Literacy for Students with Low Vision
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Literacy & Braille
- Braille Instruction
- Braillers & Braille Technology
- Emergent Literacy
- Literacy for Students with Multiple Disabilities
- Online Braille Courses
- Prebraille Skills
- Resources for Families
- Sources of Braille Books and Materials
- Spanish Braille Resources
- The Learning Media Assessment
- Unified English Braille Code
- What is Braille?
Students with low vision need careful assessment to determine whether print, braille, or both are the appropriate learning media, and teaching techniques appropriate to their needs. This section has links to information about assessment and literacy instruction strategies for students with low vision.
Early Literacy and the Child with Low Vision: What Parents Should Know
Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB)
This article discusses methods of reading instruction for children with low vision and explores the benefits of dual learning, the concurrent teaching of print and braille.
Educational Interventions for Students with Low Vision
American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)
AFB describes educational interventions for students with low vision, including creating access to the visual environment, information, and the curriculum.
Facilitating Visual Efficiency and Access to Learning for Students with Low Vision
Council for Exceptional Children-Division on Visual Impairments (CECDVI)
DVI's position paper asserts the need for "appropriate assessment, instruction, and adaptations" and sets guidelines for providing an appropriate education program for students with low vision.
How Students with Low Vision Read and Write
FamilyConnect
This article describes low vision devices, print size, and literacy issues at school for students learning to read both print and braille.
Reading Strategies for Students with Visual Impairments: A Classroom Teacher’s Guide
Special Education Technology British Columbia
A “resource to provide classroom teachers with a selection of strategies to address the reading needs of students with visual impairments.”
Resources
Best Practices and Guidelines for Large Print Documents used by the Low Vision Community
The Council of Citizens with Low Vision International (an Affiliate of the American Council of the Blind)
A primer on Large Print standards and practices.
Print
Paths to Literacy
This section of the Paths to Literacy site offers an introduction to teaching literacy skills to students with low vision, instructional strategies for students with a visual impairment, information on magnification, technology for students with low vision, sources of large print materials, and tools for handwriting, and print.
Research
Learning and Using Print and Braille: A Study of Dual-Media Learners, Part 1
Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, 100(10), 2006
In Part I of a "study on the instruction of children who were learning or using braille and print simultaneously (dual media)" Kelley Lusk and Anne Corn explore demographics, the media assessment process, and attitudes of students and parents.
Learning and Using Print and Braille: A Study of Dual-Media Learners, Part 2
Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, 100(11), 2006
In Part II of a "study on the instruction of children who were learning or using braille and print simultaneously (dual media)" Kelley Lusk and Anne Corn explore the instructional methods, curricular decisions, current literacy levels, reading rates, and teachers' expectations.
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