Teaching Students with Visual Impairments
  • Home
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • About
    • FAQs
    • User Agreement
  • VI Store & Gifts
    • VI Gift Shop >
      • Braille Necklaces
      • VI Shirts
      • Badge Holders
      • VI Drinkware
      • Vision Bags & Totes
      • Braille Greeting Cards
      • Keyrings/Zipper Pulls/White Cane Tags
      • Ornaments
    • ECC Instructional Resources >
      • TVI's Guide Complete Set Bundle
      • TVI's Guide to Teaching the ECC
      • Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency Worksheets
      • Visual Efficiency & Magnifier Fluency
      • Task Box Activities
      • Vocabulary Cards & Checklists
      • Interactive Sensory Stories
      • Interactive Matching Activities
    • Purchase Recorded Presentations >
      • Presentation Complete Set of 16
      • Foundations of Teaching the ECC
      • Itinerant Teaching Strategies & Tips
      • Strategies & Activities for SIDPID
      • Strategies & Activities for MIMO
      • Job Tasks for Jobs, Career & Life
      • Strategies & Activities for Standard Course of Study
      • Accommodations for BLVI
      • Accessible Content for BLVI
      • Using Themes to Teach the ECC
      • Tips for Being a Physically Fit TVI
      • Conducting a FVLMA
      • Developing SMARTER Goals
      • Determining Service Intensity Using the VISSIT
      • Selecting the Right AT
      • The Art of Teaching the ECC
      • Activities to Teach the ECC
    • Job Postings
    • Product Support
  • Jobs
    • Post a Job
    • TVI, Greene Co., Ohio
    • TVI or Dual TVI/COMS, North Carolina
  • Articles
  • Paid Member Pages
  • Member Pages

Shop for Visual Impairment Instructional Resources and Gifts

ECC Instructional Resources

Braille Necklaces

VI Shirts

Braille Greeting Cards

VI Drinkware

Keyrings/Zipper Pulls/White Cane Tags

Vision Bags & Totes

Recorded Presentations

Job Posting Service

Guiding Principles of Concept Development

By: Carmen Willings
teachingvisuallyimpaired.com
​Updated June 9, 2019


Students who are blind or visually impaired need specialized instruction in order to understand concepts in a highly visual world. This unique programming includes teaching through concrete and unifying experiences and learning by doing. As stated on the Impact on Development & Learning page, Lowenfeld, a leader in the field of visual impairments, identified three strategies to use when working with students who are blind or visually impaired. The three strategies are concrete experiences, learning by doing, and unifying experiences.

Concrete Experiences

Interaction with a model is not the same as interaction with a real object, particularly if the student has not had direct contact and interaction with the real item. This is true for all students, but especially for students who are blind or visually impaired. For example, playing with a plastic animal has no meaning to the student who has not touched, smelled, heard and interacted with the real animal. It is important to provide interaction with actual objects first and then determine if the student can transfer that understanding to a model or a raised line drawing. Do not assume that a student has had experiences even with what you think may be common objects. For example, a student's family may have a van and the student may not have had contact with a car or all parts of a car. In this situation, it would be a good idea to discuss similarities and differences as you provide interaction with a variety of vehicles in the school parking lot.

Learn by Doing

​Students with visual impairments need to be directly involved with all aspects of the day in order to better understand the world including where materials are kept, the process of preparing food, the completion of chores and other daily routines. Involvement in these repeated routines will promote independence and minimize the student's dependence on others.

In an effort to demonstrate kindness and compassion, good intentioned adults and peers (or those in a hurry) sometimes create learned helplessness in students with disabilities.  Coats magically hang themselves up, food magically appears in front of them and disappears when they are done, and toys that are thrown or dropped magically reappear. This is often referred to as “The Good Fairy Syndrome.”  It is important to replace “The Good Fairy Syndrome” with the desire to be a part of the action and to be independent.  Avoid learned helplessness by providing the student with responsibilities.

