Visual Impairments

• Technologies

There are many different types of technologies that may assist your visually impaired student during math instruction. Some common devices include large display calculators and talking calculators. You may not, however, know about devices that assist visually impaired students with more complex mathematical concepts such as factions, borrowing and carrying, money, and measurement. Some of my personal favorite technologies include the "CalcuLine" (designed to teach math fact families), the "Carry and Borrow Line", and "Coin Abacus." The following website includes these devices along with other assistive technologies and their general prices: Math Assistive Technology.

• Accommodations

Students with visual impairments may require the following accommodations: extended time, private testing area, a quiet testing area, enlarged test questions, test readers, recording test on audio tape, specially lined or oriented paper, color coded math equations, and special calculators.

This YouTube video shows a real life situation you might experience with visual impairment in your classroom and some general accommodations you can make in the regular classroom.

• Resources

The following list of sites are only a few of the available resources out there that can be implemented to aid students with visual impairments with mathematics. We hope these resources are beneficial to you.

National Association of Special Education Teachers
Teaching Math to Visually Impaired Students
National Association of Parents with Children in Special Education
Barriers to Achievement in Mathematics for Students with Visual Impairments