By: Carmen Willings teachingvisuallyimpaired.com Updated March 12, 2018
When creating a daily schedule for the students, it is important to incorporate routines (the parts of a class schedule that stay consistent), activities, and any special events. Post a written, pictorial and/or object schedule that is accessible to the students depending on their developmental level and primary and future mode of learning. The word (in print or Braille or both) paired with the object should be presented to the students at the beginning of each routine to help mark the transition.
Use of Cues (Receptive Communication)
In order to follow a daily routine and to transition between stations, a student may need a cue from the teacher paired with a symbol to assist them in transitioning. Designing and using a consistent routine is the beginning of teaching cues. A cue is a type of communication used by an adult to let a student know what is expected of him in a given situation. Cues are a type of receptive communication. There are different types of cues that can be used:
Touch cues are ways an adult can touch a student to communicate a desired action.
Sensory cues are some sensory input used to help a student anticipate an event.
Object cues are some concrete piece of an activity or routine that is used to represent that activity.
Factors to Consider when Choosing a Communication System
Ocular Motor Skills: the ability to fixate, hold that fixation, and move the eyes purposefully.
Field Losses: affects visual access and placement of items.
Visual Acuity: the level of detail vision, which can be very difficult to assess in a student who is nonverbal.
Specific characteristics of a student's visual impairment.
Visual energy (how much information can student get through vision?)
How many communication choices will the student be able to handle or attend to if vision is used.
Use of Symbols (Receptive or Expressive Communication)
Symbols are representations of an event, action, object, person, or place that can be used to communicate about the event, object, person, or place. Symbols can be used for both receptive and expressive communication. Objects, parts of objects, pictures, print, actions, gestures, signs and speech can all be symbols. The more the symbol resembles what it represents, the more concrete that symbol is. Learning goes from concrete (real objects), to manipulative (replicas), to abstract (symbolic representation).
Hierarchy of Symbols:
The students must have deliberate involvement with actual objects and be taught the association before replicas will have any meaning to them. After the student has enough of an image of “the real” to do comparative thinking about the identifying characteristics, replicas can start to have meaning.
An object used as part of the activity it represents;
An object that is identical to the one that is being used as part of an activity an object that is similar to, but not identical to, the object as part of an activity;
A part of an object from the activity it represents;
A full-sized colored drawing of the activity it represents. For a tactual learner, a raised line drawing of an object;
A full sized black and white drawing of the object or a reduced size colored drawing of an object;
A reduced size black and white drawing of the activity it represents; and
A printed or braille word.
Communicate with Objects
Use objects to help students begin to anticipate events when they are given an object associated with the event. Assist the student in using an object/toy to help sustain or request a social interaction with another person and take turns. Use objects for choice making and encourage them to locate and respond to the object when named or signed. Embed literacy opportunities by pairing objects or symbols with the print and/or Braille word to provide students with the exposure to written language.
Tricia Noe, a Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments with over 35 years experience working with students who are blind or visually impaired with multiple disabilities and former colleague of mine has developed a process for determining the appropriateness of picture use with students. You are welcome to print the instructional sheet Titled "Evaluation of Picture Use for Students who are Visually Impaired and Nonverbal" or "The Noe Method".
pdf of "The Noe Method"
Schedule & Communication Cards
I used the Tactile Connections Kit: Symbols for Communication from APH to create the following labels. I printed the labels in 18 pt font and printed on Avery address labels (two per label if using standard label size and cut in half to fit on the card - or purchase smaller labels). I used the clear adhesive sheets to add the braille (I chose contracted braille). Finally, I selected an object to represent each activity. Please remember these are just some possibilities and you should select materials that make sense to your student.
Recommended Resources
Tactile Connections Kit: Symbols for Communication. This kit, available from APH, helps teachers create a tactile card system that is individualized for students who are blind or visually impaired who have additional disabilities and/or lack a formal means of communication or literacy. Objects that can also be paired with words, are mounted on hand-sized cards representing core vocabulary categories.
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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
