Program Planning and the Expanded Core
CurriculumHeather Munro
Introduction to the ECC: What it is, what it entails, and why it is a crucial element of education for students who are blind/visually impaired.
Visual Impairment
Some Facts Legal Blindness
20/200 (or worse)
Field restriction 20 degrees (or less)
What about “visually impaired” or “low vision” No generally accepted definition exists
Some consider loss greater than 20/70 to be the borderline of impairment
The Student Numbers
Total number of blind students in the U.S. 60,393
Literacy media
8.5% read braille
29.2% read print
9.2% auditory media
34.8 % are non-readers
18.3% are pre-readers
American Printing House for the Blind (APH) – 2014 Census
Total Population American Community Survey (2012) found
6,670,300 people with a visual disability in the U.S.
6,211,700 ages 16-75+
How many are employed? 1,240,200
809,900 full-time
Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind says over 10 million people in the U.S. are blind/visually impaired; 1.3 million are “legally blind”
Rehabilitation Goals People who are visually impaired or blind can
do most jobs. Resources - AFB CareerConnect, NFB
Examples -Senior VP of Marriott, Olympic runner, folks who scale Mt. Everest, politicians, Jeopardy! champion… you get the idea
People who are visually impaired or blind can earn advanced degrees
People who are visually impaired or blind can excel in all area of life
What does Success Look Like?
Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic
The Core Curriculum! Science
Social Studies
English/Language Arts
Mathematics
Health/Physical Education
Fine Arts
Economics/Business Education
History
But what if you’re blind or visually
impaired? Skills of managing adult life; living independently Personal hygiene
Food preparation and eating
Dressing, clothing selection and care
Money management
Time management
Cleaning and home maintenance
Community functioning/travel
Incidental Learning
Development Typically developing, sighted child.
Visually attending, watching
Asking questions
Practicing/imitating
Getting feedback
Child with vision loss Unaware of essential concepts and facts
At risk for isolation and over dependence on others
Lack of curiosity and motivation for movement/exploration
Need INTERVENTION!
This is where YOU come in… Areas of Unique Need (a.k.a. the Expanded Core
Curriculum for Students who are Blind/Visually Impaired) Assistive Technology
Compensatory Access
Career Education
Recreation and Leisure
Orientation and Mobility
Social Interaction
Self-Determination
Visual Efficiency*
Independent Living
Guidelines and Standards
Guideline/Standard #3: Evaluations in all areas of the expanded core
curriculum are used to determine individual student programs. For students with visual impairments, local districts must provide each student with evaluation and instruction in the expanded core curriculum. TEC 30.002(b)(4)(A)(B).
2014 Guidelines and Standards for Educating Students with Visual Impairments in Texas
What do we want? Q: What is it that blind people want from
society?
A: The opportunity to be equal, and the right to be different.
What do you suppose that means?
In the old days… Residential school placement
Epidemic of blindness
Education for All Handicapped Children Act (now IDEA) – 1975
Now (as of 2012 APH Annual Report) more than 90% of children who are blind/visually impaired attend public school
What’s different? How are students with visual impairment
unique? Learning media?
Materials needed?
Classroom teacher still teaches (and should be responsible for) all basic academic curriculum
BUT
Your interventions are needed
The Students Need… “In addition to the core curriculum areas included in general
education curriculum, students with visual impairments need to be assessed and receive instruction in very specific skills that have been demonstrated to be potential problem areas for persons with a visual disability.”
Wisconsin National Agenda
Specialized instruction in order to compensate for decreased opportunities to learn incidentally through observing others
Trained professionals who understand the impact of visual impairments on learning
ECC covers the unique, specialized needs of students with vision loss—subjects within it have to be taught by a teacher trained and certified in working with students who are visually impaired.
Areas include: Needs that result from the visual impairment that
enable the student “to be involved in and make progress in the general curriculum, and
Other educational needs that result from the child’s disability” as required by IDEA (34 CFR 300.320 (a)(2)(A)(B)).
