How to Teach the Seasons to the Visually Impaired

Visually impaired children learn about the seasons through their other four senses.

Vision is only one of the five ways we process information, so if a baby is born or becomes visually impaired, she is taught to explore her world through the other four senses: smell, touch, taste, sound. While the interpretation of what the four seasons look like may be different from that of a sighted child, a visually impaired toddler will begin to form his own concepts as he learns about the seasons. You can teach visually impaired children about spring, summer, autumn and winter by appealing to their other four senses. Help your child or student learn about the different seasons, both at home and in different parts of the world.

Instructions

1. Smell the seasons. Sniff the spring flowers, the summer BBQs, the autumn leaves and the winter wind. Remember that these sensations will be much stronger for a visually impaired child then they are for sighted kids. Have a class May Day party to celebrate the arrival of spring.

2. Touch the different seasons. Make a snowball, crumble fall leaves, roll on the grass, wade in a puddle. Learn to feel the world through your fingers. Blindfold sighted children and have them join in the process about teaching a visually impaired child about the seasons.

3. Taste the four times of the year. Munch on summer berries. Savor a pumpkin pie. Lick a snowball, or use snow from the fridge if you live in Florida. Build a class snowman, complete with a traditional scarf and carrot. Chew on a new blade of grass. Close your eyes as you relish the seasons and notice how much stronger the taste sensation becomes. Blindfold the students and have them guess what they are eating.

4. Hear the seasons. Expose your child to the sounds of birds coming back in the spring, the noise of road construction in the summer, the honking of geese in the autumn and the crisp crunch of snow in the winter. Learn songs about the seasons during your music class time.

References

• West Virginia University: Strategies for Teaching Students with Vision Impairments
• Teacher Vision: Seasons -- Teacher Resources
• Songs for Teaching: Songs that Teach the Calendar, Weather, Time and Seasons

Resources

• Wonder Baby: Raising a Blind Baby
• You Tube: Vivaldi's Four Seasons at Vance