Understanding and Teaching People who have both Blindness or Vision Impairment and an Autism Spectrum Disorder: Help for Staff and Families

Many people with Autism spectrum disorders rely on visual input to help self-organize and participate effectively in the activities of learning, working and social interacting. For children and adults who have vision impairment or blindness and an ASD, teaching and learning needs to be specially adapted in order to have successful outcomes. This presentation describes the impact of ASD on the lives and learning of people with vision impairment and presents many practical and simple ways to effectively adapt activities, teaching, communication, scheduling, orientation and mobility training and life skills for the best possible lifetime outcomes. Effective strategies for changing behavior will be described and modeled. Strategies to help identify children and adults who have vision impairment and an autism disorder will be shared.