The document discusses teaching strategies and accommodations for students with visual disabilities or impairments. It provides suggestions for preferential seating, ensuring accessibility of course materials, using large print and describing visual content verbally. Assistive technologies that can help visually impaired students include optical character recognition, Braille displays, speech synthesis programs, magnification programs and video magnifiers. Common challenges for students with visual impairments involve difficulty seeing, reading or identifying objects.

2.  Difficulty finding objects
 • Difficulty identifying objects
 • Difficulty seeing objects edges, and discriminating
foreground/background differences
 • Missing objects when reaching for them
 • Disappearing objects in visual field (the area of vision)
 • Tripping, falling, or bumping into objects when walking or moving
about room
 • Difficulty reading print
 • Reduced reading rate
 • Reduced reading endurance
 • Difficulty seeing handwriting
 • Difficulty seeing writing on board, or projector
 • Difficulty seeing characters or numbers in books/media
 • Inconsistency in seeing objects over time (fluctuating vision)

3.  Students with visual disabilities may need preferential seating. Your student
should be seated near the front of the class to hear clearly what is being
presented and to see as much as possible.
 Well before the beginning of your class, leave a list of required and
recommended texts at your department office, and tell the office staff that
students with disabilities should be permitted to make copies of the list. (Or put
the book-list on your course website.) Some students with visual disabilities will
need to order their textbooks from Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic, and
receiving taped books takes time.
 When using an overhead projector with transparencies, use a large print-
size: at least 18 points. Provide additional time for students with visual
disabilities to copy the material on the transparencies, or provide them with
printed copies.
 Whenever possible, modify the presentation of material to make it
accessible.
 Allow the student to audiotape lectures or use a notetaker.
 Pace the presentation of material; if referring to a textbook or handout, allow
time for students with visual disabilities to find the information.

4.  When lecturing, avoid making statements that cannot be understood
by people without sight: for example, "This diagram sums up what I am
saying about statistics." (Don't worry about using words and phrases
that refer to sight: for example, "See you later!" Such expressions are
commonly used, and most people with visual disabilities don't find
them offensive.)
 Read aloud everything that you write on the chalkboard. Verbally
describe objects and processes whenever possible.
 In making comparisons and analogies, use familiar objects that don't
depend on prior visual knowledge. Foods and objects found around
the house are good choices. You might say, for example, that a
particular dance movement requires a lot of weaving and turning, "like
getting from one side of the living room to the other on moving day."

5.  Most students with visual disabilities take
advantage of assistive technology.
 Computers can enlarge print;
 convert printed material to Braille;
 read the text on a computer screen aloud; or
scan books, articles, and other printed materials
and then read their text.
 Some students also use audiotape recorders,
portable note-taking devices, or talking
calculators.

6.  Computers are essential tools in all academic studies. They can
enhance the independence,
 productivity, and capabilities of people with disabilities. Access to
computers for students with
 disabilities involves two major issues: access to the computers
themselves and access to
 electronic resources such as word processors, spreadsheets, and the
World Wide Web.
 Assistive hardware and software can facilitate computer access for
people with disabilities.
 Assistive technology solutions may involve simple, readily available
adjustments such as using
 built-in access devices on standard computers, or they may require
unique combinations of
 software and hardware such as those needed for voice or Braille
output.
 Accommodations for students will be presented by considering
computer input, output, and
 documentation for a specific impairment. Many accommodations
require advance planning with
 the student and an advisor from the Office for Students with

7.  Optical Character Recognition:
An optical character recognition
(OCR) system interprets characters
and words from a scanned printed
document and saves it to the OCR
system's memory or a personal
computer. The visually impaired or
blind individual can access the
information with tools that can
magnify the screen or convert the
information to synthetic speech or
Braille. Systems are available
separately and self-contained or as
part of a personal computer bundle.

8.  Braille Technology: Several
types of equipment offer Braille
technology to the visually
impaired or blind. Braille displays
provide Braille from material on a
computer screen. It displays as
many as 80 characters and
refreshes as the individual reads.
A portable electronic Braille note
taker features a Braille keyboard.
The information can later be
transferred to a personal
computer or retrieved from the
note taker using Braille display or
a speech synthesizer.

9.  Speech Systems: Synthetic
speech systems convert written
words into spoken language. The
user presses key commands that
work with a screen reader. The
screen reader then instructs the
synthesizer which words or lines
of text to read. These systems
can be instructed to locate
specific text, such as sections
highlighted or in certain colors.
They also work with the use of
spell check. Synthetic speech
systems are included with screen
readers

10.  Magnifiers: Magnification systems, for the
visually impaired, include video magnifiers
and programs specifically for computers. A
video magnifier works with a television, video
monitor or computer screen. A magnification
program for a computer is software that is
loaded into the memory of the computer.

11.  Looking Through Their Eyes: Teaching Suggestions
for Visually Impaired Students. (2012). Retrieved
February 21, 2015, from Bright Hub Education:
http://www.brighthubeducation.com/special-ed-
visual-impairments/62427-ideas-for-how-to-teach-
visually-impaired-students-seeing-the-big-picture/
 Presley, I., D’andrea, F. M. (2008). Assistive
Technology for Students Who Are Blind or Visually
Impaired. Retrieved March 1, 2015, from American
Foundation for the Blind:
http://www.afb.org/assistivetechnology/book.asp?ch
=appA
 Teaching Students with Disabilities. (2011).
Retrieved March 1, 2015, from Berkerly University
of California:
http://www.dsp.berkeley.edu/teachstudentswithdisa