and eligibility applications cost $140.
Fees are published on ACVREP's fee schedule and all amounts are in USD. The examination fee already includes the free retake described above, because it covers two administrations.
After passing, the certification fee is $125 and the certification is valid for five years, with a $50 expedited approval option. Recertification for CATIS costs a $158 application fee because of the two-year cycle, and recertification exams cost $350 for the first take if your renewal requires one. Recertification late fees are $75 with no exceptions.
A full or partial scholarship may be available to help pay the exam fee, so check the Exam Registration Fee Assistance Program if cost is a barrier. All fees are non-refundable once paid.
| Item | Amount (USD) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Eligibility application | $140.00 | Paid at the eligibility stage |
| Certification examination | $490.00 | Covers up to two administrations |
| Practice exam | $65.00 | One take, online |
| Certification fee | $125.00 | Certification valid 5 years |
| CATIS recertification application | $158.00 | Every 2 years for CATIS |
| Recertification exam | $350.00 | First take, only if required for renewal |
| Late recertification fee | $75.00 | No exceptions, charged automatically |
Sources: Certification Fees - ACVREP — fee schedule; Certified Assistive Technology Instructional Specialist for Individuals with Visual Impairments (CATIS) - ACVREP — certification page
The official practice exam
ACVREP sells a 100-question, 3-hour online CATIS practice exam for $65 that reports which domain areas you missed.
The practice exam is a study tool, not the certification exam. Do not treat its 100 questions or 3-hour length as a specification of the real exam; ACVREP's retrieved pages do not publish those metrics for the certification exam itself.
After submitting, you see the questions you answered incorrectly, the correct answers, and the domain area of each miss, so you can target further study. One take is included in the $65 price, and ACVREP explicitly notes that taking the practice exam does not guarantee passing the certification exam.
Sources: ACVREP Launches a 100 Question CATIS Practice Exam Study Tool — news item
Ethics rules worth knowing cold
The Code of Ethics requires competent, honest service, confidentiality, accurate representation of your role, and no guarantees of training outcomes.
Several rules translate directly into scenario decisions. You may not guarantee the results of training directly or by implication; a reasonable statement of goals is allowed, but you must not create expectations that cannot be predicted.
Commercial rules are specific. If you sell equipment you recommend, you must tell the consumer about alternative venues at reasonable costs, keep professional service fees independent of hardware or software sales, and publish a fee schedule that separates service fees from product charges.
You must also refer appropriately: involve an interdisciplinary team for consumers with multiple impairments, refer for medical or clinical care when you suspect a need, and use every resource, including other specialists, to provide the best service. Safeguard confidences within the constraints of the law, and report violations of the Code among colleagues.
Sources: CATIS Code of Ethics - ACVREP — preamble and standards of professional behavior
Building your study plan
Study the four Body of Knowledge domains directly, then test yourself with domain-tagged questions so weak areas surface before exam day.
Start by downloading the Body of Knowledge and Clinical Competencies document and rating yourself honestly against each competency. Assessment and Instruction are large domains, so budget the most time there, but Configuration skills such as connecting peripherals and troubleshooting are equally examinable.
A practical weekly rhythm: read one domain's competencies, practice the underlying skill on real hardware and software, and write one-paragraph recommendation rationales as the BOK requires. Then use the official practice exam to identify which domain areas need another pass.
The exercise below practices the kind of judgment the Assessment domain demands: choosing an access combination from the learner's functional profile rather than from device features.
Practice exercise
You are assessing a 62-year-old consumer preparing for a return to office work. Assumptions from the intake, which you should treat as verified: her vision report documents central field loss and marked glare sensitivity; she reads email comfortably at 6x screen magnification but stops after about 20 minutes because of visual fatigue; her hearing is within normal limits; she touch-types; she has no braille literacy and does not want to learn braille now. Her stated goal is to sustain one-hour email sessions. Which access combination should you trial first, and why are the two obvious alternatives weaker?
Show answer
Trial a combined speech-plus-magnification setup first: reduced magnification paired with screen reader speech for extended reading, alongside glare and display adjustments. A braille display and a pure high-magnification setup are both weaker fits for this goal.
The Body of Knowledge expects a CATIS to determine when to use magnification, speech, braille, or combinations, and to analyze tasks against the individual's goals and skills. Her goal is endurance, not more zoom: she reads fine at 6x but fatigues, so lowering the magnification and shifting sustained reading load to reliable speech directly addresses the limiting factor while her visual channel still handles quick scanning. The braille-display alternative fails the scenario's own constraints: she has no braille literacy, does not want to learn braille now, and a display would demand new literacy skills before it could serve a one-hour email goal. Pure high magnification repeats the fatigue problem the intake documents, and a rationale built on it could not justify the recommendation the way the competencies require.
- Download the Body of Knowledge and rate yourself against every competency
- Practice setup, customization and troubleshooting on actual systems, not just reading
- Write recommendation rationales that link each feature to a stated goal or skill
- Use the $65 official practice exam late in preparation to find weak domain areas
Sources: CATIS Body of Knowledge and Clinical Competencies - ACVREP — Sections 4 and 5; ACVREP Launches a 100 Question CATIS Practice Exam Study Tool — news item
After you pass: certification and recertification
Once notified that you passed, apply for certification through your ACVREP account; review takes about five business days if your file is complete.
ACVREP reviews the certification application to confirm it is complete and emails you if anything is missing. After certification, a digital certificate appears in your account's My Documents area, and the original arrives by mail within up to 14 days.
Plan for the maintenance cycle from the start. CATIS certification is valid for five years, but CATIS specialists recertify every two years, and the recertification application fee of $158 reflects that shorter cycle. Submit before the deadline, because a $75 late fee applies automatically with no exceptions if the application is not filed by the first day of the month in which your certification expires.
Keep records of continuing education and professional activity as you go. The Body of Knowledge's Exploration domain makes ongoing learning part of the role, and the two-year recertification cycle assumes you maintain current knowledge in a fast-changing field.
Sources: Certified Assistive Technology Instructional Specialist for Individuals with Visual Impairments (CATIS) - ACVREP — certification page; Certification Fees - ACVREP — fee schedule; CATIS Body of Knowledge and Clinical Competencies - ACVREP — Sections 4 and 5
Sources
Facts checked against ACVREP pages: