Explains the important role administrators have in providing opportunities for blind and partially sighted students. (JM)

Discussion of ways to encourage walking by young children with visual impairments first notes factors that constrain motor development. Suggestions include providing incentives for movement, building trust, fostering postural readiness, encouraging cruising, utilizing familiar spaces and short distances, and using protective and support devices…

Considerations are offered for making toys for children with severe multiple disabilities. Eight toys are described, and objectives for the use of each toy are outlined. Toys include a pulley, tunnel, slide-the-discs, window, bowling, tactile wheel, activity centers, and multisensory mat. (JDD)

This article clarifies literacy issues that affect the achievement and performance of students with severe visual impairments. The article discusses the nature of the braille code and offers suggestions and strategies for helping children with limited sight overcome difficulties and for making braille and print accessible for group activities.…

This guide provides information on serving students with visual impairments in the regular classroom setting. It discusses types of visual impairments, behaviors that may indicate visual problems, important classroom environment factors, optical aids, special educational needs, and suggestions for curriculum adaptations. (JDD)

This column describes activities for use with students having visual impairments, focusing on various types of calendars, including a sensory calendar and voice calendars produced by the Voxcom tape recorder (which uses magnetically striped cards to record and play brief messages). (DB)

Guidelines are offered for recruiting and hiring personnel in the field of visual impairment. These include start looking early; visit universities; offer incentives; emphasize the community, not just the position; plan the interview; evaluate the applicant (application form, letters of recommendation, resumes, and transcripts); and make the…

This article reports on a study of the methods that 21 ophthalmologists used to assess the visual acuity of children with multiple impairments and the difficulties they encountered. Additional means of assessing visual function and alternative means of communicating the results are suggested. (Author/DB)

Career development and awareness issues for visually impaired students are explored. The developmental nature of career development is analyzed. Career development is seen as a lifelong process beginning with the parents and proceeding with prevocational activities at the elementary level. Changing emphases at the junior high level and the high…

Components of assertive behavior are described with suggestions for enabling the visually impaired person to develop these skills. The underlying concepts of assertion training are explained along with specific techniques for use in schools or rehabilitative settings. (Author/CL)

Nine years of environmental sensory aid used by blind and visually disabled young children are reviewed in terms of benefits expected and actual results. Issues of conditioned learning and sensory integration are discussed, and the author calls for a suspension of further research. (Author)

The article provides information about the number and diversity of preschool children with handicaps requiring vision services, such as refractive errors and eye muscle imbalances, and describes a vision care system designed to ensure that these preschool children receive optimal vision care. (Author/CL)

Social routines based on rhyming verses combined with co-active participation with adults were developed to permit visually impaired young children with additional handicaps to associate communicative responses with attention to and action on objects. (Author/CL)

The article reviews a variety of assessment instruments that psychologists can use to evaluate the visually handicapped child's residual vision; cognitive abilities; academic achievement; social, developmental, and language skills; and vocational potential. (Author)

This article discusses the importance of daily physical activity and examples of how individuals who are visually impaired or deaf-blind can access fitness. It describes techniques for running, bicycling, swimming, exercise training in a health club, aerobics, and fitness at home (jumping rope, yoga, and basketball). (Contains references.) (CR)