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Tips for teachers working with students who are visually impaired

Children and adults with low vision are not considered legally blind, they simply have reduced vision at or lower than 20/70. Students who are blind have vision that is at or lower than 20/200. Nonetheless, only 15% of students with visual impairments are considered to be completely blind, with no light or form perception ability

Children with visual impairments often start off learning to read and write with the assistance of low-tech solutions, such as high-intensity lamps and book-stands. Sometimes screen magnification and computer typing and reading programs are used. In other cases, low vision students will learn to read using the Braille system over text, or a combination of the two. However, as students progress through early grade levels and reading and writing activities become more demanding, periodic literacy skills assessment is required to ensure additional resources and adaptive strategy instruction are provided to meet their needs.

For those students with visual impairments who do not master Braille, making use of technology to facilitate reading is fundamental. In fact, most talented Braille readers prefer to use computers or tablets when reading for fun anyway. And students who learn to use a computer not only find homework easier to complete, but often become faster readers. It is simply more efficient for low vision students to use a computer and word-processor over reading paper books and handwriting. This is particularly relevant at a high-school level, when reading and writing assignments become lengthier and more challenging.