The elements within the expanded core curriculum are foundational to success in the general curriculum and in life. They are the body of knowledge and skills we each of us need to function effectively in daily life and the building blocks that allow students to gain access to general curriculum content. These nine essential areas… Read more The Expanded Core Curriculum is Just as Important as Academics
Berthold Lowenfeld, a 20th century pioneer of the field educating visually impaired students, suggested that lack of visual information during early childhood interferes with the development process for blind and severely visually impaired children in three primary ways: the range and variety of experiences, ability to move about, and control of the environment. All of… Read more Congenital Blindness Inhibits Development But ECC Instruction Can Help
All adolescents are enduring a time of tremendous upheaval as every area of their being undergoes tumultuous changes: their bodies, their mental processes, their feelings, and the way they interact with others and the world. The corridor between childhood and adulthood is full of twists and turns at every step. These characteristic changes can be… Read more Our Adolescent Students Need ECC Instruction To Thrive
The phrase Expanded Core Curriculum might sound like a huge and complicated undertaking. One may wonder why only visually impaired students must be burdened to master a whole other curriculum on top of the one their classmates have to learn. Thankfully this term is simply used by educators to refer to the set of skills… Read more A Simple Intro to the Expanded Core Curriculum
Enjoy these inspiring and practical videos demonstrating various independent living tasks from a blindness perspective. They will both show you how much is possible as well as provide concrete strategies for accomplishing your IL goals! Use heading level navigation to find videos of interest. PS: I identify paper money the same way, and the cooking… Read more Independent Living Skills Video Collection
Literally billions of sensory experiences during the first year of life are necessary for cognitive development to take place. Typical development during this crucial period results in the brain actually doubling in size as pathways are formed and grown. Talk about an egg head! Every interaction with people, objects, and stimuli in the environment contributes… Read more Sensory Efficiency: Is It Just Another ECC Extra?
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Depending on the level of vision loss, they may not be able to get any information at all from the way typically sighted children pick up on how things work, that is, by incidental learning experiences that rely on seeing what goes on around them. Rather than learning occurring incidentally, for children with visual impairments,… Read more 5 Ingredients for Effective Instruction in the Expanded Core Curriculum
“They’re Not Ready Yet” – Why Waiting to Begin Independent Living Instruction at Home Widens Deficits and Prevents Future Independence For blind children, a common barrier to ECC (Expanded Core Curriculum) instruction taking place at home, particularly in the area of independent living, is unintentional parental attitudes. The parents or caregivers often perceive that the… Read more Don’t Wait to Start Independent Living Instruction