Visions of the Blind

Inspiration: a process of mental stimulation to act on or feel something creative Passion: a strong fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything (a passion for teaching) Success: the accomplishment of an aim or purpose Everyone deserves to work from a place of passion and inspiration including our students who have visual impairments. When one works from passion and inspiration, the results of his or her work are far better than the results of one who lacks passion and inspiration. Let's get real, working with someone who is simply clocking in and out because they "have to" as opposed to "want to" creates two extremely different work and living environments. Passion and inspiration for a career manifests in different fashions. Below you will read about individuals who share career choices and the responsibility we hold as educators, specialists, and parents to fill our children's tool bag with skills to also work from a place of passion an...

(Photo description: Various individual small flowers, blades of grass and small leaves are shaped to form the letters to the words: Hello Spring) Mother Nature has certainly confused many of us here in Virginia with 3 significant snow storms within a 3 week timespan in late March! With snow in the past (hopefully), everyone can enjoy warmer weather and getting outdoors even more! With our students, spring time brings lesson units (especially for preschool and the early elementary years) about new life: flowers budding, green grass, budding trees, little bunnies hopping, birds singing, and the weather in spring time- which typically is rain followed by sunshine and blue skies! Here are a few ideas for activities that relate to concept building around spring. DIY Rain Sticks Rain sticks are easy to make, require little to no prep time and younger students enjoy the sensory input they produce. Make Pinterest your friend and find some awesome resources such as Katie’s rain sti...

I know you all have heard of Egg Hunts, but have you heard of an Audible Egg Hunt? It is exactly like a regular egg hunt but with beeping eggs which make it accessible for students with visual impairments! The beeping eggs allow student’s with limited sight to auditorially track and locate the eggs by sound instead of sight. I love promoting these events because there are so many important skills and concepts that are easily incorporated into this fun activity. It is also a wonderful time for students with visual impairments to get together to meet, converse, and make friends. In Virginia, we are very fortunate to have several Audible Egg Hunts all over the state. Most hunts are hosted by local Teachers of the Visually Impaired by region. Local Teachers of the Visually Impaired, Allied Instructional Services https://www.alliedinstructional.com/ and The Department for the Blind https://www.vdbvi.org/ help to host two of the hunts here in Virginia. We are hosting our 3 rd annua...