1. 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.

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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