The ECC should be used as a framework for assessing students, planning individual goals and providing instruction.
The ECC is an addition to the core curriculum, NOT a replacement!
Expanded Core Curriculum
Sometimes referred to as “Disability-Specific Skills”
or “Vision-Related Skills”
Students with visual impairments are held to the same mandates as sighted peers in core curriculum areas, but to have equal opportunity and access to the same curricula, they must receive adaptations
ECC it is now the law of the land!
With the passage of Senate Bill 39 in 2013 (Texas 83rd Legislative Session), evaluation in all areas of the ECC is required for students with visual impairments.
Remember the National Agenda? National Advisory Council of the National Agenda
declared… Blind/Visually Impaired students are entitled to
receive the same education as they would get if they were sighted
Vision loss results in limited opportunities for children and youth to acquire information and knowledge casually and incidentally from their environment
Inability or limited ability to learn visually in an incidental manner means that blind/visually impaired learners will need to acquire these educational experiences through instruction
(continued) Blind and visually impaired students,
therefore, have two sets of essential educational experiences
Regular curriculum offered to all students, and
Learning experiences required because of vision loss
Both sets of educational experiences are vital because of vision loss
The National Agenda Advisory Council
The actual Agenda goalsGoal 1 – Students and their families will be referred to an appropriate
education program within 30 days of identification of a suspected visual impairment. Goal 2 – Policies and procedures will be implemented to ensure the right of all parents to full participation and equal partnership in the education process.Goal 3 – Universities with a minimum of one full-time faculty member in the area of visual impairments will prepare a sufficient number of teachers and O&M specialists.Goal 4 – Caseloads will be determined based on the assessed needs of students. Goal 5 – Local education programs will ensure that all students have access to a full array of service delivery options.Goal 6 – All assessments and evaluations of students will be conducted by and /or in partnership with personnel having expertise in students with VI and their parents.Goal 7 – Access to developmental and educational services will include an assurance that instructional materials are available to students in the appropriate media and at the same time as their sighted peers.Goal 8 – All educational goals and instruction will address the academic and expanded core curricula based on the assessed needs of each student with visual impairments. Goal 9 – Transition services will address developmental and educational needs (birth through high school) to assist students and their families, in setting goals and implementing strategies through life commensurate with the student's aptitudes, interests, and abilities. Goal 10 – To improve student learning, service providers will engage in on-going local, state, and national professional development.
DO YOU THINK WE HAVE MET THESE GOALS?
Compensatory Skills These skills involve the adaptations
necessary for accessing the existing/general core curriculum
Can be experiences related to concept development, spatial skills, organizational skills, communication skills/modes
Texas Education Code assumes that all students who are functionally blind are taught braille unless Learning Media Assessment recommends a different learning media (TEC 30.002(f)).
For this area of the expanded core curriculum for blind and visually impaired students, a distinction must be made between compensatory skills and functional skills.
Functional skills refers to the skills that students with multiple disabilities learn that provide them with the opportunity to work, play, socialize, and take care of personal needs to the highest level possible.
Sensory Efficiency (Formerly known as Visual Efficiency)
Skills/instruction that helps students with vision loss optimize use of their senses
Learning to use senses efficiently to access and participate in activities (home, school, community)
Sensory Efficiency The text ECC Essentials (pp.19-20) breaks these areas down in terms that will be familiar and relatable for you…
Visual function – fixating, orienting, tracking, recognizing objects, using optical devices
Auditory function – localization, aural discrimination and presentation, sound pattern use
Tactile function – tactile discrimination, scanning, manipulation and dexterity
Gustatory function – discrimination of food types, recognition of various tastes
Olfactory function – localization of smells, discrimination of odors, recognition of pleasant and unpleasant odors
Assistive Technology An umbrella term – tools or services that enhance
communication, access, and learning
Anything other students don’t get (low tech or high tech)
Whatever assists the student in aspects of daily living
Skills to use computers and other electronic equipment to function independently (home, school, workplace)
Technology can be a great equalizer and enable students to overcome traditional barriers to independence and employement
Technology can be a great equalizer but only with training, access, portability, generalization
and usage
Technology enhances communication and learning, as well as expands the world of blind and visually impaired persons in many significant ways. Thus, technology is a tool to master, and is essential as a part of the expanded core curriculum.
