Vision

News from the Vision Department

Did you know that the funny-looking backwards ¶ with an extra line on the toolbar of Microsoft Word is called a “pilcrow”. More importantly, it is used to show or hide the codes of a document. So when someone sends you a document that is doing crazy things, you can hit that button and take out all the extra commands.

Maybe that isn’t something you need to do frequently, but, as a braille transcriber for the district, it is something that I use a lot. This, along with many other “shortcuts” for using Microsoft Word, was one of the things I learned at the National Braille Association’s Professional Development Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. Thanks to the support of the Education Foundation, Staff Development, the Colorado Instructional Materials Center and the Vision Department, I was able to attend this conference on November 2-4.

As a Braille transcriber, I take the material that teachers want to give their classes and turn it into Braille for the blind and visually impaired students in the school district. Sometimes this can take hours for a seemingly simple worksheet. At the NBA conference I was able to learn methods that will make my job much easier and, more importantly, quicker. I learned to transcribe music into Braille and to use a specialized program to produce tactile graphics.

I am very grateful to the many people who supported me on this wonderful educational quest.

Elaine Brown

Visual Perceptual Skills/Role of Occupational Therapy

The term visual perception is the ability of the brain to understand what the eyes see and based on that understanding, the ability to express meaning verbally or motorically. Visual perception includes areas such as visual discrimination, visual memory, spatial relationships, form constancy, sequential memory and figure ground. Visual perception cannot be “cured” by glasses, although a vision exam is a great place to start. Children with delays or deficits in visual perceptual skills may have difficulty learning. Delays in the area of visual sequential memory may affect spelling or reading as children can’t remember the order of letters or vowel patterns. Using keys on a map, “I Spy” books, or copying from the board are difficult for students with figure ground or form constancy delays. Visual discrimination assists a child to understand concepts such as top/bottom, left/right, space and size during letter and number formation. Occupational therapists can offer strategies to help students compensate for visual perceptual deficits. Graph paper assists students to line up columns of numbers for accurate math computation. Raised line paper can help a student “feel” the lines on paper to determine accurate letter size. Green and red vertical lines on a page will assist children start (go-green) on the left side of the page and stop (red) on the right. Black text on dark blue paper has been shown to lessen letter omissions, reversals, and jumping letters. Consult with the Occupational Therapist in your building if you feel a student is struggling with visual perceptual concerns. Adaptations help children learn, and assist with reaching each and every child in DCSD.

Referral Process

Teachers, nurses, special education staff, or parents can refer students for vision services. This referral can be made as a result of a vision screening, Child Find screening, or as a transfer from another district. After the referral is made, information is gathered by means of existing records, screenings, or observations. If additional testing is necessary, permission to assess will be secured from the parents. It is imperative that a current ophthalmological report be on file before services begin.

Qualifications

A visual disability is defined by the Colorado Rules for the Administration of the Exceptional Children’s Educational Act as a decreased visual acuity of no better than 20/70 in the best eye with the best possible correction or a visual field of 20 degrees or less. Also included are physical conditions of the visual system that cannot be medically corrected, such as oculomotor apraxia, cortical visual impairment, and/or progressive vision loss. In addition to these visual conditions, there must also be a need for adaptation of the visual content of educational materials and instructional methods. Specifically excluded from the definition of “visual disability” are those who have learning difficulties as the result of visual perception and/or visual motor problems.

Components of the Program

The Douglas County School District provides services to children who are totally blind or who have low vision. Listed below are the types of services provided based on individual needs as determined by the IEP (Individualized Education Program) team.

• Consultation services and in-service training for parents and staff.
  
  
• Collaboration with the multi-disciplinary team at each school.
  
  
• Functional vision assessments and instruction in the use of low vision aids.
  
  
• Literacy plans and Braille instruction.
  
  
• Orientation and mobility assessment and training.
  
  
• Daily living skill assessments and instruction.
  
  
• Compensatory skill evaluations and instruction.
  
  
• Assistive technology evaluations and training.
  
  
• Adaptation of instructional materials.
  
  
• Procurement of special equipment, aids and modified textbooks/standardized tests.

Resources

National

http://www.aerbvi.org

American Council of the Blind
http://www.acb.org

American Foundation for the Blind
http://www.afb.org

American Printing House for the Blind
http://www.aph.org

Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic
http://www.rfbd.org

Division on Visual Impairments of the Council for Exceptional Children
http://www.ed.arizona.edu/dvi

National Braille Association
http://www.nationalbraille.org

National Federation of the Blind
http://www.nfb.org

Local

The Anchor Center
http://www.anchorcenter.org

Colorado School for the Deaf & the Blind
http://www.csdb.org

Colorado Department of Education
www.cde.state.co.us/cdesped/SD-BLV.asp