Week 1: July 1-6

Core Curriculum Unlocking the Foundations of Reading
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Hi, Megan! As a fellow itinerant TVI, my instructional part of literary instruction for my students sounds very similar to your experience. In my 25 years of teaching, I have done the 1:1 braille instruction, push-in support during reading periods, collaboration with the teachers regarding the materials they use, as well as helping support/instruct classroom teachers and student paraeducators on how best to support our students when I am not in the building/throughout the educational instructional part of the day. As caseload numbers continue to increase yearly (and sometimes monthly/daily!), it is definitely difficult to be able to discern what priorities take precedence over others.

In addition, I do also feel that my lack of specific reading skills (i.e. phonics, sounds, rules, etc.) is a hinderance to my being able to provide such instruction to my students directly. In this sense, I do feel that collaboration is absolutely necessary with the classroom teacher/reading specialist on how to best provide support for our students in the classroom (i.e push-in services, direct aide services, etc.).

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This has been a huge topic this year for us as well. There has been a lot of meeting and discussions with VDOE and many TVI’s within our region. We made it very clear that we did not feel comfortable providing services. The problem is, we are teachers, not doctors or specialists. Vision therapy is medical and carried out in a medical setting under the care of an eye doctor. As TVI’s, we are certified teachers who coordinate and provide specialized instruction for students with visual impairments within the school setting. TVI’s provide accommodations and adaptations of materials to be accessible to students with visual impairments. We were not provided the training needed to truly support students with convergence insufficiency.
We also stressed the need for training and specialist pay if we took that on. It was finally explained that through the eligibility process, if the IEP team felt the student did not qulify for vision services but felt the student could benefit from vision therapy, then the school would pay for the students to be seen by a vision therapist. Even though we do not provide the service in house, we still must consider services.

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Oh my! I knew there was a shortage, however I didn’t know to what extent. As a classroom TVI, I appreciate you and your efforts!

Katrina Thomas
#LiveInPeace

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Hi Katrina, Congratulations on your new position as the Reading Specialist! I loved how you saw a problem and became part of the solution. In my post I mentioned that I started out teaching first grade. My primary mission was not just to teach reading and writing but to show my students the power and joy that comes with acquiring those skills. I know there is a lot of science and neuroscience (and big bucks) around reading instruction, and I don’t knock any of it. However, sometimes we forget about the power of spirit and soul when it comes to teaching and learning. You seem to understand that. You created your mantra; you earned your Reading Endorsement, and you secured your new position. That’s powerful! You mentioned the cognitive deficits that some students have. Sometimes those deficits may be related to the effects of trauma. Sometimes the power of spirit and soul is needed.

During my second year of teaching, a first-grader from a troubled background taught me about the power of motivation. He wanted to read a book that was way above his independent reading level. I tried to make life easier for him by keeping him in an easy reader, but he insisted on the harder chapter book. So we made a deal. I gave him the harder book, but every time he reached a word that he could not read he had to come to me, and we would figure it out. Then he had to start the book from the beginning (kind of like a video game where you have to go back to level one). He agreed to the deal because he was so motivated to read that book. Thankfully, I had enough sense to go against my formal training. In my heart, I knew I could teach the skills he needed through the harder book. We even had a lot of fun, especially when I caught him asking another student to read an unknown word for him. I still recall that student’s name and the lesson he taught me. We both gained skills and confidence!

Thanks for your post. I am cheering you on! I believe you and the braille teacher will make a dynamic duo!

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I struggle with this too. Mostly with my younger elementary students. Some have specific times that students are not allowed to be pulled, usually during the 3-4 different language arts instructional times. Then I have some that prefer that we not pull from their resource classes. I try to grab them first thing in the morning. The first 30 minutes to an hour consist of arrival, breakfast, announcements, etc… Doing this, my students barely miss any classroom instruction. Ideally I would like to pull my student for an hour to an hour and a half then push in to their language arts block. However, we have such huge caseloads that I can only do an hour a day with each of my braille readers. My older students, we plan a time in their schedule, a study hall or resource class for pull out. The problem with that is we do not know until school starts what time that class will be. The beginning of the year is very stressful trying to plan our weekly schedules.

