Adapting Literacy Materials for a Kindergarten Student with CVI Phase III

Submitted by Charlotte Cushman on Sep 06, 2019

Spring CVC Words worksheetIn their webinar Trust the Process: A Case Study in Literacy and CVI, TVIs (Teachers of the Visually Impaired) Amanda Whelan and Joy Wilson share tips and guidelines to adapt literacy materials for a Kindergarten student (Krish) with cortical visual impairment (CVI) Phase III.  They demonstrated some of the tools that they use to adapt worksheets for Krish, and they outlined the steps in the process.

 

1.  Identify the Purpose of Each Worksheet to Guide Modifications

In the beginning of a typical week, when the classroom teacher hands the TVI a pile of worksheets, it's important for them to sit down and figure out and know what the purpose of each worksheets is, so they could make the best decisions about appropriate modification.  Was the purpose of that worksheet to practice fine motor skills through cutting or coloring? Or was the purpose of those worksheets to learn his colors, numbers, letters, et cetera? The purpose drove the modifications. 
 
When planning the modifications, we always tried to take into consideration his strengths and his needs, his capabilities, with the goal of his being able to complete the work. 
 

2.  Using Apps to Adapt Worksheets

As itinerant teachers, it's helpful to get everything on an iOS device and adapt it that way, in order to facilitate the whole process.
 

You Doodle Pro

You Doodle Pro enables users to incorporate color and high-quality images.  You can eliminate clutter on the page, and highlight the salient features of something.

Examples of a worksheet before and after it has been modified using You Doodle

Stick Around

Stick Around can be used to replace activities that involve cutting and pasting, when the focus is academic content. 

Examples of worksheets before and after the Stick Around app was used

 

Using the You Doodle Pro App to Adapt Worksheets

The video below shows a step-by-step demonstration of how to adapt a worksheet using the You Doodle Pro app.

Download the transcript of the webinar, which includes the videos.

 

Using the Stick Around App for Worksheets

Using iBooks in the Classroom

iBooks give you the ability to put on any of guided reading textbooks, the read-aloud books, the library books that he takes out, even the library read-aloud books onto an iPad.  The pinch and zoom feature allows him to reduce complexity by zooming in on a specific feature that the teacher is talking about.
 

 

Using Good Notes to Write on Worksheets

Students can access worksheets using a stylus or Apple Pencil, as well as a keyboard.

 

Collage of adapting literacy materials for a kindergarten student with CVI Phase III