AER Conference Presentation

In April, I presented a workshop at the AER Conference in Virginia. I am sharing some of the slides from my part of the presentation. 

Many of my students have Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI). I love the blank books from www.barebooks.com. The shiny red paper comes on a roll from the Dollar Tree. I got 11 - 12 pages from each roll. I used double sided adhesive paper on the back.

 On The Way to Literacy Books are available from APH. Consider making a kit to go with them to use not only with your student but your student's peers.

Story bags are available from APH. I like to use them to keep a student's Dots for Tots materials from the Braille Institute. You can also use them to keep together a student's objects for a calendar or a favorite book.

Feel and Peel Carousel of Textures has to be one of my favorite products from APH. This picture is a binder that I created so that students with CVI had their favorite background when making choices.

The Carousel of Textures makes a nice addition to the Rolling Right Along Construction Kit. I also enjoy letting students use textured cutout to make repeated line books.

They Symbols and Meaning Kit is a newer product from APH. I like using the plastic pages to make books for students.

 I used rubber cement on the back of these numbers so that they are restickable. I used the textured paper from the Carousel of Textures from APH.

Using the iPad with Students with Visual Impairments

This has been a very busy year. I have been working with a student who needs to learn finger isolation skills and using a light touch. I went to the Virginia AER Conference this year in April. I went to a session on using overlays with the iPad. The session talked about using the overlays with reading and writing programs. I came up with the idea to use an overlay to encourage my student to use a light touch and practice finger isolation skills.














My student enjoys music so I pulled up a piano app and designed an overlay. I purchased the protective cover at the Dollar Tree. I left the cover intact and used Wiki Sticks to create the design. You could use puffy paint or hot glue. I wouldn't suggest using the hot glue while the overlay is on the iPad.

I use my personal iPad with my students. It has the a cover with a magnetic keyboard. I slid the overlay between the case and the iPad. Store the overlays in a binder using page protectors.

I look forward to making a few more to use with my students.

That’s Not My Bear

I read the book That's Not My Bear available from APH.  After we finished reading the book, my student made her own book.  I showed her four bears made of different textures.  She chose the one she liked and that became "her" bear. We placed this bear on the page that said "That's my bear," then she chose which bear she wanted to put on the cover and the other pages of her book.

ECC Open House

Our department recently hosted an ECC (Expanded Core Curriculum) Open House.  I worked with two other teachers on the area of Sensory Efficiency.

We decided to base our display on the book Rosie's Walk.  We developed sensory activities that could be used with the book.  We matched the activities to the pages in the book.

Each element of the picture was outlined with a different tactile.  The barn was outlined with a pipe cleaner.  The fox was outlined with hot glue.  The hen was outlined with Wikki Stix.






The pond was a silver bowl of water with light up ducks.  The larger ducks were found at the dollar store.

 


The fence was created with a cardboard box surrounded by a sheet of brown poster board.  We placed a tactile matching activity behind the fence.

I filled 12 yellow plastic eggs to make 6 pairs of matching sounds. The eggs were placed in yellow "hay."  When the student matches two eggs they are placed in the egg carton.

This light box activity was easy to create.  I used foam "bees" and glitter in yellow colored hair gel.

We included a "taste test" with a data collection sheet.  The students had to mark the chart under the color jelly bean that they thought was the sweetest.  We made this more difficult by using sour jelly beans.





Sensory activities can be used with many children's books. 

Tactile Discrimination

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 I saw an activity like this on Pinterest, but I couldn’t find it again. I have learned to pin or like anything I want to see again. Pinterest is a great place to find ideas and save them with a picture to remember what you have saved. It is a visual list of your "favorites." Each picture is a link to the web page where you found the activity, idea, or picture.

One of the pre-braille skills students need to learn is to discriminate items or textures by touch.  

We have an abundance of long file folders in our office, so my goal was to make use of them.  I used the embosser to create dot hands and placed them on the folder.  I used also used 6 different textured papers/sheets. I placed one of each texture under the hand, then used a Velcro dot in the middle of the hand.  The Velcro on the back of the textured squares is larger to make it easier to stick it to the piece on the hand.  The object of the activity is to explore the texture under each hand and place its match in the hand. 

Textured Snowmen

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I love snow and especially snow days, so this month some of my activities have centered around snowmen. I created this activity for my students who are blind or have low vision.

I created a snowman using QuickTac by Duxbury. This program allowed me to turn a picture into raised dots. If you do not have access to the program or an embosser (braille printer), then you could use white Wikki Stix or hot glue to make an outline. I pre-cut the hat, nose, and scarf from textured peel and stick papers.

We read a "touchy feely" Usborne book called That's Not My Snowman. The students explored the different textures in the book before making their own snowman.
The students made their color selections, and stuck the items to the paper. The students had to pinch and pull the cotton balls and glue onto the snowman. The students used markers to draw a mouth and color the bumpy eyes. The activity was great for exploring some of the attributes that are tested on the Virginia Alternative Assessment (VAAP).

Work Tasks

My caseload includes students with many disabilities. I made some work tasks for students with Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI) and autistic characteristics. I focused on bright colors. Duct tape is available in many colors now. I found it at Target and Home Depot. I covered cardboard boxes with the bright tape, then added accents to the other components.

I included a switch that says, "I'm finished." The task on the right has an auditory component. The eggs are filled with fish tank gravel. Different "fillers" could be used to create different sounds. I found that with the water task, lighter "coins" floated to the bottom of the tube more slowly. I found some St. Patrick's Day Coins that floated nicely. The picture above shows poker chips which sink more quickly.