ORIENTING TO ENVIRONMENT

By: Carmen Willings
teachingvisuallyimpaired.com

It’s essential to teach students who are blind or visually impaired to navigate safely from one location to another.  The goal for students is for them to travel independently from any point in the classroom to any other point in the classroom as well as be able to travel from the classroom to significant locations in the school building. Remember, if a student's vision is impaired, they will not be able to observe activities that are available in their environment unless they are shown what is available through guided exploration.

Gathering Information From the Environment

Students should be encouraged to use all their senses to gather information about their environment. Interpreting the information they gain through the students usable vision, hearing, touch and smell can help the student establish and maintain their position in space.

• Audition. Students can develop auditory perception of objects by using sound waves through echolocation. Students can also use environmental sounds to judge time. For example, hearing students bustling in the hall signals that it is time to go to lunch.
• Touch. The sense of touch allows a student to determine the shape, size, temperature, texture and weight of any given object. This can be used for academics, but also for all areas of activities of daily living (e.g. identifying food, distinguishing clothes, etc.) Air currents can also be helpful in knowing if doors and windows are open.
• Smell. The sense of smell can be helpful for identification of areas (e.g., kitchen, cafeteria, clorox in bathroom, etc.). Smell can also help warn of danger. Smell can also provide information about others as well as personal hygiene.

Strategies to Encourage Environmental Exploration

1. Use your voice to help the student.  Describe with clear directions and in a normal speaking voice where you are and how the student can get to you.
2. Explain what is happening around the student. Show where sounds and smells are coming from. As the student explores, describe everything with variety, quality, and richness.
3. Orient the student to the classroom/school/playground and furnishings within those areas. Let the student know if you’ve changed the room around or left a door open. 
4. Avoid over-protection.  Remember that all children get bumps and scrapes occasionally.  Safety is important, but over-protection can be just as detrimental to a student as under-protection.

​Strategies to Develop Environmental Awareness

In the classroom, the student should learn routes, but still be shown the "whole".

In the community, use tactile, auditory, olfactory, and visual exploration accompanied by meaningful verbal descriptions. This will help the students make sense of the world around them. Outings into the community should be important components of students program )pet stores, grocery stores, airports, restaurants, gas stations, post offices, taxis, office buildings with elevators and escalators, bus rides, bowling alleys, etc. 

Develop an age-appropriate arm strengthening program to support physical ability to use protective technique and teach good protective trailing technique.

Consider having the student use a feather duster to practice trailing walls, fences, railings and play equipment, maintain contact and walk parallel.

Attach interesting items (balloons, braille messages, stickers, etc.) along familiar trailing surface for student to locate and to increase motivation for maintaining contact while trailing.

​School Campus Orientation

Orient the student to their classroom, playground and school building including any additional classrooms the student will be going to.

Show the student where their cubby or locker will be and walk them around the classroom and school building, pointing out important or helpful landmarks.

Let the student explore the different work stations and areas that they will need to travel to. This would be a good opportunity to tell the student what activities are available in each of the stations and what the rules and expectations are for each of those areas.

Orient to the Playground

It is important to orient or familiarize the student to the playground prior to their first day whenever possible. This can be done by first showing the student any climbing structures and guide them in finding the walls or fences that they can use to trail with a hand (if appropriate).  Students who are visually impaired need support from staff during periods of free play on the playground. Make certain that students with visual impairments play and talk with classmates rather than sit on the sidelines. Describe choices of activities that are available. Support the inclusion of the student in group activities.

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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.

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