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Your knowledge and tenacity are a perfect match! Just as you remember that student, I am confident he remembers you as well. Thankfully, I have a relationship with my middle schoolers, some of whom I will serve in my new role, as well as most of the other students in my school, so I am definitely going to take a page from your book, hey, see what I did there, and implement ways to provide motivation for their love of reading and all things literacy.

Katrina Thomas
#LiveInPeace

1 Like
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Reading Instruction for Students with Visual Impairments: Whose Job is it?** (JVIB, 2008, p. 197-209)

  1. Which author’s (Blankenship, Swenson, Farrenkopf, or Holbrook) response is most influential to you? Why?

In reading the responses from the four different authors, I found myself agreeing with at least one aspect of each of their individual responses. Blankenship’s response stated that personnel preparation programs have “…little to no opportunity for future teachers of students who are blind or visually impaired….to receive the required coursework in reading instruction…” and I have to agree with her. When I completed my TVI undergrad program, I remember only having to complete two general education literacy courses, but neither one was a reading instructional course. While I do feel that collaborating with classroom teachers/reading specialists has been beneficial, I feel my lack of specific reading instructional knowledge is a disadvantage to being the one to teach my student proper reading protocol/rules.

Farrenkopf’s response also reiterated some of what Blankenship stated. Specifically, that “…it is unrealistic to expect the classroom teacher to teach literacy skills without the assistance of a teacher of students with visual impairments. In addition, it is also unrealistic to expect that the teacher of students with visual impairments…take on the entire literacy program…without the assistance of the regular classroom teacher.” In this respect, I wholeheartedly agree that intense collaboration between the school team members responsible for reading/literacy instruction and the TVI needs to occur on a regular basis. For our younger learners (preK-grade 2/3), this is especially important, as these early learners are just starting to learn the proper rules and sounds of letters and pronunciation, as well as tying in grammatical/spelling rules.

In as such, Holbrook’s response also indicates that a collaborative village is usually necessary in order to create a well-meaningful and accessible educational plan for a student who is blind or visually impaired. Holbrook states, “…the development of reading (and writing) skills takes a team.”, with the team spoken of consisting of the student’s parents, the classroom teachers, the TVI, and administration. In this regard, it seems that no one person can/should be solely responsible for implementing an educational plan. However, with so many “cooks in the kitchen” (so to speak), Holbrook alludes it is equally important to understand there should be accountability checks in place to make sure the student is receiving instruction in the best accessible way possible for their current learning needs.

Swanson’s response to this ongoing topic touches on how TVIs create “authentic reasons for persevering and achieving” braille instructional activities to help students evolve into “strong, motivated readers.” In this manner, Swenson alludes to the fact that an “intense, individualized reading approach for braille readers…may diverge from the mainstream curriculum.” Individualizing braille instruction to each student, such as learning letters of their name and of family members/friends (rather than in alphabetical order) makes instruction more authentic and exciting to each learner. Swanson also indicates that “teaching the braille code within a broader context of literacy learning is both motivating for students and effective.” Once students have a basic grasp of beginning braille literary skills, they not only have an appropriate foundation on which to build these skills within individual braille sessions, but they may also feel more inclined to participate more fully within general education classroom conversations and activities.

