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APH — American Printing House for the Blind

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Accessible Fine Arts that Sparks Creativity

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Création de livres tactiles suite à des découvertes, expériences scientifiques, etc.

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A student of mine is what I call "tactually hesitant". She's not defensive, just hesitant with new textures and experiences. She is in a life skills class and is learning braille, and recently she surprised me! It took me nearly a school year for her to feel comfortable exploring a tub of dried beans and then a tub of uncooked rice. A couple of years ago I made her a "beach tub" based on the book "The Beach".

This year I created "The Garden". Originally I was going to just call it "Dirt", but with flowers in the mix, my student called it "The Garden", so I changed it's name. She willingly explored the tub with NO hesitation! She helped create the sentences as well. I was going to braille "I feel...", but she said, "I see...".

Putting Together an Experience Tub

We started with an "experience tub", in which we gathered items related to the theme of gardening, including dirt, leaves, small stones, plastic bugs, artificial flowers, and rubber snakes. We spent time looking at examples of real flowers, leaves, etc. before looking at the artificial ones to be sure that she was familiar with each of the items. Using artificial ones allows the tub and book to last longer (and is also better than using real bugs and snakes!).

The goal was to encourage tactile exploration, while also familiarizing her with the items and using the vocabulary to talk about them.

Creating a Braille Story Book

This weekend I created her braille story book to go along with her vocabulary words and her experience tub. I used a combination of hot glue and clear Gorilla glue to secure the items to the page. And, yes, that is potting soil glued down to the page. I did a "glob" of hot glue and then pour dried potting soil on to it. tap down with a ruler and then waited for it to dry. Once it was dry, I shook off the extra dirt.

Items needed:

potting soil, dried

artificial flowers

artificial leaves

toy bugs

toy snakes

toy worms

rocks

pennies

braille paper (11 x 11.5 cut in half)

hot glue/gun

clear Gorilla glue

binding comb

plastic tub with lid (shoe box size works best)

Building Vocabulary and Literacy Skills

Here's the additional item I created for the activity. Her vocabulary words are in the red folder. Each word is brailled onto a note card with a notch cut out of the top right corner and then placed on rows of Velcro. The word cards are stored on the top two rows, and the bottom strip is for placement of the words to create sentences or short phrases.. Currently she's identifying a word when given a choice of two.

I'm hoping to expand on this by brailling the words: I, see, a, and the. With these 4 additional words, I can encourage her to create and read sentences, as well as create sentences for her to read.

Update After Co-Treating with SLP

The speech therapist did what she always does and makes my lessons better! She thought we should have both the plural and the singular of each word. She also wanted us to work on using adjectives to help her with describing things. Based on this conversation, I made some changes to the folder. Personally, I REALLY like the changes. This is why I like to co-treat! My focus is on the braille and the speech therapist is looking more at language. Together we create some pretty phenomenal lessons!

Completed Activity

This activity now has the tub, a book, and vocabulary activity folder.

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A student of mine is what I call "tactually hesitant". She's not defensive, just hesitant with new textures and experiences. She is in a life skills class and is learning braille, and recently she surprised me! It took me nearly a school year for her to feel comfortable exploring a tub of dried beans and then a tub of uncooked rice.

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Une activité pour chaque astuce. Super pour travailler la marche à suivre

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Il est vrai qu'à première vue, cet article peut sembler utile à peu d'entre vous. Détrompez-vous, il sera vraisemblablement l'occasion pour chacun de découvrir cet album déniché dans une librairie allemande : Wie man ein Wollmammut wäscht? soit, pour les non-germanophones, Comment bien laver son mammouth laineux ? comme l'ont traduit les éditions Milan il y a déjà deux ans. Paru récemment aux éditions Gerstenberg en Allemagne, et réalisé par Michelle Robinson et Kate Hindley, cet album regorge d'inventivité.

Mission pas impossible

Si les mammouths avaient été les mammifères les plus propres qui soient, cela se serait probablement su. Là est tout le problème de notre jeune héroïne qui a pour mission de laver son animal (presque) domestiqué et qui nous montre pas à pas comment procéder.

1ère étape : remplir la baignoire. Fastoche.

2ème étape : y ajouter le bain moussant.

3ème étape, la plus difficile : convaincre l'animal d'y entrer. Pour cela, plusieurs solutions : le balais, un masque effrayant, un skateboard, ou dans le cas où le mammouth résiste vraiment, une grue pourrait s'avérer utile. Une pâtisserie, utilisée comme appat, peut également faire l'affaire.

4ème étape : débuter le lavage à l'aide d'une brosse, d'un râteau... Tous les moyens sont bons quand il s'agit de laver un tel animal.

5ème étape : continuer le décapage et le plonger entièrement dans l'eau.
Attention aux pulsions maniaques, le mammouth est très chatouilleux: " Vorsichtig: Die Bauche von Mammuts sind wahnsinnig kitzelig! "

6ème étape : le rinçage ! Bottes et parapluie seront indispensables à votre survie.

7ème étape (celle que je préfère et qui m'a rapidement convaincue d'acheter le livre) : le shampoing, et toutes les coiffures possibles qui s'ensuivent.

Pour éviter de révéler l'intégralité de l'histoire, je ne divulguerai pas la suite. Notre jeune héroïne parviendra-t-elle à relever l'épreuve ? Je sais, le suspens est insoutenable.

Mais remettons nous dans le bain

Revenons donc à nos moutons. Ou à notre mammouth, au choix.
La lecture de cet album est véritablement un bon moment à passer. Paroles d'étudiants et de parents à l'appui ! Plein d' humour, chaque nouvelle étape de l'histoire est amusante et plaisante à découvrir : aussi bien pour le texte, le ton léger et les boutades qu'elle contient (saviez-vous que, comme nous, les mammouths pleurent lorsqu'ils ont du shampoing dans les yeux ?), que pour les illustrations aussi dynamiques que le récit. Ce pauvre animal, qui au départ n'avait rien demandé, nous attendrit tout simplement. Même avec une frange et des couettes. Sur un fond de couleurs aquatiques - bleu, vert, rose, violet - les bulles de savon irriguent l'ouvrage et lui donne une tonalité joyeuse et attractive.
Bref, un joli livre qui sort de l'ordinaire, à lire depuis sa baignoire !
Wie man ein Wollmammut wäscht? de Michelle Robinson & Kate Hindley, Gerstenberg, 2015.
Publié en France : Comment bien laver son mammouth laineux, éditions Milan, 2013.
Pages : 24. Prix : 11,90 €.

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10 astuces pour laver un mammouth - Lisons jeunesse !

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Il est vrai qu'à première vue, cet article peut sembler utile à peu d'entre vous. Détrompez-vous, il sera vraisemblablement l'occasion pour chacun de découvrir cet album déniché dans une librairie allemande : Wie man ein Wollmammut wäscht? soit, pour les non-germanophones, Comment bien laver son mammouth laineux ?

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Énigmes à lire selon le niveau et travail d'équipe pour la résoudre.

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Materials:

Cardboard or card stock

Graphic art tape

Velcro

Blank Cards (APH 1-03540-00)

Counters

Procedure:

1. Create cards with literary braille numbers.

2. For younger students, place tactile lines between numbers.

3. Place counters in a bowl or shallow container (in this case foam squares, although any type of counter can be used).

Ask the student to read the braille number on the card and place the corresponding number of counters on the line to the right of the card.

Variations:

Literary number matched with number word

Nemeth number matched with number word

Simple math sentence matched to the number shown (help to reinforce learning the Nemeth symbols)

Common Core and Braille Standards

Kindergarten - Word Analysis, Fluency, and Systematic Vocabulary Development :

K.1.6a Understand that the number sign changes the letters a through j to numbers.

K.1.6b Recognize the braille number sign and the digits 1-9 and 0.

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Cardboard or card stock Graphic art tape Velcro Blank Cards (APH 1-03540-00) Counters Create cards with literary braille numbers. For younger students, place tactile lines between numbers. Place counters in a bowl or shallow container (in this case foam squares, although any type of counter can be used).

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Pige le nom d'un ami et écris lui un message

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Écris des lettres le matin, les élèves peuvent lui écrire et lui poser des questions.

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Inventer des histoires/aventures pour rendre les activités plus ludique.

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Créer des certificats pour la complétion des livres lecto ou mur de réussite...?

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These lessons are aimed at students who are blind or visually impaired who have never used the Internet with screen reading software. I prefer to start with simple, short assignments and websites. My mantra is "build on success". So let's tackle some websites!

Visual Nature of Webpages

OK, this first part is for the teachers. I think it is necessary to teach students that webpages are extremely visual in nature and the visual components drive the user to how they access the webpage. Look at a website such as the New York Times or CNN and notice how the visual features help sort out what interests you.

Websites are visual in nature and contain most, if not all of these components.

Variety of fonts and font sizes

A variety of colors

Graphics

Lists

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Accessibility vs. Usability: Factors in Selecting Websites for Student Lessons

Another important factor is the difference between accessibility and usability. There are many websites that meet the requirements of ADA but are still extremely difficult to navigate with a screen reader. Usability not only applies to screen readers, but is the very factor determining our use or non-use of a website: is it too cluttered?; do the links make sense and take you where you were expecting?; does it drive you crazy with automatic pop-up or auto-playing videos? These are the factors which usually decide ease of use for a website or webpage and should be an important factor in choosing a website for a student lesson.

So, it is our job to teach our students how to navigate with or without the problems listed above. You as the teacher must find simple websites with good navigational structure to successfully get your students going on the overwhelming behemoth called the Internet.

Getting Started with Screen Reading Software

First, you as the teacher will need access to a Windows computer and you will need to download the open source, not free, NVDA screen reading software. The default voice is also open source and sometimes difficult to understand, and, if you find this to be true, here are a few steps to change the voice. Start NVDA, press Insert + n to open the program's menus, then arrow down to preferences and press Enter. A sub-menu will open and you will arrow down to speech synthesizer and press Enter. A pop-up window will appear, arrow up and down to choose a new synthesizer (voice) and when finished press Enter. Hopefully you have a Microsoft choice. Many teachers find the Microsoft or Elozuence voices more user friendly. If you want to change the specific voice and rate, go to preference then voice settings and make any changes you need.

Websites for Beginning Lessons Using a Screen Reader

Once you have NVDA working open this website, http://gatewayno.com/history/War1812.html and listen to what happens. The page starts reading automatically. It looks like a simple website, but use the up and down arrows to listen and try to answer a few questions:

1. When did the British ship Leopard fire on the American frigate CHESAPEAKE?

2. What group demanded war against Great Britain?

OK, be honest: did you find the answers using NVDA or did you find the answers with your eyes? Having to listen to an entire webpage for information found at the bottom of the page is not how you want to a student how to use a webpage. We do not read an entire webpage but instead scan for the information we need. Students need to learn how to scan a webpage for information, but this would not be an introductory lesson. This is why it is necessary for you as the teacher to try the website first and then use it for a lesson.

The next website is the one I use for the student's first lesson, http://www.turtles.org/loggerd.htm. When the page loads this time the student can press the letter hand see what happens. You are now navigating by headings and can tell immediately what information is on the page. Now using the letter 'h' to move to headings, then use the up and down arrows to find the answers to these questions:

1. Where do loggerhead turtles nest?

2. What is their diet?

This should have been much easier because the page has heading navigation features. I will write more about the Internet with screen readers, but for now try the attached lessons. Have some fun and hopefully your students will succeed!

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Accessing the Internet with Windows Screen Reading Software: Lessons for Beginners

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These lessons are aimed at students who are blind or visually impaired who have never used the Internet with screen reading software. I prefer to start with simple, short assignments and websites. My mantra is "build on success". So let's tackle some websites! OK, this first part is for the teachers.

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The Accessible Classroom is a video series exploring web accessibility for K-12 education. In this first video, Jeff takes a look at the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) from the perspective of schools.

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Design Learning for Visually Impaired Students with NVDA | Michigan Virtual

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The Accessible Classroom is a video series exploring web accessibility for K-12 education. In this first video, Jeff takes a look at the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) from the perspective of schools.

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Créer application web 'mad libs' selon le niveau (classe de mots à l'étude, genre et nombre).  Pour apprendre à naviguer, pratiquer le clavier et apprendre à écouter le lecteur d'écran.

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Créer application web 'mad libs' selon le niveau (classe de mots à l'étude, genre et nombre).  Pour apprendre à naviguer, pratiquer le clavier et apprendre à écouter le lecteur d'écran.

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"BrailleNote Touch: The future is so close you can touch it."More than ever, students and professionals who are blind require an intelligent device that combines the simplicity and accessibility of a note taker with the power and efficiency of a modern tablet. The BrailleNote Touch is the first braille tablet with the power of an Android operating system.

Through short instructional videos Greg Stilson, Humanware's Product Manager of Blindness Products, demonstrates the basic commands and activities using the BrailleNote Touch.

The BrailleNote Touch videos and information are posted on Paths to Technology with permission.
No. 1: Tour of the BrailleNote Touch main menu and intro to the Playstore. No. 2: Viewing and Editing Google Docs No 3: Creating, editing, and opening documents No. 4: Searching in YouTube No. 5: Downloading and reading BookShare Books No. 6: Connecting to Wi-Fi No. 7: Adding, editing and deleting appointments in KeyPlan No. 8: Creating, editing and deleting contacts with KeyList No. 9: Sending emails with attachments No. 10: Configuring Options and Settings No. 11: Configuring second voices and typing in another language No. 12: Sharing Files directly from KeyFiles
There are additional Paths to Technology tech posts and blog posts on the BrailleNote touch. To view these additional BrailleNote touch Posts, go to Technology Search and type, "BrailleNote Touch".

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"BrailleNote Touch: The future is so close you can touch it."More than ever, students and professionals who are blind require an intelligent device that combines the simplicity and accessibility of a note taker with the power and efficiency of a modern tablet. The BrailleNote Touch is the first braille tablet with the power of an Android operating system.

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Access to online courses, FREE videos, resource sheets, and more!

As we create new courses for you, they will be updated here! Begin with our FREE Introduction to Screen Reader Instruction Course!

We Livestream on YouTube every Tuesday 3pm EST

Join us on our YouTube Channel or catch the recorded videos using the playlist below.

JAWS Cheat Sheet

Currently this item is only available for professionals enrolled in our FREE course "An Introduction to Screen Reader Instruction"
Enroll for FREE Now

NVDA Cheat Sheet

Currently this item is only available for professionals enrolled in our FREE course "An Introduction to Screen Reader Instruction"
Enroll for FREE Now

Chromevox Cheat Sheet

Currently this item is only available for professionals enrolled in our FREE course "An Introduction to Screen Reader Instruction"
Enroll for FREE Now

Use Google Drive to Help Your Learner Get Organized

Screen Readers: 3 Methods of Navigation

If you like this video, check out our new course debuting on October 1st - Screen Readers: Basic Internet Navigation

Do you have resources, you'd like to share?

Submit any copyright-free resources that you use, and we will put them up on our Professional Portal.

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Access to online courses, FREE videos, resource sheets, and more! As we create new courses for you, they will be updated here! Begin with our FREE Introduction to Screen Reader Instruction Course! We Livestream on YouTube every Tuesday 3pm EST Join us on our YouTube Channel or catch the recorded videos using the playlist below.

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Accès à la résidence?

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Plat à muffin
petit jouets, matériaux trouvé pendant une promenade, collation, pâte à modeler

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Peut-être à intégrer dans la trousse d'été? ou pour commencer l'année

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Seesaw is an online platform that had been used by schools prior to COVID- 19 in New Hampshire to communicate with parents and share student work. Once schools closed, it became one of several online platforms used by teachers for remote learning in grades PreK-5 across the country. Seesaw is a digital platform where students can create, respond, reflect, and share knowledge with their teacher and peers using photos, videos, audio recordings, drawings, and text. Teachers create classrooms where student work can be assigned to the whole class or individual students. Comments can be made to student work using both text and audio. Seesaw also promotes ongoing communication with teachers, parents, and caregivers.

As a TVI and CATIS, I collaborated with my dual media student's teachers to make materials digitally accessible. Using Seesaw, I also created my own activities focusing on braille and AT goals. My student's assignments were adapted to reduce visual clutter, increase contrast and the font size of materials. All assignments that included text and visuals, also included an audio recording of instructions for the student. In addition to weekly video instruction provided by me using Zoom, video demonstrations were created for both the parent and student to learn how to use materials and complete assignments.

Since ESY was also remote, a combination of Zoom lessons and activities on Seesaw were created for my student. Each week, there was a new theme. For week one, the theme was Dragons Love Tacos because my student enjoys reading this book, while the theme for week two was cats. Example braille activities included writing alphabetic word signs from practice sentences related to the book, reading sentences including alphabetic word signs and the words "taco" and "dragons," as well as using her iPad and Voiceover to read a digital version of Dragons Love Tacos. Emphasis during remote learning has focused on multimedia instruction in which the student accesses print with a video magnifier, reads large print/braille books, braille writing using a Perkins brailler and BrailleBuzz, as well as accessing digital books auditorily using her iPad and Voiceover. In the video below, I have shared braille and literacy activities created and assigned to my student using Seesaw.

The video below demonstrates Seesaw along with a variety of braille, print, and magnification activities and games that corresponded with the book, Dragons Love Tacos or were cat-themed.

Even though my student used Seesaw to access the first grade curriculum materials and activities toward IEP goals, it was not fully accessible. Seesaw is not accessible with screen readers. Seesaw's accessibility needs to be improved for students who are blind and visually impaired. Recommendations to improve accessibility include labeling all buttons, using heading levels, improving navigation and page layout, including alt text, and adding options for high contrast and large print. By sharing this feedback with the developer, it is my hope that Seesaw will become more accessible for students who are blind and visually impaired when face to face instruction, a hybrid model, or remote learning is used this coming school year.

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Remote Instruction using Seesaw for Dual Media Learner

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Seesaw is an online platform that had been used by schools prior to COVID- 19 in New Hampshire to communicate with parents and share student work. Once schools closed, it became one of several online platforms used by teachers for remote learning in grades PreK-5 across the country.

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Ces cartes proposent des stratégies de retour au calme facilement mobilisables par les enfants. Elles peuvent être utilisées à l'école ou à la maison.

Chaque carte propose une stratégie basée sur le souffle et la pleine conscience.

Pour que les enfants s'approprient ces cartes, il peut être utile de réaliser chaque activité avec eux une première fois. On pourra placer les cartes découpées et plastifiées (ou collées sur du carton épais) dans une boîte puis inviter les enfants à en tirer une. Un enfant ou un adulte lit la consigne et l'activité est réalisée ensemble. Un petit échange sur les sensations ressenties et les effets de cette activité pourra être engagé avec les enfants.

A l'école, ces cartes peuvent être rangées dans une boîte accessible. Plusieurs modes d'utilisation sont envisageables :

commencer chaque jour par l'activité d'une carte à piocher au hasard (sauf la colère)

inviter les enfants stressés et/ou excités à tirer une carte et à réaliser l'activité (dans un espace au calme)

utiliser les cartes lors de transition pour faciliter la reconcentration

utiliser les cartes avant une évaluation pour diminuer le niveau de stress des enfants (en particulier la bougie, le ballon, le papillon et les pissenlits)

Ces cartes peuvent également être utilisées par les adultes :).

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9 cartes de pleine conscience pour les enfants (stress, concentration, retour au calme, émotions fortes)

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9 cartes de pleine conscience pour les enfants (stress, concentration, retour au calme, émotions fortes) Ces cartes proposent des stratégies de retour au calme facilement mobilisables par les enfants. Elles peuvent être utilisées à l'école ou à la maison. Chaque carte propose une stratégie basée

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Idée intéressante pour inspiration... jeux de bataille?

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Idée intéressante pour inspiration... jeux de bataille?

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Exemple unités de mesure non-conventionnelles

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Exemple unités de mesure non-conventionnelles

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La mesure au 1er cycle  : Unités de mesure non-conventionnelles

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Jeu à adapter pour les équivalences/additions/braille/abrégés, ect

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Jeu à adapter pour les équivalences/additions/braille/abrégés, ect

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Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

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Place Value Bootcamp is a high-energy and challenging way to 'hook' your young mathematicians. This is my third year doing Bootcamp and every years it looks different!

While doing calendar, I told my friends that I had a school meeting and they would have a Guest Teacher for the afternoon. As students wrapped-up calendar, I stepped outside our classroom door and put on my military accessories (green vest, aviators, camo bandana from Walmart, and a whistle). I already had on a black shirt and khaki pants, so I was ready to go!
Barging into the classroom, I started shouting commands at my new cadets introducing myself "My name is Sgt. W and I am your guest teacher. Get on your feet! Come on cadets, stand behind your chair. Hands by your side. The answer is "Yes, Sergeant!" Part of transforming your classroom is setting-up the environment and stage for the learning.

I told my Cadets that they would be participating in Place Value Bootcamp. For the first five minutes, we participated in Basic Training. We learned how to march, how to respond when Sgt. W asks you a question, and how to stand at attention.

Since Place Value Bootcamp was the last day of our Place Value unit before assessment, we quickly reviewed all that we had been doing in math. Then, I taught the Cadets the Place Value Song from Teacher Tipster. (Note - I would definitely not show this video in class. Rather, learn the song and teach it to your cadets.)

After Basic Training, I called each cadet forward and they received their new name for the day. After students received their numbers, they drew the Base 10 pieces on the tag. (Note - Last year I used Plastic Dog Tags from Party City. I liked the look of the dog tags better but they were SO hard to put on and the string was too short making them chokers. This year, I opted for plastic name tags!)

