To best support students with low vision in the general education classroom, special education teachers can facilitate use of several adaptations including: (a) attention to curriculum access (e.g. text magnifiers), (b) mechanisms for promoting social connectedness, (c) managing physical space, and (d) effective instructional techniques. This…

Offers guidelines for systematically planning and teaching visual efficiency to students with low vision, then outlines specific skills that are needed for orientation and mobility, and suggests games and activities that will promote visual efficiency. (DB)

In one of several 2-week workshops, 35 blind and visually handicapped persons increased their braille reading speed from an average of 138 words per minute (wpm) to 710 wpm. (Author)

The sixth in a series of booklets on physical education and recreation for the handicapped describes aquatic activities for blind persons. Written by a partially sighted athlete, the document discusses swimming pool characteristics and special pools for the visually impaired. Qualities of swimming instructors are reviewed, and suggestions for…

An interdistrict project provided a mobility and orientation instructor to work with blind and partially sighted children. The instructor was also involved in consultation and cooperative planning with school personnel and in resource room programs. Training was given to 36 children, 15 of whom required formal instruction. Services were extended…

An itinerant teacher of multiply handicapped students with low vision shares learning activities in which students learn to use coins with the aid of a computer program and make a shopping list using advertising flyers. (DB)

A comprehensive program of instruction in the use of low vision is proposed, including definitions, a philosophy of low vision, theoretical constructs, a flow chart of professional and individual relationships and responsibilities, goals, curriculum, and an evaluation system. (Author/JDD)

Described are instructional techniques and inexpensive manipulative materials that can be used to teach basic multiplication to blind and partially sighted children. (LH)

A survey of teachers of the visually impaired and adults with albinism or parents of children with albinism (total responses=144) found no use of Braille by the adults or children with albinism, awareness of the condition by almost all teachers, support for mainstreaming by all, and specific teaching suggestions from teachers. (DB)

Seven visually handicapped adolescents, literate in braille but with little or no visual reading experience, were trained in letter and word recognition by closed circuit television for two weeks. All subjects increased their visual reading speed; in some cases, visual reading speed surpassed that of braille. (SJL)

A project was developed which successfully taught individuals with visual impairments to read commercial large-print books, with either their own reading spectacles or with lower levels of magnification than usually prescribed. Over the course of the project, print sizes were systematically reduced and healthy reading habits were re-taught. (JDD)

As there is uncertainty surrounding black light safety, caution should be exercised in using it as a vision training tool with visually handicapped students--particularly aphakic and albino students, young students, and those taking photosensitizing drugs. The use of ultraviolet-blocking filters or lenses is recommended during black light…

The initial role of the low-vision teacher involves helping patients psychologically adjust to their situation and assessing patients' readiness for rehabilitation. Then training can begin to effectively use remaining vision, to determine fixation angles for reading text, and to function both with and without optical and other aids. (JDD)

This article discusses ways to teach low vision students to read braille, including both parallel instruction (the student learns to read print and braille simultaneously) and nonparallel instruction (the print-reading student learns braille). The following approaches are briefly described: basal reader, language experience, whole language,…