Money Identification & Management

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

Accurately, easily and independently identifying money can be challenging for students who are blind or visually impaired. There are strategies and tools available to help the student who is blind or visually impaired learn this important skill. When teaching students to sort and identify coins, it is important to provide hands-on experience with real coins. Coins can be distinguished by feeling the size differences and the smoothness and roughness of the edges. 

Students need to have repeated experiences in discriminating and using money. Arrange for the student to make purchases from a vending machine, identify stores that sell certain items, schedule fundraising activities, and use shopping lists. Repeated exposure and real-life situations to use money will provide a greater opportunity for learning and applying those concepts.

The Coin Abacus makes counting various combinations of coins and dollar bills simple for students of all ages. This electronic teaching tool helps students of varying educational abilities master the task of counting money. Students will experiment with different coin combinations in order to reach the target amounts on the screen. The coin abacus can be easily adapted by gluing real coins on the abacus.

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System for Identifying Bills

In addition to learning to identify coins, it is also important for them to learn to identify and organize paper money by denomination. This is considerably more challenging than discriminating coins. If a student is unable to see the numbers on bills, they can use electronic devices that identify bill denominations or they can use a system for marking bills for later identification. The following is a way of identifying bills by the way in which they are folded.

A $1 bill is left unfolded.

A $10 bill is folded in half lengthwise to make a long rectangle (and inserted in a wallet with the folded side up, so other bills are not inserted in the crease and lost when a $10 is pulled out.

A $5 bill is folded end to end to make a square.

A $20 bill is folded into fourths (and may be placed in a separate compartment of the wallet).

Other Ways to Identify Money

There are now other ways to identify money including electronic devices that can identify bills, as well as an app on the iPad/iPhone!

The Click Pocket Money Brailler allows the user to mark $1-$100 bills with braille for identification by pressing the tabs on the corners of the bills.

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The iBill Talking Money Identifier is battery operated and identifies current currency. It recognizes all US paper currency in circulation and announces denominations in a female voice. It features easy operation with just two buttons. 

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Shopping & Budgeting

Learning to shop and maintain a budget are important life skills the student will need if they want future independence.  Encourage the student to develop a budget for groceries and meals. Provide the students with opportunities to be a part of creating shopping lists. The lists can be written, brailled, typed or recorded. If you are able to take field trips to the store, plan opportunities to take the students shopping. Otherwise, encourage parents and caregivers to take their child shopping.

Grocery Shopping

Inform the student that some grocery stores offer telephone or internet shopping. Shop when the stores are less busy and use a store map to locate sections of the store. Discuss the characteristics of foods in the produce section, discussing the feel, the texture, the size, the color, etc.  Once back home or at school, help the student create labels to identify the foods.

Create opportunities for the student to plan, budget and shop for meals with the following objectives: 

• Given a reasonable budget for a meal, the student can choose a meal that either they or an adult will prepare and complete a grocery list for the items needed to prepare the meal.
• The student can price the items needed for a meal, making use of a customer service representative, if necessary, to find the items on the list and discuss whether the budget will cover the cost of the groceries.
• The student can compute the budget needed for groceries for one day, then for a weekend, and then for a week.

Budgeting Tips

• Be Realistic About Your Budget. Encourage the student to project how much money they will need for a purchase and be realistic. Project low for income and high expenses.
• Identify the difference between "Wants" and "Needs" to help stay on a budget. Teach the importance of prioritizing needs over wants. 
• Don't make impulse purchases.
• Always pay bills on time to avoid late fees.

Additional Resources

Check Writing Guide
Although not too many people continue to write checks, being able to access money and pay bills by writing a check, is an important skill to learn for independence. These check writing guides help students who are blind to fill in each section of a check independently.

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This Money Line, available from Slide-A-Round Math Manipulatives, was developed by Jim Franklin who is a special education teacher. This money number line is accessible to students with low vision as well as those who are blind.

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Money Identifier Apps

The LookTel Money Reader by IPPLEX is currently $9.99. It instantly recognizes currency and speaks the denomination, enabling people with visual impairments to identify and count bills.

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Free. The EyeNote app is a mobile device application to denominate Federal Reserve Notes (U.S. paper currency) as an aid for accessibility for people who are blind or visually impaired. Users can have the denomination of a note scanned and communicated back to the user. 

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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.  


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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


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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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