Then, I would call one cadet forward to share his/her number with the class and write it on the SMART Board. I underlined one of the digits from the number. Then, I would give students 3 seconds of think time - "Is this digit in the tens place or the ones place?" Then, on the count of three, students had to stand at attention for tens or hit the ground to tell me it was in the ones place.

At this point, students needed to move and so they were ordered to give the same number of push-ups as the digit in the tens place in 54, Do the same number of jumping jacks as the digit in the ones place in 85. This was a blast and a great way to focus us after each number!
Then, I called the needed number of cadets to represent the number of talls (tens) and smalls (ones). We would sing each verse of the song "First you count up all the tens..." then count the talls/tens standing and "Then, you add the ones to the end..." then we added the ones to the number."

At their desks, the other cadets wrote the numbers on their tables representing the numbers in at least 4 ways (numeral, tens/ones, expanded form, base ten pieces).

To cap off Place Value Boot Camp, we enjoyed a Place Value solve-the-room by Susan at Thank God it's First Grade. It was the perfect chance for students to practice counting tens/one, as well as, for me to meet with a small-group of friends who needed extra practice. Students drew the base-ten model, wrote the expanded form, as well as, the final number. You can grab the hunt from Susan here and the recording sheet I adapted here.

The afternoon was a BLAST and it was the perfect review of all of our Place Value learning. Over the next week, I saw some fabulous narratives about "Sgt. W" and "Place Value Bootcamp". This sweet little wrote one of my favorites narratives -

"Sgt. W came in yelling at us. "Get in your places!" Sgt. W made me do ten pushups. We felt tired...really, really tired. I am three times sure that it was Ms. W not Sgt. W. I am still asking my Mom why she signed me up."

Friends, 1st grade is the best and learning should be engaging, challenging, and fun! As you are learning about Place Value, grab your bandana, sunglasses, and whistle. Your friends will thank you for it...even if the push-ups make them tired. ;)

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Place Value Bootcamp (The Brown-Bag Teacher)

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Place Value Bootcamp is a high-energy and challenging way to 'hook' your young mathematicians. This is my third year doing Bootcamp and every years it looks different! While doing calendar, I told my friends that I had a school meeting and they would have a Guest Teacher for the afternoon.

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"chansons éducatives" français math "apprendre en chantant" "apprendre en chanson" "chansons de français" "chansons de mathématiques" "chansons pour enfants"...

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Des chansons éducatives pour tous, voilà ce que te propose Un prof et sa guitare! Un prof et sa guitare c'est M. Laurent, un enseignant au primaire qui aime aborder diverses notions avec sa guitare. Il utilise ses chansons comme amorce ou pour compléter une leçon au grand bonheur de ses élèves.

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Flip it - Décomposer les nombres naturels jusqu'à 1 000.pdf

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J'ai... Qui a - Arrondir à la dizaine et à la centaine près.pdf

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This game gives students practice reading braille words. It could easily be adapted to an inclusive setting.

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"Twister" might be a stretch, but it was the best name I could think of that is similar to the same concept idea as this game.

In New England this is the time of year people either love and embrace the winter, or hibernate and count down the days to spring. It can be 50 degrees one January day, and then -5 degrees the next. So, with the unreliable climate comes the inevitable indoor recess for our elementary students.

Indoor Games to Play in an Inclusive Setting

Let's be honest and say that recess can be a hard time for some of our kiddos who are blind or have a significant visual impairment. In no other setting other than elementary school will our children have this "free time" to do as they please in usually an unstructured manner... so is the struggle. Indoor recess poses a whole new set of challenges. How can we create or provide a fun activity for our students while allowing them to be independent and social with their peers during this time?

Many of the posts I have put up recently ( Braille Boggle, Braille Hieroglyphics, etc.) can be integrated into this time, but Braille "Twister" is one of my favorites to introduce and play.

This game started out as an instructional tool for my student when she was in Pre-School and Kindergarten to keep her little mind interested in our lessons without having to sit and track lines of braille continuously. The materials are very basic and low cost.

Making the Game Accessible to Students Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired

All I did was take 6 pieces of construction paper, (I chose blue for better contrast on the light colored floor in the school, but if your floors are darker lighter colored paper might be better). I cut them into 6 large circles to represent each of the 6 dots in a braille cell, and had them laminated. I taped them to the ground to prevent them from slipping around, and here is the end result:

The game is simple and can be played a number of ways. When my student was learning the code, I would call out a letter and she would have to place her hands, feet, elbow, head, etc., on the corresponding dots to make what I was saying.

For example if I called out "B" she would show me "B" like this:

"K" would look like this:

It would get really interesting when I asked for her to make the contraction "and". She is using her head to touch the dot 2 here.

Modifications to the Game

This game is fun with one or two people, but even more fun when an element of competition is added. Some ways to modify this game include, but are not limited to:

Have multiple sets of dots to create more cells of braille so that teams have to work together to create the required letter or contraction.

Teams of 2 students, with or with or without vision, work together calling out letters and checking for accuracy using a braille card "cheat sheet" for reference.

Adaptations for Students Who Are Totally Blind

My student had a bit of vision, so she could see the dots, as long as there was enough contrast between the color dots we used and the color of the floor.

A texture could easily be added with puff paint or a grid could be made on the ground with jump ropes or other rope taped down to give tactual feedback as to where the dots are.

If your student does not have any vision, this same game can be re-created using an item I found online called Gonge Tactile Stepping Stones. The photos below show what they look like. The photo on the left shows all 10 tactile stepping stones that come in a pack, and on the right I have arranged them as a braille cell.

The kit also comes with a blindfold and smaller tactile disks that match up to the larger stones. Below you can see the pile of small disks on the left, and I have placed the small disks with the larger stepping stones on the right.

These are a great option for students who are totally blind. They are a little pricey, but they can be easily recreated using another tactile form, such as puff paint designs on each dot.

Sometimes just providing ready-made materials can spark the creativity of some young minds and the game options are endless.

Hope this is a game that will help you stay active in the cold months ahead while trying to get through the dreaded indoor recess time!

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"Twister" might be a stretch, but it was the best name I could think of that is similar to the same concept idea as this game. In New England this is the time of year people either love and embrace the winter, or hibernate and count down the days to spring.

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Many children enjoy doing word search puzzles. Finding these in braille might not always be easy, so here's an idea on how you and your child can make your own word search puzzles.

Materials

You'll need:

Preparation

Here's how you prepare:

You or your child can use the Perkins brailler to put letters on the braille labels sheet. Braille a letter, then space 2 times and braille the next. Double space between lines.

Cut your magnetic sheet into 1 inch squares. Cut the edge of a corner so that your child will be able to orient the playing piece.

Write a letter on each square. See the table below to know how many of each letter to make.

Cut out the letters, placing one letter on each square. Be sure the letter is placed correctly so that your child can orient the playing piece by the notched out corner. This playing piece shows the letter "k." If the print "k" is also included on the piece then your child and others can use the same pieces to play together.

Making the Braille Word Search Puzzle

How many to make:

Tape the piece of braille graph paper to the cookie sheet.

Time to Play

Get a book of word search puzzles from the library or bookstore. You can also find these on the internet.

Set up on the cookie sheet the word search puzzle using the magnetic letters. Put one letter in each square of the graph paper. A friend or brother or sister might enjoy doing this for your child.

Have your child use Wikki Sticks to cover the letters of the words in the word search puzzle or words he finds on his own. You can read him the words in the puzzle or have him braille these out before beginning the puzzle.

Your child might enjoy making up a puzzle and seeing how many words he can find in it or how many words a brother, sister or friend can find.

See another idea for creating a braille word search.

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Make Your Own Braille Word Search Puzzles!

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Many children enjoy doing word search puzzles. Finding these in braille might not always be easy, so here's an idea on how you and your child can make your own word search puzzles. You'll need: Here's how you prepare: You or your child can use the Perkins brailler to put letters on the braille labels sheet.

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Materials:

Lazy Sue covered in tinfoil* (any covering or textured paper would do). When you are ready for a new game you can replace the tinfoil.

Plastic cup covered in tinfoil glued onto the center of the circle

5 random objects glued onto the circle board (with multiples of each object in the cup). Examples here include mini pompoms and small hearts.

5 braille labels taped onto the board so that they can be moved later if desired. The labels include "movement instructions" with the number of times the player should "do" the movements:

Procedure:

1. Player one chooses any object out of the cup in the center.

2. Player one then spins the lazy sue and feels the board to find the matching object.

3. Once the matching object is located the player will then read the label and do the movement that is stated on the label.

4. Repeat with Player 2

*The great thing about the lazy sue is that it can easily be changed and modified to fit any level, learning objective or interest of the child!

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Lazy Sue covered in tinfoil* (any covering or textured paper would do). When you are ready for a new game you can replace the tinfoil. Plastic cup covered in tinfoil glued onto the center of the circle 5 random objects glued onto the circle board (with multiples of each object in the cup).

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Speaking and listening skills are both important literacy skills and also a crucial part of the child's social competency.

Here I would like to share a fun social skills game that I show on Positive Eye's Building Positive Social Skills course in the strategies and resources section. It uses a scarf hanger from IKEA which I have used before and some fun buzzers!

You can adapt this game to suit the child you work with, the game could easily be played with sighted peers, as part of a Social Skills Group or Circle of Friends Group.

You will need:

1 multi hanger (KOMPLEMENT) from IKEA (£4.50) http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/70108912/

1 set of numbers to place in each circle of the hanger. (See attached sheet.) Cut out and laminated.

1 set of 'Make the Facial Expression' (square) cards. Cut out and laminated

1 set of 'What does the body language mean?' (Circular) cards. Cut out and laminated.

1 set of 'What's the voice tone?' (Triangular) cards. Cut out and laminated.

I set of sentences to read in the voice tone as indicated on the triangular cards. Cut out and laminated.

1 set of 'Top Tips for Positive Social Experience, cut out and laminated.

1 set of 4 buzzers - £15.95 (www.learningresources.com)

http://www.learningresources.co.uk/product/answer-buzzers.do?sortby=bestSellers&from=Search

1 dice

Counters, one per person playing

1 x A1 black card to lay the hanger on

Velcro or blu tack

How to play (Players 2 - 6)

1. Lay the hanger flat on the table on a well contrasting surface

2. Place the numbers cards in each of the circles Start - 1 - 26 - Finish Velcro/blu tack in place.

3. Place the buzzers on the buzzer cards 4. Place the circle, square, triangle cards alongside the hange

4. Throw the dice. Player needs to throw a 6 to start

5. Players move along the board in numerical order, taking it in turns to throw the dice. The winner is the first to reach the finish line. 7. Along the way the player will land on numbers, numbers with a shape (circle, square, triangle) free choice or buzzer cards and will be requested to complete activities see below.

Landing on a number with a square: Pick a square card (Make the facial expression) and make the facial expression on the card, other players to guess the facial expression. (Describe facial expression if required.)

Landing on a number with a triangle: Pick a triangular card (What's the voice tone?) and pick a sentence to read. Read the sentence in the voice indicated on the triangle card. Other players to guess the voice tone and the emotion conveyed.

Landing on a number with a circle: Pick a circular card (What does the body language mean?) and adopt the body language indicated on the card. Describe the emotion being conveyed. (Describe the posture if required.)

Landing on a buzzer: Give the buzzer a big press and pick a top tip for positive social experience and read it out to the other players

Landing on free choice: make a free choice from the options above.

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A fun social skills game - Guess the Message!

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Speaking and listening skills are both important literacy skills and also a crucial part of the child's social competency. Here I would like to share a fun social skills game that I show on Positive Eye's Building Positive Social Skills course in the strategies and resources section.

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This game gives braille readers and other students a chance to practice reading sight words.

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Engage beginning readers in this reading game for braille users and their friends!

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Idées d'adaptation Bonhomme pendu... pourrait aussi être fait avec les legos!

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Idées d'adaptation Bonhomme pendu... pourrait aussi être fait avec les legos!

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Finding games that students with visual impairments can play with their peers in their classrooms can be a challenge. Adapting pre-existing games can be an excellent way to encourage them to play games with their peers.

I found this Hangman game at an office supply store, but noticed it was even cheaper on the Melissa and Doug website: http://www.melissaanddoug.com/search?q=Hangman. Because the student I adapted this for is learning braille, I adapted each of the letters by placing braille labels on top. Now the non VI student and the VI student can both see the letter block. As for the image of the hangman, I just put textured paper over each of the body parts. The white section at the bottom is for writing the word in dry erase marker. I replaced this by putting Velcro. The student will also have a blue felt board (an extra from an APH kit that wasn't being used) for the letter board. Small cuts of Wixxi Stixx are going to be used to indicate where the letters go for each word.

The GREAT thing about this game besides being able to be included in the activity with their peers, is the fine motor work they can accomplish while playing a game and not realizing it's "work"!

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Adapting Hangman for Students with Visual Impairments

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Finding games that students with visual impairments can play with their peers in their classrooms can be a challenge. Adapting pre-existing games can be an excellent way to encourage them to play games with their peers. I found this Hangman game at an office supply store, but noticed it was even cheaper on the Melissa and Doug website: http://www.melissaanddoug.com/search?q=Hangman.

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Plaque à biscuit et aimants rond pour les cercles.
Créer des feuilles de cercles avec la piaf
Chiffres en braille
Différentes façon de jouer selon le concept à l'étude (additions, soustractions, multiplications, soustractions)

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Petit projet photo, nos positions de lecture en braille (Journée du braille, journée de la lecture?)

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Grammaire et pré-écriture (remue-méninge, plan)

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Grammaire et pré-écriture (remue-méninge, plan)

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Activités diverses avec velcro et cartes ou tableau magnétique et ruban aimanté

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Braille Sentence Order | Braille activities, Braille, Help teaching

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Oct 31, 2016 - Interactive practice for beginning braille students with the elements of a sentence, including capitalization and punctuation

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Hello! I'm Elise Gravel. I'm an author and illustrator. I have published many picture books and graphic novels for kids, both in English and in French. I also love to illustrate free printables for parents and teachers: my goal is to promote diversity, tolerance, respect and empathy. You can find my books, free printables and other cool things in my Boutique.

Here's a free printable comic I made to let kids know that developing curiosity and empathy for people who don't have the same life experience will probably make them fell better. People who are open and curious about diversity are generally happier, less anxious and healthier, because constantly feeling threatened is exhausting!

To open your mind, you can:

* Talk to people who live different lives
* Read tons of books from diverse authors
* Don't take your first impressions too seriously and always consider that you might be wrong
* Try to find things that you have in common with most people you meet.

Teachers and parents, you can download it here and print it for school or home use (no commercial uses allowed).

For more free printable posters, visit my boutique in the "free printable stuff" section. To see my books, click here. If you want to license this image, contact my agent (Contact form above).

Here's my latest book on disinformation, media literacy and conspiracy theories: Killer underwear invasion!

Two jellybean-shaped creatures, one blue, one pink, delve into the intricacies and duplicity behind one of the most insidious and pervasive issues of our time, and the first chapter of this middle-grade comic dives right in: "What Is Fake News?" Gravel does a fine job breaking down complex ideas, beginning with the definition of news ("information about important stuff that's happening in the world right now") and explaining that while disinformation is not new ("Hear ye, hear ye! An evil magician turned the king into a goat!"), the internet and other modern technologies have made it much easier to make lies look real and to intentionally spread them. The hows and whys are explored using specific, goofy fictional case studies; and people's motives (e.g., "Reason 1: To make money...Reason 2: To make money and get famous," etc.) are plainly laid out. Though the examples aren't necessarily serious, the consequences are: "So far, I have given you a bunch of silly examples of fake news," says the pink protagonist, "but fake news is not funny at all. It can actually be very dangerous." The tone is non-blame-y of consumers (but not purveyors) of fake news, with acknowledgment of the ease of being duped ("Admit it-you'd be curious, too") and useful advice about thinking critically, examining sources, etc. Well-delineated panel illustrations featuring blobby critters and pastel colors make these thorny concepts relatively easy to get and should leave many readers feeling empowered.- ELISSA GERSHOWITZ, Horn Book

***

This middle grade graphic nonfiction is an ingenious introduction to media literacy for kids. Using humor and super fun illustrations, author and illustrator Elise Gravel shows how kids can spot fake news and conspiracy theories. This is a must in today's news cycle, where so much absolute nonsense is passed off as news. I used to teach introductory research and writing to college Freshmen, and if this book had existed then, I probably would've had them read it! At the same time, my 4-year-old enjoyed reading excerpts for the illustrations and silly jokes. It's a really fantastic, accessible introduction that would work great in middle school classrooms. - Margaret Kingsbury, Book Riot

My new book is in stores today! Let's teach our kids that their gender shouldn't define who they are, what they like and who they love. Buy it here!

Here's a starred review from the School Library Journal:

"In her signature style, Gravel ( What Is a Refugee? and others) and Blais provide an accessible introduction to gender and gender stereotypes. Beginning with smart, open-ended questions, the authors challenge readers to think about gender stereotypes, why they exist, and if they are true or fair. The book progresses to an overview of sex versus gender, complete with helpful visual aids, an exploration of pronouns, and ultimately, a few examples of how gender is treated in different communities. At each step, the authors ask readers what they think and how they feel. This engagement, coupled with the accessible presentation of the material, makes for an excellent resource. The folks depicted throughout vary in appearance, and include many skin tones, ages, and family structures. A few folks wear hijabs, and two others use wheelchairs. Gravel's illustrative style is wildly appealing, and the comic-style presentation helps to endear the book to readers.

Here's my new book, written with Mykaell Blais. Pink, Blue and You: Questions for kids about gender stereotypes. You can preorder it HERE.

Here's the starred review it got from the School Library Journal:

PreS-Gr 2-In her signature style, Gravel ( What Is a Refugee? and others) and Blais provide an accessible introduction to gender and gender stereotypes. Beginning with smart, open-ended questions, the authors challenge readers to think about gender stereotypes, why they exist, and if they are true or fair. The book progresses to an overview of sex versus gender, complete with helpful visual aids, an exploration of pronouns, and ultimately, a few examples of how gender is treated in different communities. At each step, the authors ask readers what they think and how they feel. This engagement, coupled with the accessible presentation of the material, makes for an excellent resource. The folks depicted throughout vary in appearance, and include many skin tones, ages, and family structures. A few folks wear hijabs, and two others use wheelchairs. Gravel's illustrative style is wildly appealing, and the comic-style presentation helps to endear the book to readers.

Here's a free printable comic I made to teach kids that there are many different ways to show kindness and to make people around you happier.

Teachers and parents, you can download it here and print it for school or home use (no commercial uses allowed).

Activity ideas for teachers:

* Ask your students to add other kind gestures and illustrate them.

* At the end of each day, ask your students to think of the ways they showed kindness and the ways they received it. This has the double benefit of reinforcing kindness and gratitude.

For more free printable posters, visit my boutique in the "free printable stuff" section. To see my books, click here. If you want to license this image, contact my agent (Contact form above).

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American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults
Future Reflections Fall 2019 ORIENTATION AND MOBILITY

Rocking Revisited

by Elaine McHugh
From the Editor: People sometimes ask me where I find the articles that appear in Future Reflections. Some come from presentations at NFB conventions and seminars, and some are reprinted from other Federation publications. Many articles are submitted by blind adults, professionals in the blindness field, and parents of blind children. Others grow out of conversations I've had with people who have compelling stories to share. This article by Elaine McHugh came from a most unexpected source-my fiftieth college reunion! When Elaine and I were classmates at Oberlin College, she was headed for a career in the field of modern dance. As often happens, however, her life took some surprising turns. Her work in dance and choreography led her to teach adapted physical activity to children and adults with disabilities. She also became an orientation and mobility instructor. This article draws upon her doctoral research, in which she investigated rocking behavior in blind children.
I can't remember how I decided to conduct my doctoral research on rocking, but as it turned out, the topic perfectly suited my interests and expertise. Rocking is an area of concern for many parents and teachers, and I am pleased to have this opportunity to review my findings and to look at more recent research.

As a parent or teacher of blind children, you have probably heard many negative comments about rocking. The following statements are typical.

Rocking is inappropriate behavior, and it has to be stopped.

Rocking prevents a blind person from fitting in, finding a job, and making friends.

Rocking reflects poorly on all blind people.

Many blind people have not been educated about the drawbacks of rocking.

Rocking is a bad habit that persists in adults because it was never addressed in childhood.

If blind people understood how sighted people react to rocking, they would stop.

However, other perspectives may seem less harsh and judgmental.

Some sighted people also have stereotypies (repetitive mannerisms or behaviors), that include rocking, twirling the hair, or swinging a leg.

Rocking provides vestibular stimulation and is self-soothing.

Rocking is a normal part of development for everyone.

Rocking reflects a need to move when freedom of movement has been limited or curtailed.

Previous Research

Before I conducted my doctoral study, my review of the scholarly literature made it clear that rocking is part of normal development. Some research-including the two studies that I conducted-gives us clues about possible causes and control of this behavior.

Formal research has established the following points:

1. Rocking appears in typically developing sighted children during transitions between motor milestones, such as the time just prior to creeping on all fours.

2. Rocking is delayed in onset and/or persists beyond the expected period in some children with disabilities.

3. The tendency to rock may be related to factors such as activity level or restriction of activity, cognitive delays, institutionalization, and/or environmental deprivation.

4. Sometimes interventions to control rocking behavior are successful, and sometimes they are not.

The First Study

My dissertation was based on a qualitative study. I studied four blind children ranging in age from ten to thirteen who rocked persistently. All were congenitally totally blind due to retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). All of them had average or above-average intelligence, and they were all mainstreamed in school. I observed the children at school, at home, and in various other settings. I also interviewed their parents, teachers, and therapists, as well as a few school staff members, peers, and siblings. I did motor tests to determine the children's fitness, motor skills, balance, and coordination, and I looked at their school records and other reports.

