Hello! I like your insight into the OSERS 2017 memorandum. I agree that on the one hand, the lack of eligibility modifiers allows some students who would not otherwise qualify to have services. But at the same time, removing modifiers such as acuity, results in higher caseloads and TVI shortages. Here in WV they have removed the acuity in their eligibility statement. This has in some cases lead to higher caseloads in some counties or in other cases lead to a county who does not have a TVI scrambling to find one or making a students primary as OHI so they don’t have to provide a TVI. I believe that it also leads to students who really need vision therapy, not getting the actual supports they need because as we know. TVIs can not do vision therapy.
You make many good points in your post. I myself do not necessarily feel comfortable teaching literacy instruction because it is not my background and while I hate to admit it, I agree with you and Karen Blankenship in that I believe TVIs go need a dual certification in both GE and in VI (I hate to admit to that because I don’t have the GE certification). I hear it all the time in my state that TVIs are just access teachers and I feel that we are so much more than that. If we are really teaching the ECC and letting that guide our work, then we are way more that just access. At the same time, I feel that you can’t fully teach the ECC unless you hit on certain literacy skills.
- What has your involvement with literacy instruction looked like in your role? What factors have limited your involvement in literacy instruction? Are those factors things that can and should be changed? Why or why not?
First off, I found all of these readings to be very engaging and thought provoking, allowing myself to reflect on my teaching strategies and expectations. For context, I have been a TVI for ~10 years and have worked as an itinerant within small school districts, at a collaborative serving 50+ students across 7 school districts, as a substantially separate teacher working with a student with VI and multiple disabilities, and now most recently as a TVI for twin boys who have the same VI and are learning the braille code.
In past TVI positions, I have worked with a multitude of students, some of which are non-readers, print readers, and braille readers. In my current position, the twins I work with had been learning grade 1 braille and reviewing the code last school year. When I was hired this past school year, I worked closely with the core subject teachers to develop their lesson plan materials into braille.
In my collaborative approach with the teachers, I found that I was taking a large part of the literacy on during my 1:1 lessons with each twin, pulling each twin out for a large part of their class time. I also had pressure from the parent regarding concerns about stalled progress and lack of fluency in braille. Looking at my role through the lens of this course has allowed me to see how important it is for the teachers, specialists, paraprofessionals, and myself to work alongside one another to bridge the literacy gap, and in my situation working on grade 1 to grade 2 braille.
As I continue to progress with the twins each year and throughout the rest of their schooling career, I hope and plan to develop a system with each of their teachers in addition to their parents in regards to literacy and overlap in my teaching of the braille code with their teaching of functional reading and writing skills.
While reading your response, I found a lot of parallels to my current position. I work with a set of twin boys who have the same VI and are learning the contracted braille code. I was new to this position this past school year and worked closely with the core subject teachers to ensure materials were developed in braille ahead of time for classroom instruction. I also was sending home materials that the twins had completed with me to practice their fluency.
I wholeheartedly agree with you that the roles of everyone working with students with VI must overlap regarding literacy.
- Which author’s (Blankenship, Swenson, Farrenkopf, or Holbrook) response is most influential to you? Why?
In reading “Reading Instruction for Students with Visual Impairments: Whose Job Is It?” the author that influenced me the most was Blankenship. She hit on several key factors and issues that I have either felt or come across in my time as a TVI. For example, she states that “many programs do not provide instruction in the five core components of reading instruction”, in my coursework in preparation for becoming a TVI, we did have a “reading” course, but it wasn’t a course on how to teach reading. It was more or less a course on how to modify materials for students or strategies that could be put into place. She also states that “some teachers report that they learned the braille code but not how to teach braille or how to infuse it into literacy instruction.” Once again, I feel that this was true in my case. We did in fact learn the braille code but I can’t say that we learned how to effectively teach braille or how to integrate it into literacy instruction. As an itinerant, I feel that at times we are on our own island with nobody who can help us because they don’t understand, nor want to understand what we do. I can’t tell you the number of times I have been called a Vison Therapist because we are not seen as teachers in many cases.
I also found Anna Swenson’s article to be the one that resonated with me the most. I agree with you that teaching braille in conjunction with reading is imperative as separating the two results in isolated learning and the inability to apply reading skills with braille skills. I work with twin boys who had a rather disjointed braille introduction at the beginning of their school career and I just started working with them this past school year. Their core subject teachers would supply me with their lesson plans and materials in order to give me and the paraprofessionals time to modify. Much of my 1:1 time was spent teaching the reading skills coupled with the catch-up braille skills. Since I am following the twins all the way through 12th grade, each year is going to be different!
