I was hanging in one of our preschool classes with my new fave preschool teacher, Annie, to co-teach with her. She had a fun lesson for dipping apples into different toppings. We did a quick brainstorm and turned her lesson into a Braille lesson with a few quick changes. Next thing we know, we have this fun ECC lesson and are making Braille sundaes. Annie's lesson started like this: And became an Expanded Core Curriculum lesson: We added an APH tray (any tray will do though) and arrange the toppings into a Braille cell. Easy update! For instruction, we reviewed the Braille cell and the corresponding numbers. For example, (look at the picture above), the chocolate chips are "dot one", the caramel sauce is "dot 2", etc. Students took turns selecting toppings but had to request it by the number (to teach the number configuration of a Braille cell). It was a success! The students did great requesting using the dot numbers. For example, "dot 6, sprinkles".We did a quick but direct instruction on the Braille cell to set the students up for success in the lesson. This wasn't just a Braille lesson though. We incorporated much of the Expanded Core, too! We addressed other areas of the ECC such as: Independent Living Skills: cooking skills at the preschool level Orientation & mobility: positional concepts Self-determination: making choices, trying new things and making opinions about them Social skills: turn taking, eating etiquette and conversation. These were the areas that also received special instruction during this Braille lesson. We had each of these areas in mind during instruction (that's the secret to implementing ECC!). This was a preschool lesson so the whole lesson was about 30-35 minutes. My favorite part: listening to these sweet little preschoolers request their toppings using it as a Braille cell ("dot 2, caramel sauce!").
Experts weigh in with advice for teachers working with blind or visually impaired students.
If you are looking for activities for visually impaired children, you're in the right place! We are sharing 14 recreational activities for young children that you can try at home or in a school environment.
Let’s talk about creating and using tactile schedules in the classroom. If you have a Teacher of the Visually Impaired that works with you, they may provide you with a kit or schedule pieces from the library of the blind. Here is a link to my local library. Check with your state and see if you […]
Websites that teach kids of all sight levels about visual impairment and assistive technology, inclusive of blindness and low vision
Click here for a list of creative and easy ways to build visual stimulation into the daily routine of babies with Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI).
Children with Cerebral/Cortical Visual Impairment
Experts weigh in with advice for teachers working with blind or visually impaired students.
Hello! My name is Stephanie and I teach students with multiple disabilities at the elementary level. Are you in the same position? If so this post, Virtual Learning: Teaching Students That Use Eye-Gaze, is for you. For fall, my district is completely virtual for all students. Due to this I’ve had to get creative, especially […]
Perfect for students with CVI (Cortical Visual Impairment) - this flipbook goes over the 10 Characteristics of CVI and gives you EDITABLE space to create your own "CVI Schedule" or "CVI Strategies" list, separated by characteristic. Use this to: *Think through the strategies you need to be using for your students with CVI *Better understand the 10 characteristics of CVI *Communicate the "why" and "how" of using these strategies *Keep staff and families on the same page *Customize in whatever way suits your needs best! *Add multiple tables per page to describe strategies for multiple students!!!* What IS editable: The cover page (add your student's name!), tables, strategy lists, and overall layout of most pages -EDITABLE via POWERPOINT What IS NOT editable: The title of each tab, the description of each characteristic Check out the preview video for more information
As you can imagine, the concept of understanding color can be incredibly challenging for visually impaired individuals. The Reveal project aims to bring a tacti
Resources, tips, and materials to help you, help children with autism
Are you looking for spring craft ideas for your students with cortical visual impairment? Check out these five high contrast, eye-catching crafts...
These 8 tips for teaching blind and visually impaired students will give you a head start in preparing your classroom and materials.
We were lucky enough to get an iPad for Jaxon recently through his amazing vision therapist! I immediately began researching the best iPad apps for CVI. After moving house last week, I finally got it all set up for him. He LOVES it! Of course Axel will play with it too, but the primary focus of it is for vision therapy
Let’s talk about creating and using tactile schedules in the classroom. If you have a Teacher of the Visually Impaired that works with you, they may provide you with a kit or schedule pieces from the library of the blind. Here is a link to my local library. Check with your state and see if you […]
It can be tricky to decipher the medical jargon surrounding cortical visual impairment, so in this post I’ll break it down into quick facts to help you understand
A list of easy-to-find toys and other objects that are great for catching the attention of children with Cortical Vision Impairment (CVI).
Especially designed for blind or visually impaired children, Reach & Match Braille Learning Toy has been designed to make learning Braille to be a positive and enjoyable experience. This toy is perfect to introduce Braille literacy and functional skill learning, it’s a valuable writing system which can be learned easily through this concept. This toy...