I found that the participants had a number of factors in common, suggesting that the combination of prematurity and ROP may present some unique developmental and neurological challenges. Due to their medical fragility in the first months of life, all of the children had experienced surgeries and long periods of immobility. Lengthy hospital stays deprived them of the cuddling and playful handling that is part of life for most infants.

Even after the children came home from the hospital, their movement experiences were limited. Over the years they had few opportunities for free and vigorous movement, leading to poor fitness and other motor delays. These delays, in turn, most likely affected the number, range, and quality of the children's later movement experiences. Due to their low skill levels, perceptual-motor delays, and poor fitness, the children had little incentive to move about. In other words, they were caught in a vicious cycle!

The children in the study rocked throughout their waking hours. They rocked while they were waiting or listening. They rocked when they were conversing, eating, reading silently and reading aloud, engaging in class discussions, typing, using a calculator or abacus, putting on their shoes, telling a story, or reciting poetry. Their rocking occurred in classrooms, gyms, cafeterias, hallways, and cars. The children rocked at home, during mobility lessons, on the playground, on field trips, at church, and in child care.

Parents, teachers, and others made concerted efforts to control the children's rocking, but the behavior proved extremely resistant. The children experienced some of these attempts as very frustrating, and so did the parents and professionals.

For the two older children in the study, rocking was less frequent and less intense than it was for the younger children. This finding suggests that age or maturity may be factors in the reduction of rocking. It's not known what it is about getting older that seems to make a difference, but social awareness and self-management may increase with age. In addition, cumulative efforts by others to reduce the behavior eventually may have an impact.

Interestingly, the study participant who showed the most control over her rocking also had the greatest opportunities for vigorous physical activity. She jumped on a trampoline in the backyard, swam in the family pool, and rollerbladed with her three siblings in the family's large driveway. This observation supports the idea that vigorous physical activity can help reduce rocking.

Parents and teachers reported that all of the children seemed to crave movement. A PE teacher said that one child "almost wanted to explode with energy." Another teacher said, "She just wants to be active; unless she's moving, the game hasn't started."

All of the children had had early intervention services that involved physical activity. Nevertheless, at the time of the study their opportunities for vigorous movement were very limited. Although the children all attended physical education classes at the time of the study, these classes did not provide vigorous movement on a daily basis.

The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, recommend that children and adolescents ages six to seventeen should have sixty minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity on a daily basis. Throughout my years of professional experience training and observing physical educators, I have found that this recommendation is rarely met, even in some high-quality PE school programs.

Although sighted children probably don't move enough during the course of the school day, I suspect that they find more opportunities for movement than their blind classmates do. When I reviewed a videotape of one blind student in his classroom, I made a startling observation. Throughout the period captured by the video, the blind child's peers were up and down frequently. They moved around the classroom to get materials, sharpen pencils, or talk to the teacher. Meanwhile, the child I was observing remained in his seat, rocking gently. This observation suggested that the blind children did not experience even the low levels of incidental movement that are common for sighted children in the classroom. They may have grown accustomed to teachers or aides bringing them the materials they needed and coming to them to answer questions about class assignments.

The Second Study

In a second study, a colleague and I conducted research at a sports camp for children with visual impairments. We gathered information on fifty-two children through questionnaires, observations, and parent interviews. Fifteen of the children were reported as rocking persistently, either currently or in the past. This study allowed us to compare the children on a variety of factors. We looked at the developmental histories of those who rocked and those who did not. We compared those who had ROP with those whose visual impairments had other causes, and we compared children who had a range of degrees of vision loss.

Our research corroborated the findings of previous studies. It showed that rocking seems to occur in association with a pattern of developmental factors, although the pattern can vary from child to child. As we found in my previous study, extended hospital stays and early medical complications often resulted in severe restrictions of movement and parental handling. "He was pinned down so much," one parent reported, "especially because of these eye surgeries." Many of the children were connected from birth to machines, tubes, and wires that prevented free movement for weeks or months at a time.

The parents generally reported that rocking began early and proved resistant to efforts to control it, although for a few children it declined over time. Teachers were often the first to identify rocking as inappropriate and to insist on controlling the behavior. Some evidence suggested that involvement of the children or teens themselves was important in modifying rocking.

Eight of the fifteen children who rocked were congenitally totally blind, and the other seven had congenital low vision. Nine of the fifteen had ROP. The histories of the children whose impairments had other causes revealed some of the same factors seen in the children with ROP. These factors included congenital vision loss, extended time in the hospital after birth, and multiple medical complications early in life. The children who did not rock shared a number of factors, including normal birth weight, little or no time in the hospital after birth, the absence of surgeries during infancy, and visual impairment that occurred after eleven months of age. Interestingly, two pairs of siblings attended the camp. The differences in their histories helped to explain why one sibling from each pair rocked and the other did not. Differences in birth weight, time spent in the hospital after birth, and early medical problems seemed to be important factors.

Finally, we found a few children who did not fit the outcome we would have predicted from their histories. These children showed that the presence or absence of rocking may be influenced by some factors that we didn't discover.

Like the children in my first study, the children who rocked seemed to have an insatiable need for movement. "It is very difficult to get him just to stand still next to you," one teacher told me. "He always has to be in motion." Another reported, "I can just see that he is going to burst while he is sitting there . . . trying to contain himself."

Research done by others in recent years supports the findings above and adds some important information. Some investigators substantiated that extent of vision loss and sensory processing deficits play a role in determining the number and type of stereotypies a child demonstrates. Several researchers conclude that stereotypic movements such as rocking help the child maintain an optimal level of stimulation. They believe that the challenge for parents and professionals is to identify the function for a particular child in order to facilitate socially appropriate behaviors that achieve the same result.

Some writers in NFB publications have expressed strong beliefs that rocking should be controlled in order to promote social acceptance. Others held ideas that coincide with my findings and those of other investigators. For example, some point out that rocking communicates sensory needs that have to be met. One parent described redirecting her young child to engage in singing and movement activities whenever rocking appeared. Another writer recommended teaching children who rock about behaviors that other children do when they have to sit still. She also urged providing adequate physical activity, with adaptations that allow the blind child to play successfully and appropriately with peers.

Research shows that rocking relates to complex interactions between medical history, visual status, and environmental factors. An increased need for specific sensory input seems to result in the persistence of movements such as rocking that provide vestibular and kinesthetic stimulation. As a child grows, available resources and interventions need to provide sufficient movement opportunities. Such opportunities may preclude or reduce persistent rocking.

Findings from the literature on behavioral change support the idea that individuals themselves must take charge of controlling unwanted behaviors to effect meaningful change. One adult who rocked when she was young reported that she took control after a teacher whom she greatly admired expressed disappointment with her for rocking during a public presentation. She also reported that she had several rocking-chairs in her house. She had found a way to rock that was considered socially acceptable.

Decisions about how to address a child's rocking should be based on research findings, and as much as possible should avoid punitive or judgmental responses. As children grow older, they should be involved directly in any decision about how to address the behavior. Without the child's involvement, interventions are unlikely to succeed.

As I reviewed the NFB literature, I discovered a quote from Joe Cutter that perfectly captures my underlying philosophy. He wrote, "For blind children, as for all children, the freedom to move, to be self-amused, and to experience the joy of movement is fundamental to being human."

References

Cutter, J. (2007). As quoted in "Teaching Orientation and Mobility to Students with Visual Impairments and Additional Disabilities," by M. N. Chamberlain and D. Mackenstadt. Future Reflections, 2008.

Fazzi, E., Lanners, J., Danova, S., Ferrarri-Ginevra, O., Gheza, C., Luparia, A., Balottin, U., and Lanzi, G. (1999). "Stereotyped Behaviors in Blind Children." Brain Development, 21 (8), 522-528.

Gal, E. and Dyck, M. J. (2009). "Stereotyped Movements among Children Who Are Visually Impaired." Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 103 (11), 82-95.

Gal, E., Dyck, M. J., and Passamore, A. (2010). "Relationships between Stereotyped Movements and Sensory Processing Disorders in Children with and without Developmental or Sensory Disorders." American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 64 (3) 453-461.

Gosch, A., Brambring, M., Gennat, H., and Rohlmann, A. (1997). "Longitudinal Study of Neuropsychological Outcome in Blind Extremely-low-birthweight Children." Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 39 (5), 297-304.

Hashash, S. (2011). "Student Viewpoints." Future Reflections, 30 (4)

McHugh, B. E. and Pyfer, J. (1999). "The Development of Rocking among Children Who Are Blind." Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 93 (2), 82-95.

McHugh, Barbara Elaine. Texas Woman's University, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1995. 9615490.

McHugh, E. and Lieberman, L. J. (2003). "The Impact of Developmental Factors on Stereotypic Rocking among Children with Visual Impairments." Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 97 (8), 453-474.

Miss Whozit. (2016). "Ask Miss Whozit." Braille Monitor, 59 (7).

Prost, D. (1997). "Parents: The True Teachers." Future Reflections, 16 (3).

Ross, D. B. and Koenig, A. J. (1991). "A Cognitive Approach to Reducing Stereotypic Head Rocking." Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 85 (1), 17-19.

Stevens, J. (2011). "Vestibular Stimulation." Future Reflections, 30 (1). Reprinted with permission from Wonderbaby Newsletter, April 2010, www.wonderbaby.org.

Willoughby, D. M. (1994). "Fitting In Socially." Future Reflections, 13 (3). Reprinted from A Handbook for Itinerant and Resource Teachers of Blind and Visually Impaired Students, by D. Willoughby and S. Duffy. Baltimore: National Federation of the Blind, 1989.

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American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults Future Reflections Fall 2019 ORIENTATION AND MOBILITY by Elaine McHugh From the Editor: People sometimes ask me where I find the articles that appear in Future Reflections. Some come from presentations at NFB conventions and seminars, and some are reprinted from other Federation publications.

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Est-ce qu'on a du papier quadrillé braille

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Learning how to spread items (such as butter, peanut butter, jam, mayonnaise) on bread is an important basic skill in preparing meals. This skill can be challenging for individuals with visual impairments, and these step-by-step instructions in written and video format are designed to teach the process systematically. Print out the step-by-step instructions and ask the students to follow the directions in print or braille. This is a fun way to incorporate literacy skills into a cooking activity and is a way to practice independent living skills and other areas of the Expanded Core Curriculum.

Expand this activity by having students write out the steps to a different task. Invite them to share the instructions with someone else and have the second individual follow the directions to see if they are complete and accurate.

Step-by-Step Instructions to Spread Items on Toast or Bread

1.Always wash your hands with soap and water, and prepare your workspace prior to food preparation.

2.When first learning to spread, practice with a firm item, such as toast, so that your knife doesn't push through the surface and so that you can hear the knife moving on the surface as you spread. As your skills begin to improve, choose other firm items such as crackers or melba toast, a firm bun, an English muffin, or a biscuit to spread on. Finally, progress to softer items, like bread or a pancake, on which to spread.

Secondly, choose a soft spread (like margarine or softened butter) to begin your practice so that it spreads easily and doesn't clump into chunks or push through the toast. This can be very frustrating.

3.When scooping the spread, NEVER re-dip the spoon or knife if it has touched anything else. If you re-dip, you may find that crumbs or other bits of food get into the spread, and mold will develop because of cross-contamination from other food sources.

Also, when scooping your spread, a table knife works well for thick spreads like butter, margarine, cheese whiz, cream cheese, and nut or seed butters, but you may prefer a spoon for softer spreads like jam, jelly, honey, hummus, or condiments such as mayonnaise and relish.

4.Ensure that you are standing at a counter or table where you can work comfortably. Place a gripper or wet cloth beneath your flat plate or cutting board so that it does not slide around as you practice spreading.

If you have low vision, please practice with color contrasting items. For example, spread lightly colored margarine on brown toast, which is placed on a flat white plate or cutting board. This will help you to visually isolate each item for easier access.

5.Think in patterns. A systematic pattern will help you to cover all parts of the toast with your spread. And, the pattern I use may not be the best pattern for you. You may need to experiment a bit to discover what works best for you. I know that some people like to spread with the back of a spoon while others like to use a table knife. For today's demonstration, I will use a knife to scoop and spread margarine onto a piece of brown toast.

6.Here we go.

Place your toast onto a flat surface. I am using a white cutting board with rubber feet so that it won't slide around while I work.

Place the margarine container above, or at the top edge of your plate. Hold the margarine container with your non-dominant hand. Grasp the knife by the handle with the pointer finger on the top of the blade. Reach into the container with the table knife, jagged edge down and for right-handed people, the point facing 10:00 or slightly to the left. If you are left handed, the point of the knife with be at 2:00 or slightly to the right. Press in as if you are making a cut, but not so far that your fingers touch the margarine. Now, pull the knife toward your body and when you hit the edge of the margarine container, twist the wrist holding the knife upward so that the jagged edge of the knife is pointed toward the edge of the margarine container. Now, pull up and you should have some margarine sitting on the flat side of the knife's blade. It will stick there unless your knife is warm (for example if it just came out of the dishwasher), in which case the margarine will melt and fall off.

Release the margarine container with your non-dominant hand and prepare to grasp the toast with that hand. If your hand is big enough, and if you have sufficient mobility, grasp the toast on opposite edges with your middle finger and thumb. If you prefer, you can make a corner shape with your fingers pulled together and pointing away from your body with your thumb perpendicular to the fingers at a right angle. Place the hand flat on the cutting board and place one corner of the toast into the corner of the non-dominant hand. I like my toast to be oriented with one corner pointing toward my body.

Next, bring your knife and butter to the far corner of your toast. Place the serrated edge of the table knife perpendicular to the surface of the toast as if you are going to cut it. Now, turn your wrist slightly downward so that the blade of the table knife is at approximately a 45° angle to the toast. This is the angle you will use for the spreading activity.

Now, with gentle pressure, pull the knife and spread toward your other hand until you reach the edge of the toast. It's okay if you get butter on your hands; you can wash them when you are done. Lift your hand and the knife slightly, twist your wrist upward (to keep the margarine on) go back to the starting edge, then move the knife down that edge of the toast approximately an inch or a few cms or until it is just past the part which has been spread. Repeat the spreading process a few more times or until you reach the bottom edge of the toast. After your final pass, you may put the knife with margarine side down right onto the toast and pull it down and off the toast to get the last little bit of margarine off of the knife.

Of course, it will take practice to know how much margarine you'll need. If you discover visually, through touch, or when you eat your toast, that you've estimated incorrectly, continue to practice. Remember to get a new knife (or spoon) if you'll be adding a second scoop of spread so that you don't contaminate the container of spread.

This concludes my lesson on spreading. Please remember that it takes a lot of practice, and that you may need to experiment with what works best for you. Have fun!

Download the instructions in Word format.

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Learning how to spread items (such as butter, peanut butter, jam, mayonnaise) on bread is an important basic skill in preparing meals. This skill can be challenging for individuals with visual impairments, and these step-by-step instructions in written and video format are designed to teach the process systematically.

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These tips and tools are designed to address skills for the young beginning braille reader who is ready to start braille instruction and who has received preschool instruction on concept development. For experienced TVIs, this will be a review of ideas and activities you may already be familiar with. Many of these ideas and activities you may already be familiar with. Many of these ideas are simple, or things you already do. All the ideas and activities listed below are not necessarily my own ideas. They have been gathered over the years from other TVIs, books, and resources. I have simply pulled them together for your reference. Thanks to all those who shared their ideas with me.

Topics

Using the Right Touch

Help students to use the right pressure on braille by:

Running fingers over a banana

Running fingers across their arm so that they can feel the right touch

Skimming fingers across the top of a thin layer of sand without feeling the tray underneath

Skimming fingers across a layer of sandpaper covered with flour without feeling the sandpaper

Put name cards in order -- first/last

Use dice and board games for letter recognition

Copy cat: Give the student a card with braille, have them braille a matching card,and learn to paper clip them together

Make Garages out of painted boxes (lunch size milk carton) and put a letter on the box. Put a letter on a toy car and drive the matching cards into the right garage.

Make a cut out of a tree on a wall poster. Velcro leaves onto the tree. Have the student remove leaves and read read. This can be seasonal and modified for the skills being taught.

Letter ladder: Put braille cards on each rung of the ladder and have the student "climb up the ladder." Put raised stars at top every time they make it up correctly.

Create braille cell on the floor (6 dots from Twister game, add texture) and move around the cell to learn cell dots.

Use commercial products to help

Marking letters with high dots

Create games and fun activities:

Find letters in a mini-mailbox

APH Swing Cell

Egg carton with plastic eggs

​Letter Activities

Hide braille letters under Guess Who Characters

Spin and identify

Practice with the Language Master

​ Beginning words

Monster days of the week eater - Pencil holder with popsicle sticks

Days of the week Lego roller and graphing with push pins and APH individual calendar

Monster Word Eater

Word or Contraction Concentration

​ Plan letter parties: Use rectangular crackers with cream cheese, apple butter, or frosting for a cell. Use raisins or M&Ms to make braille dots into the shape of letters.

Decorate a reading box to help eliminate the chance of looking.

Use small blockers: Reading glasses covered with black tape allows the student with usable vision to see but reminds them not to look down.

Tactile ABC Book

"Alex can..." & "Alex can go..." books

You can ____

I like ____

I do not like ____

I will not ____

Dictated stories by student

Books of lists: My favorite things, My favorite foods...

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Who Do You See? using classmate names (e.g., "I see Jordan eating with me.")

"Who sank the boat?" -- Modify with names of friends and family

Color books

Number books

Notebooks for creating stories

Games to play with peers
Homemade and adapted games

Use commercial game boards to create braille practice.

​

​ Seasonal Word Containers:

Create special cards (e.g., boo, gobble gobble) depending on the season

Create letter and word cards (--- d ---, ddddddddddd, Mr. Nobody/names)

Put letter and word cards in a container along with a few special cards.

Draw cards and read them, keeping all the word read correctly.

When drawing special cards, pass all earned cards to an opponent.

The winner has the most cards at the end.

Contests:

Practice reading alternating the left hand and right hand.

Take turns with the student.

Beat the clock.

Using everyday toys to create learning fun

Building and counting, blocks, reading numbers on dice

Bingo and popcorn holders

Matching and sorting activities: Bins can be used for all sorts of activities. Create books with pockets for letter/word cards to find new words.

Pocket fun: Using hanging jewelry bags for matching cards.

Matching with 100 board: Create your own patterns

BRAILLE SONG to the tune of the Farmer in the Dell. The student can chose the words for each of the letters to make it her own.

Betty buys beautiful bunnies

Can you catch the cute cat

Dragons do not live with dad

Do dragons live with you?

Enjoys giving elephant rides

From fancy famous stores.

Then hand your hat right here

I like chocolate ice cream,

Jane just got so much jewelry

She joined a jewelry club

Kate, kittens and knowledge

More mother's like to bake

People will pick pumpkins

Play in the pumpkin patch

Than ride on roller skates

Finger Isolation Songs

The pointer says hello...

The middle man says hello...

The ring finger says hello...

Watch the pointer wave hello

(waving fingers one at a time)

The middle man stands alone...

You'll like this very special dot

It makes the letters capital

Wave fingers one at a time. If you're using a finger puppet, use the name of the puppet.

Watch the pointer wave hello

The middle man says hello...

Songs

"The Braille Rap Song" - written by Lynn Horton and Tammy Whitten as a fun way to teach braille to their students at the Helen Keller School in Talladega, Alabama. A high-quality, professional recording is available as a free download.

"Songs for Beginning Braillists" by Denah Burnham, Beginning with Braille (p.86)

Websites

Books

Gallagher, Patricia A. Educational Games for Visually Impaired and Sighted Children. Denver: Love Publishing, 1986.

Mangold, Sally S. and Myra R. Olson. Guidelines and Games for Teaching Efficient Braille Reading. New York: AFB Press, 1981.

Swenson, Anna. Beginning with Braille-Firsthand Experiences with a Balanced Approach to Literacy. New York: AFB Press, 1999.

Wormsley, Diane P. and Frances M. D'Andrea (Editors). Instructional Strategies for Braille Literacy. New York: AFB Press, 1997.

Instructional Programs

Un's the One Primary Level: Uncontracted Braille Fundamentals. Ann Rash and Debra Sewell Texas School f/t Blind and Visually Impaired

Building on Patterns: Primary Braille Literacy Program: Kindergarten Kit. Louisville, Kentucky: APH, 2006.

The Mangold Developmental Program of Tactile Perception and Braille Letter Recognition. 1977 (revised 1990, 1994). Available from Exceptional Teaching Inc.

Math Builders Unit 1 Matching, Sorting and Patterning APH 7-03560-01

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Tips and Tools for Teaching Beginning Braille Skills

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These tips and tools are designed to address skills for the young beginning braille reader who is ready to start braille instruction and who has received preschool instruction on concept development. For experienced TVIs, this will be a review of ideas and activities you may already be familiar with.

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Boîte pour l'apprentissage de l'alphabet

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Boîte pour l'apprentissage de l'alphabet

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Materials:

items beginning with a given letter of the alphabet. Begin with objects that are as close as possible to the real thing, for example book, button, bell for the letter "b". Once the student recognizes those, then more abstract objects can be added.

