As most of you know, since Eddie was born, I’ve also ventured into the professional realm of blindness, and am now a teacher of the visually impaired (TVI).
The Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC) is specific to children with visual impairments, and covers 9 areas of instruction needed for a child with a visual impairment so they can access the world just like their peers without a vision loss:
- Orientation and mobility
- Social interaction
- Compensatory academics, including communication modes
- Independent living—skills like personal grooming, time management, cooking, cleaning
- Recreation and leisure
- Career education
- Use of technology
- Sensory efficiency
- Self-determination
In honor of this holiday season, I’m going to bring you the “9 Days of Holiday” with the Expanded Core instead of the “12 Days of Christmas” with your true love. It’s a twist that would only make sense to educators in the field of visual impairments (like me) and parents of children who are visually impaired (also, like me).
I will make many suggestions, and dress up my holidays with possible educational opportunities, but the reality can be quite different. Iām going to try this season to broaden my sonās horizons and tackle a few of my own ideas. As you hear from me as a āprofessionalā I also plan to keep you posted as a āmom.ā Iāll write about some new things he learnedā¦and what completely flopped. Weāll find out if I can inspire you, make you laugh, or if I can just cause significant eye-rolling. So, enjoy, stay with me, and please share your own experiences!
Here’s a link to the first article, which focuses on bringing orientation and mobility into the holidays.