Listening Skills for Students with Visual Impairments
This workshop will cover strategies for assessing and developing listening skills across a variety of ages and ability levels. The connection between listening skills and auditory access to print will be discussed.
Paraprofessionals Working with Students with Visual Impairments
This workshop offers a mix of lecture, simulation exercises and shared resources to introduce basic concepts about visual impairment, explore attitudes towards blindness, and provide evidence-based resources on instructional roles and responsibilities to paraprofessionals working with students who are blind and/or visually impaired. Workshop can focus on paraprofessionals who work with MIVI students and/or VI students in mainstream academic classes. Specific information is provided for those working with tactile learners.
Partnering with the Low Vision Student to Develop Self-Awareness and Self-Advocacy of Visual Needs
Literacy media includes materials used to complete literacy tasks that are presented at both near and distance points. The learning media assessment can be used as a springboard for empowering middle and high school students with low vision to understand and communicate their needs as these relate to accessing the general curriculum. Participants will learn the following to assess student needs and preferences on a variety of literacy media: (1) conducting a student interview related to current visual access; (2) conducting a modified print media assessment profile to determine near reading fluency for a variety of print media; (3) using observation to determine actual student access and visual requirements across the curriculum; and (4) writing a report to reflect student practice, preferences, and intervention needed.
When You Have a Visually Impaired Student in Your Classroom
This workshop offers a mix of lecture, simulation exercises and shared resources to introduce basic concepts about visual impairment to teachers who will have a VI student in their classroom. It will explore attitudes towards blindness and provide evidence-based resources on instructional roles and responsibilities for working with students who are blind and/or visually impaired. Effective strategies to foster independence and achievement in students with visual impairments will be included.