Box or container or Zip-Lock baggy to organize them by letter. If the child has vision, the object should have good contrast with the container.

letter cards with object name

various ways to represent braille cell

Procedure:

1. Think about various activities and items in the student's life that start with a given letter. For example with the letter "b", take the student to a bakery, go for a bike ride, bring in a banana for snack, make banana bread, etc. (See attached list for more ideas)

2. Give the student the card with braille and/or print and identify the letter together.

3. Ask student to identify object and read the word card together.

4. Once the student has begun to learn the letters, have them select the correct corresponding letter from a group of letter cards.

Attached File(s):

Variations:

The list of items is endless! This is a good way to expose students to new vocabulary, such as a magnet.

Put items in stacked plastic drawer system to organize the alphabet. Allow them to explore.

Word cards can be stored in the boxes.

Other students enjoy this activity too, and can work together in small groups.

This can be expanded to include math concepts, such as 10 buttons, etc.

Common Core and Braille Standards

Foundational Skills:

RF.K.1b Recognize that spoken words are represented in written language by specific sequences of letters.

RF.K.1d Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

RF.K.2d Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in three-phoneme (consonant-vowel-consonant, or CVC) words.1 (This does not include CVCs ending with /l/, /r/, or /x/.)

RF.K.3c Read common high-frequency words by sight (e.g., the, of, to, you, she, my, is, are, do,does).

Kindergarten - Word Analysis, Fluency, and Systematic Vocabulary Development :

K.1.6 Recognize and name all uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

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items beginning with a given letter of the alphabet. Begin with objects that are as close as possible to the real thing, for example book, button, bell for the letter "b". Once the student recognizes those, then more abstract objects can be added. Box or container or Zip-Lock baggy to organize them by letter.

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Pour travailler les premières lettres ou des lettres problématiques

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Interactive Earth Science Tactile Bulletin Board

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Create your own interactive tactile bulletin board for students with visual impairments!

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Activities designed to get kids moving and having fun. Each activity helps children develop fundamental movement skills, essential for physical literacy.

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https://www.pathstoliteracy.org/resources/tactile-graph-paper-files

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By Maureen A. Duffy, M.S., CVRT

General Handwriting Tips and Techniques
Handwriting Supplies and Adaptations
Writing Pens
Signing Your Name
Writing Paper
Commercial Writing Guides
Homemade Writing Guides

Like many other everyday skills, handwriting belongs in the category of "If you don't use it, you'll lose it!" Therefore, in order to retain the ability to sign your name and use your handwriting to make notes, memory joggers, or grocery lists, it's important to keep using your handwriting skills. There are many different types of pens, papers, and writing guides that can help you continue to write.

General Handwriting Tips and Techniques

If you were able to write when you had vision, but haven't used your handwriting skills since losing your sight, you will likely need to address several key areas: (a) following a straight line, or keeping the bases of the letters on the writing line, (b) using the correct amount of space between letters and words, (c) crossing and dotting letters, and (d) correct letter formation.

The sharper the contrast between your writing surface and the words you're writing, the easier it will be to produce legible handwriting. Black or navy ink on ivory paper is best-bright white paper may cause glare. Also, try placing your paper on a dark-colored surface or desktop to avoid writing off the page.

Here are some hints that can help you use a signature or handwriting guide more effectively:

When writing with either your right or left hand, use the forefinger of your other (free) hand as a placeholder and guide.

Your guide finger should not touch the pen except immediately prior to lifting the pen from the paper, such as raising it at the end of a word or moving to the next line of writing, for example.

Move your guide finger up to the pen before lifting it at the end of a word. This helps to ensure that there is a sufficient space between words and sentences.

Your guide finger also assists in moving from one line to the next. When you reach the end of the writing line, your guide finger retraces the writing line, drops down to the next line, and is placed at the left margin as a placeholder.

To keep track of how far down the page you have written, place a paper clip on the left (or right) margin of the current writing line, sliding the paper clip down the page as you move from one line to the next.

To cross the letter "t" and dot the letters "i" and "j," complete the letter by returning to the writing line, and then bring your guide finger forward to touch the pen. Leaving your guide finger in place, lift the pen and dot or cross the letter, and then return it to your guide finger.

Alternatively, dotting and crossing can be accomplished by muscle memory. Cross the "t" and dot the "i" and "j" just before spacing for the next word, rather than letter-by-letter.

To locate the center of a business envelope, place your little (or "pinky") fingers in each upper corner, spreading the other fingers of each hand equally. Your index fingers will meet near the center of the envelope. Mark the center with a paper clip at the top of the envelope; begin writing even with the paper clip.

The center of many envelopes can also be determined by locating the point of the envelope flap.

Handwriting Supplies and Adaptations

First, it's helpful to understand the different types and categories of signature and handwriting guides:

Rigid Guides: The line spaces for writing are outlined by rectangular, cut-out spaces. These guides can be made of plastic, cardboard, or metal. They can help you stay within the writing space, but they do not allow you to make letters that descend below the writing line, such as "g" or "y."

Flexible Guides: Use an elastic or flexible baseline material that allows you to make letters that descend below the writing line, such as "g" or "y." These guides usually require a bit more skill than most rigid guides.

Bold Line Guides: Usually tablets of paper with lines that are darker, denser, or wider than those on regular lined writing paper. Bold line paper can be helpful if you have low vision; it is not appropriate if you are totally blind.

Writing Pens

You can purchase writing pens at local office supply stores and through specialty catalogs. They are available in a wide range of styles, including Bic, 20/20, felt tip, Barole, Sharpie, and Marvy Marker. You can also find a variety of writing pens in Sources of Products for Independent Living on this website.

Some markers have a distinct smell and others require cardboard backing under the writing paper to prevent your writing from "bleeding through" the paper.

If you choose a larger-tip writing pen, you will have to form larger letters so that you (or the recipient of your message) can read your letters and words more easily.

To find the pen that works best for you, try experimenting with several different brands and tip thicknesses until you find one that best meets your writing needs.

Signing Your Name

Signature Guides

You can use a commercial signature guide that is approximately the size of a credit card, made of plastic, and has a rectangular cutout in the middle. This type of signature guide is available in rigid and flexible versions.

A friend, family member, or store clerk can line up the signature guide with the writing line, which will allow you to sign your name independently in the writing space. If you have low vision, this type of signature guide is usually black or darker-colored and provides good contrast with white or light-colored paper.

You can find this guide, along with a variety of rigid and flexible signature guides in Sources of Products for Independent Living in the VisionAware Directory of Services.

Create Your Own Signature Guide

There are many ways to create your own signature guide:

Ask a family member, friend, or store clerk to make a sharp crease in the paper along the writing space. This will provide a tactile raised writing line to help guide your signature placement.

Place 2-3 layered "Post-it" notes along the writing line to make it easier to locate and feel. Write your name just above the "Post-its" and remove them when you are done.

Ask a family member, friend, or store clerk to place the upper edge of a credit card just below the writing line. This will provide a raised writing line to help guide your signature placement.

Use the index and middle fingers of your non-writing hand to form a "V." Place your hand forming the "V" palm down and sideways on the paper so that your index finger is directly below the entire writing line and your middle finger is angled above the line. Sign your name above your index finger and stay inside the "V" to help guide your signature placement.

Ask a family member or friend to cut a rectangular opening in either an expired credit or debit card, a facsimile credit card that is frequently sent with card offers, or a piece of cardboard cut to the size of a credit card. The opening should be 1/2″ by approximately 3″. Use this template in the same way you would use a commercial signature guide.

If you have low vision, ask a family member or friend to use a marker pen and darken the writing line for you. This will make the signature line easier for you to see.

Please note: Before you sign any important document, ask a trusted friend or family member to read it to you before you add your signature.

Rubber Stamp

A rubber stamp of your signature can be made for you at most office supply stores. Before you begin to rely solely on a rubber stamp, however, try to maintain your own handwritten signature and use a signature guide or bold line paper to help you.

Can I use an "X" as my legal signature?

Yes, but be aware that you can continue to use your own unique signature. Banks will recognize your signature as long as it is consistent, regardless of its legibility to you or to others.

Writing Paper

There are many different types of writing papers to choose from. Some papers have raised lines, some have bold lines, and others have wider spaces between the lines. You can purchase these writing papers at some stationery stores and through specialty catalogs.

This bold line paper, along with a variety of specialty writing papers, such as raised-line paper and bold-line paper, is available in Sources of Products for Independent Living on this website.

The writing spaces between lines can range from 1/2″ to 1″. If you need more space between the lines, try using plain white paper and write as large as you need.

If you use plain paper, you can organize and store it in a three-ring binder. You can use a range of three-ring binders to store papers for different purposes.

To differentiate and identify each binder, you can choose different textures, bold and contrasting colors, or different patterns and sizes. You can also attach a label to each binder in large print or braille, or any other means of tactile or visual identification that works for you. Remember: the choice is always yours.

Commercial Writing Guides

Use a commercial full-page writing guide for making lists and writing letters. This type of writing guide is available in sturdy aluminum. The writing guide shown here is available in Sources of Products for Independent Living on this website. It is a full page 8 1/2″ x 11″ aluminum overlay sheet with 13 openings that match standard line spacing.

Most writing guides use plain paper and a space within the guide frame that provides tactile boundaries for the writing line. Styles range from plastic overlays to clipboard styles that contain a writing board, a clamp to hold the paper, and a movable cursor bar. You can find a variety of rigid and flexible writing guides in Sources of Products for Independent Living on this website.

Homemade Writing Guides

You can also create a homemade writing guide by folding the paper to produce raised line paper. Here are two commonly used techniques. (Source and photos: Nancy Paskin, CVRT)

Make Your Own Raised Line Paper

1. Take a plain piece of paper and a pen or pencil.

2. Roll it tightly around the pen or pencil.

3. Keep rolling until the whole paper forms a paper tube.

4. Allow the pen/pencil to drop out from the middle of the tube.

5. Lay the tube on a flat surface and press it flat.

6. Open the tube and lay the paper on the table so that it straightens out, and you will be able to feel the evenly spaced raised ridges.

Use these ridges as your writing lines.

Fold and Write as You Go

This is an easy way to make a list or write a note.

1. Take a plain piece of paper, lay it flat on a table. Fold the bottom edge up 1 inch or as wide a writing line as you need.

2. Write the first line of your note on the folded edge along the bottom of the paper: "June 26..."

3. Then fold the paper up and over, again from the bottom, using the previous writing fold as your guide. This will give you a new, raised writing line.

4. Write the next line of your note: "Dear Jane ..."

5. Fold the paper up and over again to create another raised writing line.

6. Write the next line of your note: "Today is rainy ..."

7. Continue folding the paper up from the bottom one line at a time.

8. And on each new fold, write another line of your note until you have finished: "As Ever, Nancy"

9. When you are done, unfold the paper. Your note will be in order from top to bottom, and the writing will be evenly spaced.

Getting Started 2020

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Signing Your Name and Handwriting If You Are Blind or Have Low Vision - VisionAware

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By Maureen A. Duffy, M.S., CVRT General Handwriting Tips and Techniques Handwriting Supplies and Adaptations Writing Pens Signing Your Name Writing Paper Commercial Writing Guides Homemade Writing Guides Like many other everyday skills, handwriting belongs in the category of "If you don't use it, you'll lose it!"

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Here are some great questions for starting a conversation. There are a lot of random conversation starters to get you started and then conversation questions listed by topic. You can start with the random questions or find a topic that interests you. There's no right place to start, just scroll down to wherever you want and get started!

There are tons of ways to use these questions. I find that the most rewarding way is for everyone to pull up this list of conversation starters on a phone or tablet, and then take turns letting everyone choose a question to ask the group. Remember don't be afraid to delve deeply into the conversation. Answering the specific question isn't the goal, having an interesting conversation is!

The title would have you believe that there are 250 questions, but there are actually more. I'm sure you don't mind a few more questions, right? Dig in and start having some great conversation questions!
This page and the page "Questions to get to know someone" are also available en español as a merged page.
Random Conversation Starters

Here are some conversation starters that span all kinds of topics.

1. What was the last funny video you saw?

Always fun to follow up on the question by watching the video they thought was funny. I'm sure you've got a few funny videos to share as well.

2. What do you do to get rid of stress?

Everyone gets stressed out at times, and everyone deals with it differently. Find out how they deal with it and maybe pick up some extra stress relief tips for you.

3. What is something you are obsessed with?

This is a great question because you can follow up with lots of questions about what they are obsessed with. I guarantee they'll have plenty to talk about when it comes to what they geek out on.

4. What three words best describe you?

Find out how they view themselves, and don't forget to ask follow-up questions about each of the words they chose.

5. What would be your perfect weekend?

See what they are into, and you'll have plenty to talk about. Everyone loves talking about things they love.

6. What's your favorite number? Why?

This one is a little off the wall, but you never know, you might get an interesting answer. Especially by asking, "why?"

7. What are you going to do this weekend?

Very similar to the last one, another oldie but a goodie.

8. What's the most useful thing you own?

Sure, this one is good for a general conversation starter, but what is really nice is being able to get some ideas on what works well and is generally awesome to have.

9. What's your favorite way to waste time?

Similar to the perfect weekend question, this question tries to get at what they really enjoy doing so that you can both talk about that.

10. What do you think of tattoos? Do you have any?

If they do have tattoos, there is probably a story behind each one. And if they don't have any, well it's good to know what they think about them.

11. Do you have any pets? What are their names?

Are they an animal person? And how clever are the names they gave their pets?

12. Where did you go last weekend? / What did you do last weekend?

A pretty common conversation starter, but sometimes the best ones are the ones people are used to.

13. What is something popular now that annoys you?

Time to channel some cranky old man vibes. Kids these days, with their stuff and their things and their hair. You know, that type of stuff.

14. What did you do on your last vacation?

Vacation stories! Bad or good, everyone likes talking about their vacation. Just duck out before they start showing you pictures.

15. When was the last time you worked incredibly hard?

Whether it's their job or a personal project, you can see what they put their heart and soul into.

16. Are you very active, or do you prefer to just relax in your free time?

Find out if they are all about the gym or all about the couch. To each their own!

17. What do you do when you hang out with your friends?

See what they like to do when they are social, talk about that activity if you can.

18. Who is your oldest friend? Where did you meet them?

This is a great question because it often leads to some wonderful stories from when they were younger. I mean, who doesn't like reminiscing about the good old days?

19. What's the best / worst thing about your work/school?

Tailor this question to the person you are talking to, whether they work, or they are a student. Also, some people like to let off steam, and some like to keep it positive so you can choose which way you want the question to swing.

20. If you had intro music, what song would it be? Why?

This question can lead to a good conversation about their favorite song or the music they like.

21. What were you really into when you were a kid?

Every kid goes through phases when they are REALLY into one thing. Now you can find out what they obsessed about when they were a kid.

22. If you could have any animal as a pet, what animal would you choose?

This one is fun because a blank check pet choice can lead to some great answers. And you can always transition the conversation into pets they had/have.

23. Have you ever saved an animal's life? How about a person's life?

Who doesn't like listening to or telling a hero story? I'm sure it will lead to an interesting story. Even if it isn't about them, and just about someone they know who saved an animal or person's life.

24. If you opened a business, what kind of business would it be?

This one can really be a huge conversation starter if the person you are talking to is in anyway entrepreneurial. It's always fun to hear and discuss new business ideas. Don't forget to ask for lots of details about their dream business.

Pop culture and entertainment are great topics for conversation, and this question is a good entry point into a larger conversation about what kind of entertainment they like.

26. Are you a very organized person?

Does everything have its place, or does their stuff roam about?

27. Have you ever given a presentation in front of a large group of people? How did it go?

Public speaking is high up there on the biggest fears people have. So, I'm sure if they have, it probably left a big impression.

28. What is the strangest dream you have ever had?

Sure, talking about dreams can be dull, but who knows, if you are talking about the strangest dream they've EVER had, it might be pretty interesting. Or not. Let's see!

29. What is a controversial opinion you have?

So, don't immediately start bashing their opinion if you don't like it. I mean, you asked the question after all. Let them explain why they have the opinion and their reasoning behind it. Not everyone has to have the same opinions as you. And if it's super out there or evil, well it's good to know so you can avoid them in the future.

30. Who in your life brings you the most joy?

An awesome question for keeping it positive, and they'll be talking about someone they love, so it'll be easy to jump into a conversation about whoever that person is and why they are so awesome.

31. Who had the biggest impact on the person you have become?

This one may or may not have the same answer as the previous question, so you might want to choose either this one or the previous one depending on the type of conversation you want to have.

32. What is the most annoying habit someone can have?

Find out what annoys them, chances are it probably annoys you too. Then it's easy to step into a conversation about annoying habits.

33. Where is the most beautiful place you have been?

This one will probably lead to a good travel story. And conversations about travel are always fun.

34. Where do you spend most of your free time/day?

Find out what their day to day looks like. It'll be easy to start up a conversation about anything of the things they do on the regular.

35. Who was your best friend in elementary school?

Time to get nostalgic about how life was when you both were growing up!

36. How often do you stay up past 3 a.m.?

Are they a night owl or an early bird, time to find out! This can easily transition into a conversation about what they like to do in their free time.

37. What's your favorite season? Why?

This question will probably conjure up some wonderful memories linked to your and their favorite season. Have fun reminiscing!

38. Which is more important, having a great car or a great house? Why?

Do they care more about showing off to others or having awesome stuff for themselves? Always good to know! And you can easily transition into a conversation about cars you/they want or dream houses.

39. What animal or insect do you wish humans could eradicate?

Probably going to get a lot of mosquito answers. But depending on where you are and if they have a special hatred for a creature, you might get a different answer. If you get the mosquito answer, you could always talk about the best way to get rid of the evil pokey buzzing things.

40. Where is the most beautiful place near where you live?

Similar to the question about the most beautiful place they've seen but this time it's local! Who knows, you might get a tip on an awesome local spot.

41. What do you bring with you everywhere you go?

Sure, you'll get the normal keys, cellphone, purse/wallet, answers, but you might get to hear about a cool keepsake / lucky charm that means a lot to them.

42. How much time do you spend on the internet? What do you usually do?

Find out what sites they enjoy, chances are you probably enjoy some of the same sites. You can swap good people to follow or suggestions for interesting sites.

43. What is the most disgusting habit some people have?

An earlier question talked about annoying habits; now it's time to get gross with it and find out what disgusts them.

44. Where and when was the most amazing sunset you have ever seen?

This one is another way to get into a good conversation about travel.

45. Which recent news story is the most interesting?

So, I had to make this one a bit vague, but it can lead to an interesting conversation about recent events. And you might just hear about something you didn't know happened. Just make sure to steer clear of politics.

46. Where is the worst place you have been stuck for a long time?

Whether it's at an airport, after a car broke down, or something else, we've all had times where we've had to wait for a seemingly endless amount of time. There is a good chance it'll lead to a good story.

47. If you had to change your name, what would your new name be?

This one is a little creative and fun. They might have to think about it for a bit, or they may have an answer right off. Don't forget to ask them why and what might be a good last name as well.

48. What is something that really annoys you but doesn't bother most people?

Everybody likes sharing and complaining about what annoys them. Now you can find out what weird quirks annoy them.

49. What word or saying from the past do you think should come back?

There are all kinds of words and sayings from the past that have fallen out of use. It can be a lot of fun to dust them off and put them into modern sentences. If you both can't think of any, there are plenty of lists online.

50. How should success be measured? And by that measurement, who is the most successful person you know?

This question can lead to some surprisingly deep answers. A lot of how we view the world is based on what we consider to be worthwhile, and this question tries to get at the heart of that to find out what is most important to the person.

51. What is your guilty pleasure?

Everyone has something they absolutely love but might not be in line with how people view them or how they view themselves.

52. Was there ever an event in your life that defied explanation?

Time to learn about some cool mysteries! This one quite often leads to several good stories.

53. If you could learn the answer to one question about your future, what would the question be?

A fun question that helps you figure out what is important to them.

54. Has anyone ever saved your life?

This one can get quite personal and sometimes tragic. So just a heads up, you might want to save this one for when you know the person well.

55. What benefit do you bring to the group when you hang out with friends?

Every member of a group has their duties. Time to find out what role they play! Plus, you can expand the conversation into what they usually do when they hang out with different groups of friends. And if you want more questions to ask friends, we've got 'em.

56. How often do you curse? And what's your go-to string of curse words?

This question is definitely unique. You'll have to judge the situation and who you are talking to in order to see if this question is a good fit for the situation. It can be fun, though.

57. What trends did you follow when you were younger?

Each generation has its trends. And if you are of a similar age, there is a good chance that you both share some similar trends that you followed.

58. What do you fear is hiding in the dark?

This is a great question to get into a conversation about fears that you both share.

59. What was the best period of your life so far? What do you think will be the best period of your entire life?

Another question that leads to a lot of fond memories and stories to tell, but also lets you know how hopeful of the future they are and what their ideal life would look like.

60. What do you do to improve your mood when you are in a bad mood?

Everyone needs to blow off steam sometimes. With this question, you can see if you share some stress relief techniques.

61. What is the silliest fear you have?

Another one about fear, but this one is more lighthearted. Everyone has fears that they know are irrational.

62. What are some things you want to accomplish before you die?

The classic bucket list question. It's great because it shows you what they want out of life and what is most important to them. And it's easy to split off into a conversation about any of the things they mention.

63. What is the best room in your house? Why?

Are the all about food and the kitchen? Perhaps they prefer to sleep or chill on the sofa? Or maybe there is a special reading nook they have. This is another question that helps get a conversation going about what they do in their downtime.

64. Who is someone popular now that you really like? Why do you like them so much?

This one serves as a great stepping stone into a conversation about celebrities and other people in the limelight.

