Uncovering Challenges and Opportunities of Including Children with Visual Impairments in Mainstream Schools

We report on a field study aimed at understanding the challenges facing inclusive education practices for children with visual impairments (VIs). We interviewed 25 practitioners and observed seven teaching sessions at three support services and mainstream schools that include children with VIs. A thematic analysis of the data highlighted the need to develop incidental learning opportunities; to break the phenomenon of the “teaching assistant bubble”; and to support a maker culture prominent amongst practitioners. Our findings offer insights into areas where technology-enhanced learning tools could be introduced to address the challenges of including children with VIs in mainstream schools.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Oussama Metatla

Conference

Publication date: July 2017

Publication date (Print): July 2017

Pages: 1-6

Affiliations

[0001]University of Bristol

Bristol, UK

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/HCI2017.102

SO-VID: e10b9731-6931-4587-a213-71d8e9885bc2

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts (EVA 2017)

Conference acronym: EVA

Conference number:

Conference location: London, UK

Conference date: 11 – 13 July 2017

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts

History

Product

1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/HCI2017.102

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

reference

M. AinscowT. BoothA. Dyson 2006 Inclusion and the standards agenda: negotiating policy pressures in England International Journal of Inclusive Education 10 4-5 295 308
G. BossaertH. ColpinS.J. PijlK. Petry 2013 Truly included? A literature study focusing on the social dimension of inclusion in education International Journal of Inclusive Education 17 1 60 79
A. De BoerS.J. PijlA. Minnaert 2011 Regular primary schoolteachers? attitudes towards inclusive education: A review of the literature International Journal of Inclusive Education 15 3 331 353
I. Seidman 2013 Interviewing as qualitative research: A guide for researchers in education and the social sciences Teachers college press
E.C. Bouck 2016 A National Snapshot of Assistive Technology for Students With Disabilities Journal of Special Education Technology 31 1 4 13
V. BraunV. Clarke 2006 Using thematic analysis in psychology Qualitative research in psychology 3 2 77 101 Vancouver
Department of Education and Employment 1997 Excellence for all children: meeting special educational needs London Department for Education and Employment
C. Gray 2009 A qualitatively different experience: Mainstreaming pupils with a visual impairment in Northern Ireland European Journal of Special Needs Education 24 2 169 182
M.A. HershM.A. Johnson 2008 Disability and assistive technology systems Assistive technology for visually impaired and blind people 1 50
A. HurstJ. Tobias 2011 October Empowering individuals with do-it-yourself assistive technology In The proceedings of the 13th international ACM SIGaCcESS conference on Computers and accessibility 11 18 ACM
C. KempM. Carter 2002 The social skills and social status of mainstreamed students with intellectual disabilities Educational Psychology 22 4 391 411
Y. LeeL.A. Vega 2005 Perceived knowledge, attitudes, and challenges of AT use in special education Journal of Special Education Technology 20 2 60
S.H. LeeM.L. WehmeyerJ.H. SoukupS.B. Palmer 2010 Impact of curriculum modifications on access to the general education curriculum for students with disabilities Exceptional Children 76 2 213 233
S. McDonaldJ. DuttererA. AbdolrahmaniS.K. KaneA. Hurst 2014 October Tactile aids for visually impaired graphical design education In Proceedings of the 16th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers & accessibility 275 276 ACM
M.L. NoordzijS. ZuidhoekA. Postma 2006 The influence of visual experience on the ability to form spatial mental models based on route and survey descriptions Cognition 100 2 321 342
ONS. National population projections for 2015, 2012-based projections release Office for National Statistics 2015
M. MorrisP. Smith 2008 Educational provision for blind and partially sighted children and young people in England: 2007 National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) for RNIB
J. Roe 2008 Social inclusion: meeting the socioemotional needs of children with vision needs British Journal of Visual Impairment 26 2 147 158
T.E. ScruggsM.A. MastropieriP. Leins 2011 April Teacher attitudes towards inclusion: A synthesis of survey, comparative, and qualitative research, 1958-2010 In annual meeting of the Council for Exceptional Children Washington, DC
M.D. Skjørten 2001 Towards inclusion and enrichment Education Special Needs Education: An Introduction Oslo Unipub Forlag
T. StockmanO. Metatla 2008 The influence of screen-readers on web cognition In Proceeding of Accessible design in the digital world conference (ADDW 2008) York, UK
G. VivantiE. DuncanG. DawsonS.J. Rogers 2017 Facilitating Learning Through Peer Interactions and Social Participation In Implementing the Group-Based Early Start Denver Model for Preschoolers with Autism 87 99 Springer International Publishing

