Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness

This article describes the results of a qualitative study on researchers’ observations of teachers of students with visual impairments and how the teachers spend their time in the classroom. The researchers report on the types of training and services being provided to students, including instruction in areas of the expanded core curriculum, also known as disability-specific skills training.

This study identified the levels of direct and consultative instructional services needed for teaching literacy skills to students with low vision. The findings support the need to provide consistent, direct instruction to students with low vision in almost all areas of literacy and literacy-related skills.

Initial reading speeds across grades show points at which children with low vision are at risk of developing low literacy skills. Outcome group measures showed that children who received optical devices increased their silent reading speeds and comprehension rates. Findings indicate the provision of optical devices offer a benefit for deciphering text but not for the mechanics of reading.

The parents of children with visual impairments and the parents of their same-age sighted peers were interviewed to determine their children's mastery of 101 daily living skills. As a whole, the children with visual impairments performed only 44% of the tasks independently, while the sighted children performed 84% of them independently.