ORGANIZATION & STUDY SKILLS

By: Carmen Willings
teachingvisuallyimpaired.com
​Updated October 28, 2017

Students in school are expected to know and implement organizational strategies and skills in order to manage their materials and be able to retrieve assignments. For this reason, it is important for students who are blind or have visual impairments to organize and care for the special tools and materials that they use. Organization is an important skill to work on early to best prepare the student for their academic career as well as their future job/career.

Obtain Own Belongings ​

It is important to encourage the student to obtain their own belongings and take responsibility for independently storing and retrieving personal items when prompted (e.g. books, lunch, gym shoes, coat, etc.). Although it may be tempting to want to speed up the process or help the student, it is important for the student to obtain their own belongings. This not only helps the student learn where items belong but also helps teach the student responsibility. Using a consistent and accessible labeling system throughout the classroom will assist students in locating materials.

Arrange and maintain personal spaces ​

It is important for all students, but particularly students with visual impairments to maintain organization of their school materials. Maintaining an organized space will reduce visual clutter, keep materials from getting damaged, and will make the retrieval of materials easier. ​Encourage the student to arrange and maintain their own personal spaces (cubbies, lockers, backpacks and desks). All students need to learn to keep their areas organized. This will help the student locate needed materials and will also prevent materials from getting damaged. Students will need to label and mark their materials in a system that works for them and is accessible (using large print, braille, or tactual/picture labels).

School Locker

Use adapted lock for securing school locker. A combination lock can be challenging even for sighted students. Using a key and lock is probably the easiest lock for students to manage, but others are available and the students unique needs should be considered.

Maintain Notebooks, Binders, & Materials

Setup/maintain notebooks and binders by adding large print or braille labels. By labeling materials with labels, the student will be able to quickly locate the needed notebook or binder. A color coding system works well for some students, but not for all. Consider each students unique visual and learning needs when helping the student set up a system.

It is also important for the student to organize and maintain their materials and supplies by adding large print and/or braille labels to them. Similar to labeling binders and notebooks, labeling containers that store materials will help ensure that things will be put back in the same spot. Also, placing the students name on their items will help them stay on top of what belongs to them.

Maintain Personal Address, Directories & Passwords

Help the student maintain a personal address/phone directory and passwords. In this day and age most people store their contacts in their smart phones, however, it is still ideal to have a back-up location for storing addresses and phone numbers. Whether a student uses electronic means or large print or braille, the student needs to create an organized system that they can easily retrieve information independently. Students will also need to have a location and system for storing usernames and passwords for any online accounts. ​

Care for Assistive Technology ​

Encourage the student to take care of equipment and assistive devices in personal possession. Assistive technology devices can be very expensive. Whether the materials have been purchased by the family or by the school, the student needs to learn the importance of taking care of the materials. This includes cleaning the materials when they get dirty, storing them properly, and transporting them safely. The student also needs to learn how to problem solve when something goes wrong with any equipment. Who should they contact? Can they fix it safely on their own?

Utilize tools for Organization

Utilize tools to organize papers (e.g., stapler, paper clips, notebook binders, pocket folders, index tabs, etc.). Students who are visually impaired or blind cannot casually observe how others may use tools to organize their supplies and may need direct instruction and practice in how to operate the tools in order to use them safely and effectively. Students also need to be instructed in which tool is the best to perform a specific job.

Access Reference/Resource Materials

Skills in reading resource materials should be practiced so the student will be prepared to use them in class.

• Older students in particular will need to demonstrate map, chart and graph reading skills as presented in educational environments. Refer to the Social Studies page for suggestions for adapting maps, charts and graphs.
• The student will need to access print information in the school library including reference materials (e.g., glossaries, dictionaries). These are especially difficult skills for braille readers to acquire. For this reason, specialized instruction and repeated practice will be especially important for braille readers. Students can also be instructed in locating resources online or by utilizing Siri on their iPad or iPhone.
• The student will need to practice and refine their skills, and may also need direct instruction in identifying key words, dates, definitions in text books and in lectures.

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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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