This one you'll have to be selective with, it's not appropriate for all situations, but you might be able to get the low down on a good spot you didn't know about. Just don't let the conversation stray into their dating life, that can get a bit awkward. And if you need date ideas, we have 200!

66. What smell brings back great memories?

Cookies at Christmas time, the smell of gas on a road trip, the salty air of the ocean. Smell has a strong link to memories and can be a great conversation starter.

67. What's the best pet name you can come up with for a specific type of pet?

Go for funny names, puns make great animal names. And you could tailor it for a pet that they have or would like to get.

68. How often do you help others? Who do you help? How do you help?

This is a great question to see how empathetic and prosocial they are. And can lead to conversations about volunteering or times they've helped others.

69. What are you best at?

With this one, you might learn about a hidden talent, or perhaps a hobby you didn't know about. Both can be the beginning of an excellent conversation.

70. What makes you nervous?

Very similar to the fear one but a little bit broader. It can be something happening in their life right now, something that happens regularly, or something they think is likely to happen in the future.

71. Who is the funniest person you've met?

Not necessarily a comedian, but a friend or family member who always manages to make them laugh. It definitely could spin off into a conversation about comedians, though, which would also be fun.

72. What weird or useless talent do you have?

Wiggling ears, burping the alphabet, farting on command, humans are weird, and we all have some weird and useless talents that are fun to talk about.

73. What are some strange beliefs that some people have?

Be careful with this one, because they may end up labeling one of your beliefs as strange. Just be ready not to take their answer too personally.

74. Who would be the worst person to be stuck in an elevator with? How about the best person to be stuck in an elevator with?

Hypothetical questions can be a blast to talk about. And this is a fun one to ponder.

75. What was the best birthday wish or gift you've ever received?

Hopefully, everyone has had a super thoughtful birthday wish or gift given to them. It's a perfect question to get in a conversation about past birthdays.

For more random questions try our random questions to ask friends.

TV Conversation Starters

With so much great TV out there, it's a great way to jump into a conversation.

76. What's the best sitcom past or present?

Chances are you probably binge-watched it as well, so it's a great way to talk about a shared interest.

77. What's the best show currently on TV?

Get ready for a lively debate, this is a golden age of TV, and everyone has their favorites.

78. What will be the future of TV shows?

There has been such a shakeup in the TV show marketplace that who knows what is coming next and where TV is headed. There is much speculation to be done!

79. How often do you binge watch shows?

They have, you have, we all have. But the real question is which ones and how often? Is it the same old show or something new each time? Perhaps you'll even find your next binge-worthy show.

80. What cartoons did you watch as a child?

Even if you or the person you are talking to didn't grow up in the age of Saturday morning cartoons, you both probably still have some beloved childhood cartoons.

81. What's the funniest TV series you have seen?

Perfect for starting a conversation about a show you both are into, and if you haven't watched the show they mention, you now have a new show to check out!

82. Which TV show do you want your life to be like?

I think secretly everyone wants to inhabit one of their favorite shows. Or maybe it's just me. Just don't forget to ask them why and get lots of details.

83. How have TV shows changed over the years?

Depending on how old the person you are talking with is, this might be a rich vein of conversation. Boy howdy has TV changed a lot over the years.

84. If you could bring back one TV show that was canceled, which one would you bring back?

We all have that one show that was so good we can't believe it got canceled *cough* Firefly *cough*. Find out what show they fell in love with.

85. What do you think about game shows? Do you have a favorite one?

While they have fallen a bit out of favor, whoever you are talking to probably has a special love for at least one game show.

86. What's the most underrated or overrated TV show?

Whichever way they choose to answer will probably lead to a pretty interesting conversation about the merits and failures of several TV shows.

87. What do you think about reality TV? Why do you think it's so popular?

Love it or hate it, reality TV is huge. Now you can have a conversation about why it's so popular. If you are looking for a simpler, more direct question, you can try the next one.

88. Do you like reality TV shows? Why or why not? If so, which ones?

Very similar to the previous one but a little narrower. I definitely wouldn't ask both of these, but either one will probably get you a good conversation going.

Movie Conversation Starters

Everyone loves a good movie, so why not make it a conversation topic!

89. What is the most overrated movie?

But if you ask this question, don't get offended because they start hating on a movie you love. Ask them why, and just remember everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

90. What's your favorite genre of movie?

Pretty typical conversations starter, but a great jumping-off point for a discussion about their favorite movies.

91. Which do you prefer? Books or movies?

Feel free to transition this one into books made from movies, movies adapted from books, or just a general conversation about books or movies.

92. What movie scene choked you up the most?

We've all got that scene that consistently chokes us up. Find out what movie brings a tear to their eye or which movie brings on a full sobbing fit.

93. Do you like documentaries? Why / why not?

Perfect for starting a great conversation about the best and worst documentaries you've both seen.

94. What's the worst movie you have seen recently?

There is definitely no shortage of bad movies to pick from, so I'm sure they'll be able to think of at least a couple of really bad movies. You can also transition into a conversation about what makes a movie bad and what tropes you hate in movies.

95. What's the strangest movie you have ever seen?

There are some BIZARRE movies out there. I'm sure you've seen a few, but if you haven't, treat yourself. There is nothing quite like a movie so strange and terrible that it's entertaining on a whole new level.

96. Do you like horror movies? Why or why not?

It's weird, but people seem to either really like horror movies, or they are just not into them. There don't seem to be a lot of people on the fence that can take them or leave them.

97. When was the last time you went to a movie theater?

You can use this question to start up a conversation about the movie they saw, the local theater, or movie theaters in general.

98. What was the last movie you watched? How was it?

Maybe you saw it too, or maybe you'll get a good recommendation for a movie you wouldn't normally consider.

99. Do movies have the same power as books to change the world?

This one is kind of a heavy one, so you might not want to drop it to start a conversation with someone you just met. Or maybe that's your jam, you do you.

100. Do you prefer to watch movies in the theater or in the comfort of your own home?

Big screen and big sound vs. comfort and convenience. Either way, I think we can agree, movies are pretty awesome.

Book Conversation Starters

Here are some conversation starters for the book lovers out there.

101. What was the last book you read?

A good question to see what kind of books they are into. And if they really liked the book, well now you've got a good recommendation.

102. What was your favorite book as a child?

This can either be one when they were really young or when they were young adults. It's another question to draw out some fond memories.

103. Do you prefer physical books or ebooks?

They both have their good points and drawbacks, and often people have a definite preference.

104. What is the longest book you've read?

This one isn't a competition. But it is great for finding good books. If they finished the whole thing, it must have been good!

105. What book genres do you like to read?

It's funny how even people who read a lot of books usually lean heavily in the direction of two or three genres.

106. How fast do you read?

Again, not a competition. No bragging. Just a fun question for folks who love books.

107. How often do you go to the library?

This question is perfect for starting a conversation about how libraries are changing and your local library. Did you know some libraries are starting to loan tools and cooking supplies as well as books? Very cool.

108. What book has influenced you the most?

Whether they read it recently or long ago, there is probably one book that has stuck with them over the years.

109. Do you prefer fiction or nonfiction books?

Don't forget to ask why they prefer one over the other and get some recommendations for their choice.

110. What book has changed one of your long-held opinions?

Books have the power to shape and change how we view the world. Usually for the better.

111. What book has had the biggest effect on the modern world?

This is another one of those questions that can get quite deep and philosophical quite quickly. So, make sure to take stock of the situation before busting this one out.

112. What was the worst book you had to read for school? How about the best book you had to read for school?

We all had to read lots of books for school, and you both probably read some of the same books. You might have come away with very similar or very different opinions of the books, either way it can lead to a good conversation.

113. Do you think people read more or fewer books now than 50 years ago?

Sure, the knee jerk reaction is to say definitely people read more in the past. But with the spread of so many screens, I'm not so sure.

114. Now that indie publishing has become easier, have books gotten better or worse?

Or perhaps stayed the same, one thing is for sure, there are a ton more books out there.

Music Conversation Starters

Time to pump the jam! And by pump the jam, I mean ask conversation questions about music.

115. What was the last song you listened to?

Have they been playing a new favorite on repeat, reminiscing, or just trying something new?

116. What is your favorite movie soundtrack?

Definitely some great soundtracks out there and of course, some really horrible ones as well. Feel free to transition into a conversation about movies or game soundtracks or whatever.

117. Do you like classical music?

This is another space where some people are really into it, and some people hate it.

118. What song always puts you in a good mood?

Which song is their feel-good go to? Feel free to steal it. Everyone needs more feel-good music in their life.

119. What's the best way to discover new music?

There is a ton to talk about here with all the new music platforms; it's never been easier to get music, whether it's easier to find good new music is debatable.

120. How has technology changed the music industry?

This is a really broad topic with a lot of avenues to follow and can really lead to some excellent conversations.

121. Are there any songs that always bring a tear to your eye?

Whether it triggers a bittersweet memory or is just a sad song, most folks have a song that chokes them up a bit.

122. What bands or types of music do you listen to when you exercise?

I can almost guarantee if they are into exercise, they have a particular type of music that works for them. And lots of types that definitely don't.

123. Which do you prefer, popular music or relatively unknown music?

No judgment, lots of people get uptight about what music people should or should not like. But hey it's not your ears. Come to this question with an open mind.

124. Do you like going to concerts? Why or why not? What was the last concert you went to?

There are people who think concerts are alright, and those who REALLY love concerts. This can easily lead to a good conversation about concerts they've been to.

125. Who was the first band or musician you were really into? Do you still like them?

So, this will probably pull up some cheesy music memories, and that's always fun. We all have some cheesy music in our past and present, embrace it.

126. Records, tapes, CDs, MP3s, streaming. Which did you grow up with? What is good and bad about each?

Yeah, this one is going to vary greatly depending on the age of the person you are talking to. Just don't get all elitist about your preferred method of getting music to your ears, it's not a good look.

App Conversation Starters

We've all got a ton on our phone, why not have a conversation about apps?

127. What are the three best apps on your phone?

App recommendation time! Go find you some awesome new apps.

128. What is the most useful app on your phone?

Similar to the last but a bit more specific, and although it might not be one of their favorites, it's one that they can't live without.

129. What do app makers do that really annoys you?

The ads? The microtransactions? Bait and switch tactics? There are some really annoying and shady things about apps that annoy a lot of people.

130. How many apps do you have on your phone?

I'm willing to bet they have no idea, and you probably don't either. Heck, even I don't. Now you can count them up and compare. And probably be surprised at how many apps you have on your phone.

131. What's the most frustrating app you have tried?

Whether it be a malfunctioning app or a really frustrating game, there are plenty of apps that get rage deleted. And you might even learn about some that you want to avoid.

132. What's the most addictive game on your phone you have played?

We've all been there. Sure, you know you should quit, but it's just so good! Looking for another addicting game? Try some of our conversation games like never have I ever, 21 questions game, truth or dare, or our would you rather questions.

133. Which app seemed like magic the first time you used it?

With all the tech around us, we often forget how cool it really is. I'm sure there were apps you tried in the past, and you were just dumbfounded with how amazing they were.

134. What is the strangest app you have heard of or tried?

Oh, there are some weird ones out there. Now you can swap stories of bizarre apps. And if you don't know of any, just Google them and be amazed.

135. What're the best and worst things about the marketplace where you get your apps?

While probably not the most thrilling conversation starter, whoever you are talking about probably has a bit to say about where they get their apps.

136. Which app has helped society the most? Which one has hurt society the most?

This one can get into a really deep conversation about technology and society. Or not. It depends on how the conversation flows. Either way I'm sure you'll be able to get into a good conversation with this one.

137. An app mysteriously appears on your phone that does something amazing. What does it do?

Everyone loves a good hypothetical. So, what does your mysterious/magical app do?

Phone Conversation Starters

We've all got a phone, so we've all got something in common to talk about.

138. How often do you check your phone?

Answers will vary, wildly. Some people hate checking their phone, some do it compulsively.

139. Do you text more or call more? Why?

While there are outliers, the answer to this one will depend a LOT on age. And probably they have strong opinions about their preference, which always makes for a good conversation. As long as you don't start arguing with them.

140. What will phones be like in 10 years?

Pure speculation, but why not? Speculation is fun, and who knows, you or the person you are talking to might be right with your guesses.

141. What do you wish your phone could do?

They are getting better and better, but are they getting better in the way you want them to? What features would you like to see in the next round of phones?

142. Do you always have to have the latest phone?

There are basically three camps. The early adopter camp, the "it ain't broke, don't fix it" camp, and the "I hate new technology" camp. Find out which one they are in.

143. What is the most annoying thing about your phone?

Phones, it's often a love-hate relationship. Now you can both complain about your phones. Together!

144. How do you feel if you accidentally leave your phone at home?

For some people, they get REALLY anxious without their phone, and for some it's just a minor inconvenience.

145. What kind of case do you have for your phone? Why did you choose it?

This is another one that people sometimes get really passionate about, and some don't. It might lead to a good conversation, or they might just say, "I don't know, I just liked how it looked."

146. What was your first smartphone? How did you feel when you got it?

Whether young or old. You'll always remember your first.

147. Do you experience phantom vibration? (Feeling your phone vibrate even though it didn't.)

This one goes along with the compulsive checking of phones. But I think it's a pretty common phenomenon.

Sports Conversation Starters

Sports! There's a reason it's one of the most popular conversation topics.

148. What sports do you like to watch?

Try to find one that you both have in common, or you both follow. Once you find it, the rest of the conversation will flow naturally.

149. Who are some of your favorite athletes?

If you are into sports, you have favorite athletes. Find out who their favorite athletes are and why they like them.

150. Which sports do you like to play

This may be very similar to which sports they like to watch, or it could be a completely different list. Either way, talking about something the person is passionate about is always a great way to have a good conversation.

151. What is the hardest sport to excel at?

This one is pretty debatable. The case could be made for plenty of sports. Give this question a go and see if you both agree.

152. Who are the 3 greatest athletes of all time?

Another one that you can debate a lot about. Probably easiest to pick a sport to narrow it down first, though.

153. How much time do you spend watching sports in a week?

This one probably depends a lot on their favorite sport, and the season it's played in. Or they might just be super into sports. Or they might not like sports. But if they don't like sports, then why are you talking to them about sports?

154. Do athletes deserve the high salaries they receive? Why or why not?

This one can be a little contentious at times. But it should lead to a lively conversation no matter what side of the coin they fall on.

155. What defines a sport? Is fishing a sport? How about video game tournaments?

This one can lead to an excellent conversation because everyone has an opinion, and all the opinions are on a sliding scale. There is definitely a limit on what someone will consider a sport.

156. Do you play in any fantasy sports leagues? If so, how into fantasy sports are you?

There a lot of people who are REALLY into fantasy sports. If the person you are talking to is into it, they are more than happy to have a conversation about their team.

157. Why do you think sports are common across almost all cultures present and past?

This is a little deeper than the normal sports question. But it can lead to an interesting conversation about human nature with a bit of a sports spin.

158. Do you play sports video games? Which ones? Is playing the video game or playing the sport more fun? Why?

If they like sports, there is a good chance they play some kind of video game involving sports. Even if it is just an app on their phone.

159. Which sport is the most exciting to watch? Which is the most boring to watch?

Oh yeah, everyone has an opinion about this one.

Restaurant Conversation Starters

Nearly everyone enjoys going out to eat at a restaurant. So, here are some questions to help you have a conversation about restaurants!

160. What restaurant do you eat at most?

Which one is their go-to restaurant? This will probably tell you a lot about what types of restaurants they like.

161. What's the worst fast food restaurant?

A lot of fast food is pretty terrible, so which is the worst?

162. What is the best restaurant in your area?

It may be their local go-to restaurant, or it might be one that they only eat at for special occasions.

163. What is the fanciest restaurant you have eaten at?

The sky is the limit, and so this one will probably lead to a good story. You can also branch off into a conversation about ridiculously expensive foods or things in general.

164. What kind of interior do you like a restaurant to have?

Bright and modern, dim and cozy, more like a bar, lots of kitsch? Restaurant décor comes in almost as many flavors as food. So, what do you and they like the most? Or the least?

165. What is the worst restaurant you have ever eaten at?

We've all got one, and they are always entertaining to hear about.

166. If you opened a restaurant, what kind of food would you serve?

This is another one that a lot of people have thought about. For some reason opening a restaurant appeals to a lot of people and so you'll probably get an interesting answer for this one.

167. What is the strangest themed restaurant you have heard of?

If you haven't heard of strangely themed restaurants, boy howdy are you in for a roller coaster. Just Google it, people go buck wild with restaurant themes.

168. Would you eat at a restaurant that was really dirty if the food was amazing?

How close to the food poisoning sun do you want to fly, Icarus?

169. What is the most disgusting thing you have heard happened at a restaurant?

This one piggybacks on to the last question. We've all heard horror stories. Now it's your turn share yours and to hear theirs.

170. What was your favorite restaurant when you were a child?

I find that a lot of people have really strong favorites when it comes to this period in their life.

Travel Conversation Starters

Whether it is near or far, everyone loves a good vacation.

171. Where would you like to travel next?

Most people have a spot they have their eyes and heart on. Find out where it is, maybe you've been and can give them some tips.

172. What is the longest plane trip you have taken?

Who doesn't love long plane trips? Everyone! Everyone hates long plane rides. So, find out about their horror stories and share your own.

173. What's the best way to travel? (Plane, car, train, etc.)

This one probably varies a lot, depending on what country you are in. But usually people have a favorite they like to talk about.

174. Where is the most relaxing place you have been?

Are they more of a beach and chill or a cabin and chill kind of person? Find out with this question.

175. Do you prefer traveling alone or with a group?

They both have their benefits and drawbacks. And almost everyone has a preference. Plus, it's a great starting point to talk about previous trips they've taken.

176. What do you think of tour group packages?

This one is somewhat similar to the last one but a little more specific. If you've already covered a lot of tour group ground with the last question, feel free to skip this one.

177. Do you prefer to go off the beaten path when you travel?

Whether it's literally going off the beaten path like when they are hiking, or just the figurative beaten path like a guidebook, you can use this question to find out how adventurous they like to be.

178. What was the most overhyped place you've traveled to?

If you've traveled to any popular destinations, you may have come across this. So much hype. But a big letdown once you get there.

179. Have you traveled to any different countries? Which ones?

Depending on what country you are both from the answers to this question vary a lot. Are you in the US? You might find most people haven't left the country or have just been to one or two other countries. Asking in Europe? You'll probably get a ton of travel stories about different countries.

180. Where is the most awe-inspiring place you have been?

This is great for getting new travel ideas for yourself. And if you've been there, you can talk about your experience too.

181. What's the best thing about traveling? How about the worst thing?

Again, this will vary a lot based on who you are talking to and how they travel. But chances are they have pretty strong feelings about both questions.

182. What is the worst hotel you have stayed at? How about the best hotel?

So many bad hotels out there. Get ready for some horror stories about gross stuff. Or you know, a tip about a sweet hotel you can try. It depends on how the conversation goes.

183. How do you think traveling to a lot of different countries changes a person?

Someone once said you are the same person you were 5 years ago except for the places you've been, the people you've met, and the books you've read. So, what do you think travel does to someone?

184. Talk about some of the interesting people you have met while traveling.

Oh, this one leads to rich veins of great stories. I'm sure you have a lot of stories about interesting characters you've met, and they probably do too.

185. What do you think of staycations? (Vacationing and seeing tourist attractions where you live.)

Some people love them, and some don't see the point. Either way, there is plenty to talk about!

186. Where do you get your recommendations for what to do and where to stay when you travel?

Is it from fellow travelers, guidebooks, the internet, social media, or a combination?

Technology Conversation Starters

Tech, some hate it, and some love it, but even those who love it probably have a love/hate thing going on with it. Either way, it makes for some great conversation questions!

187. What is your favorite piece of technology that you own?

Let's start it out positive and see what kind of tech they rely on.

188. What piece of technology is really frustrating to use?

And now, let's look at the dark side of tech when it just doesn't work the way we want it to. Probably a lot more to talk about in this question than the previous one.

189. What was the best invention of the last 50 years?

Lots of good answers to this one. You both will probably come up with quite a few contenders. And it can be fun to debate the merits of each.

190. Does technology simplify life or make it more complicated?

This one sometimes leads to an interesting conversation about tech and modern life, but if the person lands hard on one side or the other usually there isn't much more to talk about.

191. Will technology save the human race or destroy it?

So, this is a pretty heavy question that you don't want to drop in casual conversation. It's better left for conversations with people you know quite well, or folks who you know are into this type of question.

192. Which emerging technology are you most excited about?

There is a lot of promising tech fields that seem like they are just on the horizon. So which ones are you looking forward to? And perhaps which make you a little uneasy?

193. What sci-fi movie or book would you like the future to be like?

So many futures to choose from. Especially if you or the person you are talking to is a sci-fi fan. Everything from dystopian utopias to utopian dystopias.

194. What do you think the next big technological advance will be?

This is similar to the emerging technologies question, but this one isn't about playing favorites, but about which will arrive first.

195. What technology from a science fiction movie would you most like to have?

Even if you don't like sci-fi movies, you've probably craved a gadget that featured in a movie or book. This can lead to a fun spin-off conversation about gadgets.

196. What problems will technology solve in the next 5 years? What problems will it create?

Everybody likes making predictions about the future, it's one of the human race's defining features. And another common human behavior is fear about the future. Probably why many people are always making dire predictions that never come to pass.

197. What piece of technology would look like magic or a miracle to people in medieval Europe?

What awesome revolutionary invention would get you executed with a quickness back in the day?

198. Can you think of any technology that has only made the world worse? How about a piece of technology that has only made the world better?