Help develop responsibility by encouraging the students to do as much as possible for themselves. The students should be expected to move about their familiar classroom to obtain materials or information and be responsible for their own belongings. When teaching the student a process that includes several steps, make sure the students participate in all the steps from the beginning to the end of the process.  If the student only completes one or a few of the steps, they may be unaware of all of the other steps that someone else completed. As soon as possible, let the student move through the activity independently so they do not become dependent on someone moving them through the motions.

If a student cannot participate independently, explore ways that the student can be assisted through the activity, allowing him to complete the steps that he can do independently. Gradually fade assistance until the student can be independent. Some students, particularly those who are blind, will need to be gently moved through the activity in order to understand what is expected. This is best when the facilitator is behind the student so that the facilitator’s body is oriented the same way as the student’s body. These repeated opportunities and natural experiences will help the student make associations. Responsibility and independence are essential in the student reaching their greatest potential.

Another essential skill the student must learn is that of problem-solving. When a student needs help, show the student alternative ways of handling a situation, rather than automatically providing support.  Challenge the student to think of alternatives and reinforce the student when he or she comes up with a solution. Last, but not least, never do anything for the student that they can do for themselves. You are not doing the student any favors by teaching them to be dependent on you.

Unifying Experiences

​Teaching in thematic units can help a student make connections between and among the topics of instruction that are discussed. Units expand vocabulary, concepts, and skills beyond those which can be experienced incidentally in daily routines or in isolation. Deliberate, relevant and purposeful lesson planning is critical for all students. Intentionally incorporate concept development into the lesson plans. Most concepts must be directly taught and not assumed that the student is learning these skills independently or through passive listening. Watch for situations for which the student has had no prior experience (e.g. foods in different forms: corn-on-the-cob, cooked corn, popcorn, dried corn; matter in altered form: water, steam, ice, dew, condensation; sources of things: milk comes from cows; occupations: what jobs people perform; etc.)

Be sure to plan lessons that challenge each student. Each student must participate at a level they can. Facilitate and guide learning to provide a supportive “scaffold” that enables each child to move to the next level of independent functioning. Learning activities should be developed to accommodate differences in ability and interest. Incorporate task analysis, backward chaining, modeling, motoring, demonstration, use of routines, reinforcement. In order to keep in mind what each student is working on – create charts that display items from each student’s IEP and hang on the wall or cabinet (remember to not identify the student, but instead use color, shape or another type of code).

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

Author: Carmen Willings

Language: English


*Please contact me if you need to purchase using a purchase order. I am happy to help guide you in the process of adding Teaching Students with Visual Impairments as an approved vendor for your school or program or you can visit the product support page for information on using a PO.

Shop
History of vi
Timeline of Visual Impairments
Biblical Passages 
​Notable People 
Helen Keller
APH Museum
​
Leaders & Legends
History of Braillewriters  
Legislation ​
Visual Impairments
​Structure & Function of the Eye 
Vision Classifications
​Common Vocabulary  
​Common Visual Impairments
​Cortical Visual Impairment
​
Convergence Insufficiency  
Deaf-Blind
Vi organizations & Agencies
Social Etiquette
​VI Organizations
​US Government Agencies
​​Support Networks
​Deaf-Blind Resources
​​​Online Parent Resources
​
Financial Assistance
Vendors
VI book resources
Children's Books
Young Reader Books
Books on Dog Guides
​Teen & Young Adult Books
Non-Fiction Books
Helen Keller Books
​​Parent Resource Books 
Grief and Suffering
VI Professionals
​Become a Vision Professional
Professional Prep Programs
Teacher of Students with VI
Orientation & Mobility Specialist
Low Vision Specialist  
Rehabilitation Specialists
CATIS
Paraprofessionals & Braillists ​ ​
Professionalism
​Professional Ethics  
​Professional Development 
​Teacher Standards  
Professional Organizations
Certification Organizations
Awards & Recognition
APH Scholar Program
​Collaboration Strategies
Dealing with Challenges
Instructional Planning
VI Program Handbook
Caseload Analysis  
Itinerant Teacher Tips 
Year at a Glance
Role of Classroom Teacher  
​​Simulation Activities 
Organization & Time Management Strategies
Material Preparation
​
Professional Publications
General VI Resource Books
CVI & MD Resources Books
Braille Resource Books
O&M Resource Books
Early Intervention Resource Books
​Journal Resources
Educational Programming
National Agenda
​
The Expanded Core Curriculum
IDEA and Vision 
​Federal Quota Funds
Deaf-Blind Count
​State SpEd Agencies 
​​Schools for the Blind ​
Individual Learning Differences
Language Development
Impact on Development & Learning
Psychological Impact
Strategies for SIDPID
Strategies for MIMO
referrals
​Vision Concerns 
​Referral Process  
Eligibility Guidelines  
Vision Therapy Controversy  ​
When Student Doesn't Qualify
Medical vision exams
​Medical Professionals
Vision Tests & Tools
​
Visual Acuity
Lenses
Visual Fields
fvlma
​What is the FVE
Interpreting the Eye Report  ​
Environmental Observations

