I agree with your point that learning to use tactile graphics is secondary to developing strong braille literacy and other foundational skills. Collaboration is truly the key to successfully implementing tactile graphics in the classroom. It sounds like you have developed a strong partnership with both your paraprofessional and the classroom teacher. Having that level of teamwork makes it much more likely that tactile graphics will be incorporated consistently and effectively into daily instruction, ultimately benefiting the student.
In a perfect world tactile graphics would be available for every situation and would be relevant and meaningful for students to accompany their lessons in the classroom. I work very hard with classroom staff getting tactile graphics and tactile materials ready for my students so they have meaningful information to best understand lessons and get the concepts their peers are getting with visual information. Some classroom staff are very intuitive and have things embedded in lessons for my students. Others do not and sometimes even complicate lessons giving me visual information that is very complex and abstract and then I have to go looking for something comparable to make into a tactile graphic that will work for my student. I have found time to be the biggest problem with making sure there are tactile materials ready for student lessons - often classroom teachers do not or are unable to get me materials in time for the actual lesson no matter how many plans I have in place to avoid that very thing. Sometimes they have materials ready but then something gets switched last minute etc etc. It is a never-ending battle. Most classroom staff has no idea the amount of time it can take to have a good graphic ready for a lesson - even when you can get a graphic ready pretty quickly, the pace of the lesson moves fast and you are giving your student info and trying to back fill information. I actually love making tactile graphics and enjoy the challenge of making a visual concept relate for a tactual learner - technology has been very helpful making the process move more quickly but getting materials in advance is key and it just doesn’t happen as often as it should.
My teacher prep program consisted of one week of learning how to create tactile graphics. We read and learned about the various tools available at that time, including software, hardware, and libraries. Then we had an awesome retired TVI come with her bins full of stuff and show us how tactile graphics are usually completed. We each had to create a tactile using the provided resources of a children’s book we brought with us. I still have the unusued resources in my drawer - and the book (although like the article elaborates it is not very durable). That session gave me better insight than ‘reading’ about and studying the ways to present to students. She allowed us to ‘walk’ through the process by experiencing it as a blind student would, asking those relevant questions about access, understanding, and usability. We were not given a timeframe for completion, but think that is essential for preparation programs to show the reality.
I said something very similar in my response - time and resources. I am constantly scrambling for both. I have had really good support staff at various times who helped me - but they got moved to a different job or left so you can’t really count on that to help you. We are always on the move - between buildings etc. and if something comes up, we just aren’t always there to handle something last minute.
I say on the fly all the time - I feel like I have gotten very good at making tactile graphics on the fly lol. I actually love the challenge - but it is not ideal and too often there is simply too much information to really get the needed information into our students’ hands in a timely manner. Our students need that information for lessons real time like their peers.
Tell me more about Romeo and Tiger. I am currently working on becoming a TVI and I want to be prepared to help my students
Mackinzie
- How well do current preparation and training systems equip educators to make informed decisions about tactile graphic design? What gaps do you see, and how do they impact students?
Current preparation and training systems for tactile graphic design often provide a foundational understanding of visual impairment, Braille literacy, and general accessibility principles, but they do not consistently equip educators to make highly informed, design-level decisions about tactile graphics in real instructional contexts. In many programs, tactile graphics are addressed briefly within broader coursework for Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments (TVIs), with limited hands-on practice in creating, evaluating, and revising tactile materials based on student feedback. As a result, educators may understand why tactile graphics are important but still feel underprepared for the how, such as how to simplify complex visual information, determine what should be included or omitted, or apply principles like spatial organization, texture differentiation, and cognitive load reduction.
This gap has real instructional consequences. Without strong preparation, teachers may rely heavily on pre-made materials or trial-and-error design, which can lead to inconsistencies in quality and accessibility. Students may then receive tactile graphics that are either overly complex, lack clear labeling, or fail to align with their individual tactile literacy skills. This can increase cognitive load and reduce meaningful engagement with content rather than supporting independence and conceptual understanding. Stronger systems would include more embedded practice with real student profiles, collaboration with experienced TVIs, and iterative feedback from students who use tactile materials. For someone still learning in this field, this suggests that growth in tactile graphic design is often ongoing and practice-based, requiring continuous reflection, collaboration, and refinement rather than mastery through coursework alone.
