Observations from a Blind School Classroom

For my Field Experience 1 observed Mrs. Vicki Banks a certified teacher of the visually impaired at the South Carolina School for Blind on September 27 and 28, 2016 during sixth period from 1:00 to 1:50 and then I met Mrs. Banks on November 1, 2016 during sixth period to interview her and ask her a few questions I had from the observations. Mrs. Banks selected a student to perform the Functional Vision Assessment that is diagnosed with Optic Nerve Hypoplasia. The student is a twelfth-grade student at the school. Mrs. Banks began the Functional Visual Assessment(FVA) first advising us to always check eye reports before beginning a FVA. The eye report indicated that the student was diagnosed with Optic Nerve Hypoplasia and Non-Senile

The student didn’t have any problems stacking the cups. Next, Mrs. Banks conducted the scanning assessment. She gave the student an I Spy Book and asked the student to identify and object on the page. Mrs. Bank discussed with me to always observe how close the student holds the book to their face which was 3 inches from her face. The student was able to identify red, yellow, blue, and green during the color vision task. The I Spy book was also used for visual discrimination. Next, the student was assessed with the visual motor task. The student was given shapes to cut out and Mrs. Banks advised to make sure that all shapes are printed dark enough. Activity cards were used for the visual closure tasks. The student was asked what is different in the picture and was able to identify that the girl was missing a shoe and hair. The learning media assessments was the last part of the assessment. Mrs. Banks gave the student a sheet with different size fonts on it. The student was asked to read each line. The student couldn’t read the line with 12 font but could read 18 and 24 font lines. A book was given to the student on a lower level to measure the student’s reading rate. Mrs. Banks advised me to use a book well below the student’s reading level because I am not determining reading level; I am measuring the reading rate. In conclusion, the observation of Functional Vision Assessment helped me to understand many components of the FVA. The observation helped me to prepare for the FVA. Also, I had many questions about how to collect items for my Functional Vision Assessment Kit and Mrs. Banks suggested many items while she was performing the assessment. The assessment was very thorough due to Mrs. Banks explaining every part of the