Online Parent Resources
By: Carmen Willings
teachingvisuallyimpaired.com When parents first learn their child is blind or has a visual impairment, they face an emotional impact and may have a difficult time trying to cope with the diagnosis. Families will typically search for support and resources to learn more about the specific diagnosis and also seek to learn how to help their child learn and provide the best support and resources for their child. The following resources will help parents connect with support groups and other families with children who are blind or visually impaired. Blind Children's CenterThe Blind Children's Center is a family centered organization supporting children with visual impairments. It offers a range of publications and resources including educational books, booklets and videos.
Blind Babies Foundations The Blind Babies Foundations mission is to provide family centered services to support children's optimal development and access to the world. As of July 1, 2014, Blind Babies Foundation became a program of Junior Blind. The website provides parent education and resources including a fact sheets on CVI (also available in Japanese), ROP, retinal diseases, optic nerve hypoplasia, and albinism.
Braille BugBraille Bug is a website by the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB). It is an excellent resource and a wealth of information for peers or siblings to learn more about braille, it's history and activities. It is geared not only to children interested in learning more about braille, but to teachers and parents as well. It provides information about braille including its history, a reading club, games to play, information about Louis Braille and Helen Keller as well as information for parents and teachers.
Center for Parent Information and ResourcesThis website serves as a central resource of information and products to a network of parent training and resource centers that focus on serving families of children with a variety of disabilities including visual impairments and blindness. It also provides a listing of categories of disabilities under IDEA.
National Organization of Parents and Blind Children (NOPBC)This is the New Jersey chapter of the National Organization of Parents and Blind Children (NOPBC) provides families with support, encouragement, and information. The organization works to overcome lack of understanding about childhood blindness. Although membership to this organization is open to professionals serving children who are blind, its mission is focused toward families.
Dots for FamiliesDots for Families is designed for family members, teachers of children with visual impairments, and others interested in promoting literacy opportunities for young children with visual impairments.
FamilyConnectFamilyConnect is an online, multimedia community created by the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) and the National Association for Parents of Children with Visual Impairments (NAPVI). This site gives parents of visually impaired children a place to support each other, share stories and concerns, and link to local resources.
Foundation for Blind Children (FBC) Foundation for Blind Children (FBC) serves the blind and visually impaired of all ages, from birth to currently 102 years old. With three Phoenix-area campuses, FBC provides education, tools and services that enable ALL persons with vision loss to achieve greater independence. The organization’s vision is to have a world where vision loss is a diagnosis, not a disability.
The Louis Braille CenterThe Louis Braille Center offers a catalog of braille books for all ages, a Saturday Program for children who are blind or visually impaired, and an information section for school children interested in learning about braille.
Lutheran Braille WorkersThe mission of Lutheran Braille Workers is to provide the message of salvation, through faith in Jesus Christ to individuals who are blind and visually impaired throughout the world. They provide quality Bibles and Christian publications in braille and large print formats to individuals who are blind or visually impaired for free. They produce titles in 30 languages through the work of 5000 volunteers in about 200 centers across the United States.
The National Organization of Parents and Blind Children (NOPBC)The National Organization of Parents and Blind Children (NOPBC) provides families with support, encouragement, and information. The organization works to overcome lack of understanding about childhood blindness. Although membership to this organization is open to professionals serving children who are blind, its mission is focused toward families.
Wonder BabyWonder Baby is a project funded by Perkins School for the Blind and is dedicated to helping parents of young children with visual impairments as well as multiple disabilities. It includes articles, Q&A, resource, a blog, newsletter as well as giveaways.
Magic FoundationMagic Foundation is a national non-profit organization created to provide support services for the families of children diagnosed with a wide variety of chronic and/or critIcal disorders, syndromes and diseases that affect a child's growth.
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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. NEW! Access to TVI's Guide Bonus Membership Pages Note: All products are digital pdf downloads. 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. If you encounter any difficulty, please let me know and I can assist you. |
Photo used under Creative Commons from donnierayjones