It can be a challenge to teach someone with more than one disability. I encounter students at where I teach, I mostly teach teens who finished high school and want to go into college or work, and sometimes older adults when it comes to computers. There are times where I have to come up with new teaching strategies to teach them how to use a computer even with a screen reader and I have taught them how to use their Braille devices if they have any by navigating a document or how to read a book on the device with the reading skills they have.
Repetition of a lesson does help since there are times where the student does not understand what is being taught the first time and may need more work to understand it and having extra help in how to read or getting ideas on how context clues work in a paragraph might be needed.
- What has your involvement with literacy instruction looked like in your role? What factors have limited your involvement in literacy instruction? Are those factors things that can and should be changed? Why or why not?
My involvement with literacy instruction has been a general education teacher, special education teacher, teacher of students with visual impairments in the school setting and now as an early intervention teacher of students with visual impairments. As an itinerant TVI in a rural region, it has limited my involvement in literacy instruction. With being the only TVI covering five school districts I seemed to spend more time traveling and not able to spend the quality time needed. In addition, it can also depend on the team of teachers each year. I have found some general education and special education teachers are available to work collaboratively. When we all work together, student success rates increase. I wonder if these factors can change with teacher shortages. A common trend in rural Colorado is to hire virtual TVIs. Students are taken to a separate office for online instruction. It makes me question if these skills can be transferrable to the general education classroom and if there is any collaboration with the team.
- Which author’s (Blankenship, Swenson, Farrenkopf, or Holbrook) response is most influential to you? Why?
I felt all of the author’s provided valuable insight. Blankenship’s alarming data regarding students reading at the proficient level and how important it is to have highly effective teachers. She also made me think about my licensure program for becoming a TVI. The main focus was to learn the braille code and pass the braille competency test. We did not have any instruction as to how to teach braille. I relied heavily on my general education and special education background. Farrenkopf’s design and organization for a large school district seemed on target despite the many challenges of teacher shortages, budget constraints and student needs. I believe large school districts would benefit from her suggestions. As I mentioned in question #1, it is difficult to coordinate all these needs with a focus on literacy instruction in the rural setting when there is one TVI. In Holbrook’s article, the biggest take away was it takes a village for reading instruction. Now that I am an early intervention teacher of students with visual impairments, I have the opportunity to work with parents to encourage their role in their child’s literacy development. I stress literacy exposure and implementing tactile books, braille books and auditory books at a very early age. Having a foundation and high expectations is crucial. I agreed with Swenson’s article stating teaching braille means teaching reading. In addition, Swenson made me rethink inclusion for the beginning braille readers. By providing the significant one-on-one instruction during the early years creates the opportunity for inclusion as the student progresses throughout their educational career.
Eligibility Determinations for Children Suspected of Having a Visual Impairment Including Blindness Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (OSERS, 2017)
- How did The Eye’s Role in Learning to Read shape or alter your opinion of serving students with Convergence Insufficiency?
The explanation of convergence insufficiency helped me really understand how this affects a child’s fluency and reading development. By understanding convergence insufficiency and how it affects literacy development helps me explain to the educational team.
- How does the OSERS 2017 memorandum contribute to your understanding of eligibility for students with visual impairments, including blindness? Evaluate the implications of removing modifiers from state level definitions of visual impairment, including blindness.
The Colorado Department of Education Blindness/Visual Impairment have done a really good job providing trainings and explanations as to how to evaluate the eligibility for students with visual impairments, including blindness. It was explained as going through several doors or steps when determining eligibility and needs.
I really liked your thoughtful comments. I have always believed in providing instruction in an inclusive model but Swenson really made me think otherwise. When co teaching with the general education teacher, I felt we both took responsibility for literacy instruction. I was able to teach braille and try to embed it into the classroom literacy instruction. It took a lot of planning and collaboration with the classroom teacher and some years I had more success than others - depending on the teacher. I also thought it was interesting there was a TVI based full time at a school.
3. How does the OSERS 2017 memorandum contribute to your understanding of eligibility for students with visual impairments, including blindness? Evaluate the implications of removing modifiers from state level definitions of visual impairment, including blindness.
