| CODE | INE1717 | |||||||||
| TITLE | Including Students with Visual Impairment | |||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course | |||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | |||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | |||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Inclusion and Access to Learning | |||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit will present a detailed insight into the lived experiences of persons with visual impairment and will cover issues dealing with the definition of blindness, its implications for development, its effects on the family and schooling, work and community life. This study-unit will deal with the inclusion of students with visual impairment in ordinary schools backed by a transdisciplinary team which is the core for community based instruction. Members of the team will share their experiences. By the end of this study-unit trainee facilitators will: - Understand the meaning of visual impairment and its effects on the child's development, cognitive, social/emotional, orientation and mobility, communication skills, sensory motor skills, daily living skills and career and vocational skills; - Understand the type of support a student with visual impairment needs to be included in school and the adaptations needed to access the curriculum in preschool and in the primary and secondary schools; - Understand how a student uses vision; - Be introduced to Braille; - Be introduced to adapting instruction, adapted methods to access to print; - Understand the need to augment instruction with additional meaningful experiences; - Have opportunities to use assistive technology; - Write a child's profile after observation at home, school, work and in the community. The meaning of visual impairment and its effects on the child's development, cognitive, social/emotional, orientation and mobility, communication skills, sensory motor skills, daily living skills and career and vocational skills. Learning Outcomes Knowledge and Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Name issues experienced by persons affected with visual impairment in various areas of life including education; - Name how persons affected with visual impairment can be included in various areas of life including education; - List the obligations of the State on matters concerning social inclusion of persons with visual impairment; - Examine social representation of blindness in the media; - Name various kinds of assistive technology and other tools that enable persons with visual impairment to live independently, including future technologies. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Name types of support a student with visual impairment needs to be included in school; - Identify adaptations needed to access the curriculum in preschool and in the primary and secondary schools; - Interact with students with visual impairment in a non-patronising manner; - Identify and adaptation of instruction and use adapted methods to access to print; - Use Braille at a basic level. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings Main Texts: - Spungin, S. (Consulting Editor) (2002). When you have a visually impaired student in your classroom: a guide to teachers. New York: AFB Press. Supplementary Text: - Bishop,V.E. (1996). Teaching visually impaired children (2nd edition). Springfield, IL:Thomas. - To send a Braille message to someone you know: HTTP://WWW.HOTBRAILLE.COM/ - La Grow, S. & Daye,P (2005), Barriers to Employment Identified by Blind and Vision-Impaired Persons in New Zealand, Social Policy Journal of New Zealand, Retrieved from www.questia.com/read/1G1-139910765/barriers-to-employment-identified-by-blind-and-vision-impaired. - Bolt, D. (2006), Beneficial Blindness: Literary Representation and the So-Called Positive Stereotyping of People with Impaired Vision, New Zealand Journal of Disability Studies. - Deal, M. (2003), Disabled people's attitudes toward other impairment groups: Ahierarchy of impairments, Disability & Society, 18(7), 897-910. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture and Fieldwork | |||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Michael Debattista Joseph Stafrace |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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