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  1. For most of my students, my instructional focus is on skills and tools that will allow students to access the materials they need to be a full participant in their classroom community. The literary materials I use are at each student’s reading level rather than grade level. Seeing most students for 30 minutes weekly is such a small amount of time that I focus on what will get the child closest to independently accessing material daily. I may work on letter reversals, visual motor skills or AT. If during the instructional session I can teach to the 5 core components of reading instruction, I do so. I imbed literacy skills in my instruction every opportunity I have, but this is disjointed from the student’s classroom instruction as I need to make sure I have materials I need to focus on IEP goals. If I am teaching braille, I begin with the student’s full name followed by whole words connected to the letters of the student’s name and use these to form sentences. No matter what age or grade of the student, this is where I begin. I have found that this breeds interest and willingness to learn braille.
    There are many factors limiting my involvement in literacy instruction. Time appears to be the biggest. Finding time to meet with classroom teachers beyond a beginning of the year meeting to discuss each student’s need is a major factor. Often, my schedule and the classroom teachers’ schedules simply do not allow this; other times, the classroom teachers just have so much on their plate that they do not feel they can meet to discuss content, lessons, etc. The proportional amount of time a student is with me in relation to the general education teacher, the intervention specialist or the literacy specialist in a week is negligible (less than 1% of their weekly instructional time) and we have so many things to cover in that short amount of time.
    In an ideal world, there would be more TVIs to serve the students allowing for a closer team approach and greater collaboration. But as we all know, there is a national shortage of TVIs as well as funding to employ them.
    2 I agree with the Blankenship in that teaching a student to read is a community responsibility and that professionals need to collaborate, however, Farrenkopf’s comment that “Everyone has a role to play in teaching children who are visually impaired to read” resonates most with me. Although I do not specifically teach the 5 core components of reading, what I do teach allows students to increase their access to the instruction other professionals on the team teach. No one can know everything or be an expert at everything. My role in the reading instructional process for my students allows me to do what I do best so that the others on the team can do what they do best. My specific role in each student’s education varies depending upon their needs.
    3 If convergence insufficiency negatively impacts a student’s ability to access the general education curriculum and legislation allows for TVI support, a student should have access to help. Many students referred for vision therapy in my district must travel 50+ miles to access the therapy which is expensive and not covered by insurance. Most parents cannot afford the therapy and when they can, the time students are not in school to attend therapy sessions negatively affects their access to educational materials. In-services on how to support students with CI would be greatly appreciated.
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I have found that just as teachers don’t want students to be pulled out of classes, the students don’t want to miss 3-5 hours of class each week. I try to pull middle school and high school students out of study halls, but this means they have more work to take home and they don’t like that. It is getting harder for me to find time to pull students for braille instruction because there are more and more times that I cannot pull them (school wide-intensive reading and math instruction blocks of 60 minutes each on top of language arts blocks). Scheduling with such limitations is getting more and more difficult when one is itinerant.

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Reading Instruction for Students with Visual Impairments: Whose Job is it? (JVIB, 2008, p. 197-209)

  1. 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?

For the past 18 years, as an early childhood special education teacher, my role and involvement in reading instruction has varied greatly. In the beginning of my teaching career I was a preschool special education teacher in which I feel that my role in literacy was to begin to build a few of the basic reading skills and concepts. The focus was on introducing students to books and nursery rhymes as well as basic letter identification and sound production. It was not until I moved to a self-contained class in a K-2 setting when I was more involved in explicit reading instruction.

When going from preschool to a K-2 setting I was able to bring with me basic reading concepts, but I did not even realize how much I didn’t know until I was around older students. I relied heavily on the general education teachers I worked with and veteran special education teachers to explore and expand my knowledge base on literacy instruction. The factor that limited my involvement I believe was simply not focusing on what didn’t apply to me at the time. Resources were and are available and I was exposed to them, but I did not take full advantage as I believed it was not information that would have been beneficial to the grade level and or population of students I was working with. That is a factor that should and could be changed by vertical team meetings and planning.

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Hello, my name is Kellie Walders and I am a Braille instructor of blind adults in Los Angeles. This post is in answer to the first question, which asked which of the authors of the four articles that we read I agree with or touched me the most. Although I found Cay Holbrook’s assertion that braille instruction is the responsibility of parents, TVI’s, and general education teachers to be responsible for reading instruction to be true, I was most intrigued by the article by Anna Swenson. I am familiar with her book Beginning with Braille, which was used in one of my courses at Cal State L.A. when I obtained my credential, and I feel that Swenson provides practical examples regarding how to implement braille instruction throughout the day. For example, she suggests in her article that, rather than teaching braille using a specific isolated curriculum, teachers and parents can integrate the curriculum that most motivates the student, sparks their interest, and has meaning for them (for instance, learning how to read their name or names of family members). Although I don’t teach children, these same practical methods can be applied to adults. Many of my students come to me believing that braille is no longer relevant due to the amount of assistive technology devices available to us today. Therefore, I often have to find ways to motivate them to learn braille; sometimes this involves teaching them to label important items to them, learn to read children’s books to their children at home, or other applicable uses of braille.