I think it is a great idea to try to keep the format the same. It definitely would help with cognitive load and allow the student to focus more on the less
You make a very important point about time being one of the biggest limiting factors in the creation of high-quality tactile graphics. The tension between instructional intent and time constraints is especially clear in your examples, where even with access to multiple tools like embossers, PIAF, and Tactipad systems, the reality of last-minute materials still limits what can realistically be produced. This aligns closely with the idea from the readings that tactile materials are often “labor-intensive” and require significant planning, even when educators are highly skilled and well-equipped.
I also think your reflection highlights an important instructional consequence of this time pressure: decision-making shifts from what is best for student learning to what can be completed in time. When that happens, the quality and intentionality of tactile graphics can be impacted, even when educators fully understand best practices. Your point about needing to focus on the “essence of meaning” is especially important here, because it reflects the core purpose of tactile graphics—supporting comprehension rather than replicating visuals exactly.
Your mention of simultaneous access through IEP accommodations also adds an important equity lens to this discussion. If tactile materials are not available at the same time as print materials, students who are blind or visually impaired are placed at an immediate disadvantage compared to their peers. This reinforces the idea that the issue is not just about production challenges, but also about ensuring access and fairness in instructional delivery.
Mackinzie
Hi Danielle- I agree with your post and had similar experiences as a new TVI. The Master’s program I completed combined braille and tactile production all in one course with a heavier emphasis on learning the braille code and becoming proficient. While I completed the program almost 20 years ago, I recall having one class to “play around” with a variety of tools to create tactile graphics. None of which were technology based. I understand in 20 years there has been advancements in the technology to create tactile graphics, it’s challenging to stay on top of it all. One of my saving grace’s was that I was working in the field while completing my master’s program and therefore was exposed to and utilized some of the tools that were out there at the time. You are so right when you said in your post-“My students can fall behind their sighted peers because they cannot process the information at the same instructional pace due to lack of access.” I see this happening frequently, especially when a teacher has to go from plan A to plan B and plan B was not prepared for.
Patricia, yes time is a huge factor in providing tactile graphics to students when needed. Years ago, while consulting with some Severe Special Education Teachers and providing a mini CVI inservice a teacher raised her hand to comment on how much needed to be modified. She made an analogy that still sticks with me. She said (in response to the level of accommodations)- “Think of it like Thanksgiving where it takes hours to prepare the meal and minutes to eat.” She was basically saying, the accommodations I was recommending would take hours of her time to do, and the material might be used once. While she was not wrong, it really made me think to myself “how should I be approaching creating tangible, authentic materials. I still do not have a flawless answer, but I definitely utilize all resources available, one of which I love to find is a crafty teacher’s aide always looking for a project.
I’m a first year TSVI in a public school district without the support of a braillist or materials para. My previous position was as a braillist/materials para at another district of similar size. When I consider time constraints and tactile material creation, I tend to compare my time as a braillist supporting my two TSVI’s in making tactile materials for their students with my time as a TSVI without someone supporting me with making materials. Time constraints play a massive role in the ability of a TSVI, regardless of their training, knowledge, or abilities, to make tactile materials in general, without considering their quality. In a world where many TSVIs don’t have a case-load cap (I know that I am very blessed to have one in my current district), available time to create materials when you don’t have someone to help make them is a very real problem. There are only so many hours in a work day, and we still have to consider work-life balance. It takes time, significant time, to create tactile materials that are high quality and understandable and teachable for our students. Often when materials are rushed, they lack the completeness that’s necessary for teaching touch concepts and tactile representations to students who are blind, which is critical especially for students who are congenitally blind with no visual reference.
What happens with my students is they simply do not get proper materials for their learning needs. Or it falls onto the classroom staff to make, and most of the time they won’t make them either because they also don’t have time or they don’t understand the importance of tactile materials for students who are blind or have low vision. Service time is priority for all my students and materials comes second. Between travel time and service time, it leaves maybe an hour, maybe 2 at the very most to answer emails, prepare materials for instructional service time, prepare curriculum classroom materials, plan lessons, review IEPs, etc. It’s a steep uphill battle, often, with TSVIs and directors and administrators to justify the need for braillist/materials para support. Vision needs are often not understood at the administrative level, even with the data to support those needs.
