While working as a teacher of the blind and visually impaired, one particular teaching moment has really stayed with me. A six-year-old student of mine was learning how to read braille; she had a nice little braille book in front of her and I was...
Multiple Disabilities
Posted by Kelly Brown
How the Classroom Teacher, Speech Language Pathologist, and Teacher of Students with Visual Impairment came together to support one another and increase student engagement with a Reading Group
“It just seems like her days could be so much...
Posted by Angela Powell
I have been a TVI (Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments) in Kentucky for 5 years and I am currently working on my Assistive Technology certification through the University of Kentucky. For course work this semester I was given the assignment to explore...
Posted by JennieO
What can you do with your students who are visually impaired in the middle of winter in the state of Maine (or anywhere else)? Mountain biking? I don’t think so! High cliff diving? Not a chance! Cross country skiing? Well yes, that of course, but...
Posted by Liz Eagan
Starting with a Book about Positional Concepts
Recently I had the idea to make a position book for a student learning braille. My thought was to focus on the positional terms under/over. I made the book with tactile objects (flower, dominoes, hand sticker...
Posted by Megan Mogan
Let’s start with the good news. You have emerging readers with visual impairment who have learned the meaning of tactile name symbols for people in their lives. The bad news? You are considering crossing that skill off your list of “Things...
Posted by Kate Hurst
Pegboard books provide a way for young children who are blind or visually impaired, including those with multiple disabilities, to begin to explore books. Based on the work of Dr. Lilli Nielsen and her Active Learning approach, this format uses real...
Posted by Amber Rundle Kahn
When I first started working as a TVI, I was under the impression that my students would want to work with me -- just like I wanted to work for my teachers when I was growing up. The first braille learner student I worked with was a dual-media student who...
Posted by Liz Eagan
Cooking is a great way to incorporate all areas of the curriculum in a motivating, practical activity or series of activities. Literacy (recipes in large print, braille, or audio), math (showing the real-world application of counting, adding and...
Posted by Jaime Brown
Summertime can be very relaxing. Sometimes though, long summer days lead to boredom The kids have played with everything. It’s too hot to go anywhere. And you don’t want them to just sit in front of the television all day....
Posted by Linda Hagood
This is the third part of a 3-part series on Yoga and Literacy. See also Using Yoga to Support Language and Literacy Development and Yoga Activities to Increase Literacy Skills.
One application of yoga which I have especially enjoyed as a...
Posted by Diane Sheline
Make sure your student or child with CVI has a variety of literacy materials this summer that are relevant and enticing. The Yellow Bucket and the Red Shovel is easy to make and can be adapted, depending on the color of bucket and shovel you happen to have...
Posted by maloneyk
This is the second part of a 3-part series on Yoga and Literacy. See also Using Yoga to Support Language and Literacy Development and Addressing Narrative Language Goals in Yoga Activities.
A long, long, time ago, I was originally...
Posted by Liamsmom
I have always wanted to make my son an accessible garden that my son could learn to take care of independently. I was hoping a garden could be something he could learn to enjoy and learn from.
Earlier this year I applied for the...
Posted by Jaime Brown
Meaningful summer activities can be a struggle to plan when it is too hot to go outside. It can be helpful to make the long summer days enjoyable by planning a daily activity for the week. For example, Mondays are sensory days, Tuesdays are art,...
Posted by Linda Hagood
Yoga is rich in teaching opportunities, and can be used to support learning in a wide variety of skill areas-- improving movement patterns and spatial concepts, social interactions, emotional regulation, and language and literacy skills. It is a perfect...
Posted by Linda Hagood
Through the years, I have co-created many stories with many kids—some with autism, some who were blind, some who were deafblind, and some who were just Interesting Kids (without any diagnoses at all!). Sometimes we just make up a story together, other...
Posted by Cheryl Kamei Hannan
My interest in bringing storytelling to life grew out of a growing interest in Waldorf-inspired education. While story boxes have been around in our field for many years, I wanted to try to create a full multi-sensory experience to bring stories to life...
Posted by Charlotte Cushman
Purpose of Experience Books
Personal book is motivating
How many of you scrapbook or keep a journal to remember important events/people in your lives? An experience book is a way for a student with deafblindness to record such...
Posted by Linda Hagood
I’ve been helping kids tell their imaginative stories for almost twenty years. I once believed the myth that kids who have autism, and sometimes kids who have visual impairment or deafblindness, are not creative—that they are rigid and...