It’s that time of the year again! The start of a new school year always brings a range of emotions: excitement, worry, anticipation, wistfulness to say goodbye to summer… We hope that these ideas and resources will help to get the...
Struggling Readers
Posted by Liamsmom
My son Liam is 7 years old and will be starting 2nd grade this school year. He is deafblind, uses tactile American Sign Language and is a braille reader.
I love TACK-TILES®. I have often been asked how we used Tack-Tiles with Liam...
Posted by Tracy Fitch
How many of us serve students who have both a severe visual impairment and multiple disabilities, including intellectual disabilities? How many of us have attempted literacy instruction or braille with this population of students? And, if you have, how...
Posted by Gwyn McCormack
Creating a holistic approach based on a theme or story enables children who are visually impaired to access and enjoy literacy and numeracy activities in a meaningful way.
The film "Frozen" has been tremendously popular...
Posted by Linda Hagood
Introduction to Standard Tactile Symbols
The Developmental Model
Standardization: Moving from Concrete Tangible Symbols to More Abstract Tactile Symbols
The System is Sustained
Continuum of Symbol Systems...
Posted by Tara Mason
John is in tenth grade and has a visual impairment and cerebral palsy. He is attending high school in a one-to-one iPad school district, and his team would like to investigate the effectiveness of him using an iPad as Assistive Technology (AT). This device...
Posted by Marnee Loftin
Lire en français.
School is one of the most important factors in the life of a child. It is the source of many of their feelings of self-esteem and competence as a person separate from their family. Not surprisingly, difficulties at school...
Posted by Liz Eagan
Tactile books are a great way to foster the development of literacy skills with any child who is visually impaired, including children with other significant disabilities. These can be used at home for enjoyment, to support understanding and anticipation...
Posted by Marnee Loftin
In discussions of learning disabilities as well as struggling readers, adults often focus upon the academic difficulties that these students are experiencing. In some instances, the emotional and/or behavioral difficulties that often accompany academic...
Posted by Laurie Hudson
In Brown Bear Part I, posted earlier on Paths to Literacy, I used a short video of a teaching segment to demonstrate what the concepts in my iBook, “Introducing Braille,” might look like for a struggling reader with multiple impairments. ...
Posted by Marnee Loftin
Determining the presence of a specific learning disability is a complex process. Most parents and Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments (TVIs) have a general idea of the procedure, but it is important to know several things about the process...
Posted by Laurie Hudson
THE BIG PICTURE
In my iBook “Introducing Braille,” I largely used videotaped examples of bright, enthusiastic young students to show ways to “Make It Fun,” “Make it Developmental,” and “Make It Meaningful...
Posted by Marnee Loftin
Jonathan has been receiving educational services since the age of thirteen months. His family has been an active participant in this process always ensuring that Jonathan has been surrounded by braille in his home and with books available for reading...
Posted by Marnee Loftin
Marnee Loftin is a psychologist, who recently retired from Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. She is the author of Making Evaluations Meaningful and has presented widely about learning disabilities in students with visual...
Posted by Roz Rowley
Mary McCarthy and Justine Rines are co-authors of this post.
This is the third of three posts on the Wilson Reading System® and Struggling Braille Readers. See also Why We Love Using the Wilson Reading System® with Struggling Braille Readers...
Posted by Marnee Loftin
Parents and Teachers of the Visually Impaired (TVI) often have questions about struggling readers. These are:
How do reading skills develop in children?
How does this development vary for children with visual impairment?
How can...
Posted by Mary McCarthy
Roz Rowley and Justine Rines are co-authors of this post.
This is the second of three posts on the Wilson Reading System® and Struggling Braille Readers. See also Why We Love Using the Wilson Reading System® with Struggling Braille Readers ...
Posted by Rinesj
Mary McCarthy and Roz Rowley are co-authors of this post.
This is the first of three posts on the Wilson Reading System® and Struggling Braille Readers. See also Implementing the Wilson Reading System with Braille Students ...
Posted by Frank Mead
I have been a teacher in the Secondary Program at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts for more than 30 years, and I am retiring this spring. I was asked to share some of my thoughts and strategies on...