Your insight about verbal phonics and braille instruction is helpful. I was thinking about how that would work and the benefit to the student. It makes that once a student gains the verbal and auditory phonics skills to sound out word, the application of braille would come easier. I also commented on this question as I feel that pre-teaching concepts and new vocabulary is so important to help students focus on the information in the general classroom with a better understanding.
- Considering the interconnectedness of decoding and language comprehension highlighted in Scarboroughâs Reading Rope, how might teachers identify and address specific areas of weakness or gaps in understanding for students with visual impairments, particularly in phonological awareness and decoding?
- How might collaborative planning and instruction between TVIs and general education teachers be structured to ensure alignment, particularly in terms of addressing the interconnectedness of language comprehension and word recognition?
When teaching Braille students to read they do have difficulty with phonological awareness and decoding, I feel due to all the contractions they have to learn and the rules when and when not to use them. When they see a b they automatically know it is but. However, in the word butter, they need to know the sounds of each letter to sound the word out. Therefore, it is important that the students can spell out each word in contracted and uncontracted. I also found students having difficulty understanding the difference between the one-letter alphabet words and putting 3 letters advancing to 4 letters together to make a single word. For example, the word cat may initially be read âcan a thatâ. So going back and working on the phonological sounds of each letter will be necessary. Usually, this has been worked on in the classroom, but going to the classroom teacher and collaborating to have to teacher help with this concept could be helpful. Also, a contraction may make it difficult to break a word up into natural syllables when asking them to decode by syllable by syllable and then put the syllables together to make up a word. The VI student needs to have an understanding of the different sounds each combination of letters makes. This is why I included question 4 also in my discussion. This is where collaborative planning with the general education teachers comes into play. If the classroom teacher is doing a unit on words with the ou or ar sounds the VI teacher can teach the student the ar and ou contractions and have the VI student practice reading the same words until they can automatically recognize them. However, some beginning Braille readers want to scrub each letter instead of feeling the whole word by scanning left to right which makes it difficult for the student to recognize the word automatically. As a VI teacher, we have to work on getting the students to recognize the word automatically as other students learn sight recognition but instead, they have tactile recognition. Finding out what spelling words and vocabulary words are being worked on in the classroom is important so the VI teacher can work with the VI student to learn how to sound each word and teach any contractions that are in words the student has not learned. Having the student read the same story as what is being read in class is important, even sitting in class during the lessons to listen to the lessons and then going back and work on trouble areas including Braille contractions and what might be the problem areas the student may have that is preventing the language comprehension and word recognition which leads to reading comprehension is important.
Yes, I agree using tangible items always helps the student understand objects mentioned in a story that they are not familiar with. I like taking them to a museum and finding out if they can have special permission to touch the displays. I was on a field trip with a group of visually impaired students to a Science Museum and the curator allowed them to touch and feel dinosaur bones, stuffed animals, and other artifacts, and to a zoo where the students could pet different exotic animals. Since I am also an O&M instructor I have the opportunity to take them to various places for their lessons to help my students background knowledge and experience going to different places, even hiking in the woods or to a lake. An antique store can be a fascinating place to younger students who have never seen a typewriter, rotary telephone, or record player. There are lots of other items. Taking them to a pet store that sells animals and asking an employee if the student can pet a rabbit, guinea pig, or ferret, could be a good experience. I also try to use descriptive words to describe things I cannot take the student to such as the Grand Canyon, mountains, ocean, and tactile drawings.
I like your statement, âDue to limited incidental learning opportunities, children with visual impairments may not build background knowledge at the same pace as their peers.â Blind and Low Vision Students cannot obtain information like sighted students which should be obvious but the regular classroom teachers and those who develop curriculums do not always think of this. Some curriculums are so visual it makes it difficult for the VI student to even know what is going on during a reading lesson because it is so reliant on pictures to understand the story. Therefore it is the VI teacherâs job to modify the material and consult with the classroom teacher to describe pictures. VI students have great difficulties with inferences, metaphors, comparisons and contrasts, sequencing, and figurative language. So it is important to take extra time to point these out in the stories. If even one strand is broken, the background knowledge, vocabulary, language structure, verbal reasoning, literacy knowledge, phonological awareness, decoding, and sight recognition the student is going to struggle with reading comprehension. If the student is struggling with decoding and word recognition causing the reading to be so slow and labored there will be no comprehension of the story. If the student can read fluently but does not have an understanding of what he or she is reading, does not have the vocabulary to understand the words, the verbal reasoning, and literacy knowledge, it is just words but there is no reading comprehension. Sometimes I have to break down a story, fiction or non-fiction, and help interpret the story by using descriptive language and add meaning for a student before he or she can understand the story.
Thank you so much. I believe all of us are learning alot from each other! thank you for the kind words.
- How might collaborative planning and instruction between TVIs and general education teachers be structured to ensure alignment, particularly in terms of addressing the interconnectedness of language comprehension and word recognition?
