VALARIE MOSER, TVI, COMS BRENDA JAGER, TVI, COMS Techniques shared by teachers of the visually impaired and teachers of the learning disabled A Review of Shared Strategies VALARIE MOSER, TVI, COMS BRENDA JAGER, TVI, COMS A comparison of the visual difficulties exhibited by students with learning disabilities and students with visual impairments.

What visual difficulties may look like in a Student with LD or a Student with VI DEFICITS IN: ocular-motor skills visual-perceptual skills spatial orientation, figure ground, visual discrimination, visual sequencing visual motor (gross/fine) speed of visual information- processing visual memory DEFICITS IN: ocular-motor skills visual-perceptual skills spatial orientation, figure ground, visual discrimination, visual sequencing visual motor (gross/fine) speed of visual information- processing visual memory

LD & VI often demonstrate similar behaviors (Sacks & Silberman, 1998) Frustration Difficulty identifying letters Lack of judgement of spatial relationships Poor eye-hand coordination Difficulties in language and mathematics

Students with Learning Disabilities Students with Visual Impairments 50-80% of students who are LD may show deficiencies in basic visual skills (accommodation, convergence, focusing, binocular coordination) (JAOA, 1998) Some students who are LD experience visual processing deficits as an information processing variation. Have a visual impairment which even with correction, adversely affects educational performance (IDEA, 1997) A visual impairment is generally defined medically as an acuity and /or field loss. 80% of legally blind individuals can see some light, color, and objects A large percentage of students with VI use vision as their primary learning source of information.

LD Primary Intervention Complete educational assessment and appropriate remediation of learning strategies (esp.. reading skills). VI Primary Intervention Achieve best corrected vision through medical intervention and functional visual assessment

Shared Strategies (www.ldonline.org) Enlarge print size Use a visual window ruler or finger to isolate relevant print or problems and to reduce or block background Use multiple senses read aloud from chalkboard Modify worksheets Darken or highlight line Kinesthetic feedback with a raised line Simplify page Divide paper into distinct parts Teach study and organizational skills