Despite the importance of writing skill development, we know very little about how writing instruction is provided to students with visual impairments (VI) with and without co-occurring disabilities (e.g., multiple disabilities, deaf-blindness). The purpose of this study was to survey a national sample of U.S. teachers of students with visual…

Introduction: This article discusses the impact of blindness and low vision on the development of object permanence and provides suggestions for assessment and instruction. Methods: The reviewed literature was identified by searching both ERIC and Psych Info using combinations of search terms such as "object permanence" and "visual…

This conference presentation examines concept development for congenitally blind students. It presents current research on best-practice for teaching this population. Examples of strategies to reinforce understanding of body concepts, spatial awareness, and positional language, while promoting mirroring, self regulation, and purposeful movement to…

Long before children learn language, they communicate with gestures, vocalizations, facial expressions, and body language. This is known as prelinguistic (prior to language) communication. Most children learn this type of communication without formal teaching, but children who are deaf-blind may need guidance to learn it. This publication…

Results showed that the graduated prompting procedure was effective in training reach-grasp responding in all three children; for one child, effects were durable over repeated treatment applications, but not maintained during withdrawals; for another child, the procedure was effective in teaching reach-grasp responding in all three positions.…

This article suggests ways to use tactile teaching strategies with students who have severe and multiple disabilities including blindness. Guidelines address tactile modeling, tactile mutual attention, presenting tactile information, providing effective tactile representation, hypersensitivity to touch, and a team approach. (Contains references.)…

An almost totally blind, 26-year-old, retarded man whose rate of eye contact was below 30 percent in any time period was trained in his sheltered workshop environment. (Author)

A blind multiply handicapped preschooler was taught to respond appropriately to two adjacency pair types ("where question-answer" and "comment-acknowledgement"). The two alternative language acquisition strategies available to blind children were encouraged: echolalia to maintain communicative interactions and manual searching…

A backward chaining procedure was used to train a 6-year-old blind, nonverbal, severely mentally retarded boy to dress himself. Trainers performed three types of procedures: no help, verbal instructions, and physical guidance and instructions. Results indicated that the procedure was successful in teaching the skills necessary for dressing, that…

The document presents five papers from a conference involving educators of deaf, blind, and deaf blind children. In "Challenge--Educating Deaf-Blind Children," F. Roberts discusses common societal concepts regarding the deaf blind, the teacher's role in dealing with these children, and the developmental approach to educational planning…

The article describes the process of teaching abacus to moderately retarded blind students as a means of developing concepts of numbers, addition and subtraction, and money values. (Author)

Examination of the acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of three cooking skills by three multiply and severely handicapped blind adolescents revealed that a "whole task" approach was successful in teaching the subjects to boil an egg, grill cheese, and cook a TV dinner. These skills also generalized to other cooking products. (Author/CB)

This book is a guide to teaching orientation and mobility (O&M) skills to students with visual impairments in the public schools. The first chapter offers an overview of the nature and responsibilities of the orientation and mobility specialist and explains the fields legal underpinnings. Next comes a look at O&M in relation to the school year…

A program for teaching orientation and mobility to New York City public school students with severe sensory and cognitive impairments incorporates tactile and tangible communication systems and embeds mobility education in students' daily school and home activities. This paper examines necessary prerequisite concepts and offers planning and…