Probably you both can think of quite a few from each category. And probably plenty of tech that has made the world better and worse at the same time.

Clothes / Fashion Conversation Starters

Conversation questions about clothes are always in fashion.

199. What is your favorite shirt?

Whether it's for comfort, style, or just an exceptionally clever or funny t-shirt, everyone has a favorite.

200. Does fashion help society in any way?

This is a bit philosophical but can be a fun one to discuss. If the person seems into deeper conversations, you could give this one a go.

201. What old trend is coming back these days?

It seems that fashion always pulls from the past. Whether it's coloring, types of clothes, or just the general style of a past decade. So, which past fashion trends are they pulling from currently?

202. What is a fashion trend you are really glad went away?

This can be the start of a fun conversation about the ridiculous fashions that have come and gone in recent decades.

203. What is the most comfortable piece of clothing you own?

It might be their favorite t-shirt, or perhaps some comfy pajamas. Either way there is bound to be something that they love relaxing in.

204. What is the most embarrassing piece of clothing you own?

This is always a fun one, we all have some embarrassing pieces of clothing lurking in our closet that we either secretly love or just haven't gotten around to tossing out.

205. How do clothes change how the opposite sex views a person?

Another one that can lead to some deeper conversations about society or might just stay superficial. Just make sure you are in the right social situation to ask this one.

206. Do you care about fashion? What style of clothes do you usually wear?

Some people care a lot about fashion, some don't, and some care a lot but pretend that they don't. Which one are they?

207. If you didn't care at all what people thought of you, what clothes would you wear?

It might be what they are currently wearing, or it might be something totally different. It all depends on how well their ideal clothing matches current trends. It's always fun, though, if the person is into cosplay or period clothing.

208. What is the best pair of shoes you have ever owned? Why were they so good?

Comfortable shoes that look good are a rare find. You might just get some good tips on a new pair of kicks.

209. Who do you think has the biggest impact on fashion trends: actors and actresses, musicians, fashion designers, or consumers?

This sounds like a question from a fashion textbook, but it can actually often lead to some thoughtful answers and a good conversation.

Goals Conversation Starters

Let's talk about goooooooooaaaaaaaaals!

210. What personal goals do you have?

Some people are a little cagey about their personal goals, and some are pretty open to sharing them. Just don't make this one the first question you ask a person. Best to get to know them a bit better before popping this one.

211. What are your goals for the next two years?

Similar to the last one, but this one is a little more specific and deals with midterm goals rather than long term goals.

212. How have your goals changed over your life?

Oh, I guarantee your and their goals have changed quite a bit from 10 or 20 years ago. It's always fun to talk about goals from the past.

213. How much do you plan for the future?

The answers to this one vary a lot from person to person. And it's a great one to find out if they are spur of the moment or more methodical.

214. How do you plan to make the world a better place?

Some people have a solid plan, some don't care, and some, it seems, are actively trying to make the world a worse place. Find out where on the spectrum the person you are talking lands.

215. What are some goals you have already achieved?

This one is pleasant because they get to talk about their successes. And even if they are humble, they probably still enjoy having their successes recognized.

216. What do you hope to achieve in your professional life?

Switching over from personal goals, now it's time for a conversation about professional goals.

217. Have your parents influenced what goals you have?

For some, it might be a positive influence; for others the pressures might have pushed them in the opposite direction. Either way, this is a pretty personal question so make sure you know the person pretty well before asking them this question.

218. Do you usually achieve the goals you set? Why or why not?

Again, kind of personal, and can often lead to some bummer conversations, so be wary of this one. Make sure you know the person before asking this one.

219. What is the best way to stay motivated and complete goals?

Moving on from personal questions and kind of bummer questions, this one is looking more on the bright side of life. And you might get some good suggestions to help you achieve your own goals.

220. What are some goals you have failed to accomplish?

Whoops back into negative territory, while it can lead to a good conversation, just be cognizant of how the conversation might turn with this question.

221. What is the craziest, most outrageous thing you want to achieve?

This one is always a fun one to ask. Sometimes the person has to think a while, and sometimes they already have it lined up. But however long it takes them to answer, the answer is usually a really good one.

222. When do you want to retire? What do you want to do when you retire?

I like this question because it gets to the point of what they really want to be doing. Not what they have to be doing. You can find out a lot about a person by learning what they want to do when they aren't obligated to be doing anything in particular.

Seasons Conversation Starters

There is a time for everything. A time to sow and a time to reap. And a time to discuss seasons!

223. Do you prefer summer or winter activities?

Fun in the sun or ummm.. furlough in the snow? There is probably a better rhyme than that, but for now, furlough will have to do. So, which is their jam, snow skiing or water skiing?

224. What do you like to do in the spring?

Whether it's hiking or just sitting on the porch, the dawn of spring is always a pleasant time of year.

225. Did your family take seasonal vacations?

Don't forget to follow up by asking where they would go if they answer yes to this one. Not everyone was lucky enough to be able to take vacations when they were younger, but if they were it's always fun to hear about them.

226. Which do you prefer, fall or spring?

Both are pretty amazing, and both have some really good things going for them. But probably you and the person you are talking with have a strong preference one way or the other.

227. Which season are you most active in?

Because the seasons are so different depending on where you live, the answers to this one vary a lot from region to region. See if you and the person you are talking to agree.

228. What's the most refreshing thing on a hot summer day?

Whether it's a dip in the pool, a glass of fresh lemonade, an ice-cold beer, or something else entirely, it's always fun to talk about the things that make us go "Ahhhhh."

229. What's the best thing to do on a cold winter day?

Indoors or out? Fun or warming? Lots of different ways you could go with this conversation starter.

230. Where is the nicest place you have been to in fall?

The leaves changing, the crisp air, there is something so invigorating about fall. I'm sure you have a favorite place, even if it is just a bench in a nice park.

231. What is your favorite thing to eat or drink in winter?

So much warm and delicious things to eat and drink in winter, it's pretty hard to decide. Don't feel like you have to choose just one!

232. Is it better to live where there are four seasons or where one season takes up most of the year?

I imagine this one depends on where you live. Lots of people want what they don't have. So, my guess is that if where you live has four seasons you probably want to live somewhere with a long summer. But feel free to test out my hypothesis with this question!

Holiday Conversation Starters

Time to celebrate with some holiday conversations!

233. What is the biggest holiday for your family?

Whether holidays usually end up being a big disaster or not, there is probably at least one holiday where their family goes all out.

234. What is your favorite holiday?

Whether it's a traditional one or a newer one, everyone has a favorite. Don't forget to ask them why it's their favorite, as well.

235. What holidays have been over-commercialized?

"All of them" is a totally viable answer, but this is a good steppingstone into talking about the topic in general as well as some of the newer holidays that seem to be popping up.

236. Do you wish there were more or fewer holidays? Why?

So, there are a TON of "holidays" out there. But there could always be more, or different ones, or less. Or even better yet more holidays where you can take off from work or school. Those are always fun.

237. What do you know about the history of some holidays?

The traditional holidays have some buck wild history to them. We've got some trivia pages on the site that go into some of the history behind a few popular holidays. You can find the links to those pages below.

238. What kinds of food do you usually eat on your favorite holiday?

It wouldn't be a holiday without food! And every holiday tends to have its own flavors. So, find out what is traditional for them and their family and see how it compares to your traditions.

239. If you had to get rid of a holiday, which would you get rid of? Why?

There are definitely some holidays that could use a bit of pruning, rebranding, or just be outright replaced. Looking at you, Columbus Day. With this question you can find out which holidays they aren't a fan of.

240. Does having a day off for a holiday increase or decrease productivity at work?

Sure, you might think that with a day off, productivity might decrease, but happy employees do tend to get more done. So, does it even out? Now you both can weigh in and decide together.

241. If some of the lesser-known holidays were commercialized, what would the commercialization look like?

If you can't think of some of the lesser-known holidays, you can check out this page. So many unofficial and official holidays. So many.

242. If you could make a holiday, what would it be like? What traditions would it have? What would people eat on your holiday?

This one is really fun, especially if the person you are talking to is in any way creative. There are basically endless amounts of crazy holidays you could come up with.

Education Conversation Starters

Sharpen your pencils. It's time for an education conversation.

243. What do you think of online education?

Whether it be online courses for schools, Khan Academy, or tutorials on YouTube there is lots of education happening online. If the person you are talking to is into education this is a rich vein for conversations.

244. What do you think of standardized tests?

Love them or hate them, they are an entrenched part of the school system. You could talk about possible improvements, how effective or ineffective they are, and if there are any viable alternatives.

245. Are bigger or smaller schools better?

Most people will agree that small class sizes are better. But how about the whole school? What are the pros and cons of a small or a big school?

246. Is teaching a skill that can be taught?

Are good teachers born, or are they created? Are there any inherent traits that might make a person more likely to be a good teacher? This one is a good pool of possible conversations to dive into.

247. What will the future of education be?

Who doesn't love some fortune-telling? See if your idea of the future of education matches up with their prediction. What would be the best outcome? What is the most likely outcome?

248. What do you think of homeschooling?

Homeschooling is becoming more and more popular. And with anything, it has pros and cons. Whether you are for or against, it's a great topic for those who are interested in education.

249. How can governments make education more efficient?

Because if there is one thing I've learned, it's that people are totally happy with the public-school system and there is no room for improvement.

250. How has the education you received changed your life?

And if you don't think it's changed your life in any way, just imagine having no education, and you can see the impact of education.

251. How can technology improve education? Can it hurt education?

As with anything involved with technology, the use of technology in the classroom is hotly debated. Most want more, some want less. What kind of technology would you like to see put into the classroom, and is there any you would want to be taken out?

252. What or who has taught you most of the information you use regularly?

Is it school, friends, family, the internet? We pull information from lots of sources. Which do you think is the best source for good information?

253. What are some good and bad things about the education system in your country?

This kind of brings all the previous questions together in a big whopper of a question. Get ready for a long conversation with this question.

Food Conversation Starters

Whether they are a foodie or not, everyone has to eat, and that makes it a great topic to have a conversation about.

254. What is your favorite cuisine or type of food?

Everyone has a favorite type of food, whether it be international or local. And even if it is international cuisine, there is probably a local spin to it. This question transitions nicely into what their favorite foods are.

255. What foods do you absolutely hate?

Everyone has foods they can't stand. And they usually like talking about why they hate them so much!

256. What do you think of buffets?

With this one, you might have to consider how the person might take it. If they are a little on the heavier side, they might think you are making a comment about their weight. Just a heads up, so you don't offend anyone accidentally.

257. When was the last time you had a food fight?

Who doesn't love a good food fight? Well, I guess anyone who doesn't want food on their clothes... or anyone who doesn't like wasting food... but still they can be fun.

258. What food looks disgusting but tastes delicious?

There are so many foods out there that are like this. My guess is that you can think of a couple off the top of your head, and I bet whoever you are talking to can as well!

259. What do you get every time you go grocery shopping?

We all have that one snack or treat that we just can't get enough of. And who knows you might just find your next favorite snack by asking this question.

260. If your life was a meal, what would kind of meal would it be?

Definitely a weird one. But it can be fun depending on how creative you both get with it. The fun is in the explanation of why it would be that kind of meal.

261. What would you want your last meal to be if you were on death row?

What's the perfect meal to go out on?

262. What food do you know you shouldn't eat but can't stop yourself?

Don't worry, I think we all do. And probably the person you are talking to has one as well.

263. Do you like spicy food? Why or why not? What is the spiciest thing you have ever eaten?

And have you seen some of the videos of people eating spicy food or peppers? Whew, some of those look really painful, especially when they wipe tears away, and it gets in their eyes. Ouch.

264. Does the government have a place in regulating food? To what extent should government regulate food?

This can definitely get political, so fair warning you may want to avoid this one if you don't want to get into a conversation about politics and regulation.

265. When people make mistakes about food (especially foreign food), do you feel the need to correct them?

Some people like to know when they get something wrong, and some definitely don't. Are you one of the people that gets annoyed when someone corrects you about food, or do you appreciate being corrected?

Weird Conversation Starters

Bring your creativity; you are going to need it.

266. If your mind were an island, what would it look like?

Whoa, dude, we are all like islands unto ourselves.

267. What flavor of ice cream do you wish existed?

So many flavor possibilities. I want spicy ice cream. I know it's probably out there; I just haven't run across it yet.

268. If you had a personal mascot, what would your mascot be?

Animal, ethnic stereotype, or something more abstract?

269. If you were a king/queen, what would your throne look like?

Just remember it can be any shape, size, and be made out of any combination of things.

270. Time freezes for everyone but you for one day. What do you do?

Time to find out what kind of person they really are!

271. You have to relive one day of your life forever. Which day do you choose?

Welcome to Groundhog Day, but now you get to pick. Also, there is no way out, infinite loop, but you can do whatever you want on each day.

272. What does your own personal hell look like? How about your own personal heaven?

Put your Dante hat on and get to creating!

273. You find a remote that can rewind, fast forward, stop, and start time. What do you do with it?

Yeah, I know there was a lame movie about this. But it is still a pretty cool hypothetical.

274. If you could call up anyone in the world and have a one-hour conversation, who would you call?

You could learn something from them by asking questions, you could try to convince them to do something or not do something, or you could just try to befriend them.

275. The world has become infested with rabid dogs with the intelligence of a 5-year-old, where do you hole up to survive the "a-pup-calypse"?

I'm not sure if this has been made into a really cheesy horror film, but if it hasn't, it should be.

276. A portal to another world opens in front of you. You don't know how long it will stay open or if you'll be able to get back after you go through. What do you do?

You don't know if what's on the other side is bad or good, but you'll need to make a choice relatively quickly.

Even more questions

Sure 276 questions is a lot, but how about more than 1,000 extra questions!

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More than 250 conversation starters for your enjoyment. A huge list of conversation starter questions organized into different topics.

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1. Introduction

2. How Do We Learn Social Skills

3. Impact of Vision Loss on Social Skills

4. Observation and Assessment

5. Social Skills Learning

6. Providing Access to Social Learning Opportunities

7. Social Skills and Self Concept

8. Collaborative Process and IEP Integration

CHAPTER 1: Introduction
MILLER: Hi, my name is Tom Miller. I'm supervisor of the Educational Partnerships Program here at the Perkins School for the Blind. Today's web cast is an introduction to a module which is part of a larger book called Welcoming Students with Visual Impairments to Your School.

The module we will be showing today is on social skills. It's a way to look at social skills development for the student with visual impairments and begin to analyze and adapt your activities so that they can learn social skills in an equivalent way to their peers. The objectives of the module enable us to help understand the impact of visual impairment on social skills development.

Social skills are things that we take for granted. Very often social skills seem to be automatic for us. We don't think about them. We look at people sitting in the room and we look at their body language and we say, "Oh, that person seems interested, they're nodding their head." Or we look at the person over here who has their arms crossed and they're sort of fading to sleep and we understand that, you know. Right away we have to do something to change the context, to reinforce the social skills that - or the interaction so that we can be more dynamic, hopefully wake that person up and maintain the other person's interest.

When you have a visual impairment, these things don't happen automatically. We have what we call a loss of incidental learning. And you'll hear that term a lot during this presentation because it's very important to understand that when we use our vision to monitor our environment, we are doing it automatically. It's cues that we've learned to interpret throughout our lifetime, and now we can do it like that. When you have a visual impairment, you don't pick up on those subtle body language cues and you lose what's called incidental learning. And we'll try to illustrate that throughout this presentation. It's important to remember that no matter what degree of visual impairment you have social skills development is going to require direct and effective intervention.

One of the key aspects around social skills that can be a problem is that many times because a student has a visual impairment or some other disability we lower our expectations. In the area of social skills, we need to have equal expectations for social skills development. We have to realize that their success or the success of the student with visual impairments later in life is going to be crucial - or is going to be crucially based upon their ability to interact socially with peers; to interact socially with adults in the work place; to interact with other people in their environment. There's a wide range of visual impairments, but at any level visual impairment creates, as I said, a loss of access to incidental learning.

Social skills development is a life-long process and successful inter-personal relationships are at the core of raising our self-esteem. Think about when you have a positive interaction with someone, how good you feel, all right. If you've gone into a job interview and you're able to express yourself effectively and share your personality and have good body language and good appearance on that job interview, think about how good you feel; sometimes even if you don't get the job. So being successful in interpersonal relationships will raise our self esteem and also our confidence to take risks.

Again, think about a child learning to ride a bike. When they first start out on the bike, they go along and they fall a lot and they feel like a failure. But then all of the sudden they go maybe 5 feet and they don't fall right away, and then they go 10. They become more and more confident in themselves to take a risk, and that's what's important about social skills development.

Social Skills development is the groundwork which enables us to take risks. The better we feel about ourselves as a person and the better our successes are over time with our friends, with other people in the environment, the more likely we are to take risks and continue to develop socially.
CHAPTER 2: How Do We Learn Social Skills?
MILLER: Social skills are at the foundation of everything we do. As I said earlier, social skills will support our academic learning, our independent living skills learning, our access to community experiences, relationships, and later on employment.

One of the key questions we have to think about is how do we continue to learn social skills throughout our lifetime? We need to understand that social skills' learning is an on-going process. The initial bonding between the mother and the child, or the father and the child, is the first step towards social interaction and later social success.

As we begin to move along that, we develop that sense of trust in someone. The child knows that they can take a few steps, that they can begin to move away from the parent and begin to understand that they have people in their environment which - who will support them through social relationships and give them the space to grow and learn. This is what we do throughout our life.

Another analogy is later in life when you begin to date. That first date is a social step. It's the opportunity to try and grow into a new relationship, to try and use our skills to form an interaction with another person that maybe will develop into a meaningful friendship, or some other significant relationship. The ability to take that step is grounded in your sense of self, your confidence in yourself. It's grounded in your willingness to take risk. And all of that is developed through successful interpersonal relationships throughout our lifetime.

Most social skills are learned by repeated visual observation and connecting visual images. It's estimated that 75 - 80 percent of everything we learn, we learn visually. And again, just take a minute to think about this. When you walk into a crowded room, say you're going to a cocktail party and you walk into a crowded room. How do you decide what group to go over to?

That's right, you look around the room and you begin to think, all right. You begin to think about, "Well this group, they're sort of dressed like I am, you know. Maybe they'd be a comfortable group to go with." Or, "This group over here is laughing really loudly. They seem very animated, sounds like a good conversation to go maybe listen in on, see if I can become involved." But we do it visually. Yes, you hear them talking but you scan the room to find out where they are.

And then you begin to go into the situation, judging their facial expressions, how they're dressed and then say, "I'll take a risk on this particular group". Other groups you may shy away from just based upon the fact that maybe they don't look like they're very engaged. Maybe they're all just standing around just staring at one another, and they're not interacting, and you want to go into a more dynamic relationship.

So in that situation you're reading body language, you're reading facial expression, you're listening to the cues, and watching how people are interacting to make a decision. And that's what happens in every one of our social relationships. We interpret the situation based upon what we see, and then we move into the relationship, or we move away from the relationship based upon what we see and what we observe.

A student with a visual impairment starts off at a loss, all right. Every task offers them opportunities for social learning, but the social learning must occur in a different way, and there's no better way to illustrate the issue around how vision impacts the loss of these social cues than by showing you a couple of video tape clips.
CHAPTER 3: Impact of Vision Loss on Social skills - Video Demo
MILLER: The first video tape clip will start out totally black and move to a low vision scenario. It's a tape of students in a couple of learning environments within a second grade classroom. What you want to do is listen to the tape, watch the tape and try to jot down what social cues you're picking up from what you hear, what you see, or maybe what you don't see.

VIDEO DESCRIPTION: Multiple adults and children talking in a classroom setting.

VIDEO AUDIO: You're all set. You have two. Okay? You're all set.

Hi.

That's a [loud voice].

Another problem?

They're probably from the city and... want to see what kind of library we have.

[Coughing]

VIDEO AUDIO: Is Christopher here today?

In that place...

That's a lady bug.

Basically you had to...

No, that's a person.

Oh, whatever!

All right. You're practice area...

Science.

What the...

VIDEO AUDIO: Is that dragon's eggs?

Get, it, get it.

Hold on. Hold on.

We're all looking at the camera.

Second grade...

VIDEO DESCRIPTION: A female teacher reads a storybook to a classroom of children.

VIDEO TEACHER AUDIO: Two thousand year old true story about this small group of Jews led by Judas Maccabeus who didn't want to worship statues of cows and give up being Jewish. So they fought against this huge powerful Syrian army but by a real miracle the Maccabeus won. Nobody in that story gave Hanukkah presents.

MILLER: The second video clip, which you'll see now after having observed or not observed social cues in the last one, is more - is the regular clip or is the same clip but in clear vision. You'll see the whole scenario. You'll see students participating in a library. You'll see students having a snack together, students playing and interacting with one another.

And what I want you to do is as you look at this clip is begin to now jot down the social cues that you can pick up within the environment. You'll probably find out that there are more cues then you can jot down. You'll probably find out that, and hopefully understand that what happens socially, and many times, again, when we go into classrooms, you know, we say, "Oh, preschool is just about social skills."

Well, as you watch these social skills in action, remember that those social skills are based upon cognitive learning, concept development, motor skills - the ability to move in the environment - to turn the pages of a book in this case, the ability to open up your own snack; visual cues, but also language, all right. All these factors go into social learning. Social learning is not an isolated event. Successful social learning is grounded in good developmental learning and task development.

VIDEO DESCRIPTION: Multiple adults and children talking in a classroom setting.

VIDEO AUDIO: You're all set. You have two. Okay? You're all set.

Hi.

That's a [loud voice].

Another problem?

