eyeway.org : beyond the I : issue 10 : focus : What teachers need to do differently

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What teachers need to do differently

Be sensitive to the special needs of the child. There are different kinds of visual disability, and each will need different kinds of assistance.
Read aloud whatever they write on the blackboard.
Use methodology that has a strong audio or kinesthetic component to it.
Arrange for writers, if needed, well before exams begin, so as to avoid problems of clashing dates. (St. Mary's School asks parents or students to help.)
Give exam papers with larger fonts to students with visual disability, and give them the extra one hour that they are entitled to even in school exams.
Guide schools in acquiring the right computer software, such as JAWS, which is a screen reading software.
Allow students with visual disability the use of computers for answering exams.
Organise counselling for sighted classmates, as students with visual disability may be segregated by their peers.
Treat students with visual disability no differently than they treat other students. They should not, out of a mistaken sense of sympathy, exclude them from the rules that the rest of the class are subject to.
Never transfer their own responsibility onto the brightest students in the class, by seating them next to the student with visual disability and asking them to help him/her out. This is unfair on both students, and can lead to resentment.
Go for training courses that help them understand the theoretical and practical aspects of inclusive education.