SOCIAL INTERACTIONS

By: Carmen Willings
teachingvisuallyimpaired.com

Social bonds between children who are blind or visually impaired and their caregivers can be affected when there is lack of eye contact, possible lack of smiling, and frequent  passivity or constant tactual exploration in less than ideal locations.

Providing students with fading assistance in social circumstances is key. Talking with the student about who is involved, what they are doing and why can help the student understand the social context. Although it may be difficult to provide, students need honest and sensitive feedback about their behavior and the impact it may have on social interactions. You can then talk with the student about how they can make judgments about how to change their behavior.

Students must learn to communicate effectively with different people. They must also learn to accept and respond appropriately to suggestions and corrections (ex. show respect for their teachers and others in leadership positions). The strategies identified here may help the student develop appropriate and positive social skills. Help a student learn appropriate social skills by encouraging the student to:

• identify conventional gestures used in social contexts.
• use nonverbal behaviors to indicate interest in speakers and to communicate more effectively.
• respect personal space of others.
• make contact according to cultural norms.
• turn face to speaker and maintain social interaction. Explain that this behavior shows you are interested in what the other person is saying.
• discuss facial expressions (ex. smiling, frowning, etc.) as feelings that occur throughout the day. Help students understand that their facial expressions convey to others how they feel.
• use a tone of voice that is appropriate to the setting.
• recognize behaviors that can cause social isolation.

Adult Interaction Tips

Students need to learn respect adults and to interact and respond to them differently than they would to a peer. Help the student have positive interactions with adults by encouraging them to:   

• respond to an adults attempt to interact.
• initiate interactions with an adult.
• address parents or other familiar adults by name. (But by all means do NOT play the guessing game! It is unfair for the student to "Guess who it is.")
• comply with simple directions and limits from adults.
• demonstrate the ability to differentiate between familiar adults and strangers.
• identify situations in which an adult should not be obeyed. Sadly, we live in a world where not all people can be trusted and not all people have good intentions. The student needs to be taught that it is OK to not listen or comply with some requests.

Peer Interaction Tips

It is important for students to learn how to interact appropriately with their peers. The following are strategies to use in order to help the student develop positive peer interactions:

• When the student enters a new area, make certain that the student understands what other students are doing. 
• Particularly with younger students, describe the students present and the activities in which they are engaged.
• Remind the students to take a moment and listen to groups at play before they jump in with an intrusive question or comment.

• Be prepared to answer questions about blindness simply and naturally.  The other students will probably ask questions about a student with impaired vision.

• Remind sighted students to express their feelings with words. Remind them that the student that is visually impaired may not see their smile, frown, or other facial expressions.

• If the student is learning Braille, consider having the student demonstrate reading and/or writing in Braille to the other students.
• Encourage the student with visual impairments to use the names of others when talking to them.
• Don’t be afraid to let students with visual impairments know that they are expected to answer their friend’s question or respond to their comment.
• Talk about the importance of turn taking. This applies to game play as well as in conversations. Discuss the importance of  listening to discussions and waiting for an appropriate time to comment or ask a question.
• Assist the student in developing the important skill of initiating, continuing, developing and concluding conversations. 
• Encourage the student to demonstrate affection in socially appropriate ways, considering the person, place, and situation.

​Courteous Behavior

Students who are blind or visually impaired may not be aware of conventional courteous behaviors as they may be unable to visually observe them. For this reason, students will need to pay extra attention to environmental cues in order to know how to act in various situations. Modeling and practicing the behaviors including greetings, farewells and introductions in comfortable, familiar settings, will help the student in use the skill in new environments.

In order to help the student develop courteous social behaviors by encouraging them to:

• respond to farewells and greetings.
• apologize to others when appropriate. A student may need support from an adult to help them understand the impact of their actions and how it offended or hurt others.
• use people's correct names and titles when addressing them.
• introduce self to others and introduce people to each other.

• give appropriate compliments and praise to others.
• use acceptable language with consideration for the person or people present, the setting, and the social situation.
• differentiate socially acceptable and unacceptable behaviors in a variety of situations. The student will obtain information from others about appropriate behavior in unfamiliar settings.
• recognize sarcasm, and respond in an effective manner.
• use appropriate manners (e.g., please, thank you).
• follow classroom and school routines and procedures.

​Phone Skills

Students need to be able to make telephone calls, use a phone directory, take written telephone messages, remember phone messages, and use a pay phone. Instruct students directly in these areas and also provide opportunities for students to practice the skills naturally throughout the day and embedded in the units. ​

Material Suggestions...

Getting to Know You: A Social Skills and Ability Awareness Curriculum, available from APH, is a social skills/awareness curriculum for grades K-12 in which students who are blind or visually impaired interact and get to know each other. It provides tools to interact and play effectively, develop and maintain friendships, interpret non-verbal cues, and successfully seek and maintain employment and independent living opportunities as adults.

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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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