They're probably from the city and... want to see what kind of library we have.

[Indiscernible voices]

[Coughing]

VIDEO AUDIO: Is Christopher here today?

In that place...

That's a lady bug.

Basically you had to...

No, that's a person.

Oh, whatever!

All right. You're practice area...

Science.

What the...

VIDEO AUDIO: Is that dragon's eggs?

Get, it, get it.

Hold on. Hold on.

We're all looking at the camera.

Second grade...

VIDEO DESCRIPTION: A female teacher reads a storybook to a classroom of children.

VIDEO TEACHER AUDIO: two thousand year old true story about this small group of Jews led by Judas Maccabeus who didn't want to worship statues of cows and give up being Jewish. So they fought against this huge powerful Syrian army but by a real miracle the Maccabeus won. Nobody in that story gave Hanukkah presents.
CHAPTER 4: Observation and Assessment
MILLER: The next question we need to ask ourselves is: Are the social skills needed for success for students with visual impairments any different than those of other students? And the obvious answer is, no. We need to look at the social skills of students in the classroom environment and begin to understand the dynamics that occur there, at what age level do social skills demand change?

For example, for a young child some of the primary tasks are first learning to play and we all know play starts out solitary play, moves to parallel play, and then moves to cooperative or interactive play, all right. There's a sequence there. To be successful at cooperative or interactive play, you have to know how to play in general. You have to know how to manipulate objects and engage with other people through language and communication. So the social skills of the child with visual impairment are still going to follow that progression and we need to be conscious of that.

Within the module of social skills development, thanks to Sharon Zell Sacks the author of Teaching Social Skills to Students with Visual Impairments available through AFB press, we were able to put in some handouts which illustrate the tasks of social development from infancy all the way up through high school. Just some examples of the challenges that occur at each of those different age levels, so now you can begin to think about the students within your classroom and what they're doing, and how you need to affect change in order for the student with visual impairments to better learn social skills.

On-going observation and assessment are crucial to determine this match. Again, because too much of our social skills learning is incidental, we need to use tools like videotapes as an opportunity just like the ones you'll see here a little bit later on, as an opportunity to look at, step back, assess and then decide on the steps we're going to take to help the student with visual impairments better access the environment.

In order to really understand the tasks of social skills at different age levels, we need to be active observers within the classroom. There's a term called ecological assessment where you look at the environment that you're in and you study what non-disabled peers are doing in terms of their social skills, all right. You can use it across many other skill areas, but in this particular instance we'll talk about social skills. How are the children in the classroom interacting with one another?

For example, one time we were trying to do an integrated program here at our preschool. And we brought in a group of 4 and 5 year olds and they started to do pretend play. And we had a child, who was totally blind, wanting to get into that play situation. At first we just stepped back and watched what they did and as they played we realized that much of the play of 4 and 5 years olds around pretend play is non-verbal.

They would hand this person the baby doll. They would hand this person the hairbrush. And they would not really talk during their interactions. And the child with visual impairments was left there saying, "Well what's going on? Can someone help me? Tell me what's going on!" And it made us conscience of the fact that we really had to first understand how children at different age levels interact with one another, and this goes all the way up through high school, but how they interact with one another by stepping back and observing.

To go back to my former example about the child who we were trying to engage in an interactive play group, and the children in the group were doing so many things non-verbally. And the child said, "Well, what's happening?" What we did as adults in that situation is we began to interpret for them the non-verbal cues that they couldn't pick up on. We also began to help those sighted peers understand that for this particular girl to find the baby bottle they had to hand it towards her and say here comes the bottle so that she could reach out and more effectively interact. As they became more competent and as the visually impaired student became more competent in terms of asking questions or jumping into the situation, we as adults could step back a little bit further. So it's a bit of a dance, again, looking at stepping-in, stepping-out.

So to be effective facilitators, a good way to think of it is, we need to learn how to dance. We need to be sensitive as to when to step back and observe, all right; when to step in, when to help our partner through a certain move or a series of movements, and then to release them again so they can move on their own. So it becomes sort of a dance, an interaction between you as the adult, or sometimes a peer, and the child with a visual impairment or student with a visual impairment, in the given situation so that they can understand better the cues that are happening, or the things that are happening around them that they can't see visually that we can pick up on. And then how to help them engage in those same activities, engage in those interactions more effectively.

Many times, another technique that you might want to use is that you want to pre-teach in situations. A good way to do that is through role-playing. A concrete example is we were teaching some teenagers about how to go out on a date. And what we did was teach them the steps of dating and then had them go through those steps, calling the restaurant to make the reservation, talking to the person they were going out with, asking them out saying, "I have this evening planned for you". Giving them the words and materials so that they could begin to reach out to other people in their environment.
CHAPTER 5: Social Skills Learning - Video Demo 2
MILLER: Every interaction is an opportunity to create or facilitate social skills learning. It's important that we remember that this is a cyclical process. It requires observation of non-verbal and verbal cues. It requires us analyzing those cues. It requires us to develop plans and interventions, to implement those interventions, and then to evaluate them and start the process over again.

Unlike shoe-tying, where you can teach a student to tie their shoes, and once they've mastered that skill, they've got it and you move on to another skill. Social skills is a dynamic - or requires dynamic learning. The social situations we find ourselves in from infancy to adulthood are constantly changing, all right, going out into the environment like going out to the mall, all right. Every time you go into a mall and you try to find help in a store, you try to interact with other people or you're navigating the mall with your friends, it's a new experience, you know.

Think about how sometimes each of us gets overwhelmed when we go into a mall in terms of building up the courage to go up and ask for help, finding people to help you, looking around situations and saying, "Oh, there's something I'm interested in." "There are some people, again, I might want to go talk to or be with." And how do you, again, approach that. Everything we do in social skills is dynamic and that's the biggest challenge around teaching this skill is that it's not something we do once and then move on. It's something that as the child grows and matures, the demands and requirements change constantly.

Again, within the module there are two assessments that you can use to begin to plan your interventions. Number one, we observed and we looked at what happens in the environment. Number two, we do want to use assessments that look at what are some of the skills that students at different age levels should achieve. There are assessments by Sharon Zell Sacks, again, which we've been allowed to use by the American Foundation for the Blind Press and then a publication from the Texas School for the Blind on the visually impaired on independent living skills that deals with social skills, again, as a way for you to take in and look at the situation you're in and say, "These are the next steps, these are the goals we need to achieve."

What we're going to look at next are two, again, video clips, and again, it's just a way to sort of reinforce for you the issues around social skills or viewing social skills development through the eyes of a person with a visual impairment. It may be a little bit redundant to see this clip on top of the other clip, but we've found that repeated observations and experiences of what it may be like to observe the world through vision loss are important. That we as sighted people so often underestimate what we do with our vision that these video clips can oftentimes help you begin to think about, what are the impacts of this particular child's visual impairment and how am I going to help them overcome those impacts to develop their social skills?

You'll see two video clips. The first one will be low vision and you'll be observing two girls at play.

And the next video clip will be the same scenario in clear vision so that you'll be able to then see what they were actually doing.

Again, it's important then that you use this time to maybe jot down some notes of your observations, what social skills cues you're seeing. What are some of the things that you would think about that are being missed by a child with a visual impairment? And later on, the range of experiences that you can see once vision is clear, and then how would you intervene if you were to bring a child with visual impairment into that particular situation?

VIDEO DESCRIPTION: children interacting in a classroom setting.

VIDEO AUDIO: [Indiscernible voices]

You're the one who wanted to...

[Crying]

[Clacking sound]

Right There. Erase that.

[Indiscernible voices]

Okay. Go ahead. Ow,

We were supposed to - I don't know why they didn't notify us last week.

[Indiscernible voices]

I'm a little confused.

We would normally send a notice.

Okay. I know that that's Jen. Jen is the scheduler.

Okay.

[Indiscernible loud voices]

Maybe she wanted to...

[Scream]

[Indiscernible voices]

VIDEO AUDIO: Yeah, because his name is...

Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow...

Yes.

But, Rabow, I need you.

Rabow, Miss Churbon is waiting.

You need to find the toy you brought.

You're the one who wanted to...

[Crying]

[Clacking sound]

[Indiscernible voices]

Right There. Erase that.

Okay. Go ahead. Ow,

VIDEO AUDIO: We were supposed to - I don't know why they didn't notify us last week.

[Indiscernible voices]

I'm a little confused.

We would normally send a notice.

Okay. I know that that's Jen. Jen is the scheduler.

Okay.

Maybe she wanted to...

[Scream]

Yeah, because his name is...

Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow...

Yes.

But, Rabow, I need you.

Rabow, Miss Churbon is waiting.

You need to find the toy you brought.
CHAPTER 6: Providing Access to Social Learning Opportunities
MILLER: We have a challenge here and that challenge is to provide more frequent and on-going access to social learning in the everyday life of the student with visual impairments. It's very easy for the student with visual impairments to become very tied to a particular paraprofessional. It's very easy for them to maybe be tied to one particular peer and what can happen in those situations is if it's a paraprofessional or a teacher, it could be - it could be their teacher of the visually impaired, anyone who is too overly protective or doesn't let the person take risks, doesn't think about how to facilitate social skills and interactions.

What then happens is we have a student who becomes static, all right. Their skills are not dynamic. They're not continuing to learn in the way that the other students are learning. So often, we see in working in the different community schools, that when the student reaches middle school, if their social skills are not intact, they begin to fall further and further behind their peer group, all right. Their peer group is now into dating. They're into trying to find themselves and who they are.

The tasks are going to be the same for students with visual impairments. They need some additional supports at that time, but the more competence we've built into them over the early years to participate in social situations to analyze their social situations and to be effective, the better off they're going to be when they hit the middle school years.

We need to think about how we provide frequent and ongoing access to social learning. Again, not to be redundant, but it happens that we'll try within our classroom environments to set up social skills time. And again, think about your own life growing up, social skills were not just a time that was carved out in an IEP or a time that was carved out within your day that was recess. Even in the classroom you were engaged in social learning and social dynamics with your peers, with the teacher. These are all activities that if we're not careful, the student with visual impairments will lose that access to unless we intervene effectively.

I mentioned earlier that we need to have high expectations for all children and youth, and that we need to understand what other children and youth are doing to set realistic goals. Again through good assessment and observation, we can begin to define what tasks we want the child to learn, how they can be more effective within the classroom, and build a firm foundation for later learning.

Again we can't take social skills learning for granted or assume it will naturally occur without instruction. It requires direct intervention and specialized instruction. It requires teamwork as we'll talk about later, by the teacher of the visually impaired, by the family, by the classroom staff and as much as possible engaging the peers within the situation.

One way to think of it is we need to help; hands become eyes and develop listening skills and interpret events unseen. Again, it's that whole dynamic about how we're going to bring the world to the student with visual impairments, or bring them to the world in terms of their social skills understanding or their social skills learnings.

Another good quote or way to think about it that I just recently read is a quote that said, "Inclusion is not geography," all right. By putting a student with visual impairments in a classroom or in an environment of any type, even in an after school program without giving them the tools to access learning, especially in the area of social skills, to access participation with their peers. If we don't give them those tools, then all we've done is put them in a classroom and not included them, but actually placed them on an island, all right. They're going to be isolated from their peers unless we figure out ways to reach out and begin to really get them involved.

One good resource, that helps you look at how to involve students and how to step back and observe and facilitate is a book by Dr. Laurel Hudson called Classroom Collaboration. Within that book there is a poster that you can order for your classroom, free of charge called The Nineteen Ways to Step Back. It enables you to step back and think about or to look at situations that you're in and then say: When should I step in; when should I help; when should I not? When can I give that child or student with visual impairments the opportunity to take risks and how often do I give them those opportunities? Do I over protect them? Do I not take advantage of social learning opportunities because we're so centered on academic achievement?

Again, academic achievement and achievement later in life requires good social skills for you to implement what you've learned when you go into the world of work.
CHAPTER 7: Social Skills and Self Concept
MILLER: Within social skills development, we also need to foster the development of self esteem or positive self concept that's grounded in a sense of self confidence and self respect. Social skills are reinforced by positive self concept and self confidence is one arm of self concept talks about action, the ability to respond to life actively instead of passively.

We need to have the student with visual impairments become a dynamic member of the classroom, someone who is active within the classroom and who's out there taking risks, because risk taking is at the basis of what we do. We can't grow unless we take a risk. Again, think about all the different social situations you've been in life where you've taken a risk and you've stepped into a situation, it could be a new job, it could be a new school and you've gambled, all right. And because again you've had some good social skills underpinnings, you've had some good knowledge, you've got some good skills, you've probably succeeded.

Again, it's the same for students with visual impairments. We need to have them take those risks because there are plenty of other times when we've stepped into social situations and we failed. And again, think about what you've done at those points in failure, you've stepped back and you've analyzed why. You've thought about what you could do differently. You go on a job interview and you don't succeed. How can I change what I did so I'll be more effective in the next interview?

Self confidence also has a sense of control. We feel better about ourselves when we feel that we're controlling the situation. And again, you know, if you've been under the blindfold and you've had blindfold experiences, and someone's tried to make you run when you're under a total blindfold, and, you know, you sort of stop and shuffle your feet, and you won't move forward as fast as you would if you didn't have the blindfold on. You begin to realize that you're, you know, not doing that because you don't feel a sense of control.

That's why good mobility skills, effective use of visual skills, tactile skills, all these things build the confidence and the ability of the child with visual impairments to control their world. They feel empowered, all right. When they make the change from Braille or when they understand the Braille code, it's like a light bulb goes on and they become more successful at school work. Up until that point in time, it's just like any child trying to learn a new task, they don't feel in control. We do best, we feel better about ourselves, we have more self confidence when we feel that we can help and have some degree of control in the situation, even if it's just simple choice making or decision making.

Self respect, the other arm of positive self concept is grounded in uniqueness, all right. Helping the student with visual impairments understand their special attributes and skills and characteristics so that they feel that they have something they can bring to the situation. That when they go into a play situation, it's not that these children are the people who need to help me. It's, you know, "Here I am, you know, maybe I can't draw but I can describe things, I can do audiotapes." You find some skill that they can use to really build up their confidence.

Another aspect of self respect is connective-ness or how we relate and connect and identify with others. Because successful relationships or feeling of belonging are important, again think about your own life. All those relationships that you formed, those friendships that you formed and how crucial they are to having you feel successful. And then the last area is integrity. We have behavior that's in harmony with our values and again, these are things that we need to encourage in the lives of students with visual impairments.

One way to do that is to think about using role models or adults with visual impairments as a means to help students with visual impairments better understand where, you know, they can go in life. By being exposed to positive role models of people with visual impairments, students feel a little bit more at ease with themselves, you know. Simple things like, "If I'm blind, how do I put on makeup?" "If I'm blind and I go into a restaurant, how am I going to be assertive enough to order my food?"

A good way to understand some of the issues confronted again by people with visual impairments is to read a book by Dean and Naomi Tuttle entitled Self Esteem and Adjusting to Blindness. This book from the perspective of individuals who are blind, raises your awareness as a sighted person relative to some of the challenges that not only the individuals face but then also ways that they've overcome the social challenges and issues around blindness.
CHAPTER 8: Collaborative Process and IEP Integration
MILLER: Determining ways to help the student with visual impairments is really a collaborative process. We really need to work as a team on this. Again, it's not going to be one person in the classroom that's going to make or break the situation. The student with visual impairments spends a discreet amount of time with the teacher of the visually impaired. They spend a discreet amount of time with the paraprofessional. They spend time with their regular ed classroom teacher or the special ed teacher. They spend time with their peers. They spend time with their family. And in order for us to really be successful around improving social skills development for students with visual impairments, we need to work as a team.

Again, a social skill that we write into the IEP is not; "Will roll a ball to a friend". Yes, that's a social skill but our social skills that we need to develop have to be more dynamic, and we have to tie them to the fact that when the child is in arts and crafts there are opportunities for social skills development, that the art teacher or whoever is with the child can help or facilitate. When they're in the library with their peers, there are opportunities for social skills development there. When they're in small group projects within the classroom, whether they be science projects or simple math projects that they're doing as a team, these are opportunities for social interaction that we as a team need to work collaboratively together to reinforce.

We need to be sure that social skills are an essential part of each student's IEP and that, again, all the adults in the students life, and as much as possible their peers, help focus on social skills development. Within the field of visual impairments we have a concept called the expanded core curriculum. And within that expanded core curriculum, social skills is a primary piece of development. It's an area that every child with visual impairments needs to be successful in, in order to access in all later learnings in life. We as a team need to work on those skills, we need to make sure that our IEPs reflect the full range of both issues and opportunities for students with visual impairments that will enable them to better learn and better grow in the area of social skills.

Just for your information, this complete book Welcoming Students with Visual Impairments into Your Classroom is available from Perkins School for the Blind. You can order it by going on our website under publications. And in the module itself, Social Skills is just one piece of the bigger module. It involves lessons on low vision; it involves orientation and mobility; and ways to adapt your classroom for low vision students. Again all the CDs within the module are very interactive and dynamic. And it's meant to be a good training tool for the teacher of the visually impaired to use with classroom staff, to use with families and others to help them better understand ways that we can better include students with visual impairments in all aspects of the classroom curriculum.

Thank you.

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Social Skills for Children and Youth with Visual Impairments

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Introduction How Do We Learn Social Skills Impact of Vision Loss on Social Skills Observation and Assessment Social Skills Learning Providing Access to Social Learning Opportunities Social Skills and Self Concept Collaborative Process and IEP Integration CHAPTER 1: Introduction MILLER: Hi, my name is Tom Miller.

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Chapters:

1. Introduction

2. Parent and Child: The First Social Interaction

3. Widening the Social Circles

4. Learning Social Skills in the Classroom

5. Developing an Appropriate Self-Awareness

6. Self-Advocacy as a Social Skill

7. Social Skills and Satisfaction

CHAPTER 1: Introduction

SACKS: Well, so much of what we learn is through the visual sense. Almost 80% of what we acquire is through vision. And if you think about how we learn to interact and how we learn to engage socially, we do it through observation.

Very young children, babies for example, learn to smile by watching what their mothers do, and engaging with them. And that reciprocity back and forth, that joint attention that's so critical with very young children is encountered through the visual sense.

And so for blind or visually impaired kids, learning those social skills need to be taught at a very early age. They need to be modeled, they need to be practiced.

And many individuals believe that the social world needs to be brought to the child who's blind or visually impaired, that we can't just assume that a child's going to learn them - we have to help them learn those skills.

NARRATOR: In a video clip, two young girls who are visually impaired sit on the floor facing one another. Sitting behind each of the girls is a teacher. And the teachers prompt the girls to take turns passing a ball. (cheers) Oh, nice job.

SACKS: The research that I've done and others have done have demonstrated that social skills are really the foundation upon which other skills are built. And without a social presence, visually impaired students may encounter isolation, may encounter difficulty with personal relationships, may encounter difficulty with employment and independent living as adults.

So it's really an essential part of what we teach students who are blind or visually impaired.
CHAPTER 2: Parent and Child - The First Social Interaction
SACKS: Families are the first teachers, and they're probably the most important teachers. Families, siblings, relatives engaging the child in the family milieu is so important. It's so easy, I think, for a child who is blind or visually impaired, or a child who has additional disabilities, to sort of be left alone to quiet... if they're quiet, maybe they're not engaged, to just kind of leave them be.

But what you want to do is to get them involved in all family activities. So for a baby, you want to get that child in the baby seat maybe up on the counter, talking to the child, getting that social proximity, getting the child to... if the child can't see, but maybe getting that face-to-face contact through mommy-child games or family-child games, getting that child to look at the individual, getting that reciprocal relationship where the... when language begins.

It could be even a lot of goo-ing and cooing, but it's a back and forth kind of game playing. Doing a lot of body awareness games. I talk about with very young child to do something like... I did this with my own kids.

Clap the feet, and eat the toes, and tickle the tummy, and beep-beep the nose because you're developing that body awareness, and you're having fun with it. Getting the child to begin to play, to engage in play, to engage in real world experiences.

NARRATOR: In a video clip, a group of mothers with visually impaired children gather for play time.

The mothers sing songs and encourage the young children to interact. ♪ Hug with Riley, hug with Riley, ♪ ♪ hug with a joyful heart ♪

SACKS: Letting them play in the kitchen when they begin to develop motor skills or even if they don't have that motor ability, giving them real objects to feel, to touch, to explore. Because by engaging in real-life experiences, the child is learning about their social world.

Family gatherings, the extended family is so critical. And I think siblings are wonderful teachers because siblings allow children to just be themselves. They allow the child to engage in rough and tumble play. And they don't think about kind of having a hands-off attitude.

They treat the child who has a disability - whether it's a visual impairment or another disability - just like another child. And they want that child to be part of the gang, if you will. So children who have siblings tend to be more risk-takers, I think.

And what we want for our children who are blind or visually impaired and have additional disabilities are really to be risk-takers, really to engage with the world around them. That's really key.

NARRATOR: In a photograph, a boy who is visually impaired and wears thick glasses rolls a bowling ball down the alley. His two older sisters stand on either side of him.

SACKS: The other element I think that's really critical is for families and professionals to have realistic expectations for their student who is blind or visually impaired. Sometimes those expectations can be way too low, and sometimes they can be way too high. And I think it's striking that happy balance that is so important, and having those expectations throughout a child's life.

NARRATOR: A graphic slide provides these summary points regarding the chapter: Parent & Child: The First Interaction.
CHAPTER 3: Widening the Social Circles
SACKS: The partnership between families, and teachers and professionals is really critical. I think the most successful relationships are those that have great respect for one another - that families... that professionals are listening to what families need, and what they really want for their children.

