Low Vision & Blind Resources

Image of the OSSB Marching Band in 2019 sitting on bleachers and in uniform

OSSB Marching Band as they travel to Tampa Florida for the 2019 Outback Bowl during winter break. Students also got to visit Disney's Magic Kingdom during their visit.

Welcome

Here, you will find a variety of resources to support Low Vision and Blind learners. Find your relevant topic below and click on the drop down to review the resources provided.

SPOTLIGHT RESOURCES:

OSSB Summer Camps

Camp Registration Link Here

NWABA Tips for Teaching PE and Sports

NWABA Link Here

RESOURCES LIST

Distance & Blended Learning

  • Google For Education Teacher Center- The Teacher Center has a lot of resources available to you while you learn and adjust to this whole distance learning thing. There are trainings you can take, and you can also work to become a Google Certified teacher.

  • Perkins Webinar: Creating Accessible Maps Using SAS Graphics and Google Maps: This is a great opportunity for learning about creating accessible maps using technology. The intended audience for this webcast includes individuals with visual impairments, certified orientation and mobility specialists, teachers of students with visual impairments, disability support staff, and general educators.

  • Veroniiiica: This is an awesome blog site compiled of a vast array of articles on a wide variety of topics created by a college student named Veronica. In her blog, Veroniiiica provides education and information to students, parents, and teachers about technology, education, and visual impairment, and how they intersect.

  • Virtual ExCEL Academy- This resource provides free lessons and other programming for students who are blind or have visual impairments. Certified educators in blindness and low vision host interactive accessible educational sessions with students on topics relevant to the expanded core curriculum (ECC) on the ZOOM platform. For an audio file with more information, please go to: https://youtu.be/_VsWZ8bLlS4 Ths is also sponsered by Paths to Literacy.

  • Virtual ExCEL Summer Camp: This is a nice opportunity for students who are deafblind to access learning and social opportunities summer camp experiences virtually.



Early Intervention

  • Hold Everything!: This is a book outlining 20 "stay put" play space ideas for students who are deafblind.


Enrichment

  • American Printing House for the Blind: This is a great list of upcoming webinars related to a variety of topics related to education for students with visual impairments. The webinars are intended for a variety of audiences including professionals in the field of educating students with visual impairments, to students, parents, or general educators.

  • At Home with APH: This is a great list of upcoming webinars related to a variety of topics related to education for students with visual impairments. The webinars are intended for a variety of audiences including professionals in the field of educating students with visual impairments, to students, parents, or general educators.

  • Braille Your World, Independence in the Kitchen: This is a nice resource for parents to get ideas for how to build braille literacy for their children while also building independence navigating the kitchen in their home.

  • Hadley, instructional videos on using accessibility features with technology devices: This is an awesome compilation of instructional videos that will assist users with low vision how to access a variety of technology devices. This could be used by individuals with visual impairments as well as families and educators.

  • Hold Everything! This is a book outlining 20 "stay put" play space ideas for students who are deafblind.

  • IXL Math | Learn math online: Gain fluency and confidence in math! IXL helps students master essential skills at their own pace through fun and interactive questions, built in support and motivating awards.

  • Math | Khan Academy: Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. We tackle math, science, computing, history, art history, economics, and more, including K-14 and test preparation (SAT, Praxis, LSAT) content. We focus on skill mastery to help learners establish strong foundations, so there's no limit to what they can learn next!

  • Med Ed Connections: This is a good resource for guiding families of children with visual impairments through advocacy and access issues in the medical field.

  • Northwest Associates for Blind Athletes: Northwest Associates for Blind Athletes is featuring a video resource library for teaching sports and physical activity to students who are blind or visually impaired.

  • OCALI Outreach Center MedEd Connections: This is a good resource for guiding families of children with visual impairments through advocacy and access issues in the medical field.

  • Perkins Webinar: Creating Accessible Maps Using SAS Graphics and Google Maps: This is a great opportunity for learning about creating accessible maps using technology. The intended audience for this webcast includes individuals with visual impairments, certified orientation and mobility specialists, teachers of students with visual impairments, disability support staff, and general educators.

  • Puberty: Disability and Sexuality: All people are sexual beings, no matter what their bodies can or cannot do physically or what type of support they may need from time to time or all of the time. It’s important for young people living with disabilities to learn about sexuality. They have the same hormones and sexual needs and desires as other people, and they can have different sexual orientations (heterosexual, bisexual, gay, asexual, etc.) and gender identities (transgender, cisgender, gender nonconforming, etc.). Young people with disabilities want the same thing everyone else wants in a relationship—respect, consent, communication and fun, which is why people regardless of their abilities need to learn about expressing romantic interest in a partner, healthy relationships, dealing with rejection and sexual health. If you are a young person with a disability, sex education can help you learn about communicating interest in a partner and healthy relationships as well as any specific concerns about what you can or cannot do in sexual situations. Talk to a parent, guardian, health care provider or other trusted adult about how you can get the sex education you need.

