SCHOOL CAMPUS ADAPTATIONSBy: Carmen Willings
teachingvisuallyimpaired.com The school will need to ensure that there are special considerations for students who are blind or visually impaired. These include providing ADA signage, playground and other school campus adaptations. The following suggestions and strategies will help you adapt the school campus in order to assist the student who is blind or visually impaired. ADA Braille SignsADA braille signs are not only helpful in your buildings, but are also required by federal law under the Americans with Disabilities Act. They are not just helpful for the braille reader. The words are in large print, and simple pictures, the signs are uniform and do not have visual clutter making them also beneficial to students with low vision as well as students with cognitive disabilities in general. All signs with any characters or numbers written on them must have a translation in braille. Signs are required for classroom identification, restrooms and directional signage and at elevators. Room identification signs must be placed on the wall next to the latch to allow a person to read it without the safety risk of getting in the way of the door opening.
The LunchroomStudents who are blind or visually impaired will need special considerations in the lunchroom which can be difficult to navigate. If the class eats in a lunchroom, an initial orientation (and in some cases, several opportunities) to the lunchroom may be necessary so the student with a visual impairment can learn where trays are located, where lines form, and so forth. Peers or staff members may need to give the student physical assistance or verbal directions to get to an empty seat until the student develops a routine. It is helpful to encourage cafeteria staff to remind the student, if necessary, about the day’s food selections. Encourage the highest level of independence possible for each student. Students should be encouraged to carry a tray even at first there is only an unopened milk carton on the tray. The goal is for the student to eventually become independent. Gradually add more unbreakable and non-spill items to the students' trays until the student can be completely independent. To learn more about how to promote mealtime independence, read Mealtime Independence.
Fire Drills & Emergencies and SafetyFor fire drills, the student will most likely not be able to access diagrams posted near doors. The Orientation and Mobility Specialist (O&M) may work with the student on learning routes from the classroom and from other locations in the building, ideally in advance. However, during an emergency, the mobile student should be instructed to take hold of the nearest moving adult or student and quickly and quietly follow others. Assigning one student the job of being the student’s regular guide in emergency situations may not be a good idea because the assigned student may be absent or may panic in an emergency. It is also a good idea to consult with the school administrators regarding fire and other emergency evacuation procedures.
General Safety Tips
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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:
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:
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 
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 |
