The teacher for students with visual impairments should conduct a Learning Media Assessment on every child as part of any functional visual assessment. This LMA assessment carefully looks at a child’s ability to access print, symbols and learning media at near and distance. It might recommend that your child with CVI access materials using tactile and auditory media. This might be true but I would never leave print out for a child with CVI. I would build visual skills for literacy using color highlighting and use Braille as well if warranted.
I know of one student learning Braille at a high literacy level while she also builds print understanding using large print, bold green font with red highlighting. This is the best of both worlds!
The National Braille Press provides free materials for children and families to learn Braille.
From their site:
- An age-appropriate print/braille book for three age groups: birth-3, 4-5, and 6-7 in English or Spanish;
- A braille primer for sighted parents entitled Just Enough to Know Better;
- A tactile ball (red bags only);
- Print/braille bookmark;
- Print/braille alphabet card;
- Because Books Matter, a guide for parents on why and how to read books with their young blind child;
- A tactile maze or flag;
- Wikki Stix, a product that allows a child to make tactile pictures (blue or green bags only);
- A gift coupon redeemable for another print/braille book or braille/large print playing cards;
- Tactile Alphabet Letters sheets, showing upper- and lowercase print letters in raised-line format, and braille letters (blue bags only);
- A Braille Caravan block;
A description of the program on DVD.
cvi teacher 