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Hello, I am having some difficulty with posting to this group using VoiceOver on my Mac, so this is a continuation of my previous post. I would like to reply to the question regarding what literacy instruction has looked like so far for me. I teach braille to adults, so I have primarily been using the curriculum Braille Too-The Next Generation. After reflecting upon the content of the modules and articles (particularly the content by Anna Swenson), I feel that I have been focusing too much on the braille code instead of applying reading skills to students’ real-life situations. I was also intrigued by what Cay Holbrook said regarding teaching braille according to dot numbers; I have always taught from this perspective (teaching the dot numbers), but I have had students who have had considerable difficulty understanding dot placement which then affects their decoding skills. Because they come to me as adults, I do not have information on their learning styles, possible learning difficulties while they were in school, etc., so I am very interested in how the modules in this course can give me new perspectives on teaching reading.

I would also like to thank the moderators of this course for providing the readings in an html format. I was able to easily access them on my BrailleSense. The pdf documents could be read, but there were some errors that caused some letters to look like bullets. Having the html format allowed me to read the document easily with speech and braille output on my BrailleSense. Thank you forr your patience as I had to make a second post on this forum.

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Reading Instruction for Students with Visual Impairments: Whose Job is it?
Involvement in literacy instruction-
Over my years as a TVI, I have been both directly and indirectly involved with literacy instruction. For students who with low vision who are (large)print readers or dual sensory media, I find that there is a significant amount of role release. Ongoing evaluation to ensure the student has appropriate accommodations, tools, devices and technology is a big part of my role. Providing teachers and staff in-service is very important when a student uses alternate formats including large print, digital and/or Braille. Another important part of my role for these particular students is facilitating registration/membership with APH, Perkins Library and digital book formats (Bookshare). Spending time in the classroom, learning the curriculum, teaching styles and impact of VI on access to the curriculum is so important. This helps to make valuable recommendations and model for teacher and aide how to accommodate for the student.
For Braille learners, especially the youngest ones building their literacy skills, I have provided a higher level of service time. The student will probably require more intensive instruction in both a pull out/push-in model. In service and ongoing modeling to show staff how to accommodate for the student’s unique VI is crucial. A while back, I had a dual media student who had a significant amount of Braille instruction. His literacy skills were way below grade level. One of the special education teachers who worked with the student was Wilson trained and felt Wilson would help. I obtained the Braille version and she and I worked together collaboratively to provide Wilson instruction, tapping into both our unique skills set/training.

Factors that limit my involvement in literacy instruction-
-“Buy-in”- All have to be onboard in order for (Braiile) instruction to be effective.
-Lack of support from staff and family- If there is no carry over in regular classes and at home, it often sends the message that accommodations for literacy instruction (braille, large. Print, audio) are not that important.
-time-flexibility in scheduling
Time- I am not trained/certified in all the reading programs used by my students. It’s a challenging finding the time to train in reading instruction for one student on top of all the other things required of our role.

Some of these obstacles can be overcome, but it takes the whole team to really be supportive and willing to work collaboratively.

Personally, Anna Swenson’s statements resonate with my teaching experiences.
Literacy instruction is a team effort. Teachers of students with visual impairments, classroom teachers, parents, orientation and mobility instructors, and support staff— have a role to play in literacy development. The teacher of the visually impaired is responsible for laying the foundation of literacy skills that will foster strong, motivated readers and writers. Swenson reports that motivation is the key to successful literacy instruction. Investing time in learning about student interests and incorporating them into instruction can build excitement for Braille instruction. When the student sees the value of braille in his/her learning, he is more likely he is to approach it with positivity.

I have 2 examples to share that reflect Ana Swenson’s points in the article…
I had an elementary student following him from pre- grade 4. He is an individual with low vision. Based on acuities, braille was deemed appropriate. He was completely not motivated to participate in braille lessons. However, the size of print that he required really impacted fluency. He kept falling behind. While the school staff was mostly supportive, his parents rejected braille and white cane instruction. Messages the student received at home from his parents conversations led him to believe Braille was NOT for him. If he could see print, no matter the size, he would be solely a print reader. It was so frustrating as I strongly felt I was obligated to teach this child braille, but without home support, I felt defeated.

