By: Carmen Willings teachingvisuallyimpaired.com Updated October 28, 2017
Concept development involves understanding the characteristics of an object and it’s spatial relationship with other objects. Students with visual impairments miss out on many opportunities to learn concepts incidentally as they may not be able to observe and effectively interact with their world. Students who are blind or visually impaired need to be provided with meaningful experiences and interaction with real objects that they can touch, hear, smell and see (if they have any vision).
As stated in the Impact on Development and Learning section of this website, there are three primary limitations that students with visual impairments face. These include:
A loss in the range and variety of experiences;
A loss or the restriction in the ability to get around (which influences opportunities both for gaining access to experiences and for developing social relationship); and
Loss of the control of the environment and the self in relation to it.
Students may also need guided exploration and explanations of what they are interacting with. Explanations provide the student with vocabulary associated with the experience, help the student make sense of what they are feeling and make connections to previous experiences. These experiences will help develop the students understanding of new concepts, develop their language, and motivate them to explore their environment which will subsequently lead to motor development.
To minimize or eliminate these restrictions, it is important to provide concrete and unifying experiences as well as to encourage the student to be a part of the action by "doing". When provided with concrete experiences, the student will experience many opportunities to develop concepts. Many of these concepts can be developed simply by actively participating in family and school routines. Other opportunities can be created that are fun and relevant for both students with visual impairments, but for sighted peers and siblings too. Both the Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments and the Orientation and Mobility Specialist will work with the student on building concepts.
Objects
(ex. chair, table, paper, book, etc.) The best way to help children to identify and understand the difference between objects is to expose them to a wide variety of objects. Encourage the student to interact with the object and identify the characteristics of the object. Suggestions for instruction:
Verbally label the objects, pointing out their similarities and differences. For example, what makes a chair a chair? A chair can be hard and a chair can be soft but the function of the chair is to provide the user with a place to sit.
Challenge the student to classify other items with similar characteristics. Provide literacy opportunities by pairing the objects with print/braille whenever possible in addition to the verbal labels.
Shapes
(square, circle, triangle, rectangle, cylinder, cube, curve, oval, etc.) Children need to first learn about three dimensional objects and then once the student has an understanding of 3D objects, they can begin to transfer the skill to two dimensional objects. All students will need this understanding, but it is imperative for future braille readers to have this foundational understanding in order to prepare them for identifying tactual graphics which is more abstract. Suggestions for instruction:
Shape inset puzzles, shape sorter toys and exploration of 3D shape models are a natural way to introduce shapes.
As the student touches the shape, verbally label the shape for the student.
Assist the student in tracing around the perimeter of the shape, pointing out the smooth edges or corners and sides. Incorporate literacy opportunities by placing the name of the shape on the object or puzzle piece and be sure to point out the print or braille word to the student.
Locate and explore shapes in play as well as in the environment. Encourage the student to search for and compare similarities and differences in shapes.
Help the student trace the outside of objects and compare to shape models to help them make the connections (e.g., the box of crayons is the shape of a rectangle, the lunch tray is also a rectangle, etc.)
Provide many opportunities with a variety of objects to help the child transfer their knowledge and understanding that shapes are all around them.
Once the student is able to identify 3D shapes, create 2D representations of the shape and encourage the student to match the 3D shape to the 2D shape as well as the 2D shape to a matching 2D shape.
Practice learning about sizes by discussing sizes of objects and materials in the environment.
Provide the student with objects in a variety of sizes (ex. travel size items verses full size items) related to the classroom topic or related to an area of interest.
Compare and contrast the size of the items. A classic story to practice size concepts is Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
Once students can sort and match shapes, encourage them to place them in order from smallest to biggest, shortest to tallest, thin to thick, etc.
Provide students with many opportunities to explore a wide variety of materials with various textures.
Tactile books can be obtained or created to compare textures.
Provide a variety of clothes with different textures and compare and contrast them.
Identify and sort a variety of textures.
Body Awareness
(ex. parts, functions & movements) Suggestions for instruction:
Families can practice body awareness with little children naturally during bath time and during dressing.
In the classroom, a fun way for students to practice learning their body parts is by singing songs about body parts and movements.
Positions & Spatial Relationships
(ex. on, off, in, out, front, back, left, right, up, down, above, below, top, bottom, in front, behind, on top, underneath, next to, beside, through, middle, center, between, here, there, under, over, upside down, right side up, first, last, together, apart, forward, backward, sideways, straight, there, under, etc.)