This is a very sensitive subject to me as I have tried to work with general education teachers over the years. They have daily planning periods built into their schedules but they are set to the school schedule. This allows all teachers of a certain grade level to be able to meet with each other and once a week meet with the Literacy and Mathematics specialist. Bi monthly these meetings are also attended by the administration of the building. This creates a massive jigsaw puzzle of moving pieces that I have to try to fit into my schedule.
In a perfect week, I would get any books for the next week they will be reading in IRA (interactive read aloud) along with targeted vocabulary. This would allow me time to get a copy of the book for my student and possibly preview it with the student if necessary. If the student is a braille reader I could provide a braille copy for them. (Having two complete setups for producing braille at different schools has been very helpful.) Previewing the book would also allow me to target specific words or concepts that might be challenging for my student. This would include braille contractions and how they might complicate how the word is sounded out. Another advantage would be to review the pictures and any information that would only be expressed in them and provide descriptions.
The targeted vocabulary can also provide opportunities for further explanation during pull out sessions or provide the paraprofessional with actual objects from the book. During my first year of teaching I had a third grader and the story was about an elephant. I asked her how big an elephant was and she held her hands about a foot apart. She was referring to her only experience with a stuffed animal elephant. We then looked up how tall and long an elephant could be and walked it out in the hallway. She was amazed and couldnât wait to tell her mom when she got home.
Another example of the interconnectedness of language comprehension and word recognition was with this same student during an MCAS essay question. It was about finding a buried trunk and what might be inside. She recognized the word trunk but only as being in a car. She wrote an entire essay about what she might find in her motherâs trunk! If that was an in class assignment then we could explore the word and what other meanings it could have. The next week I had a plastic treasure chest in my office and I had her explore it and explained to her it could also be called a trunk. We talked about the many different meanings and looked it up in the dictionary. She laughed so hard and was very honest with me saying, I guess I didnât do too well on that part of the test!
I love this response Lacey!
My district uses a program called Lively Letters. The teacher has a script and there is a step by step program on the smart board, but everything on the board is read out loud. My kindergarten student loved it so much and looked forward to it everyday. We would do his braille pull out the block before and he was very motivated to complete his work and get back to class for it. He loved the rhyming words the clapping and especially the substitution part. His classmates were so amazed at his skill and wondered how he could see the board without being able to see! He loved the step by step instruction and the predictability of what was expected of him.
One of the only draw backs was that the audio had a slight British accent and he would tell us that is not how you say that!
Virginia, I agree with background knowledge being a major obstacle for students with significant visual impairments. I already shared in my post about one of my students confusing a trunk of treasures with the trunk of her motherâs car. It is very difficult to provide the specific knowledge without a prior experience.
This year the entire school went on a field trip to watch a minor league baseball game. My student has been blind since birth and came to the US when he was three. The only sport he knows anything about was soccer. In order to prepare him for the field trip, I brought in a baseball, baseball glove and a bat. He got to explore them and play around with them. I asked him if he had any questions and we discussed what a baseball was like. He learned that there were four bases and that you had to run around them. We went out to the little league field and praticed running around the bases. We started at home plate and walked all the way down the foul line to the fence. After exploring the whole field we went back and I showed him a replica field his paraprofessional had created on a piece of braille paper. It included all four bases, the pitchers mound and all the positions that the players occupied. We attached it to a rubber mat and used push pins to demonstrate players on the bases. He took that to the gama and one of the paraprofessionals on the trip sat with him and explained what was happening and used the push pins to show where the ball was hit and the outcome. He had a really good time and loved that he could be as loud as he wanted. So, after all that preparation his first words to me the next day was, wow that was long!
YES! I really like it when the Para is attending my lesson with my student also. It saves time so I donât have to repeat what we worked on afterwards. I also enjoy the experience bags/boxes. I feel they are even more effective than the story boxes. I always try to question the parents about daily living skills they are working on at home, then make a âbagâ for them to use. I always ask for feedback to see how itâs woring and make adjustments when necessary. I also like how you said you ask for PD to put these bags/boxes together. I am definitely going to ask this year for that. Thank you for your reply. I enjoy reading your posts.
I agree with your post. It always amazes me how school staff are so confused sometimes with our vision students and their reading capabilities. I also use the studentâs assignments from class and incorporate them with my lessons when I arrive. I focus on strategies using the CCTV, etc⌠as you stated in your post. THen all of a sudden as the student learns these strategies AND WHY they need to use these, the reading is improved along with confidence and self esteem. I also like to focus on making sure my students can talk about their vision including the âwhyâsâ for the acccomodations they use. Thank you for your post!
Scarboroughâs Reading Rope
- In what ways can educators incorporate real-life experiences and tactile learning activities to help students with visual impairments build their background knowledge and vocabulary skills, thus enhancing their reading comprehension abilities?