I am clearly going to date myself here in my response, but back in the 90’s visual impairments often fell to the old standard of students meeting the guidelines when they had the standard “20/200 in the better eye with correction, 10 degree field loss, or functional vision loss” to meet eligibility. Back then this left out tons of students that we all felt should qualify. As with anything that evolves, we watched this change slowly over time and to begin to include other visual categories such as CVI, etc. I found that students with convergence insufficiency also began to become predominant while some LEAs attempted to challenge students qualifying for services. In using the OSERS document it helped to open the door to visual disabilities that in the past may not have allowed students to qualify. Their statement that an impairment in vision that, “even with correction, adversely affects a child’s educational performance. (partial sight and blindness included)” is what opened that door. When completing functional vision assessments and learning media assessments using multiple tools we are able to show when vision adversely affects student performance allowing for a wider net to include more students with visual impairments. The importance of interdisciplinary teamwork is vital to this process for including more students, as while vision impacts their performance, it is not just that and the assistance and teamwork of OTs is also a critical piece to the puzzle to work together for the success of some of our additional students. OSERS has provided students who may otherwise have gone unserviced with opportunities!
- Which author’s (Blankenship, Swenson, Farrenkopf, or Holbrook) response is most influential to you? Why?
I feel that each person had very good points and very pertinent information that we all should be thinking about when making decisions and planning for the best instruction for our students. The most influential author to me was Holbrook. When she said that sighted children learn to read using letter sounds but often we teach blind children letters using the dot positions something just made sense to me. I think that sighted children pick up what a letter looks like using their vision and when teaching a blind child braille I should be more focused on just having the student feel the letter and identify the sound of the letter rather than using the dot positions. I also better understand why I could be doing this, as when I was learning the letters in braille I learned using the dot positions and so it can slow me down, and I do not what this to be a concern for my students.
Swenson’s article resonated with me the most since I have been a Braille user myself. I have encountered recewntly where some students that came to the center where I teach at had said that they weren’t taught Braille due to how obsolete except it hasn’t. Despite it being old it still holds a high importance in literacy.
Being ale to teach it in a regular classroom would have teachers be able to keep the student up to the other students by having passages embossed early on or have the books provided in a BRF file if they can use a Braille device if they are more advanced by learning Braille at an early age. There have been technical advances in teaching Braille to children since we do have different devices that can provide more of a fun way of learning. Things have changed in the learning field.
I think your points are spot on. I feel ill-prepared to teach reading skills to students who are braille learners, but also students who are dual-media learners. As I learner it, much like you was to learn the code but never really how to teach it to a child in the best way. At the time I didn’t know what I didn’t know and so much of this makes a lot of sense now.
It was great to read the collaboration with the eye doctor. I agree that so often eye doctors don’t always understand our role. They also recognize the frustration from parents and the student with convergence insufficiency.
I think it would be helpful to provide additional trainings for TVIs to help the team incorporate accommodations and strategies for classroom instruction.
Do you have an resources from Colorado on this process that you could share?
What has your involvement with literacy instruction looked like in your role?
As a part of the students’ educational team, my involvement with literacy instruction includes pre-Braille instructions to my preschooler, reading stories to and making stories books for my elementary students with developmental disabilities, ensuring that the print size, video magnifier and CCTV is appropriate for my elementary and high school students. I provide training to the student and their classroom teacher on the device and frequently check-in with the student to ensure that they are using the device. I observed my pre-Braille preschool student quite a lot, which gives me information to be able to plan for the next activity. I also wanted to ensure that what I am doing is not routine but is learning and teaching opportunity for her and for me considering that we have a long journey ahead of us. My elementary students with developmental disability seem to always appreciate my presence. I always make the lesson exciting and engaging with stories, songs, tactile story book and sensory materials to the point where students without vision impairments comes to sit next my student.
What factors have limited your involvement in literacy instruction?
The factors that limit my involvement in literacy instruction is that some teachers do not understand my role as TVI to the student and I am sometimes seen as just the “vision teacher”. With my pre-Braille preschooler I made sure I spend a lot of time in the classroom and even so it seems they are not understanding that I was there to support and not to judge. Although sometimes after an IEP meeting and they get a better understanding of my role and objectives with the student they seem to be a little more understanding of my involvement in literacy instruction.
Are those factors things that can and should be changed? Why or why not?
