Post on 22-Dec-2015
Techniques shared by teachers of the visually impaired and teachers of the
learning disabled
VALARIE MOSER, TVI, COMS BRENDA JAGER, TVI, COMS
A Review of Shared Strategies
A comparison of the visual difficulties exhibited by students with learning disabilities
and students with visual impairments.
What visual difficulties may look like in
a Student with LD or a Student with VI
DEFICITS IN: ocular-motor skills visual-perceptual skills
spatial orientation, figure ground, visual discrimination, visual sequencing
visual motor (gross/fine) speed of visual information-
processing visual memory
DEFICITS IN: ocular-motor skills visual-perceptual skills
spatial orientation, figure ground, visual discrimination, visual sequencing
visual motor (gross/fine) speed of visual
information- processing visual memory
LD & VI often demonstrate similar behaviors
(Sacks & Silberman, 1998)
Frustration Difficulty identifying letters Lack of judgement of spatial relationships Poor eye-hand coordination Difficulties in language and mathematics
Students with Learning Disabilities
• Have a visual impairment which even with correction, adversely affects educational performance (IDEA, 1997) A visual impairment is generally defined medically as an acuity and /or field loss.
80% of legally blind individuals can see some light, color, and objects
A large percentage of students with VI use vision as their primary learning source of information.
• 50-80% of students who are LD may show deficiencies in basic visual skills (accommodation, convergence, focusing, binocular coordination) (JAOA, 1998)
• Some students who are LD experience visual processing deficits as an information processing variation.
Students with Visual Impairments
LD Primary Intervention
• Complete educational assessment and appropriate remediation of learning strategies (esp.. reading skills).
VI Primary Intervention
• Achieve best corrected vision through medical intervention and functional visual assessment
Shared Strategies (www.ldonline.org)
• Enlarge print size• Use a visual window ruler or finger to isolate
relevant print or problems and to reduce or block background
• Use multiple senses read aloud from chalkboard
• Modify worksheets• Darken or highlight line• Kinesthetic feedback with a raised line• Simplify page• Divide paper into distinct parts• Teach study and organizational skills