Activity #1: Texture Book

When a student is visually impaired, activities that put the accent on colours and shapes might be difficult to understand, especially if the child has been suffering from a visual impairment all his life, might not even understand these concepts very well if at all. For these reasons, one of the activities that might give another dimension to such an activity is a texture book. This way, an object might represent a picture and the texture of this object can make such a book more interesting to read. Your student might even a colour or a shape if there is a special texture associated with it or if the shape can be explored to the touch.

Materials such as a feather for a bird, some wool for a sheep, some fake fur for a wolf and some cotton balls for a cloud would make a world of a difference for a child that is visually impaired. Please ensure that any material that is to be used for this texture book is not harmful in any way. Especially, the younger the child, the weaker the fine motor skills. Also, make sure that everything that is to be cut has been done already. The last thing that you want is an accident with a pair of scissors.

So have fun creating it and you will soon notice that reading is not as challenging and will be more motivating for your visually impaired student.