Perkins School for the Blind
Casting with Plaster
What a fun lesson! Your class can experience the design and construction process by creating a mold and a duplicate for an engraved image. The lesson is specifically written for learners with visual impairments and allows them to create...
Perkins School for the Blind
The Printing Process
The printing process was a technological innovation that revolutionized the modern world. Your learners with visual impairments can experience this process by creating a print by using letterpress printing. They use cardboard, glue, and...
Curated OER
Using Oral Traditions to Improve Verbal and Listening Skills
Students examine the role of stories in African and African-American cultures. This lesson is written for students with visual impairments. They
Perkins School for the Blind
Object Functions
What does that thing do? For learners with low or no vision, understanding an object's function is a necessary skill. Here learners handle a number of objects and are asked to determine which object is for a specific task. They can feel...
Perkins School for the Blind
Where Shall I Put It?
Position and positional phrases are concepts that need to be constructed for learners with low or no vision. Help them gain competence and a conceptual understanding of words like on, in, and under with a funny game. After gathering a...
Perkins School for the Blind
Memory
When you are blind, your hands become your eyes, so learning how to discriminate between various objects through touch is a very important skill. Make a memory game by gluing common items onto cardstock. The kids feel, identify, and then...
Perkins School for the Blind
Learning Names of Articles of Clothing
What to wear today; such a vexing question. Spend some time introducing the names, fabrics, types, colors, and functions of various articles of clothing to your class. Each child will take turns asking each other what they are wearing....
Perkins School for the Blind
Letter Confusion
Teaching a child with low or no vision how to read is the same as teaching a sighted child how to read — it all starts with letter recognition. This is a simple way to provide your learners with an opportunity to practice reading and...
Perkins School for the Blind
Initial Consonant Activity
Bingo is a super fun game and can be used to reinforce a vast number of recognition skills. These bingo cards are prepared by constructing nine squares, each delineated with raised Wikki Stix or gluedyarn and containing a braille...
Perkins School for the Blind
Conversation Skills
It is so important for learners with multiple disabilities to learn how to communicate for both social and functional reasons. Each child will choose a topic from the list and generate five questions related to that topic. They'll split...
Perkins School for the Blind
Hat Game
Sometimes the simplest ideas foster a lot of different skills. To boost social skills, group participation, identifying others by name, and dressing skills, learners play the hat game. They take turns wearing a hat while singing a song...
Perkins School for the Blind
Circle Time
Oftentimes children or teens with one or more disability are reluctant to participate in whole-group activities. Foster good participation, verbal expression, and social skills through daily circle time activities. Each day you and your...
Perkins School for the Blind
Personal Information
"Hi, how are you? My name is___." Seems simple enough but it's not always that easy to recall and relate factual information about yourself. Learners with multiple disabilities practice memorizing and relaying personal information about...
Perkins School for the Blind
Build a Word
Get out those scrabble tiles and a braille tape labeler because today we are playing a build-a-word game! Label several sets of scrabble tiles using the braille labeler, place them in a box, and have children take turns pulling letter...
Perkins School for the Blind
A Visit to the Doctor
Going to the doctor's office may be a source of stress and uncertainty for some children. Help your learners with special needs discover what to expect at and how to cope with their next trip to the doctor. They explore real medical...
Perkins School for the Blind
I'm Thinking Of...
Learning how to describe an object or a person is a great way to develop verbal and written expression. Learners with special needs improve their verbal expressive skills and concept development skills while playing a guessing game. The...
Perkins School for the Blind
Following Directions
Turn the act of following directions into a fun and engaging game! Especially designed for students with cognitive or intellectual disabilities, this lesson uses a game format as a natural reinforcer. Write a set of directions onto a set...
Perkins School for the Blind
Which One is the Square?
Children who are blind need to constantly be engaged in building conceptual understandings of the world around them. This activity will help them grasp the concept of shape, identify shapes, and consider shapes as they are used to...
Perkins School for the Blind
Language Experience Stories
Here is a great way to bring core content to your special education classroom. Included is a set of instructional ideas intended to help learners increase their verbal and written expression through storytelling. Tape recorders, story...
Curated OER
How Do I know That a Book Is Just Right for Me to Read?
Students choose a book for reading. In this language arts lesson, students take steps to evaluate a book for free reading. Students make a list of words found in the book that they are unfamiliar with.
Curated OER
Thai Children's Trust
Students spell words in braille and learn how to use braille to punch out their names. In this braille lesson plan, students discuss what life would be like for a visually impaired person.
Museum of Disability
Buddy, The First Seeing Eye Dog
Learn about how the seeing eye dog program began with a reading lesson about Eva Moore's chapter book, Buddy, The First Seeing Eye Dog. With vocabulary words, discussion questions, and extension resources, the lesson is a great way for...
Curated OER
Translating African Masks
Young scholars identify traits of African masks. In this multicultural art lesson, students view online examples of African masks and discuss the characteristics of the masks. Young scholars create an original 2-D version of the African...
Curated OER
Making Poetry
A hearing impaired student identifies rhyming words. In this rhyming word lesson for the hearing impaired, 2nd graders read and write poetry correctly using rhyming words.