This is so true! I’m a first year TSVI, but my background started as a braillist. I came into my TSVI program with that background knowledge and training and many came out of the program still not having the same exposure to tactile graphic development and creation that I did. The district I currently teach at does not have a braillist or materials para and even with several braille-only readers and two congenitally, fully blind students no tactile graphic supplementations are made for curriculums or included in instruction (I changed that for the students I serve this year as it blew my mind). The knowledge of HOW and WHY plays a key role in how our students can interact with curriculum and learning.
I really love your opening statement: “Time constraints do not allow us our best professional selves. Our instructional decision are often dependent on them whether they should be or not.” Time constraints are kind of industry-wide in special education in general, but it seems like they are even more so with vision as it takes so much additional time to create tactile graphics and even print materials to the professional, teachable level that they need to be for our students. Others in special education don’t always need the specifications that our students do and it absolutely affects our ability to be our best professional selves.
How do you become a braillist? Where did you work?
- When you consider your current practice, where might inconsistencies in formatting unintentionally increase cognitive load for students? How would adopting a standardized tactile layout shift not just access, but the way students engage with content?
Inconsistencies in formatting can occur when sighted teachers add details to tactile graphics that might be visually appealing but are not necessary to the question or to the tactile graphics reader. Also (space permitting), sometimes I could not fit all the labels in a graph due to time and space constraints. I had to focus on what the question was asking or what the math teacher was trying to teach in order to give the student the best information when reading a graphic.
Another issue that took up our braillist’s time was the one question with five different graphic responses. This also took a while for the braille reader to get through. It was sometimes better to switch the question around.
While there are guidelines for standardized tactile layouts and best practices (same-page keys or opposite-facing), it might be best to consider the student’s learning needs, experience, style and level to support access to graphics. I had a student who was great at reading all types of tactile graphics, but others may need more direct instruction and scaffolding to comprehend them.
I know that sometimes, when an assignment or test had one question and five different responses, each with a graphic, this took work to read and a long time for our braillist to reproduce. Sometimes we would flip the question, give one graphic and five different answers without graphics, so that the student could show their knowledge by going through five graphs.
Good communication with the general education teacher is key to creating tactile graphics that convey what the teacher is teaching. I think it is wonderful that you have a great relationship with the general education teacher, and they are responsive to discussing the essentials in their lessons, and you are able to pre-teach concepts so that the braille/tactile graphics reader can best access them.
- Analyze the tension between time constraints and instructional quality in tactile material creation. How do these competing demands shape instructional decisions?
When creating tactile materials for students with visual impairments, we often face the challenge of balancing limited preparation time with the need for high-quality instructional materials. Effective tactile material require careful planning, simplification, and testing to ensure they are meaningful and easy for students to interpret.
These competing demands shape instructional decisions by requiring us to prioritize the most important learning objectives. Teachers may choose to create fewer, higher-quality tactile materials that directly support key concepts rather than producing many materials that are less effective. Collaboration is also a key factor. This requires extra time for the creation of materials. Ultimately, investing time in quality tactile materials promotes greater independence, understanding, and success for students.
Hi I appreciate the perspective of time being a large issue along with access to technology that could assist in tactile development. Time for me is the biggest constraint. I need at least 2 weeks to make something that is specific to the students needs/abilities and still meets the requirements of the general teacher and the TVI. It takes a lot of collaboration to make a finished tactile that is beneficial to the student. I also appreciate the view of how technology, like the monarch, could help with those on the fly situations. But the cost is huge for any school division for just one device. In my school division we had a student apply for a grant to get a monarch because the school division couldn’t support spending that large amount of money on one student. He got the monarch and then we had months of issues just trying to get it up and running. Since it wasn’t bought through the division, it wasn’t supported by our IT department. Lots of hoops to jump through and the student finally just got fed up and won’t use it now.