Lesson Planning (IEP)

Definition of Visual Impairment

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the International Classification of Diseases 11 (2018) categorises vision impairment into two groups, distance and near presenting vision impairment.

Distance vision impairment:

• Mild –visual acuity worse than 6/12 to 6/18

• Moderate –visual acuity worse than 6/18 to 6/60

• Severe –visual acuity worse than 6/60 to 3/60

• Blindness –visual acuity worse than 3/60

Near vision impairment:

• Near visual acuity worse than N6 or M.08 at 40cm.

Challenges Children with Visual Impairment Face

Even with varying levels of vision loss, children generally have issues with:

• Seeing objects at a distance (eg. whiteboard)

• Reading (or learning to read) and participating in lessons/activities

• Following or focusing on objects

• Chronic eye redness/sensitivity to light due to squinting and rubbing their eyes often

• Bumping into things

Thus, the classroom should provide a range of support that includes assistive devices (ATs), other technology or special adaptive equipment or structures. These are all aimed to make learning more successful for the affected children.

Supporting Children with Visual Impairment with IEP

Pre - IEP

An educator needs to know about the type and severity of visual impairment a child has in order to know how to support them appropriately. Some children may need to learn to read Braille or use low vision aid technology in the classroom. Others may need large print materials. Understanding the child's strengths, abilities and interests lets you generate ideas and solutions to make learning as enjoyable, safe and inclusive as possible. This knowledge will be vital to creating the Individualised Education Programme (IEP).

It is also wise to reach out to the parents of these children as they have valuable information about the child that is essential to the development of the IEP. Parents can provide information on the child's behaviour at home and outside of the centre, which will help the IEP team support the child holistically. Parents may also have other opinions or concerns that will affect how the IEP is crafted. Invite the parents for a talk or ask for a report about the child to be shared with the school.

Areas to provide support for the child:

• Some children may have trouble making and maintaining eye contact, observing social cues and reading facial expressions. They may also find learning how to engage with their peers challenging. This may make it more difficult for them to interact meaningfully with other children.

• Some children may also have difficulty joining in activities and games their peers engage in. This will affect their socio-emotional development.

• Depending on the type and severity of vision loss, some children may have trouble navigating the environment, moving around and finding objects, especially so when there is no fixed structure to frequently used spaces and items in the classroom.

Different ways a child with visual impairment can learn:

• Tactile materials: Books with raised print or book bags, which contains items that relate to the book the child is reading

• Cooperative learning: Encouraging children to interact with their peers and join in both small and large group activities. Most effective when the activity requires everyone to be involved. (E.g., baking a cake - each child could hold an ingredient to put in, so they are each needed to finish the recipe.)

• Incorporate colour and movement: Colourful and moving objects grab attention and help children learn. Objects are concrete and thus are important to helping children understand what is being taught.

• Reading and writing: Teach children about books through storytelling or story reading to build interest in books. Different facial expressions, voices and sounds help children to visualise the story in their own way. Besides that, even if they start out with scribbles, encouraging children to write will motivate them to want to learn reading and writing more. Reinforce by giving positive and constructive comments.

Special considerations for the IEP:

• behaviour that hinders the child's learning or learning of others

• language needs of the child

• braille use and instruction (for children who require them)

• communication needs

• need for assistive technology

Post - IEP

Once the IEP is commenced, observe and keep up with how the IEP is working.

Has it been implemented consistently and properly? Are there issues with the IEP or is anything missing?

Communicate with fellow team members and the child's parents to ensure that there is mutual understanding and awareness of the child's progress.

Situations may arise that require the IEP to be reviewed and rewritten to better suit the child. Such situations include new staff members within the IEP team having difficulty implementing the IEP, or medical issues that change the child's needs. The child may also have progressed more quickly than expected. The IEP hence cannot remain the same with the changes that affect the child's development and learning.

Impact of visual impairment on children

Early-onset vision impairment causes delays in the motor, language, socio-emotional and cognitive learning domains, with some having lifelong consequences. Some children can also experience lower levels of educational achievement.

Sample IEP

Case study: Kate is a 3-year-old child who is currently enrolled in Sunshine Special School. She has moderate visual impairment (20/70 to 20/160). She loves listening to stories and looking through books. She finds it challenging to see words in small fonts, and cannot make out visuals that are similar in colour.

As her teacher, a goal that Kate should achieve by the end of the semester is to be able to write the letters 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', all in lowercase and with the aid of visual and tactile references.

Based on Kate's abilities and interests as well as the learning goal required, this is an example of what her IEP would look like in the first semester after commencement.