Accepting their cultural differences, accepting who they are, and then infusing the area of socialization, for example. It could be any area, but social skills, and how the impact of social skills might have on their child as the child moves into school programs.

The best environment to begin teaching social skills really begins in the home, and really begins in the child's own community. In the home, taking the child to the grocery store, taking the child to many different activities in the child's world.

As the child maybe becomes healthier or the child is able to move out into the world to begin engaging in playgroups with children who have similar disabilities or children who are sighted, depending on the child and the family situation.

NARRATOR: In a photograph, a young boy who is visually impaired sits in a sand box at a community playground. The boy, who wears glasses, is playing with a younger boy and an older girl who are sighted.

SACKS: Early on, giving the child chores around the house, whether it be just putting something in the trash can, or putting their toys away, or throwing their socks or clothes into a hamper for dirty clothes. Maybe taking their dishes to the sink.

So having those expectations are really, really critical and expectations for social behavior.

That it's not okay to tantrum in the middle of a grocery store.

It's not okay to throw your food on the floor.

It's not okay to... as kids get older, to do inappropriate social behaviors and knowing where there's a time and a place to do, you know, maybe inappropriate stuff, like poking your eyes, or rocking back and forth, or self-stimulatory behaviors, we call it.

Like, you know, masturbation, or picking your nose or things like that. Those kind of things can happen in private so teaching your child the difference between public and private, again so critical.

NARRATOR: A graphic slide provides these summary points regarding the chapter: Widening Social Circles.
CHAPTER 4: Learning Social Skills in the Classroom
SACKS: In an elementary school classroom, there are lots of opportunities for students who are visually impaired or students who have additional disabilities to engage with one another.

It's critical that the teacher of the visually impaired or the orientation mobility specialist work closely with the general education classroom teacher.

The best environment is one in which students can have opportunities to be part of small group activities and where the classroom is structured in a way so the child knows where everything is in the classroom. Some classrooms change every two weeks or there's lots of... there are lots of physical obstacles in the classroom, or it's over-stimulating. And for many of our students, that's not a good environment to access social opportunities.

So we want classrooms to be structured somewhat, we want teachers to... general education teachers to emphasize affective or character education within their classroom. We hope that they're collaborative with the special education staff, that they have opportunities for children to work together, as I said, in small groups.

Cooperative learning activities within the classroom where the child who is blind or visually impaired can play a significant role. Not just sort of be a passive member of a group, but be an active member of the group.

Maybe being a scribe if they're able to do that. Maybe being the one who can access technology. Maybe the one who can be the helper in a building activity. Maybe the student can be the... the leader of the group and facilitate the group activity.

It's critical though that the teacher of the visually impaired or the general education classroom teacher set it up so that the child who is blind or visually impaired really engages with another... engages with the peers in the classroom environment or in that small group activity.

NARRATOR: In a video clip, a young boy who is blind is shown in an inclusive classroom.

The boy has been given the task of placing the date in the correct position on a calendar that is on the classroom wall.

The boy uses Braille to identify the correct number and then finds the appropriate position for the date on the raised calendar grid.

SACKS: If there's not a level of training or a level of skill development in the area of social skills, particularly related to social interaction skills, there's a greater chance or risk of social isolation as students become older, particularly.

You see the gap widening. There's greater acceptance when kids are younger. Even though kids are aware of social differences during preschool and early elementary, you see that gap widening as children get older into intermediate middle school, and high school and into adulthood.

NARRATOR: A graphic slide provides these summary points regarding the chapter: Learning Social Skills in the Classroom.
CHAPTER 5: Developing an Appropriate Self-Awareness
SACKS: As children get older and they move into adolescence, it's important to understand that that's a rough time for individuals... for any individual. But it's, I think, even rougher for students who have disabilities and those who have visual impairments.

People are trying to establish... these young people are trying to establish their own identities, and figuring out who they are as individuals and developing individual levels of competence in academics and maybe other talented areas like music or technology or... I don't know, mechanics, whatever it might be.

And it's really true for a student who is blind or visually impaired. The difference I think is that for a child or a young adult who is visually impaired or might have additional disabilities, they have to really put themselves out there.

Again, it gets back to that risk-taking of getting out in the environment, putting yourself out there, and trying really hard to engage and be part of that group. Or finding groups that the student might feel comfortable engaging with.

NARRATOR: In a video clip, a young boy who is blind plays an electronic keyboard in music class. The boy, who wears sunglasses and an orange shirt, has an enthusiastic audience of classmates who are also visually impaired.

Some sing while another boy plays a drum. (music playing)

SACKS: But I do believe that there is a correlation between social isolation, and a sense of well-being, self-concept and self-esteem. So that if a student is able to engage with others and feels good about engaging with others, they're going to feel more socially competent, they're going to have better self-esteem or better self-concept about them.

They're going to have... students are going to have an attitude of "I can do this, I'm included."

One of the issues I think that students who are blind or visually impaired really face is sort of ego-centrism, that the world kind of revolves around me. And so I don't need to move out and expel a lot of energy to develop those relationships. Nor do I see the need to develop those relationships.

So helping students to develop that understanding of why is it important to engage with other people? Why is it important to have good social etiquette? Why is it important to develop appropriate social behavior in various situations?

Because it all leads to inclusion in the world around us. And the hope is that all our students want to be part of the world, and want to be included, and want to feel needed and want to feel accepted.

NARRATOR: A graphic slide provides these summary points regarding the chapter: Developing an Appropriate Self-Awareness.
CHAPTER 6: Self-Advocacy as a Social Skill
SACKS: Self-advocacy skills are certainly a part of teaching students social skills. They... self-advocacy begins again early on, where the child is making choices and decisions for himself or herself. It can be as basic as a child choosing a cracker versus a cookie.

For maybe older children it might be choosing what they're going to wear to go to school. You know, even though the outfit may not match, they're advocating for themselves for what they need and what they like. So giving students choices, making decisions.

Often, we find with children who are blind or visually impaired, and particularly students who have additional disabilities, it's easy for adults to do way too much for the child, to sort of allow the child to make those choices or those decisions on their own. And so what happens is we do a lot for them.

Without knowing it, we may tell the child to go into the classroom, put your things away in your cubby, sit down, put your lunch away. So instead, maybe we need to help the student develop a routine where they're doing most of that or those activities on their own.

NARRATOR: In a video clip, a boy who is blind navigates the hallway of an inclusive school using his cane as well as trailing his hand along the wall.

SACKS: Where maybe there's a schedule board, and the student goes into the classroom and they know without the teacher even telling the student to put the backpack in the cubby, to go to the bathroom, to... maybe put their lunch in the refrigerator and then go sit down and look at what the next steps will be for the daily routine in the classroom.

For older students, particularly students who are in inclusive situations, it's letting people know what they need or what they want. "I need to sit in the front because I can't see very well." "I need this read to me because I can't read the menu at a distance."

Giving students opportunities to explain their visual impairment or their other disabilities. "I can't see very well, I was born prematurely," or "I can't see well, can you please read the menu to me?"

So all those opportunities give students a better understanding of who they are, and it helps them to be better self-advocates for themselves. And gives them greater opportunity to be successful and to feel better about themselves because they're taking control of their lives.

NARRATOR: A graphic slide provides these summary points regarding the chapter: Self-Advocacy as a Social Skill.
CHAPTER 7: Social Skills and Satisfaction
SACKS: Well, the research shows that a person who... a student who is blind or visually impaired who has good social skills will, one, be accepted by their peers, be included with their peers, will have opportunities for employment and be successful at employment, will be able to live independently, will have a repertoire of friends and a good group of friends and be engaged with others, will feel good about themselves, will have control over their lives... over the life that they may want to lead. Will be able to make choices and have options in what they can do in their lives.

NARRATOR: In a video clip, we see a teenage boy who is multiply disabled at his job in a grocery store. The boy, who wears glasses and hearing aids, is shown exchanging an enthusiastic greeting with a co-worker.

SACKS: We've seen over and over again with students who may be blind or visually impaired who have good academic skills, but have less... but are less capable in the area of socialization having a more difficult time with employment.

Employers will tell you that they can train a person on the job, they can teach a person job-specific skills, but if they have poor social skills, if they're not able to engage with their colleagues, if they're not... if they don't have the skills and knowledge about taking a break and kind of hanging out with their colleagues, if they're not able to take the role or understand how to work with a supervisor, those are all social skills.

If they can't do those things, they're going to have a more difficult time being successfully employed. On the other hand, we've observed students who have maybe great difficulty with academic skills, but they're excellent workers, and they just have a social presence about themselves.

Those students may have a range of disabilities, may have complex disabilities, but if they're able to smile at their colleagues, and look at their colleagues, and they look sharp, and they just know how to take turns, they're going to be very successful in a job placement because they have that presence about them. People want to be with them, they want to engage with them.

So social skills are really the foundation upon which other skill areas are built. And without good social skills, students and young adults are at greater risk for that social isolation later on in life.

NARRATOR: A graphic slide provides these summary points regarding the chapter: Social Skills and Satisfaction.

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developing social skills in children who are blind

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Developing Social Skills in Children Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired

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Chapters: Introduction Parent and Child: The First Social Interaction Widening the Social Circles Learning Social Skills in the Classroom Developing an Appropriate Self-Awareness Self-Advocacy as a Social Skill Social Skills and Satisfaction CHAPTER 1: Introduction SACKS: Well, so much of what we learn is through the visual sense.

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Jeopardy pour pratiquer JAWS..voir comment le rendre plus accessible avec NVDA

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Jeopardy pour pratiquer JAWS..voir comment le rendre plus accessible avec NVDA

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Provincial Resource Centre for the Visually Impaired (PRCVI)

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A frequent request the outreach team receives here at PRCVI focuses on strategies for teaching students to use screen reading software such as JAWS, NVDA, or VoiceOver. We are always looking for games or activities to teach skills, rather than just memorizing a list of keyboard commands.

At the recent closing ceremonies of the 2021 BC Regional Braille Challenge, which was held virtually over Zoom, we played a Braille Jeopardy game with the students. This Jeopardy board template is fully accessible with JAWS, so I thought it could be used as an activity for teaching some screen reading skills! This template would allow students who use JAWS to not only design a Jeopardy game, but to host a game with their classmates or peers, either virtually using screen sharing over Zoom or Teams or in-person using a projector.

How the Game Works

The Jeopardy template consists of a main slide that contains the five categories and point options (100, 200, 300, 400, or 500 points). The categories and points are arranged in a grid, with the categories running across the top row and points running along each subsequent row (e.g., 100 points along the second row, 200 points along the third). Players select a category and the number of points they want (keeping in mind that questions get harder with more points!), and the game host then activates the link for the corresponding point value under the selected category.

Each question within the game has its own slide, and the link from the first slide corresponds to the slide with the question. The answer for each question is hidden until activated. At the bottom of each question slide is a back link that returns to the main slide.

Teaching Strategies

Use the Jeopardy board to teach and reinforce the following JAWS and Windows skills:

Use table navigation commands to navigate the categories and points in the first slide. First, use commands to find the table. Then have the student explore different navigation strategies to find one that is most efficient. An example would be navigating along the categories first until the desired one is found, and then moving down the column to the desired point.

Practice finding and activating links. The first slide has a grid of points, with each point value being a link. On the slides with questions, there is a back link at the bottom of each slide, which returns to the first grid slide.

Use reading commands to read the question and answer. (The answer will be read by JAWS even if it is not visible on screen.)

Use commands to navigate PowerPoint and edit the Jeopardy template. Discuss concepts such as "object level" and "edit level" and how to move between these levels. Discuss reading over and how to change this. Discuss whether headings are hidden or visible (in the game we did, headings were hidden, but still available to be read by JAWS).

Discuss how PowerPoint works and what it's useful for. Discuss how objects may not be visible on-screen until they are activated. (In this template, each answer is initially hidden when the slide comes into view. When the answer is revealed, it is accompanied by a "click" sound effect.)

Use the Jeopardy game as an opportunity to practice presentation skills. This may involve the student practicing use of different devices (such as a braille display) to access the presentation if they do not want everyone to hear JAWS.

This Jeopardy template does not appear to be as accessible with NVDA as it is with JAWS, in particular table navigation options. We have not tried this template with VoiceOver yet.

We hope you find this template useful either as a teaching game or a teaching tool to use with students. We would love to hear if you use this template with students!

Below are links to download a blank template as well as the two versions of braille Jeopardy we used at the 2021 BC Braille Challenge closing ceremonies.
Blank Jeopardy template (.pptx) Braille Jeopardy #1 (.pptx) Braille Jeopardy #2 (.pptx)
About the author

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Using Jeopardy to Teach JAWS Skills | Provincial Resource Centre for the Visually Impaired (PRCVI)

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A frequent request the outreach team receives here at PRCVI focuses on strategies for teaching students to use screen reading software such as JAWS, NVDA, or VoiceOver. We are always looking for games or activities to teach skills, rather than just memorizing a list of keyboard commands.

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Expanded Core Curriculum Needs Screening Tool

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A resource for teachers of children with visual impairments

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Cardboard is my friend.

Thank goodness for Amazon, UPS and FedEx. I look forward to a delivery because I use the boxes to create books and activities for my students with visual impairments.

I like things that don't cost much that I can send home with a student or leave in a classroom. I don't care if it gets lost or ruined because it is easy and inexpensive to replace and typically pretty fast to make.

I love cardboard boxes that items are shipped in because the cardboard is typically heavy duty and already scored in several places. That helps to bend the cardboard into books or activities without having to get out a ruler and score it myself. Out of a small box I can usually make 3-4 books/activities for my students.

I love paper lunch bags; they take a lot of abuse and come 50 or more to a pack. Four lunch bags can make a 6-page book that has compartments to put items in.

I love the formica chips that are already pre-punched that you can find at local hardware stores. They are great to glue objects onto for object symbols, or sorting or matching activities. They last forever and come in different sizes. Most of the hardware stores will give you samples if you just ask.

A little bit of money and an hour spent in the local dollar store or thrift store can offer a plethora of useful and inexpensive items to use for books/activities for your students. You just have to think outside the box.

Create!

Examples of Creations Made from Inexpensive Materials

Shape Book (made with paper bags)

This Shape Book is made out of paper bags and twine, with labels using a black Sharpie, as well as braille labels. Each page of the bag has directions naming a shape and inviting the reader to "look inside" or "look under". Each page (or bag) has a different shape, such as circles, squares, triangles, stars, and hearts. The students love looking in the bag and under the flaps! Because this is not expensive to make, I'm happy to send it home or leave it at a school.

Texture Match Activity

This texture match activity also uses a paper bag to store the materials inside.

I glude two sets of textured items onto formica chip cards that are pre-punched and the student matches the cards. This can be played like Concentration or in any number of ways (e.g. give the student a card and ask her to reach in the bag to find one that matches).

Shape Match Activity

As with the Texture Matching activity above, this Shape Match activity uses formica chip cards with sets of different shapes glued onto them. The activity can be set up in a variety of different ways.

Alphabet Bags

Alphabet Bags are paper bags with a letter of the alphabet in print and braille on each bag. Inside are objects whose names start with the letter on the bag, along with index cards in print and braille.

Word Family Wheel

In this simple activity, I have attached letters to a color wheel (which I got for free at a paint store). The student spins the wheel and makes new words using the initial letter, e.g. rat, mat, cat, fat, sat, etc.

Circle Book

This Circle Book has different types of circles on each page: big and little, different numbers of circles, and circles in a line.

Feather Activity and Cardboard Book

This is an example of a piece of cardboard (which I painted black) where it is scored, so that it folds over. There is a feather on the left side and then the braille words "weather" and "feather" are on the right. The student looks for the correct word to match to the object.

Below is another piece of cardboard that has been made into a blank book. It can be used for activities (matching, etc.) or a simple concept book.

Plastic Tray with Shapes

Plastic packaging can often be used to make sorting trays or to organize independent tasks.

Shape File Folder Activity

This file folder with shapes and Velcro in a grid can be used for a variety of activities, such as matching, following patterns, or playing Tic Tac Toe.

Page Fluffers

Page fluffers are small textured items that are glued to the top of the page to enable young children or students with motor challenges to turn the page more easily.

We hope you'll share your ideas of creative materials you've made using inexpensive items!

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Cardboard is my friend. Thank goodness for Amazon, UPS and FedEx. I look forward to a delivery because I use the boxes to create books and activities for my students with visual impairments. I like things that don't cost much that I can send home with a student or leave in a classroom.

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Teaching Students with Visual Impairments

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By: Carmen Willings teachingvisuallyimpaired.com

Updated April 7, 2020

Recreation is important for all persons including those who are blind or visually impaired. Although planning may be necessary, it is important to include students in the physical education and recreation programs as it is a required component of the school curriculum and a source of lifelong enjoyment and physical activity.

As with other students, students with visual impairments need to be actively involved in physical education programs that teach life long skills to maintain their health. In order to make the program accessible to students, there are adaptations and specialized equipment that may need to be employed to ensure that the student can fully access the physical education program. Prior to determining appropriate adaptations, it is important to first understand the students functional vision. The Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments will provide information for the team members and P.E. teacher on each students unique visual needs. One rule of thumb for all students with any visual impairment is to keep the instructional area as uncluttered as possible.

The instruction of recreation skills should be planned and deliberately taught, and should focus on the development of life long skills. Often students who are visually impaired do not experience the same opportunities for recreation that students with no vision loss have in the early years. Recreational and leisure activities can provide an avenue for the development of motor skills, social skills, language skills, and fitness. It is important to expose the students to as many age-appropriate recreational activities as possible. This will best prepare the student for future inclusion and independence.

Support the inclusion of students with visual impairments in group activities. Be sure that students play and talk with classmates rather than sit on the sidelines. Describe choices of activities that are available at recess. During games, allow students to buddy-up with a sighted partner. Remember that students who are visually impaired need support from staff during periods of free play on the playground. The visually impaired student should be able to participate in most recreational activities except for those that require good visual acuity (i.e. dodge ball). Build a student's self-confidence by letting him/her try. Take the student through an activity or game a couple of times before requiring independent movement. For a sighted student, motor imitation is a visual skill; a student who is visually impaired needs to experience the activity physically.

Team Sports

With some accommodations, a student with a visual impairment can participate in team sports. Possible auditory accommodations for physical education include beeping balls or balls with bells, beeping goal posts, rice in a beach ball or volleyball a sound source (beeps or plays music), beeping bases or radios to locate targets. Possible visual accommodations include brightly colored balls or those that offer a high contrast to their surroundings. Bright pylons beside bases and padded and brightly colored goalposts. Fluorescent tape can be used to mark boundaries in the gym and outdoors.

Running

A guide can be used to run with the student in order to encourage participation and foster social exchanges. However, to promote independence and encourage running, use guide wire system or rope that is securely anchored to an eyehook or attached to poles. Attach a PVC tube to the rope/wire so the student can hold the tube and run along the rope. This allows the student to run freely and not be dependent on a sighted guide. Running in on an open field with no assistance is an option if you use a portable sound source. The student can be encouraged to run toward the sound source. An indoor option that can lead to greater independence and lifelong fitness is to provide the student with a treadmill.

Bicycling

The foundation for bicycling can begin when a child is young. Providing opportunities for students to play on riding toys is a good introduction. Older students can build endurance and experience physical activity by using a stationary bike. Students with low vision may be able to learn to ride a bike, but depending on their level of available vision, may need to ride along side a sighted adult or peer who can warn the student of any dangers. Students who are blind may be able to experience biking using a tandem bicycle.

Some students with low vision will be able to safely bicycle independently. However, it is always safer to ride in pairs. An option for many students with visual impairments is to use a tandem bicycle or a duo bike. These options allow the student to have social interactions as well as fully participate in true cycling where they can experience the sites, sounds, and smells and provides a mode of transportation. Other options include a stationary bike that will promote physical fitness. ​

Physical Games & Sports

Simple games can be adapted easily, but it may be more challenging to adapt team sports. Although games can be adapted, students will need to acquire the motor skills necessary to fully participate in the games. Skills needed to play in games may need to be taught in isolation. It is important to be aware of the student's are more at risk for retinal detachment. Also, some eye conditions can be aggravated by vigorous physical activity. The student should either refrain from the activity or it should be modified.

Bowling

Students can learn basic bowling skills by playing with home-made or purchased bowling sets that can be used at home and school. A sound source can be placed behind the pins in order to provide an auditory target for the students. Many bowling alleys will provide bumpers, or portable bowling rails, upon request.

Possible PE, Outdoor & Playground activities

Balance beam play

Ball play (balls with bells or beeper balls)

Bean Bag toss at board with hole or at plastic bottles filled with sound making materials.

Bumper Bowling

Dancing

Gymnastics

Hoop play (roll, follow and pick up)

Jump on trampoline

Jumping Rope

Martial Arts (Judo)

Parachute games

Play catch with Velcro mitts

Pull a friend in a wagon

Push a shopping cart (add weight from real cans, etc.)

Relay games

Run with an adult or peer along a rope strung across a safe area

Sledding with adult or peer

T-ball

Three legged walk

Tug-of-war

Tumble on foam pit or on mat

Walk in a variety of ways along a rope

Winnick and Short. Brockport Physical Fitness: A Health-Related Test for Youth with Physical and Mental Disabilities. 1999. This criterion-referenced fitness standard is designed for youth ages 10 to 17 years and up with special needs.

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Recreation Adaptations for Students who are Blind or Visually Impaired

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Physical education is important for all students including those who are blind or visually impaired. Although planning will be necessary, it is important to include students in the physical education program as it is a required component of the standard c