Testing Tuesday - low vision

Testing Tuesday - Low vision

Today I wanted to give you some tips for working with children with low vision.  Here are some simple things you can do when assessing children with vision problem by using items you probably already have.

The first one is to use the pattern blocks that we talked about yesterday.

These are perfect for working on size, shape, counting and thickness.

Have the child feel the shapes.  Are some shapes thicker than others?  What about size?  Can they find two shapes that are the same?  Even if they are a different size or thickness?

Why are these shapes triangles?  Because they have three points.  Have the child feel the points by keeping one hand/finger on one point and moving the other hand to feel the other points while counting.

Now try this with other shapes.

When you are testing shape knowledge give the children shape manipulatives of various sizes, thickness and texture.  Can they find shapes within other things such as puzzles or toys.  Once the child has mastered 2D shapes, move on to 3D shapes.

Dominoes are great for counting because the dots are easy to feel.  Practice counting and adding.

Use pattern blocks to make patterns.  As long as the child can physically feel the difference between the shapes, you can use them.  When starting out, use shapes that are really different like a circle and a square.  As the child is able to make the given pattern, try adding more shapes or have the shapes be more similar to each other.

This is a stylus and brailler.  They are very inexpensive and easy to use.  There are lots of instructions online on how to use one.  For children who are learning Braille, it's important to label everything.  Do you have alphabet cards? Add the letter in Braille.  The same with sight word cards.  Blind children need to be exposed to as much "print" as sighted children.

 I added Velcro to a set of subitizing cards.  The children can easily "feel" the dots.  They are perfect for testing numbers.

Adding Braille and Velcro to activities can help the child with low vision participate in activities along with their classmates.

Using snap cubes make it easy for low vision children to "feel" the difference between them and count how many they have easily.

Snap cubes can also be put together to make shapes, letters and words.

If you are not sure about a certain activity or testing method with a child with low vision, try closing your eyes and doing the activity yourself.  Ask yourself if you will get the information you are looking for.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you picked up a few tips.