Feeling Colors
Braille has been a fundamental tool for the blind in terms of literacy, employment and independence. Annie, a self teaching Braille device, is empowering by visually impaired by helping them learn Braille by themselves through interactive content.
Visual Impairments such as convergence insufficiency, impaired visual saccades, or other visual problems like blurred vision can present as a problem in the classroom. Students with visual impairments will flourish with effective classroom accommodations for visual problems. Below, you will find strategies that school-based occupational therapists can use as accommodations for addressing visual needs while ... Read more
When teaching counting to students with cortical visual impairment (CVI), there are many strategies that can be taught including...
Resources, tips, and materials to help you, help children with autism
Individuals facing vision impairment will often require help with everyday tasks that were once easily managed independently. They may also require support to maintain their connections with the community, friends, and leisure pursuits.
Here is a wonderful article by Rachel Bennett as part of the CVI Overview class at UMASS Boston. The assignment was: Create an Active Learning space or material for a child in Phase II of CVI. Post…
Books and Experience Stories Pegboard BooksPegboard books provide a way for young children who are blind or visually impaired, including those with multiple disabilities, to begin to explore books. Based on the work of Dr. Lilli Nielsen and her Active Learning approach, this format uses real objects attached to pieces of pegboard. The common household
Individuals facing vision impairment will often require help with everyday tasks that were once easily managed independently. They may also require support to maintain their connections with the community, friends, and leisure pursuits.
Playing with tactile mazes can be a fun way to talk about movement, getting lost, and plotting a course with your blind child.
Resources, tips, and materials to help you, help children with autism
If someone with a visual impairment lives with you — or if you’re facing some level of blindness yourself — modifying your home makes it easier to navigate and safer to live in. Most modifications are simple, inexpensive changes that you can implement right away or over time, depending on your needs. People with low-level… Read more »
We had so much fun using The Amazing Race as our Expanded Core lesson! It was a great way to do community based instruction (CBI). You can get all kinds of ideas for The Amazing Race activities online. I love Pinterest so I started there but there are a lot of great online resources to help plan. This particular Amazing Race was for our students and siblings of kids with vision impairments. To make this work as an effective ECC CBI, think about your skills and your location. It should be a good challenge but doable (this allows you to focus on meaningful instruction). I selected a mall that was not very large and didn't have an overwhelming amount of pedestrian traffic (this allowed me to really work on OM skills). We also went to a main street that had a good amount of stores and Walmart. Of course one of our first challenges was for everyone to learn about the ECC! I bought a ton of those onesie PJ costumes and my staff dressed up so we would be obvious for our students to find for challenges. That just made things fun and silly for all. In addition to the clues pictured in the post, students had to work on their ECC skills such as time management, compensatory skills, a lot of different OM skills (using landmarks, monoculars, directionality) and self-determination. The teams needed to work on communication and team building skills. Each staff member had a lesson plan so that we could provide direct instruction on all these ECC topics. Clues were printed in large print and a Braille copy. As always, be mindful of areas that should have some pre-or post teaching. If students have to figure out a ton of items, the main objectives of the lesson get lost. Each group had a (staff) coach who provided some 5 minute instruction as the students played the game. We also wanted to work in transportation skills but it was a challenge to work in public transportation. We used our school bus and named it the "rendezvous point". The bus was parked somewhere along the route and students had to use their mapping skills to locate it. No Amazing Race challenge would be complete without a food challenge. Enter the simulator kits and Oreos! This was for everyone. I bought every kind of Oreo cookie and students had to identify the flavor. It was actually a fun way of doing sensory efficiency because we had to work the other senses for sure! This could easily be a repeated activity and not just a stand alone one day program. You can even give skill level of beginner, intermediate and advanced. There is so much potential and I can't wait to do it again! It also doesn't even need to be just a blind school camp activity, families can do this as well! Just remember some of the points that I shared so that it is accessible and fun.
Aprons, Vests, Gloves, Scarves and Belts Many children have very limited use of their hands and feet and/or arms and legs. They may not be able to hold objects in their hands or be able to bat at or shake the objects. One thing you can do to give a child like this the ability
Tips to help you and your child who is visually impaired learn the basics of how the iPad works and how to use all the accessibility features it has to offer.
Let’s talk about creating and using tactile schedules in the classroom. If you have a Teacher of the Visually Impaired that works with you, they may provide you with a kit or schedule pieces from the library of the blind. Here is a link to my local library. Check with your state and see if you […]
