Case
Visually Impaired Student

Mrs. White has a student who is visually impaired. The student works with a vision teacher three times a week, but the teacher pulls the student away from instruction to work with her. The vision teacher does not collaborate with classroom teacher about teaching methods to help the student, so the teacher feels like she is not serving the student appropriately. Aside from preferential seating and enlarging texts on assignments, what are some other ways that the teacher can meet the needs of the student?

Posted on: 10/20/14 | Views: 974
Solution #1
Mrs. White needs to collaborate with the vision teacher to find out what methods she can use in the classroom to better serve the student's needs. Preferential seating and enlarged texts may not be enough. She needs to know the severity of her student's impairment and plan accordingly. It may involve the use of assistive technology.

I think the teacher is actually doing a great job in giving the student extra time, a seat in the front, tactile objects to facilitate learning and big text. I think that the teacher is actually doing such a good job that the vision specialist probably feels like she does not need to council the teacher on anything. I feel like the two of them need to have a good honest conversation. Brew some tea.

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Solution #2
Last year, I taught a student that was close to being legally blind. The student had to read braille and was provided with an IPad to enlarge all of the documents used in class. I teach science which consists of many pictures, illustrations, and demonstrations so I had to be creative with how to include the student in these visual activities. One time, the class completed an activity on the scientific method where they were to use the scientific method to experiment with how many drops a penny could hold. Obviously, a penny, water, and a dropper were difficult for the student to see so I had to modify. Instead of a penny, I used a large paper plate. For the dropper, I used a turkey baster from the kitchen and I put blue food coloring in the water so that they could see the blue water. The student was able to do the activity exactly like the other students. Through this trial, I found that its quiet simple to modify any task that you do with your regular students. It does require a ton of creativity!
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Solution #3
The student may need some kind of assisstive technology to view printed material.
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Solution #4
Mrs. White should try and work more hand in hand with the students vision teacher. If there has been no collaboration between both teacher they are only doing a disservice to said student. She needs to set up a meeting time with the vision teacher and discuss ways to make sure the student is getting everything he/she needs to succeed in the classroom.
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Solution #5
The teacher could have a meeting with the parents of the child and suggest that the child meet with her vision teacher after school so it does not effect her education in the classroom. The teacher should also make sure to let the student know that the teacher can always answer her questions or help her if she cannot properly see the questions on her assignments.
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