For the braille user, it allows the student to provide feedback to teachers by first producing material in braille for personal use, and then in print for the teacher, classmates, and parents. It gives blind persons the capability of storing and retrieving information.
Orientation & Mobility
Skills to travel safely, efficiently, and independently (in any setting)
Requires systematic instruction in how to orient oneself and avoid obstacles (knowing where you are, where you want to go, and how to get there safely)
Begins early with body image and spatial concepts, purposeful and exploratory movement – true for MIVI as well
Later street crossings, bus travel, community experiences
Guide techniques, standard or adaptive canes, dog guides, landmarks and cues, soliciting assistance
O&M in ECC Essentials
(p.21) Body concepts – parts and functions
Environmental concepts –concepts related to home environment, to buildings, areas, schools, streets, intersections
Spatial concepts – self-to-object relationships, spatial terminology (L, R, next to), cardinal directions
Perceptual/Sensory skills – interpreting environmental sounds, applying meaning to tasks, determining nature of sensory information
continued… Mobility skills – noticing and negotiating
unexpected drop-offs, using systematic search techniques, knowing built elements
Orientation skills – routes and layouts
Interpersonal skills – requesting directions, arranging for rides, soliciting information
Decision-making skills – altering travel in response to weather, choosing between routes, making back up plans, etc.
As a part of the expanded core curriculum, orientation and mobility is a vital area of learning. Teachers who have been specifically prepared to teach orientation and mobility to blind and visually impaired learners are necessary in the delivery of this curriculum.
Students will need to learn about themselves and the environment in which they move - from basic body image to independent travel in rural areas and busy cities.
The existing core curriculum does not include provision for this instruction
Independent Living Tasks and functions people perform in daily
life to care for oneself independently or contribute to household – different for students who are blind/visually impaired
Activities of daily living would be a very big list!
This area of the expanded core curriculum is often referred to as "daily living skills." It consists of all the tasks and functions persons perform, in accordance with their abilities, in order to lead lives as independently as possible.
These curricular needs are varied, as they include skills in personal hygiene, food preparation, money management, time monitoring, organization, etc.
Some independent living skills are addressed in the existing core curriculum, but they often are introduced as splinter skills, appearing in learning material, disappearing, and then re-appearing.
Social Interaction How are social skills learned?
Visual impairment can limit social development and impede social interactions
Without appropriate social skills, students who are blind are at high risk for social isolation at school, community, and into adulthood
Awareness of body language, eye contact, gestures, facial expressions, personal space, shaking hands, turning toward speaker, or person to whom you’re talking, joining or leaving a group
Instruction in social interaction skills becomes a part of the expanded core
curriculum as a need so fundamental that it can often mean the difference between
social isolation and a satisfying and fulfilling life as an adult.
Social skills must be carefully, consciously, and sequentially taught to blind and
visually impaired students. Nothing in the existing core curriculum addresses this critical need in a satisfactory manner
Recreation & Leisure Skills to promote the enjoyment of leisure
activities; making choices about how to spend leisure time
Existing activities/sports/games may require adaptations in rules or equipment – need to maintain safety
Access and choices are limited because of limited exposure to rec/leisure activities (no incidental observations or awareness)
Students need to develop activities in recreation and leisure that they can enjoy throughout their adult lives.
The teaching of recreation and leisure skills to blind and visually impaired students must be planned and deliberately taught, and should focus on the development of life-long skills.
How do you choose your Rec Leisure activities? How have they changed?
Career Education Vision loss (again) impacts ability to observe
and develop interest in existing career choices
Need experiential learning approach, visits to job sites, interviews and job shadowing
Need to develop marketable job skills during school years
Unemployment and underemployment are leading problems facing adults with visual impairments in the U.S. This ECC area is vitally important – start early!
