Week 9

          This week I really enjoyed reading about effective classroom adaptions for students with visual impairments. I have never had the experience or opportunity to work with students with any type of functional blindness or blindness at all.  Last year in our classroom we had a student who was wheel chair bound whom had Cerebral Palsy.  He had some visual impairment which called for adaptions and accommodations in print size, position, and large images.  He used a slanted desk in order to help see objects more clearly.  When they were flat on the desk, it was more difficult for him to see and read.  On the computer he used a font size that was extremely large as well.  This is the extent of my experience with students with visual impairments. 
         It is extremely important to be aware and recognize the types of accommodations that can be made for students with visual impairments.  Although, I feel as if visual impairments are not as common, it is more apparent with students with disabilities.  The idea of having a visual specialist in the classroom to assist with accommodations and help the student in the general classroom, I believe, is critical for student learning.  My question that I have after reading this article is: how does one go about teaching students braille?  How do you help students to picture objects associated to words when they can't visually see it?  I like how the article discusses ways to help students learn through the various other senses such as touch.  I hope to experience students with visual impairments more often so that I would be able to learn first hand how to make accommodations.  As a future special educator, I would like to read more about how to enhance student learning for students with visual impairments.  It is an important to learn such information when going into teaching - of all kinds.