According to Fazzi and Petersmeyer (Imagining the possibilities: Creative approaches to orientation and mobility instruction for persons who are visually impaired,AFB Press 2001), “development of spatial awareness helps students understand the placement, arrangement, and spacing of persons or things in relation to one another.” O&M specialists will play an important role in teaching spatial concepts to the student. Spatial awareness concepts apply not only to education, but relate directly to travel. Spatial concepts include body awareness and spatial awareness. As with other concepts, direct experiences will help the student learn the concept. Physical experiences will help lay the foundation for development. Once a student has learned the concepts using their own bodies, they can then develop concepts related to models and representations. Suggestions for instruction:
Take advantage of opportunities throughout the day to point out the position of materials/objects in the environment.
Create games to encourage the students to place themselves or materials in relation to other items.
Encourage the student to demonstrate the concepts on their own bodies, from the student's body to an object, and between two objects.
Encourage activities that will develop the student's body concept such as large movement games that include rolling, crawling, walking backwards and sideways, jumping and other movement variations.
Suggested Materials
Tactile Treasures Kit, Tactile-Color Edition, available from APH, consists of tactile graphics of thermoformed real objects. This is another great tool for transitioning students from 3D objects to raised line drawings and tactile graphics.
Picture Maker Geometric Textured Shapes, available from APH provides Velcro backed 2D shapes. This is a great transitional and versatile tool to use moving from 3D shapes toward tactual graphics.
Colors and Shapes Lotto Game by Trend is a great shape matching game this is not only good for students with low vision, but can easily be adapted with the addition of textures and tactile graphics making materials in order to make it accessible to students who are blind!
Positions Lotto Game by Trend is a great position photo matching game that is great for students with low vision who are able to visually discriminate pictures. I like the simple photos on an uncluttered surface!
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TVI's Guide to Teaching the ECC: An Activities Based Curriculum for Teaching Students who are Blind or Visually Impaired
$50.00
Written specifically for fellow itinerant Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI’s), this book 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.
The core activities listed in the Activity section can be adapted to each thematic unit. These include:
Object Characteristic Activities
Quantity & Number Concepts
Time Concept Activities
Environment & Job Awareness Activities
Listening Skills Activities
Reading Foundation Activities
Reading Fluency Activities
Braille Basics Activities
Writing Activities
Tactual Efficiency Activities
Developing Skillful Hands Activities
Visual Efficiency Activities
Optical Device Instruction Activities
Recipe Activities
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.
Unique Concepts within the Units include:
Self Advocacy Activities (e.g. advocating for safe classroom, presenting to class on visual impairment, requesting help and more)
Social Skills Activities (e.g. Being bullied or teased, giving and receiving compliments, body language, "I" messages when upset and more)
Recreation & Leisure Activities (e.g. exploring interest areas, getting involved in clubs and sports, playing games, and more)
O&M Support Activities (e.g. Suggestions for community based experiences, dog guide information, locations in the school, bioptics, ride sharing, traffic signs, and more)
Independent Living Skill Activities (e.g. chores, being responsible, using tools, recipe suggestions, hygiene, staying healthy, labeling foods and products, and more)
Sensory Efficiency Activities (e.g. unique sensory experiences related to the unit, unique optical device activities, and more)
Compensatory Activities (e.g. organizing materials, study habits, and many unique concepts related to the unit)
Career & Vocational Activities (e.g. job awareness, completing applications, job task suggestions, and more)
Although the intended audience of this resource is fellow Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments, special education teachers may find these activities beneficial to the students in their classrooms as the activities are multisensory and include life skills and concepts needed by all students. This resource, however, is not intended to take the place of a Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI). Readers are advised to consult their own TVI’s regarding instruction in the ECC and the unique visual needs of the student’s served in their programs.
Note: This curriculum is a digital pdf download. Once you make your purchase you will be directed to an order confirmation page where you will find the download link. This download will also be included on the receipt sent to the email address you provide. The pdf download can be found directly under the order number.
Each download is intended for single instructor use per copyright. Thank you for helping me preserve the content and not distributing copies to third parties.
Product details
Digital pdf download: 364 pages (11 pt font)
Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments
Visual Efficiency & Magnifier Fluency Grab & Go ECC Supplements
$20.00
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 supplement 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.
Visual Efficiency & Near Magnifier Fluency Worksheet Details:
Digital pdf download: 210 pages
Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments
