Book Review:
Reading Connections: Strategies for Teaching Students
with Visual Impairments
Mackenzie Savaiano, Assistant Professor, University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, msavaiano2@unl.edu
Reading Connections: Strategies for Teaching Students with Visual
Impairments
by Cheryl Kamei-Hannan and Leila Ansari Ricci, AFB Press, 2015, 343 pp.,
ISBN 978-0-89128-634-9
The role of the teacher of students with visual impairments (TVI) in
literacy instruction, specifically the teaching of reading, has been a source of
debate for many years (see Blankenship, 2008 and Holbrook, 2008). In
Reading Connections, Drs. Kamei-Hannan and Ricci express their belief that
TVIs are, and should be, teaching reading. They also acknowledge that many
TVIs are not prepared for this role.
Chapters 1-4 are meant to address this lack of preparation by providing
the background for teaching reading. The authors summarize the
components of reading, the possible impact of visual impairments on reading,
and provide information and tools for TVIs to understand and evaluate
general education reading instruction. The remaining chapters, 5-10, each
focus on a different component of reading and provide lists of activities to
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