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CHAPTER ANNOTATION

5. INTERVENTIONS

Education of learners with visual impairment must be realised in various places and in various situations. As stated above, pupils can visit mainstream or special schools. However, special elementary schools for children with visual impairment are located only in Brno, Praha, Ústí nad Labem, Opava, Kladno, Moravská Třebová, Litovel, České Budějovice, Plzeň and Ostrava. This leads to a situation, where children have to commute to school long distances every day or stay at a boarding school. Next to special methods used in regular subjects, there are special subjects designed for children with VI. According to the type of disability they may be the following: Spatial orientation and independent movement, Visual stimulation, Reading and writing Braill, Work with optical instruments, Speech therapy and special physical education. Each learner is assigned to these classes according to recommendation of a team of specialists. The curriculum for children with VI shall not differ from the curriculum of the mainstream school. Differences occur in the process of education.

Organisational arrangements are also important for teaching a child with VI:

The work place and tools should be arranged effectively to visually simulate the pupil.
The teachers should use various methods and tools to change the visual situations of the child.
Important educational situations should be verbalized.

Children who are blind are usually educated also according to the same curriculum as the majority of children, but use Braille alphabet for the transfer of information. Specific attention shall be given to the following areas and support of a child with VI at school:

Training of spatial orientation and independent movement
Teaching social skills
Proper use of the compensatory aids and tools
Special visual education, support of the maximum visual rehabilitation
Aesthetic education

Generally speaking, children with VI work more slowly and need extra experience gained by tactile senses to understand many concepts and compensate for the lack of casual learning. The instructions and descriptions provided by the teacher must be precise and the teacher must be sure that all pupils understand all the words and terms used in teaching.

Preconditions for successful education:

Any education of visually impaired pupils requires early pedagogical support. It is necessary to prepare the child for inclusive education already during the pre-school period. It is also necessary to prepare the classroom teacher for the work with a child with VI and set up close co-operation with the special educational centre. The special teacher from the centre should provide the school with enough information about the visual functions of the pupil and advice for educational strategies before the beginning of the school year. The special teacher works together with the classroom teacher to create the Individual educational plan. It is also convenient to educate all other teachers at the school, where child with VI studies and spread the knowledge and experience to other school employees.

For successful inclusion, it is important to ensure particular technical conditions are met at the school and in the classroom. Safe environment for independent movement and spatial orientation is essential together with easy access to all kinds of information. The conditions may include technical conditions as lighting, temperature, noise control, special work place and special tools and aids. The most common technical aids are the following: optical and non-optical instruments. Among the optical are typically hyper oculars, spectacles, turmons, monoculars, digital TV magnifiers and special magnification software. Be aware that optical instruments and aids are used by ONLY by learners who are partly sighted. It is a common mistake to think they may be used by students who are blind.