Chapter 4

Using the Intervention Guide

The Intervention Guide is complete when accommodations, skills, and strategies are determined and described for the learning media items in each priority activity—those with a “high need of instruction” rating on the Activity Inventory. Information from the tools in chapters 1, 2, and 3 are used to determine and describe interventions. The completed Intervention Guide has five uses:

  1. It ensures that accommodations listed in the IEP are used in regularly occurring activities.
  2. It identifies visual goals for the IEP that may stand alone for some students or be integrated with functional or academic goals as indicated by the types of activities listed as priorities.
  3. It ensures that visual efficiency skills are taught in activities and with materials that are part of regular instruction.
  4. It provides a baseline from which to measure progress in the achievement of visual efficiency skills as activities move from low performance ratings to mid and high ratings.
  5. It provides detailed information about a student’s visual efficiency needs that can be shared with the entire instructional team.

The completed Intervention Guide combines the results from the Activity Inventory, Visual Skills Chart, Developmental Sequences Chart, and the Perceptual Skills Evaluation Procedure. See Table 4.1 for a sample completed Intervention Guide.

Table 4.1 Sample Completed Intervention Guide

Priority Activities Media/Objects affected by poor visual efficiency Related visual developmental sequences (V) and/or Related perceptual skill deficits (P) Intervention Accommodation (A) Skill (S) Strategy (St)
Arrival time Name tag on cubby

V: High contrast/low contrast

P: Identification

A: Enhance contrast with wide tip, black marker on white background

St: Identify name written in cursive and manuscript on tag

Hook on coat rack

V: Fixating/tracking/scanning

S: Scan from left to next hook in row until empty hook is located

Journal time

Notebook

V: High contrast/low contrast

A: Use bold line paper to enhance contrast

Centers

Picture books

V: Simple/complex

P: Closure and figure-ground

S: Identify single element in scene

St: Name partially obscured objects for student

St: Use cutout window to isolate feature then find feature without cutout

Centers

Puzzles

V: Part/Whole

P: Constancy, Part/whole

S: Assemble two halves of single-object pictures cut in half

St: Teach clockwise rotation pattern

Morning circle

Weather pictures

V: Outer edges/internal detail

A: Outline outer edges of salient feature

Playground

Anything in bright sunlight

V: Fixating/tracking/scanning

A: Sunglasses

Arts and Crafts

Lines for cutting

V: High contrast/low contrast

A: Used bold marker to enhance contrast

A photo shows a male child wearing sunglasses and a hat and playing on a swing on a sunny day.

Wearing sunglasses and a hat are accomodations when playing on a sunny day.