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Use these articles to help teams understand what vision contributes to learning, how visual impairment can affect concept development, and how to make instruction more meaningful.
Many parents are told their child receives TVI services, but few are told what quality services should actually include. A TVI does more than enlarge materials or help with braille. Quality services should help students access information, develop concepts, use technology, build independence, and pa
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Many parents are told their child receives TVI services, but few are told what quality services should actually include. A TVI does more than enlarge materials or help with braille. Quality services should help students access information, develop concepts, use technology, build independence, and pa
Teams often rely on interpretation when determining whether a student understands. One person may say the child recognizes the object. Another may say the child enjoyed the sensory experience. Another may say the behavior was random.
Many districts have skilled assistive technology teams. Those professionals support educational technology, communication tools, accessibility features, and device troubleshooting across disability categories. Their expertise is valuable.
A Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments is an educator whose expertise lies in understanding how visual impairment affects access to learning. The TVI's role is not to improve eyesight. The role is to help the student access education, build skills, develop concepts, and participate meaningful
Many AAC interventions focus on vocabulary, device navigation, symbol selection, and communication opportunities. Those pieces matter, but for students with visual impairments and CVI, another question is essential: Does the student understand the concept represented by the symbol?
The Expanded Core Curriculum identifies areas of instruction students with visual impairments may need: compensatory skills, orientation and mobility, social interaction, independent living, recreation and leisure, career education, assistive technology, self-determination, and sensory efficiency.
Vision is not only the ability to see. It is one of the primary ways children gather information, organize experiences, build categories, understand routines, and connect language to meaning.
Sighted children learn thousands of ideas by watching. They observe people, routines, environments, signs, social interactions, and materials all day long. Much of that learning is never formally taught because adults assume children naturally pick it up.
