Differentiating Instruction for Students Who Are Blind and With Low Vision

Several weeks before the start of the school year, Ebony Williams, a fourth-grade teacher, learns one of the students in her class (Marcus) has significantly low vision and is considered blind. Ms. Williams is known for being willing and able to effectively teach students with disabilities. Recognizing Marcus's limited vision would greatly influence how she taught, Ms. Williams wanted to learn how to adjust her instruction so Marcus could fully engage in every learning opportunity during fourth grade. Ms. Williams met with the special education teacher in her school, Kaiya Jackson. During the meeting, Ms. Jackson and Ms. Williams reviewed Marcus's individualized education program (IEP). Ms. Williams noticed many words that were new to her-terms like "visual acuity" and "figure-ground discrimination"-and asked for a resource that summarizes the terms she needs to learn (see Figure 1). Ms. Jackson reassured Ms. Williams she would lead strategies to provide Marcus with access to the materials-things like a text magnifier, enlarged text, and braille labels. But there is so much more to providing educational opportunities to students with low vision.