Teaching Art to the Visually Impaired

Sped 400 Courtney Collins

Aids for Adapting Lessons for the Blind

Tactile Graphics Kit

Swail Dot Inverter

Braille, Large Print, Audio Translations

Magnifiers

Telescope Lenses

Since art is the articulation of the shapes and spaces of the world around us and the expression of our inner thoughts and emotions, we can all understand art, given the proper tools.

Lesson Planning

Make work easy to access: use trays to keep materials from sliding or rolling away

Plan lessons around the senses: sounds, touch, smell-things that can be felt, make sounds, or excite the eye

Have your students link two or more senses together: -Create a sculpture inspired by music -Make candles with scented oils

*Finger painting or using clay can be a great activity for children who are not able to hold paint brushes easily

*Stencils work better if they’re tracing around the inside of the stencil

*The idea is to use the senses that people have. Do not treat them as if they lack when it comes to creating an experience*

Sensory Describing Words

Swirl

Dab

Brush

FastSlow

Paint Happy

Paint Sad

SmoothRough

Prickly

Soft

Sense of Touch

Try to incorporate as much texture as possible into the art so that they can literally get a feel for it

Rather than focusing on color to express the painting, use textures:

• A tree would be rough and flaky

• Use sand for sand

Have smooth, rough, prickly, and soft textured materials available, along with finger paints of different consistency

Wait Time

*Pause in the lesson to allow time for students to process new information, gather their thoughts, and develop appropriate answers, if requested

Also allows the student the opportunity to organize and file new knowledge for future use or draw upon previous knowledge to help digest the new information. Wait time can also give the student an opportunity to touch and explore an object tactilely

Imagine

Art allows children to free their imagination

You are not able to fly, but you can hold out your arms, twirl around, and tilt your head to the sky to imagine flight. Same with your students. Help them to imagine!

Works Cited Bird, Kristy. "The Possibilities of Art Education for the Blind." Future Reflections Fall 1991: 1-

3. Print.

Chamberlain, Merry-Noel. "This Was No Art Lesson." Braille Monitor July 2007: 1-4. Print.

Cooper, Holly. "Art: A Great Tool for Teaching Students with Visual Impairments." TOC Spring 2002: 1-3. Print.

Gabias, Paul. "Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians / L'Alliance pour l'" Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians / L'Alliance pour l' Web. 16 Nov. 2009. <http://www.blindcanadians.ca/publications/?id=470>.

Gargiulo, Richard M. Special Education in Contemporary Society. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2009. Print.

Green, Sara. "Teaching Art to Students with Specal Needs." Sara Green: Art Teacher & Artist. Web. 16 Nov. 2009. <http://www.saragreen.net/mh.html>.

"I will teach Art to visually impaired students, any suggestions for lessons?" Yahoo! Answers. Yahoo. Web. 15 Nov. 2009. <www.yahooanswers.com>.

Lang, Kathleen. "Art for the Blind." Art a GoGo 12 Mar. 2006: 1-6. Print.

Main, Marisa J. "Feeling art: teaching art to the visually impaired." The Free Library. Davis Publications. Web. 16 Nov. 2009. <http://www.thefreelibrary.com>.

Pompano, Joanne R. "01.02.07: Teaching Art to the Blind / A Study of Chairs." Yale University. Web. 16 Nov. 2009. <http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2001/2/01.02.07.x.html>.