Social Studies Adaptations

By: Carmen Willings
teachingvisuallyimpaired.com
​Updated May 25, 2024
Collaboration between classroom teachers and Teachers of the Visually Impaired (TVIs) is essential for ensuring that students who are blind or visually impaired can fully access and participate in social studies instruction. The following strategies and considerations can be helpful.
  1. Role-Playing and Hands-On Activities: Engage younger students in role-playing activities where they can explore different occupations and cultures. Provide opportunities for students to dress in cultural attire, listen to music, sample foods, and use tools related to the culture being studied. Incorporate real objects and materials to make abstract concepts more concrete and accessible for all students.
  2. Use of Maps and Visual Materials: As students progress and study topics beyond their immediate surroundings, provide instruction in reading maps, symbols, graphs, and charts. Collaborate to ensure that accessible maps and materials are available for students. Promptly provide accessible materials to ensure that students can participate alongside their classmates.
  3. Creation of Accessible Materials: Help create accessible materials, such as tactile maps, models, and adapted diagrams, to support students' understanding of social studies concepts. Collaborate closely with classroom teachers to determine the specific needs of students and ensure that materials are ready and available when needed.
  4. Instruction in Reading Visual Materials: Provide explicit instruction in reading visual materials such as pie charts, bar graphs, timelines, and other visual representations commonly used in social studies. Support students in understanding the information presented and help them develop strategies for interpreting and analyzing visual data.
  5. Audio Descriptions for Videos: Stress with classroom teachers the importance of ensuring that audio descriptions are provided for students when incorporating videos related to social studies instruction. If audio descriptions are not available, ensure an adult is available to provide verbal descriptions of visual content presented in the videos.
By collaborating closely and implementing inclusive practices, educators can create a supportive learning environment where all students, including those who are blind or visually impaired, can actively engage in social studies instruction and develop a deep understanding of the world around them.

Adaptations in Materials

Tables  and Charts
  • Leave space between groups of information, but keep the data in the correct columns.
Graphs
  • Separate bars with spaces.
  • When filling in bars, use diagonal lines as horizontal and vertical lines can be confused with the bar shape.
  • If filling in graphs with textures, be careful to not create visual clutter.
  • When using a line graph, be sure to use lines that vary significantly and are easy to follow.
Maps
  • Keep the information presented on the map as simple as possible.
  • Solid textures are easier to discriminate than just outlining shapes.
  • Use materials that are tactually different when creating map bases (cardboard, corkboard, ceiling tiles, styrofoam), lines (twine, plastic coated wire, yarn), points (hole-punched circles, nail heads, or small beads), secondary information (felt, soft fabric), and significant information (sandpaper or textured paper and fabric).

​Classroom Visitors

If it is not possible for your class to go off campus, consider inviting a guest speaker/visitor to talk about their job and bring objects for the students to explore.  Invite a guest related to the unit to come in and discuss information related to the topic and provide hands-on experiences for students. Encourage students to listen attentively to the speaker. Encourage students to use active listening skills. Encourage students to relate what they heard with prior knowledge.

Accessible Social Studies Materials

Picture of braille transcribers kit
Braille Transcribers Kit: Countries and Continents ​from APH, is a collection of embossed and printed outlines of maps commonly found in history, geography, and social studies textbooks. The embossed sheets can be used as templates when you create tactile maps. Features can be added using tactual graphics tools, craft ink, textures, and braille labels. They can also be used as masters for swell paper tactile graphics. APH recommends making a photocopy of images onto capsule paper, add labels, lines, and symbols, and produce the raised image by running the graphic through the heating machine.
Picture of braille transcriber's kit
Braille Transcriber's Kit: U.S. Maps from APH, is a collection of embossed and printed drawings of figures commonly found in history, geography, and social studies textbooks. Maps include North America, including Canada, the United States, and Mexico, the U.S. outline, U.S. with 50 states outlined, Western region states, Eastern region states, and the original 13 colonies. The embossed sheets may be used as templates for thermoforming. APH recommends making a photocopy of images onto capsule paper, add labels, lines, and symbols, and produce the raised image by running the graphic through the heating machine.
Picture of tactile globe
Globe: Tactile and Visual This table model from APH is a standard 12" political globe covered with a tactile clear plastic overlay. Among the overlay's features are continent outlines, higher and lower elevations, and raised latitude and longitude lines.
Picture of Map Study I Kit
Map Study I Kit: Maps Represent Real Places. This kit from APH introduces basic map concepts by having students map a classroom and other known environments. Students learn to find objects and to identify map symbols representing those objects.
Picture of Recognizing Landforms kit
Recognizing Landforms: An Audio-Tutorial Program in Map Study . This program from APH uses characters on cassette tape to introduce 40 geographical concepts, such as distinguishing mountains from valleys, channels from bays, etc. It includes 10 tactile landforms and cassette tapes.
Picture of relief map for desk use
This relief map, available from APH, of the continental U.S. with elevations that are exaggerated 20 times. Ocean floors are incised with latitude and longitude lines. This plasticmap uses high-contrast paint to depict water areas as blue and land surfaces as yellow and brown.
Picture of state maps collection
This State Map Collection from APH is a set of embossed and printed outline maps for a region of the United States. APH recommends adding to the images with tracing wheel lines, craft ink, glued-on textures, etc. Braille labels can also be added.
Picture of tactile town
Tactile Town: 3-D O&M Kit Although this kit, available from APH, is designed to be used to teach O&M skills, it is also a great tool to use when teaching local geography units such as neighborhoods and towns.
Picture of US puzzle map
U.S. Puzzle Map ​ This large, colorful, and tactual map from APH is topographical. It features tactile mountains, rivers, and state capitals. State abbreviations in braille as well as latitude and longitude lines. It also includes masking overlays for assessment purposes.
Picture of world at your fingers
World at Your Fingers ​. This set of tactile world maps, available from APH, features a large tactile reference map showing the major oceans and land masses of the Earth using high-contrast raised surfaces, braille and print labels, and textured lines and areas.
Picture of world maps
World Maps. These thermo-formed tactile maps from APH are a comprehensive aid to geographic instruction and orientation. The tactile maps include all the continents, regions, and countries of the world. They differ from other tactile maps in that they use clear variations in height and texture, allowing a greater amount of readable information in a given space.

ECC Instruction

Teaching the ECC
Thematic units
Compensatory Skills
Concept Development Functional Skills
Alternative Communication Emergent Literacy Braille Slate & Stylus
Tactile Graphics Nemeth Braille Code
Access Classes Cranmer Abacus Organization & Study Skills Time Management Listening Skills Instruction 
VI Assistive Technology
Social Skills
Self Determination
Sensory Efficiency
Independent Living
Orientation & Mobility
Recreation & Leisure
Career & Vocational