VIDBE-Q Volume 67 Issue 3
Deficits in the phonological component of language are often unexpected in
relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom
instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading
comprehension and reduced reading experiences that can impede growth of
vocabulary and background knowledge. Students with visual impairments acquire
reading skills much in the same manner as their peers without visual impairments
by demonstrating interest in reading by listening to stories and rhymes,
experiencing environmental symbols, letters, and words, and exploring various
types of reading materials. Students with visual impairments, including low vision
and braille readers, use the same areas of their brains similarly to their typically
developing peers. Braille readers show activation in the brain typically associated
with tactual perception (Loftin, 2022). As a result, dyslexia is neurological in
origin. It is not a problem of seeing.
So, when a student with a visual impairment struggles to read, why is it such
a challenge to identify and address their needs? According to Marnee Loftin
(2022), students with visual impairments
[represent] less than .5% of the population in special education programs
throughout the nation, [and] these small numbers present several different
variables that contribute to the complexity. These variables include
differences in etiology that can be neurological or ocular. Age of onset of the
