By: Carmen Willings teachingvisuallyimpaired.com Updated November 8, 2015
Low vision devices for distance viewing will allow students with low vision to access information in the distance. This can be helpful in the classroom as well as in the community. Portable distance devices will allow students to view street signs, building signs, fast food signs, and score boards just to name a few.
Students can be taught to use their prescribed distance optical devices to complete short-term distance tasks such as viewing directories in office buildings, menus in fast food restaurants, signs in grocery store aisles, information presented on the class board, information on smart boards, and classroom charts. They can also be used during O&M lessons to view house numbers and street signs. A low vision specialist will prescribe these to students who can benefit from their use and take into account the student’s unique visual needs.
Hand Held Monocular
A monocular is a small telescope that is great for spotting information at a distance. Hand Held Monoculars provide power up to 14x. They are hand-held, but there are also models that can be mounted to a pair of glasses. They are small in size and can fit into a pocket or purse. They are helpful in spotting information such as information on the board, demonstrations, bus numbers, street signs, fast food restaurant menus, and scoreboards but they do restrict the visual field and limit the student to just one free hand. They are helpful in recreational settings to view theater and sporting events. The best use of telescopes and monoculars is to view information and presentations and not for note taking as copying while using the monocular is very exhausting. Students should be encouraged to take the monocular to other school events (e.g. assemblies, film presentations, games, field trips, etc.). When a student is using a telescope to read the chalkboard, they will need to sit at a specific distance based on the power and quality of the device. This distance along with the specifications of the use of the device, would be included in the report from the Low Vision Specialist. Keep in mind that it is difficult to copy work from the board as the student would need to continuously shift their gaze and scan to locate information.
Binoculars
Binoculars are used for short term distance viewing when students have vision in both eyes and can fuse an image. They can provide a larger field and make it easier to find targets, but are larger and heavier than monoculars and much more conspicuous.
Spectacle Mounted Telescopes
Telescopes of up to 8x magnification can be fitted into spectacle frames or clipped onto the users own spectacles. These are not intended to be used when traveling as they have a very restricted field of view. They are intended to help users read sheet music, watch TV, and view other information when in a seated position.
BiOptic Telescopes
These telescopes differ than the above as they allow the user to walk and otherwise travel safely when using them. The top has an “auto focus” so that objects viewed will automatically come into focus regardless of the distance.
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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