FVLMA Observations
Interviews
Assessment Kit Materials
Oculomotor Skills
Near Vision Acuities
Print Comparisons
Distance Acuity 
​
Test Visual Fields
Vision Skills
Learning Media Assessment
Reading Rates
Writing the FVE Report  ​
additional evaluations
Low Vision Evaluation  ​
Orientation & Mobility Evaluation  
Educational Assessments  
Assistive Technology Assessment
service planning
​​ECC Annual Needs 
Unique Visual Needs
​Accommodations & Modification  ​
Service Delivery Models  
Least Restrictive Environment
Early Interventions Services
​Students with Multiple Disabilities
​Student Led IEP's 
504 Plans
​Transition Plans
writing goals
Writing SMART Goals
Blooms Taxonomy  
Compensatory Goals 
Sensory Efficiency Goals 
Assistive Technology Goals 
Social Skills Goals 
Independent Living Goals 
Recreation & Leisure Goals 
Self Determination Goals 
Career & Vocational Goals ​
compensatory skills
Guiding Principles
​
Functional Skills
Community Based Experiences  ​
​​Concepts to Teach 

​Access to Instruction
​
Organization & Study Skills ​​
Time Management  ​​
​
​​​Virtual Instruction
​Movies & Assemblies
Lectures & Instruction
Board Work (Chalk, White, etc.)
​​Daily Schedule 
Morning Meeting 
Weather Check 
Dramatic Play 
Blocks 

Numbers & Counting
Cranmer Abacus Instruction
Algebra
Geometry & Spatial Sense
Measurement & Data ​
Early Literacy Experiences  ​
​Create Tactual Books

Reading Instruction
​Reading Efficiency ​​
Science Adaptations 
Social Studies Adaptations

Communication Modes

​Accessible Educational Materials
​​Individual Schedules & Communication Cards
Adjust Lighting  
Large Print
Optical Devices for Near 
Optical Devices for Distance 
Optical Device Use ​​
​Photocopying
Font Legibility
Increase Contrast
Pictures & Worksheets 
Keyboarding ​Instruction
Word Processing and Shortcuts
​Navigate Computer w/o a Mouse
Braille Code
Braille Instruction 
​Braille Instruction Materials
Writing Braille  
​Summer Reading (braille)
Signature & Handwriting ​​
Nemeth Braille Code
​
Tactile Graphics Guidelines
Creating Tactile Graphics
​Tactile Graphics Instruction
​Teacher Made Materials 
​Labeling System
assistive technology
Overview of Assistive Technology
​
VI AT Resources
​
Non-Optical Low Vision Devices
​
Video Magnifiers  
​Video Magnifier Instruction 
​
Screen Enlargement & Readers 
​Low/Med. Tech Tactual Devices
​​​​Notetaker Instruction 
Braillewriter Repair
Tactile Graphics Technology
Braille Technology
​
Auditory Access Devices 
​Accessing Audio Books
​
​iPads as Instructional Tools
Making iOS Device Accessible
iOS Accessibility Resources
VoiceOver
Apps for VI
​​​Note Taking apps
​Apps for Accessing Books
Identification Apps
​​Navigation & Location Apps
​Braille Apps
​​​Magnifier Apps
Sound Making Apps
​Cause & Effect Apps
Vision Skills Apps
Apps for Early Learning
Read to Me Story Apps
Apps for Communication
Android Apps for VI  ​​​
sensory efficiency
Sensory Input
​
​Encourage Use of Vision
​​Sensory Area & Rooms
​Lightbox Use
​
Sensory Activities for Students with Multiple Disabilities
Sensory Tables
Visual Efficiency Skills 
Visual Attend and Scan Activities
Visual Tracking Activities
​Visual Discrimination Activities
Visual Motor Activities
Tactual Readiness
Developing Skillful Hands
Auditory Readiness  
​​Listening Skill Instruction
independent living
Responsibility & Independence
​
General Home Safety  
Mealtime Independence
Eating Adaptions
Bathroom Adaptations
​
Dressing & Clothing Management
Clothing Management
Medication Adaptations
​Kitchen Adaptations
Food Preparation   
Recipe Activities

