Transcript Teaching Art to the Visually Impaired

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
Paint Happy 
Brush
Dab
Paint Sad 
Smooth
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.
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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.
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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>.