Supporting children with visual impairments.?

Question

Hi......I'm a teaching assistant and I've just been asked to work with a child with a visual impairment. I have no experience of this (most of my experience has been with speech/language impaired children) or those with behaviour problems. Does anyone know of anywhere on the web where I can find more information on how to support visually impaired children in the classroom.

Thanks

Answer 1

You might try RNIB (www.rnib.org.uk) or Sense (www.sense.org.uk)

Answer 2

First, you should do research on visual impairment. check all the websites related to that like National Federation for the blind, and others like that. One thing you can do is ask them what accommodations they have in place for school. If they have a reading stand or a magnifier, you can ask them if they need it. Depending on the degree of visual impairment and where they're sitting in the classroom, ask them if they can see what's up on the board or what the teacher is using. If they can't see it, read it to them so they know what's being shown. Sometime people who are visually impaired will need assistance getting to class if they forget their cane somewhere, there's a thing called sided guide. When using sided guide, the visually impaired person will receive guidance from a sighted person. The person will take the sighted person's arm, and they will receive help to get to wherever they have to go. You can also help them by reading assignments or tests aloud to them, but find a spot where the other classmates won't get distracted. It is good to read the questions, but if it's a multiple choice, true or false, or matching... it will helpful to read the choices too. It kind of depends what the person needs.