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] M. AinscowT. BoothA. Dyson 2006 Inclusion and the standards agenda: negotiating policy pressures in England International Journal of Inclusive Education 10 4-5 295 308

[2] G. BossaertH. ColpinS.J. PijlK. Petry 2013 Truly included? A literature study focusing on the social dimension of inclusion in education International Journal of Inclusive Education 17 1 60 79

[3] A. De BoerS.J. PijlA. Minnaert 2011 Regular primary schoolteachers? attitudes towards inclusive education: A review of the literature International Journal of Inclusive Education 15 3 331 353

[4] I. Seidman 2013 Interviewing as qualitative research: A guide for researchers in education and the social sciences Teachers college press

[5] E.C. Bouck 2016 A National Snapshot of Assistive Technology for Students With Disabilities Journal of Special Education Technology 31 1 4 13

[6] V. BraunV. Clarke 2006 Using thematic analysis in psychology Qualitative research in psychology 3 2 77 101 Vancouver

[7] Department of Education and Employment 1997 Excellence for all children: meeting special educational needs London Department for Education and Employment

[8] C. Gray 2009 A qualitatively different experience: Mainstreaming pupils with a visual impairment in Northern Ireland European Journal of Special Needs Education 24 2 169 182

[9] M.A. HershM.A. Johnson 2008 Disability and assistive technology systems Assistive technology for visually impaired and blind people 1 50

[10] A. HurstJ. Tobias 2011 October Empowering individuals with do-it-yourself assistive technology In The proceedings of the 13th international ACM SIGaCcESS conference on Computers and accessibility 11 18 ACM

[11] C. KempM. Carter 2002 The social skills and social status of mainstreamed students with intellectual disabilities Educational Psychology 22 4 391 411

[12] Y. LeeL.A. Vega 2005 Perceived knowledge, attitudes, and challenges of AT use in special education Journal of Special Education Technology 20 2 60

[13] S.H. LeeM.L. WehmeyerJ.H. SoukupS.B. Palmer 2010 Impact of curriculum modifications on access to the general education curriculum for students with disabilities Exceptional Children 76 2 213 233

[14] S. McDonaldJ. DuttererA. AbdolrahmaniS.K. KaneA. Hurst 2014 October Tactile aids for visually impaired graphical design education In Proceedings of the 16th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers & accessibility 275 276 ACM

[15] M.L. NoordzijS. ZuidhoekA. Postma 2006 The influence of visual experience on the ability to form spatial mental models based on route and survey descriptions Cognition 100 2 321 342

[16] ONS. National population projections for 2015, 2012-based projections release Office for National Statistics 2015

[17] M. MorrisP. Smith 2008 Educational provision for blind and partially sighted children and young people in England: 2007 National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) for RNIB

[18] J. Roe 2008 Social inclusion: meeting the socioemotional needs of children with vision needs British Journal of Visual Impairment 26 2 147 158

[19] T.E. ScruggsM.A. MastropieriP. Leins 2011 April Teacher attitudes towards inclusion: A synthesis of survey, comparative, and qualitative research, 1958-2010 In annual meeting of the Council for Exceptional Children Washington, DC

[20] M.D. Skjørten 2001 Towards inclusion and enrichment Education Special Needs Education: An Introduction Oslo Unipub Forlag

[21] T. StockmanO. Metatla 2008 The influence of screen-readers on web cognition In Proceeding of Accessible design in the digital world conference (ADDW 2008) York, UK

[22] G. VivantiE. DuncanG. DawsonS.J. Rogers 2017 Facilitating Learning Through Peer Interactions and Social Participation In Implementing the Group-Based Early Start Denver Model for Preschoolers with Autism 87 99 Springer International Publishing

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