Hygiene & Grooming
​
​Money
Housekeeping  ​
orientation & Mobility
​Transition Between Activities
Proper Guide Techniques 
Orienting Student to Environment
Mobility Skills
Travel  
Dog Guides
​​School Campus Adaptations
Classroom Design Tips
career education
Classroom Jobs
​Career & Vocational  ​
Prepare for College & Career
​
Career Exploration
social skills
​Non-Verbal Communication  
Social Interactions  
Self Concept
Icebreakers & Mixers
recreation & Leisure
Recreation & Leisure
​Recreation Adaptations  
Recreation Resources
​
Playground Adaptations
​VI Sports Associations
Camps for VI
Learn to Play
Art Adaptations
Art Materials
Music
Music & Movement
Dance
​Card and Board Games 
Transcribe Playing Cards
Summer Outdoor Activities
​
Rainy Day Activities  ​
self determination
Self Determination Skills  ​
Thank you for visiting!
The mission of Teaching Students with Visual Impairments is to provide all persons involved in education students who are blind or visually impaired with the necessary resources to help each student become successful members of their communities and to equip those in the visual impairment field with resources to meet the wide range of needs of the students they serve. ​
  • About
  • Contact
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • VI Articles Site Map
  • Privacy Policy
  • Product Support
  • User Agreement
Teaching Students with Visual Impairments LLC
​All Rights Reserved
Home Page of Teaching Students with Visual Impairments
  • Home
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • About
    • FAQs
    • User Agreement
  • VI Store & Gifts
    • VI Gift Shop >
      • Braille Necklaces
      • VI Shirts
      • Badge Holders
      • VI Drinkware
      • Vision Bags & Totes
      • Braille Greeting Cards
      • Keyrings/Zipper Pulls/White Cane Tags
      • Ornaments
    • ECC Instructional Resources >
      • TVI's Guide Complete Set Bundle
      • TVI's Guide to Teaching the ECC
      • Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency Worksheets
      • Visual Efficiency & Magnifier Fluency
      • Task Box Activities
      • Vocabulary Cards & Checklists
      • Interactive Sensory Stories
      • Interactive Matching Activities
    • Purchase Recorded Presentations >
      • Presentation Complete Set of 16
      • Foundations of Teaching the ECC
      • Itinerant Teaching Strategies & Tips
      • Strategies & Activities for SIDPID
      • Strategies & Activities for MIMO
      • Job Tasks for Jobs, Career & Life
      • Strategies & Activities for Standard Course of Study
      • Accommodations for BLVI
      • Accessible Content for BLVI
      • Using Themes to Teach the ECC
      • Tips for Being a Physically Fit TVI
      • Conducting a FVLMA
      • Developing SMARTER Goals
      • Determining Service Intensity Using the VISSIT
      • Selecting the Right AT
      • The Art of Teaching the ECC
      • Activities to Teach the ECC
    • Job Postings
    • Product Support
  • Jobs
    • Post a Job
    • TVI, Greene Co., Ohio
    • TVI or Dual TVI/COMS, North Carolina
  • Articles
  • Paid Member Pages
  • Member Pages