Teaching Students who are Blind and Visually Impaired (2024)

FAQs

What can educators do to help students who are blind or visually impaired? ›

Convey in spoken words whatever you write on the chalkboard. Read aloud subtitles when using media resources. Assist the student in finding note takers or readers as necessary. Reserve front row seats for students who are visually impaired.

Students may use readers, Braille books, tape-recorders and computer equipment that give them access to required course material. In addition, some students may be able to use large print books, electronic visual aids or other magnifying devices for readings, and/or a large print typewriter for writing papers.

Students with some vision may be large-print readers. Many will be unable to read examination questions and handouts in standard print or read their own handwriting when answering examination questions. They may also be unable to take their own notes.

It is essential to have a well-organized classroom that is free of visual and physical clutter. As a rule, avoid excessive furniture, materials and equipment, but don't go to the extreme of having your room resemble an institution. Be sure that the activity areas are well-defined.

To teach blind children, you simply have to make sure things are tactile. Objects that can be felt. Objects that make sounds to illustrate concepts, like those pop up books with audio. They may not be able to read the print, but the pop up pictures can be felt.

The TSVI provides instruction in tactual skills in a variety of environments and functional applications, assisting children with visual impairments from infancy to use their fingers and hands to explore, identify, discriminate, and interpret all tangible materials in the environment.

Provide Contextual Information: Help the student understand social situations by providing detailed information about who is involved, what they are doing, and why. This can enhance their understanding of social dynamics and help them navigate interactions more effectively.

These strategies include tactile modeling, mutual tactile attention, and the use of a hand-under-hand approach to interactions. Most children with deafblindness have residual hearing and vision.

The Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC) is an essential curriculum that is considered foundational in preparing students who are blind or visually impaired for success as adults.

For visually impaired individuals, tactile learning becomes a crucial modality to gather information and understand the world around them. On the other hand, individuals without visual impairments can benefit from a combination of motion and tactile learning.

What do students with visual impairment need? ›

Some kids may need more time to travel between classes, complete assignments or activities, and take tests. Know about assistive devices, technology, or other learning aids. Kids may use magnifiers for reading or read from large-printed books and handouts. Audiobooks are a good idea.

Students with visual impairments: Have limited ability to learn incidentally. This affects how they form concepts and develop schema or frameworks for understanding new ideas and vocabulary that provide essential foundation skills for comprehension and abstract reasoning.

Usually, that position is on the home row, but really any consistent position to start from is fine. To help practice this, I used to tell students to pretend that they had super glue on their fingers when they were at rest and when practicing the home row where fingers don't need to reach and press other keys.

Braille, Audio, Tactile Diagrams, Technology, and the Hand-over-Hand Technique are some of the methods that teachers employ to guarantee blind children receive the same level of education as sighted children.

Create recommendations to maximize the learning environment. Determine need for alternative media in the areas of reading and writing such as Braille or large print. Provide direct instruction of alternative media in the areas of reading and writing such as Braille or large print.