LKDSB

Vision Program at the Lambton Kent District School Board

 

Vision Program at LKDSBThe Vision Program is comprised of Specialist Teachers of the Blind, Low Vision and Multiple Disabilities. We support students from JK to Grade 12 as well as their classroom teachers and EAs. Our focus is to support students with visual impairments so that they can access the curriculum, using appropriate accommodations and visual aids and to gain independence. We teach collaboratively with classroom teachers, support staff, resource teachers, other itinerant teachers, school administrators and outside agencies. 

 

After a functional vision assessment, we suggest appropriate accommodations. Vision teaching includes the Expanded Core Curriculum, specifically lessons from the following areas of development:

  • Compensatory Skills
  • Orientation & Mobility
  • Social Interaction Skills
  • Independent Living & Personal Management Skills
  • Recreation and Leisure Skills
  • Career & Life Management Skills
  • Assistive Technology
  • Visual Efficiency Skills
  • Self Advocacy Skills

The Expanded Core Curriculum is comprised of expectations that enable students with visual impairments to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to successfully proceed to post secondary education.

 

The Expanded Core Curriculum has been adopted by the Canadian National Standards for the Education of Children and Youth Who are Blind or Visually Impaired, Including Those with Additional Disabilities. A Copy of the Canadian National Standards for the Education of Children and Youth Who are Blind or Visually Impaired, Including Those with Additional Disabilities is available from one of the itinerant vision teachers at the Lambton Kent District School Board. Each school principal has been given a copy of the document. There is a folder of Performance Indicators for the Expanded Core Curriculum skills. These are checklists of skills students who are blind or visually impaired should acquire over their education to prepare them for post secondary education, work and a successful, fulfilling life.

 

Social skills and friendships are difficult to develop with a visual impairment. What other children learn by observation, students with visual impairments need to be taught directly in an organized way.

 

Lowenfeld's principles

 

Supporting children who are blind or have low vision is based on Lowenfeld’s three Principles:

1. Providing concrete experiences with real objects,

2. Learning by doing,

3. Providing unifying experiences, so that the student can see the link between activities and understand the big picture.