These are factors that can be changed by when the attitude shifts to what is best for the student. I think when we realize that one size does not fit all or one teaching style does not fit all students. Classroom teachers get nervous when there is a braille student or low vision in their classroom because they are thinking it is going to slow them down because the student is not going to be able to keep up. Teachers in the past has ask me “isn’t there a special school that they could go”. Holbrook was not keen on the village idea because who would be accountable and be in charge of the village. I think just as there is no braille curriculum a village could work depending on the experience, willingness to commit and tenacity of who is involved in the village. Students more from grade to grade each school year, some year they may have a committed and experience teacher who is willing to go the extra mile. Maybe the village is not going to work with every student in every school district, every county and in every state but I think when there is a village embrace it and if there is an opportunity to create one do so because the one person that will benefit is the student. I think with the technology that is now available and with months of teaching on Zoom a few barriers were broken down and with planning and support maybe a new type of village is emerging.
Which author’s (Blankenship, Swenson, Farrenkopf, or Holbrook) response is most influential to you? Why?
Reflections on Teaching Reading in Braille by Swenson was most influential to me. When she states “Learning to read is hard work for many children, both sighted and blind. There is so much to remember!” Her statement stuck something in me because this past school year while doing alphabet and sight word drills with one of my kindergarten student who has low vision he kept saying “I don’t remember”. This is even when he just saw the word less than five minutes before ironically, we were playing a modified version of memory using sight words flash cards. (This student is a print reader.) I also like Swenson’s perspective on the letter of the week that is commonly used in the kindergarten classes may not necessarily be the most effective but instead the young student may be motivated by letters that have an emotional connection. I find the statement comforting that it is ok to work on Braille letter “L” if Braille letter “E” is the letter of the week and it is frustrating to the student.
In the last few years I have had students that I had to assess with convergence insufficiency that were not qualifying for services under any other area. Thankfully the 2017 OSERS documents is what I referred to to enable services for these students, as well as a platform to support them when the LEA questioned their qualifying status. I fully agree with you that I too did not fully trained to work with these students but found working with the OTs became critical to the hands-on process (and students who needed outside vision therapy received services, where some just needed additional follow up work that could be done in the schools). There is no doubt the job of a TVI is intricate and not a one size fits all for each diagnosis but I am glad to see that students with convergence insufficiency are now being recognized and included.
I feel the same as you on many of your points. In my public education experience, I find it difficult to get teachers to understand the importance of the students visual impairment has on their learning. They often just ask yes/no questions to the student, which of course is easiest but not the most beneficial. I think its a constant struggle for teachers to adapt or even to support a student in using additional tools, like a magnifier in the classroom and unless the students grades are not good no one is motivated to support the students.
Eligibility Determinations for Children Suspected of Having a Visual Impairment Including Blindness Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (OSERS, 2017)
How did The Eye’s Role in Learning to Read shape or alter your opinion of serving students with Convergence Insufficiency?
The Eye’s Role in Learning to Read leaves me with more unanswered questions. I am concern since I am not trained as a vision therapist what would be my role as a TVI to provide vision services to the student. I did a functional vision assessment on a student that has Convergence Insufficiency and the only thing I came away with that as a TVI I could possible assist with was that she preferred black background with white letters. Other than that, and frequent eye breaks I was concern that I would do her more harm than good since I do not understand patching or the other strategies that a vision therapist uses.
How does the OSERS 2017 memorandum contribute to your understanding of eligibility for students with visual impairments, including blindness? Evaluate the implications of removing modifiers from state level definitions of visual impairment, including blindness
The OSERS 2017 memorandum of visual impairment including blindness do not contain a modifier allowing any impairment in vision and even with correction that adversely affects the child’s educational performance to be a eligibility criteria for special education and related services. My question is who will be responsible for providing these services? Will the State education agency of the local education agency be responsible to hire vision therapist or is this a responsibility of the TVI. My understanding of eligibility since reading this article means almost every student could qualify as having a vision impairment. The statement of “if that condition, even with correction, adversely affects the child’s educational performance (e.g., the child’s ability to read and write).” seems to open eligibility to different category of students with other learning disability other than vision.
Wow, teaching math to a student with a visual impairment can be tough. I remembered when I was in Informal Geometry since I am visually impaired myself, I was diagnosed at 15 and did have some accommodations set for me such as having lights on during movies if an assignment occurred. One thing during my math class was math tests that were printed on an old prnter that printed in a shade of purple. I could not see it and shown it to my TVI and she was surprised with how light the print was and told me to see if the teacher could print it in black. He tried and it was purple and did have a classmate draw over everything with black pen until the teacher got a proper printer to print in black.
think with most teachers they don’t get shown what is out there, as in they are going into the unknown with their groups of students which they get a perfectly normal group and then switch to a blind student and think, “They did not tell me about this factor, what do I do?” Which does cause deer in the headlights moments