Visual Sensory Impairments - Differential Skills Based Curriculum

One of the biggest challenges that visually impaired students face every day is the overwhelming mass of printed material that they are unable to see.  This holds them back from being able to read standard size text in notebooks, classroom handouts, and schedules. They also cannot access material written on the chalkboard or an overhead projector, and cannot participate when media, such as slides, are used. To overcome some of these obstacles, students with low vision usually require magnification in some form to read the print. Magnification is provided through decreased working distance, enlarged print, optical magnification devices, and electronic magnification devices. Some of these visual aids include: closed-circuit television reading aids, magnifying glass, telescopes, headband aids, and of course, Braille.

For literacy, there are 2 Braille alphabets:

·         Grade 1 (alphabetic Braille) is referred to as the simplified Braille. This Braille matches print exactly.

·         Grade 2 (abbreviated Braille) is more common and much faster, although it has many rules underlying its structure and its many abbreviations.

There is also a Grade 3 Braille (Nemeth code), which is code for math and scientific symbols.

Students who are visually impaired can participate in practically all aspects of school activities; however, reading is one potential area of difficulty, often because of slower reading speed. For the students who use braille, extra attention must be paid to English spelling forms. Math may be the most problematic because students need to explore the dimensions of shape, and build up a vocabulary of mathematic terms.

Education for children with visual impairments can be grouped into 7 major areas to form a curriculum that combines general curriculum goals, with specialized instruction.  The areas of focus include the general curriculum; use of special aids and equipment; communication skills; visual stimulation; orientation and mobility; personal competence; and vocational guidance and career education.

When children with visual impairments are in a classroom, special accommodations must be made to ensure the children’s safety while at school. It is important to walk the child through the classroom, pointing out landmarks. Assign the student a buddy if needed, but do not move furniture in the room without informing the student.  It is best to cut down lighting glare on items such as glass and desks, by covering them with papers if needed. Know how, when, and under what circumstances that the child can use their vision most effectively. Give many verbal instructions, and stress legibility, not size, in students printing, because most low-vision students write in a size compatible with their own visual capacity.

Some behavioral approaches are also referred to as skill models or task-based prospectives.

These focus on the mismatch between school tasks and the unique abilities, patterns and learning styles of students with learning disabilities.

Direct Instruction: Refers to activity – focused highly scripted teacher instruction that incorporates numerous opportunities for students to respond.

Steps in direct Instruction:

1.       Review and check previous: do a review and homework check, and reteach if necessary.

2.       Rapidly present new concepts or skills in small steps.

3.       Provide guided practice under close teacher monitoring.

4.       Check work for understanding; provide corrective feedback and reinforcement.

5.       Provide plenty of independent practice in seat work and homework.

6.       Review Frequently

The components of Direct Instruction include explicit, step-by-step teacher procedures that account for student mastery, immediate feedback, practice, and gradual fading from teacher direction. Learning is achieved by identifying the specific objective to be attained, arranging appropriate stimuli to elicit the responses, Programming learning sequences in small steps, and reinforcing desired behaviors.

Metacognition:  Knowledge of one’s own cognitive processes. The steering, regulating, and orchestration of cognitive processes - which in turn rely on cognitive processes, which then rely on cognitive objects, such as language, attention, and memory.

What are Metacognitive Processes?  

Within the general concept of metacognition, there are two types of behavior: knowledge (or cognitive strategies or control executive strategies) and skill (learning strategies).

Knowledge is the overachieving, organizational process - the general strategies used in accomplishing a learning goal.

Learning strategies (skills) refer to an individuals approach to tasks, and are either generic or domain-specific (problem-solving skills).

Winser, M. (2008). Children with Exceptionalities in Canadian Classrooms (8th ed.).
Toronto, Canada: Pearson Prentice Hall, pp. 159 - 161 & pp. 380 - 388.