Chapter 3

Instruction of Visual Skills
in regularly occurring activities taught collaboratively

Provide instruction of visual efficiency skills using research-based, highly effective strategies. Instruction in regularly occurring activities is more effective than instruction that occurs infrequently in artificial settings (Daugherty, Grisham-Brown, & Hemmeter, 2001). Research completed in the last decade sheds new light on the transfer of short-term memory into the long-term storage that defines learning and makes behaviors a habit. Neurobiological evidence indicates that repetitions cause beneficial changes in chemicals in the brain that allow neurons to communicate with each other in the process of strengthening cortical networks related to behavior (Wittenberg & Tsien, 2002). Efficient learning of new behaviors occurs in practice sessions in which new skills are used several times with short breaks between repetitions and with sessions repeated frequently on a daily basis over longer periods of time (Greene, 2001). As a result, behaviors become easier, are chosen more frequently, and become standard operating procedure in the setting in which they are practiced. Sensory strategies that cost less in terms of the amount of effort required to apply them are the ones chosen by children as they explore and interact with things (Klatzky & Lederman, 2008).

A photo shows a classroom locker with a label that reads “Tran.”

A name tag on a student’s locker becomes easier to find each time he returns throughout the school day.

The schedules of itinerant teachers of students with visual impairments (TVIs) rarely allow the frequency required for direct instruction of visual efficiency skills as a stand-alone practice.

Therefore, it is important to collaborate with parents, classroom teachers, and other team members to provide instruction in regularly occurring activities. See Table 3.1.

Follow these steps to ensure the best possible instruction of visual efficiency skills in regularly occurring activities:

  1. Evaluate needs in regularly occurring activities (BVEE).
  2. Determine specific accommodations and skills for instruction (BVEE).
  3. Specify accommodations in the appropriate section of the IEP.
  4. Write IEP goals and objectives for identified skills.
  5. Embed visual efficiency skills in instruction that takes place in regularly occurring activities.
  6. Model instruction for teachers, parents, and other team members.
  7. Observe instruction regularly and frequently to coach parents, teachers, and other team members; evaluate the effectiveness of instruction; revise instruction; and expand instruction as short-term objectives are achieved.

Table 3.1. Sample Collaborative Visual Skills Lesson Plan for instruction of visual efficiency skills in regularly occurring activities

Activity: Breakfast
Setting: Home, kitchen
Instructor: Mom
Parent goal: Prepare, eat, and clean up in 20 minutes
Task component related to visual efficiency: Pour milk into cereal bowl without spilling
Visual efficiency IEP goal: Track vertical movement of object five out of five consecutive trials in six different tasks
Present level of academic and functional performance: Responds quickly to movement peripherally, tracks to midline; loses fixation on moving target in central field
Embedded visual efficiency short-term objective: Vertically track line of contrast between milk and bowl as it moves toward top of bowl
Embedded visual efficiency accommodations: Heighten contrast (use a solid, dark color bowl)
Strategies: Use quart-size milk jug (with screw-on hat)

Have slightly more than required amount of milk in the jug

Punch or drill small holes in the hat to slow flow of milk

Screw hat on jug

Pour milk first, then add cereal

An image depicts a bowl of milk and an empty milk jug with a hole on its hat.

To track vertically the line of contrast between milk and bowl is an embedded short-term objective for visual efficiency.
Activity: Arrival routine
Setting: Pre-K class
Instructor: Pre-K Teacher
General education skill: Organize and maintain personal possessions
Task component related to visual efficiency: Use name tag to find locker for storage of backpack
Visual efficiency IEP goal: Identify familiar words in hand lettered, cursive, and different print fonts when used to label drawers, cabinets, and containers five out of five consecutive trials
Present level of academic and functional performance: Identifies letters and familiar words in sans serif print fonts; has difficulty with hand-lettered manuscript, hand-lettered cursive, and unfamiliar fonts
Embedded visual efficiency short-term objective: Identify name in a variety of formats on name tag
Embedded visual efficiency accommodations: Heighten contrast (Write the student’s name with wide-tip, black marker on light color paper. Keep seasonal cutouts used for other students as background for light color name strip or use light color cutouts for everyone.)
Strategies: Write familiar words on labels in multiple formats; practice sorting cards on which words used on labels in the school environment are displayed in multiple formats

An image depicts words used on heart shaped labels.

An image depicts words used on star shaped labels.

An image depicts words used on leaf shaped labels.

Heightened contrast is an embedded accommodation for visual efficiency.
Activity: Arrival routine
Setting: Pre-K class
Instructor: Pre-K Teacher
General education skill: Organize and maintain personal possessions
Task component related to visual efficiency: Hang coat on hook on coat rack
Visual efficiency IEP goal: Scan from left-to-right five out of five consecutive trials in four different arrays (coat rack, daily calendar, books, worksheets)
Present level of academic and functional performance: Uses multiple fixations in random sequence to locate objects in arrays
Embedded visual efficiency short-term objective: Scan from the beginning of the array on the left to the next coat in the row until an empty hook is found five out of five consecutive trials
Embedded visual efficiency accommodations: Heighten contrast (Place black paper medallion around base of each silver metal hook.)
Strategies: Initially, use direct lighting (penlight) to illuminate the transition from current to next coat in the sequence

A photo shows the close up view of books arranged on a rack.

Hanging a backpack on a hook is a task component related to visual efficiency.

A photo shows five backpacks, each hanging on a hook.

To scan book titles left-to-right is an embedded short-term IEP goal for visual efficiency.
Activity: Puzzles
Setting: Pre-K centers
Instructor: Pre-K Teacher
General education skill: Complete five-piece puzzle
Task component related to visual efficiency: All
Visual efficiency IEP goal: Assemble parts to complete whole
Present level of academic and functional performance: Completes one-piece foam inset shape puzzles; refuses to work on multi-piece puzzles
Embedded visual efficiency short-term objective: Given a two-part puzzle, hold one half steady with one hand while rotating the other half in a clockwise pattern until the image is complete
Embedded visual efficiency accommodations: High contrast, solid color, single object pictures
Strategies: Cut pictures of familiar objects in half; gradually increase complexity to objects with more colors and internal detail (Make dome magnifier available when pictures contain small internal details.)

Rotating one piece of a two-part puzzle clockwise until the image is complete is an embedded short-term objective for visual efficiency.