Employment StatsWhile we’re on the subject of career training skills…
The national rate of unemployment or underemployment of working-age adults who are blind is 70-75%!
What do 80% of all persons with visual impairment who are employed have in common? They read and write braille fluently
Only 10% of children who are blind learn braille in school
Competitive standard must be upheld in our training
Essential job skills vs. “blindness skills”
Types of Skills on the Job
Basic Career Skills
Critical Thinking Skills
Interpersonal Skills SOFT SKILLS
“People skills”
Social graces
Personal habits
Appearance – dress, grooming
Key Skill AreasAccording to Department of Labor – Disability Policy Resources
Communication
Enthusiasm and Attitude
Teamwork
Networking
Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking
Professionalism
ADA guarantees non-discrimination and equal treatment—not “special treatment.”
There is a need for general vocational education, as offered in the traditional core curriculum, as well as the need for career education offered specifically for blind and visually impaired students.
Career education in an expanded core curriculum will provide the visually impaired learner of all ages with the opportunity to learn first-hand the work done by the bank teller, the gardener, the social worker, the artist, etc. It will provide the student opportunities to explore strengths and interests in a systematic, well-planned manner.
Because unemployment and underemployment have been the leading problem facing adult visually impaired persons in the United States, this portion of the expanded core curriculum is vital to students, and should be part of the expanded curriculum for even the youngest of these individuals.
Self-Determination Develop realistic self-concept
Recognize (and believe in) abilities; know limitations
Learn to advocate effectively based on needs/goals
Develop more control over own life, and take part fully in the world around them
Leads to confidence and positive self-esteem
Overcome low societal expectations
Self-DeterminationECC Essentials (p. 26) includes
Self knowledge
Awareness of individual rights and responsibilities
Capacity to make informed choices
Problem-solving and goal-setting skills
Ability to engage in self-regulated and self-directed behavior
Self-advocacy and empowerment
Assertiveness skills
This area of the ECC highlights the importance of believing in oneself, while understanding one's abilities and limitations.
Students learn from successes and failures how to achieve one's goals in life.
Self-determination is the ability for people to control their lives, reach goals they have set and take part fully in the world around them.
HOW do we teach all that?
Can it be combined?
Can it start early?
What comes first?
The Heart of the Matter
These ECC areas give us as educators the means of addressing the needs of our students with visual impairments
Lack of vision is not a minor consideration even for those who have additional or multiple impairments – educational requirements can be big!
The ECC is the heart of our responsibility as TVIs and O&Ms; epitomizing the “right to be different,” and empowering our students to access their education and make their own decisions in life as productive, independent adults.
The Heart of the Matter
Bringing together all of these skills learned in the expanded core curriculum produces a concept of the blind or visually impaired person in the community.
It is difficult to imagine that a congenitally blind or visually impaired person could be entirely at ease and at home within the social, recreational, and vocational structure of the general community without mastering the elements of the expanded core curriculum.
What is known about congenitally blind and visually impaired students is that, unless skills such as orientation and mobility, social interaction, and independent living are learned, these students are at high risk for isolated orunproductive lives.
This expanded core curriculum is the heart of the responsibility of educators and specialist serving visually impaired students.
These areas are not and cannot be adequately addressed by regular classroom teachers, or paraprofessionals, for this is the core curriculum that is essential to students who are blind and visually impaired, and it epitomizes their
"...right to be different..."
References Allman, C. B., & Lewis, S. (Eds.). (2014). ECC essentials:
Teaching the expanded core curriculum to students with visual impairments. New York, NY: AFB Press.
