Transcript From Play to Pay:

Foundation Skills
Constructing Vocational Skills Across
Childhood for Students with Visual
Impairments
by
Sandra Lewis, Ed.D.
Florida State University
Guiding Philosophy
• We must teach to the potential adult
• Visually impaired students have unique
needs in many skill areas
• A continuum of learning exists in all skill
areas and all skill areas are interrelated
• Learning should be meaningful for children
• We must challenge children to control their
own lives
Goal of Education
To prepare children with the knowledge
and skills necessary to be as competent
as possible as adults
Keep an eye on the goal
It is easy to lose sight of the goal of
competency in adulthood for our students
with visual impairments as we attempt to
make for them a life free from hardship
We can’t protect our children fully and still
provide them with what they need to be
successful in life
An Important Key to Success
Development of mastery and
control over the environment
Mastery and control over the
environment as an adult is dependent
on
having mastery and control over
the environment as a child
What do you want for the children
with whom you live and/or work?
Applying Career Education
Principles Across Elementary and
Middle School
Career Education Needs
• The need for others to have high
expectations of them
• The need to be engaged in structured
activities to promote socialization
• The need to develop compensatory skills
• The need to receive realistic feedback
• The need to have opportunities to work
Wolffe
Elementary School:
High Expectations
• Encourage organizational skills
– At school and at home
• Help others
– Carry items, get ice-cream
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Require independent work time
Participate in chores
Promote kitchen skills
Assist with ordering or purchasing own materials
Promote Kitchen Skills
• Make salads
– Tear lettuce, clean vegetables, pick stems, pare carrots,
slice items
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Prepare snacks
Make breakfast items
Prepare lunch items
Put away groceries
Wash, dry dishes
Load, unload dishwasher
Elementary School:
Encourage Socialization
• Create “all about me” books
– Have students be reporters to collect information on
classmates
• Offer game tables at recess
– Or offer other alternative activities
• Use the telephone
– To get information, to order, and to talk with friends and
family
• Promote self-awareness
– Family history activities
• Reinforce self-advocacy
• Promote self-improvement
Elementary School:
Compensatory Skills
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Take an active role in planning activities
Write letters for information
Read help wanted ads
Measure/organize data/graph
Use office tools
Write reports
Elementary School:
Work Opportunities
• Investigate careers
– Interview school workers
– Job shadow
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Contact visually impaired adults
Volunteer
Work in the neighborhood
Interview teen workers
Associate emerging skills with work
Elementary School:
Realistic Feedback
• Increase speed of performance
– Use timer and graphs
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Improve calendar skills
Set goals
Participate in IEPs
Use interactive journals
Discriminate between wants and needs
Middle School:
High Expectations
• Taking care of oneself and one’s
possessions
– Laundry
• Assuming family responsibilities
– chores
• Encourage community involvement
– Scouting, youth groups
• Organize school work
Middle School:
Encouraging Socialization
• Identify one’s interests, abilities, values,
strengths, and weaknesses
• Join clubs and sports, as appropriate to one’s
interests
• Develop assertiveness skills
– Role play
• Help to understand the effect of one’s
behavior on others
– Challenge courses, team-building
Middle School:
Compensatory Skills
• Develop work “vocabulary”
• Improve computational and literacy skills
• Explore and use adaptive devices and
technology
• Solve problems independently
– Focus on those related to disability
• Travel independently
– Scavenger hunts in mall, at airport, bus stops
Middle School:
Opportunities to Work
• Help at home and in the neighborhood
– Rake, baby sit, do laundry, care for pets
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Explore jobs; job shadow
Participate in summer job experiences
Volunteer in community
Participate in career fairs
Participate in work-study programs
Middle School:
Realistic Feedback
• Manage own time; make appointments
– Keep date book, planner, telephone list
• Set goals
– Develop strategies for measuring progress
• Meet with visually impaired adults
• Assist with correcting assignments of others
• Assist with teaching others new skills
Comprehensive Career Education
• Must require that career education be considered a
separate subject, equal in importance to other school
subjects
• Must be designed and taught by TVIs who understand
career development
• Must include components for very young children and
families
• Must continue throughout all school years
• Must be experienced based
• Must be community based
• Must focus on the impact of visual impairment
The goal of education is to
prepare children with the
knowledge and skills
necessary to be as
competent as possible as
adults
Don’t lose sight of
the goal!