Introduction
Students with special needs can now learn in mainstream classes with the rest of their peers. To improve equity and fairness, students with disabilities need additional resources and adjustments in the classroom framework to learn. Learning for special needs pupils requires interdisciplinary collaboration between teachers, legal representatives, and child medical experts.
The teacher needs to adapt to the classroom to prepare for receiving a visually impaired child. They should ensure the child can access the curriculum and engage in inclusive play. Although children with visual impairment (VI) have some challenges in learning, it is possible to make classroom adaptations and adjustments that enhance their learning experience.
Layout/Organization of the Room
There are several changes that teachers can make in the classroom environment to ensure that the children with VI have the necessary resources for their learning. The teacher can adopt the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) policy, which provides guidelines and hires specialized personnel to assist children aged 3 to 21 with physical disabilities (Fast, 2018). The teacher can work with the IEP-hired personnel to help students with their senses while recognizing the limits, such as inconsistent, fragmented, and passive, that the child with visual impairment can face (Gray, 2005a).
For instance, in my experience, I realize that some objects may be dangerous to touch, others may be odorless, and in most cases, the child has no control over the physical environment. The educator ensures a relatively large walking area between lockers to minimize injuries. The teacher should be cautious when doing experiments, such as teaching the pupils to mix food ingredients and cook.
The classroom should also have visual aids to help pupils with VI and stimulate their psychomotor development. The iPad is one of the modern devices for enhancing imagination and training young children to utilize technology for their education (Růžičková & Hordějčuková, 2015). The iPads have several advantages over mechanical aids, including being comfortable and straightforward to operate, lightweight, and with high-quality sounds. The iPad can have audiobooks for the syllabus to ensure learners do not miss out on some stories (Fansury et al., 2019). Thus, even though the initial set-up of the iPad may be complex, it has many primary advantages for children with VI.
Furthermore, the classroom organization should consider the children with special needs. Notably, children with VI are likely to have light sensitivity that makes them uncomfortable (Bennett et al., 2019). The educator can make adjustments to ensure that such children are not sitting near the window. Some children have myopia, which is a condition characterized by shortsightedness. To enhance their vision, the teacher should place their seats in front. Thus, the classroom organization should strategically place the child with VI to maximize their comfort and visibility.
Social Interaction/ Inclusive Play
Play and social interaction help children develop essential motor skills and interact with others. During my practice, I have noted that children with VI may sustain injury when playing ball games, which require catching and throwing back. Any play activity that requires a child to utilize their eyes is limiting. The Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP) policy advocates for consultation with parents to understand the child and make adjustments for their play (Fast, 2018).
Notably, children with visual impairments lack control over their environment, may not know how to play most games and fail to understand the range and variety of concepts. The implication is that for effective play, the class should have various resources, plans, and predictable outdoor and indoor spaces that enable children to see all the play opportunities (National Council of Curriculum and Assessment, 2009). The resources should include visual aids and devices that engage children without and with VI. They may perform better if the play involves concrete experiences of real life done repeatedly.
Dramatic plays are important when applied correctly, as they can engage the entire class and help the VI learners understand family members’ roles and experiment with communities. For example, the teacher can incorporate drama by making the children discuss the similarities between clothing, utensils, and furniture. The children who can see can help those with VI to shout the names of different items at first, then later leave them to mention the names without assistance (Willings, 2023). Once the VI students understand the objects, the teacher can introduce pretend play and test their abstract abilities. The secret to a successful dramatic play is ensuring a big area is well-furnished to accommodate all the activities and furnishings.
Ensuring Access to the Curriculum
The policy of equity in education is essential to ensure that special needs children get the most out of their mainstream classes. The distressing statistics are that despite findings showing that integrating children in mainstream classes is essential for learning, most learners with such experiences still prefer special needs education (Gray, 2005a). The reason is the discrimination that special needs children receive from teachers and other students. For example, a teacher can ignorantly place the VI child at their table during meal time and deny interaction with others. The result is low self-esteem and feelings of insufficiency. Therefore, ensuring access to the curriculum in a mainstream class requires teachers to avoid biases.
The first strategy in ensuring access to all the lessons and materials is to enhance the teacher’s competencies. Teachers must undergo training to learn more about visual impairments and their adaptation (Crispel & Kasperski, 2021). Visual impairment can include students who wear glasses, have myopia, squint, have lazy eyes, and are long-sighted, all of whom require different curriculum adaptations (Gray, 2005b).
Educators often confuse the direction in a syllabus and suggestions for the VI learners (Gray, 2005b). For instance, regarding classroom arrangements, students who are short-sighted may benefit from sitting in front, while the same sitting arrangements will negatively impact long-sighted students. The implication is that teachers should understand the specific VI a child has before making curriculum adjustments.
Technological innovations can be used to ensure that learners with VI access the curriculum just as their counterparts in the mainstream classes. For instance, VI learners in early childhood can benefit from audiobooks such as the DAISY-WIBORD (Rattanaphinyowanich & Nunta, 2021). Research indicates that using books helps learners with literature and improves academic performance (Guha, 2020). In addition, the iPad is an important technology that can help learners manage the curriculum. Teachers can have applications on the iPads that help with giving assignments and communicating with the parents.
Conclusion
Early childhood learners with visual impairments can learn and achieve their potential in mainstream schools. Teachers must make the necessary adaptations to help the learners achieve their academic goals. The class should be spacious and have sufficient resources for learning. Educators can adjust plays to help with social interaction skills and motor development. Teachers need sufficient training to deliver the curriculum fully and accurately. The teacher’s competencies and collaboration with parents and child specialists make learning easier for VI learners.
Reference List
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Willings, C. (2023) Dramatic play station adaptations for students who are blind or visually impaired. Teaching Students with Visual Impairments. Web.