  • Staying FIT: (Add description) Video Link

  • Summer 2020 Camps by OSSB: This web site provides camp offerings, and the registration form. Camps are open to students k-12 who are blind or have low vision.

  • Veroniiiica: This is an awesome blog site compiled of a vast array of articles on a wide variety of topics created by a college student named Veronica. In her blog, Veroniiiica provides education and information to students, parents, and teachers about technology, education, and visual impairment, and how they intersect.

  • Virtual ExCEL Summer Camp: This is a nice opportunity for students who are deafblind to access learning and social opportunities summer camp experiences virtually.

Equity Pedagogy


Literacy Resources

  • Audible Kids: Audible Kids (free during school closures). Audible kids is a site where students can easily access audio books using their computer, tablet or ios devices. Simply press the start listening button, choose a category, click on a book and begin listening. The player controls are also accessible. Video link.

  • Bookshare: Bookshare has a collection of almost one million books. It is also free for students in k-post secondary education. Teachers can assign books to student reading lists, or generate an individual membership for a student. Books can be downloaded in a variety of formats. Text only daisy, daisy with images, mp3, braille ready file and word document. Books can be accessed from a computer, android tablet or IOS device. Additional Links: Video Spotlight. Printable PDF file (Transcript of Video)

  • Desmos | Beautiful, Free Math: At Desmos, we're on a mission to help every student learn math and love learning math. Our story starts with our Desmos graphing calculator, the best-in-class HTML5 graphing calculator, which millions of students around the world use for free, including students who are blind or visually impaired. Through partnerships, our calculator is embedded in digital curricula and on digital assessments, so students spend less time worrying about technology and more time thinking about math. To continue spreading the joy of math, we built hundreds of digital activities covering grades 6–12 and expanding quickly to other areas of math. These activities take advantage of everything that makes computers special. They invite students to create their own mathematical ideas, rather than just consuming ours. They encourage students to share their creations with each other, rather than with a grading algorithm. We distribute these activities for free on our website and through partnerships with curriculum publishers. After making these activities, we saw how much teachers wanted to create their own activities, rather than just assigning ours. So we created Activity Builder and Computation Layer to help teachers make the best activities for their students. With all of these products, we partner with teachers and serve their students. We couldn't be happier to see those partnerships multiply every year. The best days of math education and the best days of Desmos are ahead of us. Come join us on our journey!

  • Distance Education Resources | National Federation of the Blind: The National Federation of the Blind is committed to ensuring quality education for blind students, and to providing activities and lessons that are fun.

  • EPIC Library and Digital Resource: EPIC online library for teachers and parents. This is a huge resource of online books and remote learning tools for teachers. Currently free throughout the crisis.

  • JVIB Virtual Learning – AER: Continuing education is an important part of AER’s commitment to professional development. AER is pleased to bring the best and brightest experts in the field of vision to AER members and other vision professionals. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness (JVIB): Read. Learn and Earn CE Hours AER members can earn CE hours by reading articles in JVIB that are accepted by the Academy for Certification of Vision Rehabilitation & Education Professionals (ACVREP). Each journal issue contains 2 articles that are eligible for CE credits. Once you have read the eligible article, you must take a quiz. After successful completion of the quiz, your CE hours/certificate will be added to your AER member profile for download within 7 business days. Fee $8.00.

  • Save the Children: Coronavirus and Kids: This is a collaboration of ideas and tips for families to meet more than just the educational needs of students, but also the social emotional and mental needs that emerge in confusing and uncertain times like this. The target ages of students for this particular resource is from young ages to 6th grade.

Physical Education

  • Camp Abilities: A Sports Camp for Children with Visual Impairments: Camp Abilities is a sports camp for people with visual impairments. In general, blind and visually impaired children have been shown to be less physically active than their sighted peers. They often exhibit deficits in gross motor skills such as running, galloping, sliding, throwing, kicking, and batting. The reasons for these deficits are complex, but limited opportunities and lack of knowledge on the part of physical educators and caregivers are important contributing factors. One way to help blind and VI children develop their physical potential is to expose them to a variety of sports. Another way is to educate teachers about the capabilities of students with visual impairments.