I had a girl with CHARGE Syndrome from gr 1- grade 5. When I joined the team, the student was learning braille and had a braille goal in her IEP. She needed some pretty intensive instruction to catch up. She had enough vision to read the braille by sight. She never showed much enthusiasm for our session, but she joined and complied. Realizing the development of her braille skills was very slow and the curriculum was not stopping for her, we integrated technology (iPad) to enlarge text. She was not a fan of having something different than her peers and would often toss the iPad off her desk. Eventually she opened up to the idea of an iPad and when Covid hit, everyone was using a device so this issue was pretty much eliminated. We plugged along with Braille instruction , but I never saw her really “get it.” One day after a stressful session, I asked her if she wanted to learn braille and if she thought it was an important skills for her to learn. She very quickly and assertively answered “NO!, why would I need this if I can see?” After that I pivoted my thinking and strategies. I backed up and started to talk with her about braille and other alternative formats and tools that support a variety of disabilities. We watched videos. We explored environmental braille and how using that might help her be more independent in the future. She began to warm up to braille and I often partnered up with O&M to use environmental braille/signage while out on community lessons. She became a Perkins student as a sixth grader, so I do not work with her anymore. I felt like we accomplished valuable literacy skills after having the conversation with her.

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Question 3 – The Eye’s Role in Learning to Read made me re-consider the way I have been thinking about convergence insufficiency. Prior to reading the OSERS 2017 memo, I was certain that students with convergence insufficiency were not eligible for vision support services. I evaluated many students at that time and wanted to help but did not think it was possible due to eligibility requirements. In addition, I was not sure how to help. I wondered who was qualified to help students who clearly had needs related to eye movement issues but had 20/20 visual acuity and no visual field issues.

After reading the OSERS 2017 memo, I was aware that, “State eligibility guidelines and definitions for 'visual impairment including blindness’ may not exclude a child with convergence insufficiency or other visual impairment from meeting the IDEA’s definition of ‘visual impairment including blindness’”. That was helpful information (and surprising to me), but I was still not sure what to do. As it was mentioned in the “Eye’s Role in Learning to Read video, no training was offered to help teachers of students with visual impairments know how to support students with eye movement disorders. I explored the resources that I could find, but they were not very helpful.

In The Eye’s Role in Learning to Read, Dorinda Rife provided a helpful explanation about eye movement and its role in reading. I learned that even though I was not directly taught how to teach a student with convergence insufficiency, there are a lot of strategies and adaptations that I do know about that can be helpful. For example, I know how to teach visual efficiency skills which may be very helpful to students who have eye movement disorders. In addition, I can make suggestions to help students with issues related to lighting and visual fatigue. I want to continue to learn more about how to help students with eye movement disorders so I can be a valuable member of each student’s team.

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I completely agree with what you said, “you need to know what you don’t know…” I found this so true when I moved from teaching preschool special education to a K-2 setting. The best resources I had when I first made that move were the general education teachers I worked with and the veteran special education teachers in my building. I did not pay much attention to the professional development on concepts for students that I was not directly working with. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I could not agree more about collaboration. I think it is so important to share ideas, especially with beginning TVI’s!

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Such a spot on statement about going to school 25-30 years ago and not remembering courses in reading instruction. I also think this topic and approach has changed so much over the years, by the time we do a deep dive into 1 and put it into practice, the method changes. I think PD around literacy instruction is important to do year to year and I also think it would be beneficial for vertical team meetings on reading so teachers get a better idea of what is expected in the following and previous grades.

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I am also a classroom teacher at a school for the blind. I agree with our roles encompasses it all. I tell others we are doing the job of at least three teachers; Content teacher, TVI, ECE, and many other roles that are needed in our classroom. Karen did ‘nail it’ when she said the flaw was in the instruction of the TVIs. TVIs that there other certifications don’t cover reading instruction are at a huge disadvantage. I love that you will use student need and interests to guide your teaching.

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I had a similar situation with a student needing to learn Braille. She was not interested because it made her “look different”. She did not like any attention brought to her. Once she realized Braille was not the enemy, she was willing to learn and make progress. She also did not want to listen to books on Bookshare but finally realized it was a great resource.

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From the four articles shared for our review, the article written by Cay Holbrook spoke volumes to me. Even though I am a TVI, I am a 2nd-grade inclusion teacher who co-teaches reading and math. I work for a small district with a few students with visual impairments. This year, I will teach a student with a visual impairment directly in my classroom. I am excited to work with her this coming year. It definitely takes a village.

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I agree with your post. I am an elementary special education teacher as well as a TVI. Even though my day-to-day job is teaching 2nd grade, a few years ago I worked with a high school student with a visual impairment. Since I am not familiar with the upper grades, I relied on his teachers to help guide his needs. Since he was in high school, he was able to advocate for himself and share his needs as well.