​DRAMATIC PLAY STATION 

By: Carmen Willings
teachingvisuallyimpaired.com

The dramatic play station provides opportunities for social, language, emotional, and intellectual development. Students have the opportunity to interact with peers in social situation and practice language.

The ability to pretend and to experiment with playthings is necessary for the development of language, reasoning and imagination for sighted and visually impaired students. Through play in the dramatic play station, the students have opportunities to develop an understanding of roles of family members, learn about community helpers and experiment with relationships.

Keep in mind that it is especially difficult for students with visual impairments to understand the difference between make-believe and reality. In order to imitate and act out experiences, a student must first have had experiences with and understanding of the roles and actions to be acted out. It is more meaningful to re-enact familiar and real experiences in dramatic play areas. Students with visual impairments need concrete experiences in real-life situations followed by play repetitions.  For this reason, it would be beneficial to begin a unit with a trip to a bakery, farm, restaurant, etc. before expecting the student to pretend with the materials. 

Incorporate concepts into the drama station by discussing: likes and differences of pots & pans, silverware, clothing; size (big/little and small/medium/large) and quantity differences of people, clothes, food containers; placing spoon/utensils in and out of a pot or oven; placing dolls on top of the bed or underneath the sheets; placing pots on top of a hot pad or placing the hot pad underneath the pot; sound differences of pots and pans rattling; Match towels of the same texture; Discuss if food containers are hard or soft; if clothes are rough or smooth; front and back of food boxes; shapes of boxes and containers; and if boxes or cupboards being empty or full. Include clothing with various fasteners to encourage students to practice dressing skills.

Use a real mailbox to “mail letters” and “deliver” the letters to the right person. Provide household items that can be used in different ways such as pots and pans that fit inside each other, and lids that fit on top. Incorporate objects/materials within the center to make the experiences more meaningful.  (ex. a real metal pan with a lid will be more meaningful than a plastic one, broom, iron/ironing board, phone, suitcases, keys and keyholes, dishes, etc.)  As the student forms more of an understanding of these real objects, you could introduce pretend and talk about similarities and differences.  (Keep in mind that pretend objects often lack interesting textures and smells and may always be too abstract for the visually impaired child!

When planning the dramatic play area, keep in mind that it needs to be a bigger area to accommodate the various furnishings and activities. It is also a loud area, so it is best to have it located near the block center which is another loud area. Create theme boxes using plastic totes or banker boxes. Store theme related materials in the boxes for easy retrieval. Supplement the theme boxes with freebies from business offices, doctor's offices, grocery stores, restaurants, dentists office, post office, etc. Parents may have access to materials for the boxes based on their jobs.

Materials to Incorporate Into Dramatic Play:

Kitchen Items:
Silverware to sort
Silverware tray
Metal pots and pans w/ lids to match
Plastic bottles w/ lids or caps
Big/little food boxes
Dish towels to fold
Napkins
Pot holders
Oven mitt
Cook books
Aprons to tie
Food boxes filled with similar sounding materials & taped
Restaurant Menus
Measuring cups & spoons to stack & seriate
Shopping lists
Pencil
Note pad
Message board

Household Items:
Brooms
Mops
dust pan
carpet sweeper
soap powder
Clothespins (for hanging up clothes)
Clothesline or drying rack
Telephone
scrub brush
Feather duster
Clothes basket (for sorting & folding)

Furniture Items
Clothing racks
Chest of drawers
Storage boxes
Full length mirror
Sink & cabinets
Table & chairs

Clothing Items
Dresses
Capes
Shawls
Sweaters
Robes
Gowns
Ballet dresses
Larger boy's shirts
Coats
Vests
Uniforms
Raincoats
Petticoats

Accessories:
Scarves
Ties
Gloves (men's & women's)
Socks
Belts

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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


BONUS!
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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