Adjust Lighting & Reduce Glare

By: Carmen Willings
teachingvisuallyimpaired.com

Some students with visual impairments will need adjustments to the lighting to minimize the negative impact of their visual impairment. Depending on the student's visual needs, the student may need additional lighting or reduced lighting.

Not all students in the classroom will have the same needs as lighting that is comfortable to one person may not be comfortable to another person. The following suggestions will help you discover ways to reduce glare and make lighting adaptations. Keep in mind that each student will have their own unique visual needs and you will need to adjust accordingly.

Reducing Glare

• The ideal situation is for light to be distributed on the visual task in equal amounts from all angles with none of it reflected back toward the face.
  
• Reduce glare from windows and lights, as much as possible (using blinds, shades, curtains, etc.)
  
• Cover shiny tabletops with light-absorbing materials. Also, avoid shiny surfaces on pages, desks, and blackboards.
  
• Yellow filters or acetate can be placed over work (these can be specially ordered or you can use yellow tinted portfolio covers and are available at office supply stores).
  
• When choosing paper, avoid a glossy finish as it can lessen legibility and can produce glare.
  

Classroom Illumination

For students that need higher levels of lighting to see best, consider using task lighting. When using task lighting, light directed on the task should come from opposite the dominant hand and directed only onto the task. Other students may be sensitive to high levels of light and the lighting will need to be controlled to assist them in using their vision. Lamps with controls to vary the intensity of light (a rheostat control) can provide the additional or dimmed illumination.

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• Lighting should be of sufficient clarity to enable the student to see materials and to perform the necessary visual tasks in the most comfortable visual environment.
• Depending on the student’s visual needs, lighting may need to be increased or decreased. Any extra light should be diffused and indirect in order to minimize glare.
• When talking, the teacher or instructor needs to position themselves so that the student is not looking toward windows or other light sources.
• Students who are light sensitive (have photophobia) may need to block out some of the light and glare around them.
• Permit students who are sensitive to light to wear a hat or a visor to help reduce glare and visual discomfort.

Fluorescent Lighting

• Disperses light evenly over a wide area
• May produce fewer glare spots because of even lighting.
• Louvers, banners or grills can be placed over ceiling lights to minimize glare.
• Light remains cool even at close distances.
• Can flicker increasing eye strain over time.
• May increase glare for those with cataracts/corneal problems.

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Incandescent Lighting

• Yellow, more direct light.
• Best for close work, such as sewing or reading.
• Easily Tolerated.
• Not bright enough for some.
  
• Light can become hot over prolonged use or with higher wattage.

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Full Spectrum

• Brighter, cleaner light for some.
• Includes full spectrum of color.
• Closest to natural sunlight.
• Best used in swing-arm lamps that can direct lighting onto
• Not readily available.

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Halogen Lighting

• Best used in lamps that focus light in very specific areas.
• Enhances contrast between print and background for some.
• Very bright, intense, and white.
• More energy efficient than incandescent.
• Can be too bright for some, causing glare.
• Not for prolonged use; generates a lot of heat.

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Additional Resources...

Make Great Light sells NaturaLux fluorescent classroom light filters. Fluorescent lighting can output a lot of glare that can lead to eyestrain and visual fatigue. Great Light's filters remove 100% of the glare from overhead lighting as well as provide full spectrum light, which is also important for visual acuity. They covert harsh fluorescent light to full spectrum lighting, filter out UV and eliminate glare. 

Blue Waves Professional eye health forum is an independent digital platform site providing international information and discussion groups on eye health and how general health may be affected by the blue light produced from artificial lighting sources and electrical device screens. 

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TVI’s Guide to Teaching the ECC: An Activities Based Curriculum for Teaching Students who are Blind or Visually Impaired
The TVI’s Guide to Teaching the ECC is a digital pdf available for download. It is designed specifically for fellow itinerant Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI’s), and consists of over 400 activities and topic areas of discussion for instructing students in the Expanded Core Curriculum. The activities are age-neutral and multi-sensory and therefore can meet the needs of the broad range of students served on an itinerant caseload serving. The activities can be individualized to the students various learning modalities and scaffold in order to challenge students but ensure success. Select those activities that align with the student’s learning objects based on the student’s unique visual needs and academic and developmental level. In addition to the core activity areas, each of the 32 Thematic Units incorporates additional unique ECC concepts and skills providing you with a years’ worth of activities. These units are cyclical and can be used repeatedly to help students build on prior knowledge and develop a deeper understanding of concepts. Each unit includes suggestions for activity adaptation associated with the unit. These include lists of objects, possible community-based experiences, environmental print, poems, children & young reader books, children's songs, pop culture songs, movies, and websites.


In addition to the book, the following two supplements are included:
·      TVI’s Guide to the ECC Concept Checklist
·      TVI’s Guide to the ECC Activities Checklist


For complete product details and additional images, visit the TVI's Guide product page.


TVI's Guide to the ECC Product details
·      Digital pdf download: 346 pages (11 pt font)
·      Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments
·      Author: Carmen Willings
·      Language: English


Visual Efficiency & Near Magnifier Fluency Worksheets: TVI's Guide to the ECC Grab and Go Supplements
The Near Magnifier Fluency Worksheets is a Grab and Go supplement to the TVI's Guide to Teaching the ECC. This workbook is a pdf download that can be printed on demand for use with students. It contains five different types of worksheets for developing visual motor skills and near magnifier fluency skills particularly with the use of a video magnifier. As a companion to the TVI’s Guide to the ECC, the worksheets correspond to each of the 32 ECC Thematic units. The worksheets, along with a list of environmental print for each thematic unit, are designed to help students refine their visual motor skills while reinforcing ECC concepts presented in the thematic units.  


For complete product details and additional images, visit the Visual Efficiency & Near Magnifier Product Page.


Visual Efficiency & Near Magnifier Fluency Worksheet Details:
·      Digital pdf download: 210 pages
·      Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments
·      Author: Carmen Willings
·      Language: English


Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency and Maintenance Worksheets: A TVI’s Guide to Teaching the ECC Grab & go Supplement
The Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency and Maintenance Grab and Go ECC worksheet packet is a print on demand workbook that contains worksheets in print and simulated braille to use for data collection. Present the student with a hard braille copy and use the worksheets to document accuracy and fluency in reading braille. As a companion to the TVI’s Guide to the ECC, the worksheets correspond to the ECC Thematic activities presented in the curriculum guide. These word lists and sentences will help the student refine their keyboarding or braille reading skills while bridging ECC concepts presented in the thematic units. Although the lists and passages can be produced using a manual braillewriter, you may also copy and paste the passages into any braille translation software for quick production on an embosser. They may also be entered into a typing program such as APH’s Talking Typer to build keyboarding fluency.


For complete product details and additional images, visit the Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency & Maintenance Product Page


Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency Worksheet Details:
·      Digital pdf download: 338-page print and simulated braille worksheets
·      Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments
·      Author: Carmen Willings
·      Language: English


Thematic Vocabulary Cards and Checklists: Grab & Go ECC Supplement
The Thematic Vocabulary Cards and Checklists Grab and Go ECC supplement is a 446 page pdf downloadable print on demand workbook that includes 2940 vocabulary card on 3 1/2" x 2" templates divided by each of the 32 Thematic Units along with a checklist of each unit words in print and simulated braille. As a companion to the TVI's Guide to the ECC, the vocabulary cards correspond to the ECC Thematic activities presented in the curriculum guide. 


Additional Use:
Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments can have a extremely varied caseloads. It is possible to go several years without having a student on your caseload who requires braille instruction. Like other skills, if you do not practice your braille regularly, it is easy to lose those skills. Use these checklists and cards to maintain your braille skills. Fold the checklist along the line dividing the print from the braille. Choose to either read the print and produce the word in braille using a braillewriter or read the simulated braille and decode it. Finally, these vocabulary cards and checklists may be used with family members or peers who are interested in learning and practicing the braille code.


For complete product details and additional images, visit the Thematic Vocabulary Cards & Checklists Product Page


Thematic Vocabulary Cards and Checklists Details:
·      Digital pdf download: 446-page print on demand resource
·      Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments
·      Author: Carmen Willings
·      Language: English


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Lotto Cards
The LOTTO Cards Grab and Go Supplement includes 37 theme related unit cards along with activity suggestions that support activities within the TVI's Guide to Teaching the ECC.


On My Way File Folder Cards
Print and use these cards to represent locations the student may visit that are related to the current thematic unit. Use these with the On My Way File Folder Game outlined in the TVI's Guide to Teaching the ECC p. 27.

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