By Carmen Willings teachingvisuallyimpaired.com Updated October 4, 2017
The process of referring a student with a suspected visual impairment for school based vision services begins when there are concerns about a child's vision or the lack thereof. If you have a concern about a child's vision, the first step is to take the student to an optometrist or ophthalmologist.
For younger children in particular, it is important to find a doctor who specializes in working with children. If the child has additional disabilities, it is particularly important to locate a doctor who specializes or is experienced in working with students with multiple disabilities. The ophthalmologist or optometrist will need to determine the cause, receive a visual diagnosis, approximated visual acuity, and determine if the student needs to be referred for school based vision services (or early intervention for children birth through age 2). The following is a list of the ABC'S of vision problems. Some of these concerns may be related to other medical conditions or medications. It is always best to address any concerns with the student's pediatrician as well.
Appearance
One or both eyes turn inward or outward, or one is slightly higher or lower than the other eye.
Crusty or red eyelids or red eyes.
Eyes that are in constant, rapid motion.
Drooping eyelids(s)
Pupils of different sizes, or different reactions to light and accommodations.
Glands that are enlarged, inflamed, or otherwise infected.
Excessive tearing, light sensitivity, lid spasms.
Behavior
Lack of or reduced eye contact.
Shows poor eye muscle coordination.
Covers or closes one eye for critical seeing.
Thrusts head forward to see distant objects.
Tilts head to one side for critical seeing.
Tries to "brush away" a blur.
Rubs eyes often or blinks often while reading or looking at books.
Frowns or squints when looking at or trying to see distant objects.
Stumbles often over objects, is awkward
Holds book, toy, or picture too close or too far away.
Complaints
Sensitivity to light.
Burning or itching of eyes or eyelids.
Seeing double, or blurred vision.
Headaches, usually after a critical visual task.
Nausea or dizziness.
Eyestrain, fatigue.
School Related
Difficulty copying from the board.
Difficulty with handwriting.
Confuses similar words.
Needs more light to read than expected.
Reading comprehension deteriorates with time.
Doesn't read to the end of a sentence before going to the next.
Head moves instead of eyes when reading or looking at pictures.
Loses place when reading and skips lines.
Needs to use finger as a line marker.
Difficulty solving maze puzzles and word searches.
Math errors due to misalignment of numbers.
Vision Concerns Checklist
This checklist, available free for download on the Printables page, can be used to help those outside the vision field identify vision concerns and know when to make a referral for vision services.
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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
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