  • Health at Home | Parent & Educator Resources: Just like you, we are trying to keep our kids healthy and active in the midst of Coronavirus-related school closures. To help all our families, we’ve set up a Google Classroom to provide you with free and easy access to several of CATCH's evidence-based health, nutrition, P.E., and home education materials. These distance learning materials include fun lessons and physical activities for kids at home and require limited space and supervision. The free health education materials are organized into three sections: Physical Activities, Activity Breaks, and Family Health and Nutrition.

  • Just Dance: Kids Dance Songs & Family Fun

  • My Physical Educator: Plenty of resources from the adaptive physical education community for all.

  • Stretching Classes - Workouts From Home: Stay fit by completing stretching workouts from home.

Professional Development


  • American Printing House for the Blind: This is a great list of upcoming webinars related to a variety of topics related to education for students with visual impairments. The webinars are intended for a variety of audiences including professionals in the field of educating students with visual impairments, to students, parents, or general educators.

  • At Home Activities for Children with CVI : This is a good resource for parents or educators in ideas for remote/home instruction for students with CVI.

  • At Home with APH: This is a great list of upcoming webinars related to a variety of topics related to education for students with visual impairments. The webinars are intended for a variety of audiences including professionals in the field of educating students with visual impairments, to students, parents, or general educators.

  • Hadley: This is a great resource for learning blindness basics, braille, and more for professionals seeking professional development. These programs also offer continuing education credits.

  • Hadley Instructional Videos for Using Accessibility Features on Technology Devices: This is an awesome compilation of instructional videos that will assist users with low vision how to access a variety of technology devices. This could be used by individuals with visual impairments as well as families and educators.

  • Paths to Literacy, remote/at home activities for children with CVI: This is a good resource for parents or educators in ideas for remote/home instruction for students with CVI.

  • Perkins Webinar: Creating Accessible Maps Using SAS Graphics and Google Maps: This is a great opportunity for learning about creating accessible maps using technology. The intended audience for this webcast includes individuals with visual impairments, certified orientation and mobility specialists, teachers of students with visual impairments, disability support staff, and general educators.

  • Remote Instruction and Services for Blind and Low Vision Participants, presented by the American Foundation for the Blind: Presented by Dr. Rachael Sessler Trinkowsky, Ph.D., CRC, CATIS AT Program Coordinator, UMass Boston Technology Training and Vocational Coordinator at the Lighthouse for the Blind of the Palm Beaches Topics include: The pros and cons of at least 4 different remote software programs for remote instruction and services for people with vision loss, at least 3 advantages and 3 disadvantages of remote instruction for people with vision loss and 3 recommended tools and methods for implementing remote instruction for people with vision loss.

  • Resource Materials and Technology Center for the Deaf/Hard of Hearing: There are PD opportunities for professionals to increase their knowledge of working with DHH students. Currently they are offering online PD on Language reading connection, Guide for Listening Functional Evaluation, Audiology Eligibility, How to screen for Usher Syndrome, and DeafEd Express. The site looks like it s offered solely for Florida teachers but out of the state educators can take it. Resources here are also applicable to low vision/blind students.

  • SPARKLE: Supporting Parents Access to Resources, Knowledge, Linkages and Education. Project SPARKLE is a program of individualized learning that enhances the ability of parents of children who are deafblind to fulfill their roles in the development and education of their children. Through Project SPARKLE, parents will have access to information, training, and resources in their homes via DVD technology and the Internet.

Related Services

  • Hadley, instructional videos on using accessibility features with technology devices: This is an awesome compilation of instructional videos that will assist users with low vision how to access a variety of technology devices. This could be used by individuals with visual impairments as well as families and educators.

  • Hold Everything!: This is a book outlining 20 "stay put" play space ideas for students who are deafblind.

  • Parent mobility: This is a nice collaboration of videos for parents to view and learn about different techniques for Orientation and Mobility. It could assist them in facilitating conversations with their child about their skills, and in some cases, allow students to demonstrate/practice the skills they have already learned. This could also be a good resource for sharing with general educators as well as the community for building awareness about the skills that are taught for students learning O&M skills. There is a section that is nicely broken down into grade levels, and the videos are brief and descriptive. I would caution that this is not a resource to be used to try to learn how to teach new skills to students. New skills should only be taught by certified orientation and mobility specialists.

  • Perkins Virtual O&M Instruction: This is a nice list of resources and ideas for practicing O&M skills from home.

  • Perkins Webinar: Creating Accessible Maps Using SAS Graphics and Google Maps: This is a great opportunity for learning about creating accessible maps using technology. The intended audience for this webcast includes individuals with visual impairments, certified orientation and mobility specialists, teachers of students with visual impairments, disability support staff, and general educators.


Technology for Low Vision & Blind Resources


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