In reading this question, I was reminded of an article I kept from 2013, âDad, Whereâs the Plunger?â by Richard Holloway. In this article, Richard, describes how he helped his blind daughter, Kendra fill in some important information gaps. His daughter Kendra had asked if they had a plunger as she wanted to know what a plunger feels like. They had a plunger however, not a clean one to touch so he takes his daughter to their first Home Depot Expedition. And then that leads to more store trips containing different merchandise for Kendra to tactually explore. He even bought some decommissioned traffic lights for Kendra to explore as how do you explain traffic lights! There are lots of community learning options with hands-on learning for our students. Iâm also copying a picture of an idea using alphabet bags to expose young learners to alphabet letters and objects starting with that letter.
I love all the ways you helped your student learn about lobsters. I absolutely agree that we have to provide as much hands on opportunities as we can. Finding animals for our students to touch and feel can be challenging for sure. In Washington our school for the blind has a wildlife safari with dozens of taxidermied animals for students to experience. Its so awesome to be with students when they realize what the animals feel like and what their actual size is.
How might collaborative planning and instruction between TVIs and general education teachers be structured to ensure alignment, particularly in terms of addressing the interconnectedness of language comprehension and word recognition
Collaboration is key to our students being successful in their learning. With my younger students, I strive to have weekly checkins with general education teachers to make sure that we are aligning with whatâs happening in the classroom. This allows me to pre-teach concepts and to make sure that my student is working on concepts heâll use in his classroom. Since background knowledge is so challenging without incidental learning, its critical for me to make sure my students understand the vocabulary theyâll be working on and that we explore words and their multiple meanings.
No particular techniques. I feel it is teacher to teacher. I agree with the resistant to this idea. Many will work with me, but many times you as the TVI or special education teacher do most of the work or it is assumed you will take on the responsibility of all the work with the student or students.
Collaborative planning sessions between all members of a studentâs team could take place on a regular basis. During these sessions, general education teachers could disclose the upcoming units that the class will enter. The TVI could then determine areas that the student would benefit from experience like the ocean poem addressed in the module presentation or if there are vocabulary or concepts that the student may struggle to grasp due to the nature of their visual impairment. Classroom teachers and TVIs would of course be responsible for ensuring that the content and any supporting resources are accessible to the student during instruction and are familiar to the VI student before instruction if appropriate.
WOW! I love Kendra and Richardâs story, thank you for sharing it. I found it on NFBs website and plan to read it fully. It could be a great resource to share with parents as I kick off this new school year, about inexpensive ways to build background knowledge and concepts in their children.
With your example of the alphabet bags, for older students it could be adapted to include items that are metaphors or similes. (Ex: as smooth as smooth as silk)
Thank you for your response that the format you have presented it in. These are fantastic ways to address gaps in these areas. I feel that the questions for this module really tie together everything that has been presented in the course up to this point.
HI Hallie! Thanks for the idea about expanding the use the alphabet bags for older students! Great idea!
APH WK 3 DQ
In what ways can educators incorporate real-life experiences and tactile learning activities to help students with visual impairments build their background knowledge and vocabulary skills, thus enhancing their reading comprehension abilities?
A strategy I plan to incorporate this year is student-made tactile books. The kit is available through APH: Tactile Book Builder Kit, Catalog Number: 1-08826-00. I am going to ask parents to help in this activity as well, so it will be a make-and-take project, done and home and in class. I want parents and students to decide on a routine or skill the child needs to learn to do independently. Then we will gather any materials that may be needed but arenât included in the kit. I will ask parents to send items from home that students associate with the independent routine/activity as well. Depending on the reading and braille level of the student, they will either write their book in complete sentences or one word, or so, per page. My hope is that it will not only foster independence in the student, but it will also spark parent engagement. More student independence and parent engagement are areas of opportunity at my school. I hope this project for my students can become a school-wide project for other students who need to work on independent living skills.
Another way educators can incorporate real-life experiences and tactile learning activities to help students with visual impairments build their background knowledge and vocabulary skills, thus enhancing their reading comprehension abilities is by using audio-described virtual tour videos to expose students to places they have never been or will never be able to visit. One resource I have found to be an invaluable tool is The Described and Captioned Media Program. It provides premium media designed for students with disabilities. DCMP has thousands of educational videos with high-quality captions and audio description that are aligned to state and Common Core standards.
Considering the interconnectedness of decoding and language comprehension highlighted in Scarboroughâs Reading Rope, how might teachers identify and address specific areas of weakness or gaps in understanding for students with visual impairments, particularly in phonological awareness and decoding?
To identify and address specific weaknesses or gaps in understanding, educators/instructors should perform formative assessments based on phonological and decoding based assessments on a regular basis. Using a formal curriculum with matching purposeful assessments is important. Adapting the materials as needed for the childâs visual impairment would need to be considered and prepared prior to any assessments and instructional materials. Any weaknesses or gap in skills/knowledge should be addressed with supplemental materials individualized for that student and a follow up assessment should be included to determine mastery or progress. Having supplemental materials sent home for practice with family would be helpful.