LEARN TO PLAY

By: Carmen Willings
teachingvisuallyimpaired.com
​Updated October 30, 2017

Many students with visual impairments will need to be taught how to interact and participate in activities. You may have to teach the student how to explore toys & materials. As stated in Guiding Principles, students who are blind or visually impaired need many opportunities to play with real objects. That doesn't mean that you will not want to provide the student with toys. In selecting toys, you do need to choose toys that meet the students learning needs. If the student has low vision and is distracted by visual clutter, you will want to select toys that are simple and have bold colors. If the student will only visually attend to a certain characteristic (red, or metallic), obviously you should look for toys with these features. For a student with minimal or no vision, you will want to look for toys that are tactually interesting. As you explore toys in the toy aisles, close your eyes and feel the toys. Does it just feel like a lump of hard plastic or does it have tactually interesting features that will encourage exploration and interest?

Exploring Toys

​Introduce new materials and activities intentionally and provide the student with plenty of time to explore them. When you present materials to the student, provide the student with a verbal prompt and understand that you may need to guide the student’s hand to explore the toys. Show the student how to explore the details of materials and objects. Provide the names of the objects he is exploring and a description of what it is used for.

Although random exploration provides lots of information for the student, intentional teaching can help the student learn scanning skills to look for and piece together features. It helps to sit behind the student and help guide their hands in a systematic search pattern. Show the student that you are paying attention to the activity that he is engaged in by talking about it, or helping him visually and/or tactually explore it (but not taking over). Be sure to monitor your talking and verbal descriptions as talking can distract the student and interrupt their exploration and visual attention toward materials.

Playing Alongside or Cooperatively

Students may need extra time to familiarize themselves with other student’s style of playing.  The quick, unpredictable movements of other students can be disorienting, perhaps even frightening at times for students. It takes time for some students to gain the skills and the confidence they need to enjoy playing with other students.

Toy Companies...

The following companies publish catalogs of toys, many of which are appropriate for use with infants and young children who are blind or have low vision. In some cases, you will be able to discover comparable toys in a local discount store at a savings.

• ​​Abilitations provides equipment for development and restoration of physical and cognitive abilities through movement.
• ​AbleNet is an international company that provides educational and technical solutions to help children and adults with disabilities lead productive and fulfilled lives.
• Discount School Supplies provides a collection of therapy, exercise and special education products for children with special needs.
• ​American Federation for the Blind's Family Connect site that lists toys that are appropriate for children with visual impairments. Toys are marked in categories of being appropriate for low vision, blind and multiple impairments. A brief description of the toy is included along with the area of development the toy stimulates.
• ​Beyond Play offers an extensive selection of products for young children of all abilities - from infants through elementary grades.
• ​Brio specializes in high-quality, brightly colored wooden toys.
• ​Constructive Playthings specializes in teachers supplies, classroom materials, learning toys, playground equipment and more. 
• ​Discovery Toys offers products sold by local educational consultants.
• ​From toys to technology, Dragonfly Toys offers products for children with special needs.
• ​Enabling Devices sells adapted tools, toys and devices for children and adults with disabilities.
• ​The Equipment Shop sells special tools and toys for children with special needs.
• ​The Exceptional Teaching Aids mission is to help individuals with special needs acquire the skills and attitudes required to function effectively as contributing members of society. The corporation accomplishes its mission by providing affordable and innovative products for individuals of all ages having special needs as well as all those who serve this population. They carry the Mangold Dev. Programs for learning braille and math, raised line coloring books, braille blocks, world maps, and other items.
• ​Flaghouse's Special Populations catalog carries products for education and rehabilitation.
• ​Hasbro Playskool sells toys and materials for infants and young children.
• ​Kaplan Toys provides exciting and fun educational toys that focus on helping children develop.
• ​Kaye Products, Inc. is a mail order catalog features selected toys and products for children with disabilities.
• ​Lakeshore Learning Materials catalog features learning materials and furniture for the preschool and early learning classroom.
• ​The Learning Resources catalog contains materials for kindergarten, primary grades, and special education.
• ​S&S Worldwide offers Therapy and Rehab supplies in addition to educational supplies.
• ​An international company TFH carries toys, adapted equipment and sensory stimulation materials for special needs.
• ​Toys to Grow On sells toys with bright primary colors are in this mail order catalog.
• ​US Toys - Constructive Playthings sells many toys but not specifically designed for students with special needs.

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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

Author: Carmen Willings

Language: English

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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

Author: Carmen Willings

Language: English

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