The plastination technique produces non-toxic human tissues, ensuring their safe handling in educational settings. This investigation aimed to understand if visually impaired students profit from the use of plastinated anatomical specimens in learning the anatomy of the nervous system. For this purpose, their learning performance was compared to…

Phylogenetic trees are used throughout biology to represent evolutionary relationships and communicate ideas about evolutionary processes. Dedicated instruction in how to read and interpret phylogenetic trees (i.e., tree thinking) is necessary for students to be able to access this information. There are many cognitive barriers to mastering…

The scope of this paper is to examine the potential capabilities of embossed printers under the lens of Information Technology (IT). One of the main principles of IT is to manage and deliver information into accessible formats to all users with and without disabilities. The present study investigates the discriminability of lines and squares by…

Introduction: Recent trends in training teachers of students who are blind or have low vision (i.e., those who are visually impaired) have shifted away from traditional hand-over-hand guidance and toward a hand-under-hand approach. However, a search for peer-reviewed studies that address the effects of the use of hand-under-hand versus…

Introduction: This study investigated the effectiveness of changes in the test format (braille and tactile tables) and time extensions (1.5× or 2×) for tests with complex tables for students with blindness. Additionally, it examined the challenges associated with the current test accommodations for students who are blind and explored practical…

The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) has been widely used to teach functional requesting and commenting skills to children with autism spectrum disorder. Some researchers also modified the PECS to explore its effect on children with other disabilities. The main purpose of this study was to add tangible symbols to PECS (PECS-TS) in…

This study aims to investigate the relationships between touchscreen tablet usage time and attention performance in preschool children. Seventy-five young children with typical development were recruited. The accuracy rate and reaction time of their attention performance improved with age. Significant differences in accuracy rates, reaction time,…

Students with visual impairments do not have the same opportunity to see the equipment, activity, field, court, or game play as their sighted peers. Therefore, pre-teaching--the exposure to the entire upcoming unit before it starts--is warranted in order better support their inclusion in every activity with their peers at the same pace.

Visual representations, such as graphics and shapes, are modes of presenting information that can pose a challenge for individuals with visual impairments. To address this issue, mobile technologies that provide tactile and auditory stimuli have been developed to ensure equal learning opportunities for individuals with visual impairments. The…

Introduction: Many tactile graphics designed for individuals with visual impairments consider single factors. According to the results of our previous study, there may be interactions among scale, representation, and complexity factors. We conducted this integrative study with these three factors. Additionally, for the representation factor, we…

This article describes practical lessons and experiences acquired as part of a journey in teaching a blind student at The University of Arizona to master the written and graphical language of first-semester organic chemistry and its associated concepts. These practical lessons include details on how to adapt an organic chemistry model set (with…

This study asked Teachers of the Visually Impaired to evaluate a shared reading intervention for Students with Intellectual Disabilities and Visual Impairments and how they felt about their preparedness to teach reading. There has been little research on the student population's literacy skills acquisition. For this study, TVIs evaluated stories…

Introduction: Visual model comprehension and application are important for success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses. As educational materials shift to primarily digital content with dynamic interactive visuals, students with visual impairments are at risk for being disadvantaged, since few interactives are born…

Background: Students who are blind are integrated into public schools in many countries, yet are often excluded from full participation in science since most learning materials are visual. To create a compensatory route, an existing model-based inquiry-learning environment was adapted by means of sonification (addition of non-speech sounds that…

To be effective teachers of literacy for students who read braille, we need to know what our students' strengths and needs are as all these components come together in braille literacy. Using an appropriate assessment that addresses the skill sets involved in braille literacy is critical to putting together effective intervention packages for our…