American Foundation for the Blind (n.d.). The Expanded Core Curriculum for Blind and Visually Impaired Children and Youths. Retrieved from http://www.afb.org/info/programs-and-services/professional-development/teachers/expanded-core-curriculum/the-expanded-core-curriculum/12345
American Foundation for the Blind (2015). Learning About Blindness: What is Blindness or Low Vision? Living with Vision Loss. Retrieved from http://www.afb.org/info/living-with-vision-loss/for-job-seekers/for-employers/visual-impairment-and-your-current-workforce/learning-about-blindness/12345
References (cont.) American Foundation for the Blind (2015).
Resources for Job Seekers, Employers, and Professionals. AFB CareerConnect. Retrieved from http://www.afb.org/info/living-with-vision-loss/for-job-seekers/12
Chicago Lighthouse for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired (2015).Working with Someone who is Blind or Visually Impaired. Retrieved from http://chicagolighthouse.org/programs-and-services/employers/working-someone-who-blind-or-visually-impaired
References (cont.) Expanded Core Curriculum Advocacy (ECC Advocacy)
(2012). What is the National Agenda? American Foundation for the Blind & Perkins School for the Blind. Retrieved from http://www.eccadvocacy.org/section.aspx?FolderID=13&DocumentID=5345
ECC Advocacy (2012).Expanded Core Curriculum Subjects and Skills. American Foundation for the Blind & Perkins School for the Blind. Retrieved from http://www.eccadvocacy.org/section.aspx?FolderID=13&SectionID=143
ECC Advocacy (2012) What is the expanded core curriculum? American Foundation for the Blind & Perkins School for the Blind. Retrieved from http://www.eccadvocacy.org/section.aspx?FolderID=13
References (cont.) Hatlan, P. (1996) Core Curriculum – The Right to be
Different. Retrieved from http://www.afb.org/info/programs-and-services/professional-development/teachers/expanded-core-curriculum/the-right-to-be-different/12345
Lewis, S. (2012).The Need for Targeted Instruction in Independent Living Skills in the Curriculum of Students with Visual Impairments. Council for Exceptional Children – Division on Visual Impairments. Retrieved from http://community.cec.sped.org/dvi/resourcesportal/positionpapers
Lohmeier, K. (2002). State Standards and the Expanded Core Curriculum Aligned.(J. Erin Ed.) Retrieved from http://www.pathstoliteracy.org/expanded-core-curriculum#overview
References (cont.) Martinez, D. J. (n.d.). Essential Employment Skills that
May Not Be Included in the Job Description: A Helpful Pre-Employment Resource for People who are Blind. Arizona Governor’s Council on Blindness and Visual Impairment. Retrieved from https://www.azdes.gov/uploadedFiles/Employment_and_Rehabilitation_Services/Rehabilitation_Services/essential_employment_skills_white_paper.pdf
National Federation of the Blind (2015). Braille Readers are Leaders Campaign. Retrieved from https://nfb.org/braille-campaign
National Federation of the Blind (2014). Blindness Statistics: Statistical Facts about Blindness in the United States. Retrieved from https://nfb.org/blindness-statistics
References (cont.) New Hampshire Department of Education (2007). Tip
Sheet #2, The Expanded Core Curriculum. New Hampshire Professional Development Center. Retrieved from http://www.nercve.umb.edu/index.php?page=tip2_ECC
Paths to Literacy for Students who are Blind or Visually Impaired (n.d.). Expanded Core Curriculum. Retrieved from http://www.pathstoliteracy.org/expanded-core-curriculum#overview
Perkins School for the Blind (2012). Understanding the Expanded Core Curriculum. Perkins.orghttp://www.perkins.org/stories/blog/expanded-core-curriculum
References (cont.) Texas Education Agency (2014). 2014 Guidelines and
Standards for Educating Students with Visual Impairments in Texas. Retrieved from http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=2147498410
Texas School for the Blind (2014). What is the Expanded Core Curriculum? Texas ECC Committee Report. Retrieved from http://www.tsbvi.edu/resources/203-resources/3973-ecc-flyer
United States Department of Labor (n.d.). Skills to Pay the Bills: Mastering Soft Skills for Workplace Success. Office of Disability Employment Policy. Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/odep/topics/youth/softskills
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