Quebec School Finds Creative Ways to Help Students with Visual Impairments Learn
The school uses braille, touch and adapted materials to serve 55 students and fills book requests within 30 working days, staff said.
- The hallways of Jacques-Ouellette in Longueuil came back to life last week with the arrival of 55 students between ages four and 21. Funded by Quebec's Education Department, it is the only French-language school in the province specializing in students with visual impairments.
- Adaptation is central to the school's work, with roughly 50 full-time employees and about 10 other staff members tailoring instruction case-by-case. Principal Geneviève Blondin said: "Our students have extremely different profiles, and we try to respond perfectly to each one."
- The school's library holds more than 10,000 titles adapted for children with visual impairments in braille, large print, and electronic formats. Librarian David Choquette said: "It's no different from another library in that sense, because children have the same need: to be able to read independently."
- When student Cassandra lacked braille sensitivity, the school contacted Microsoft to create a custom font. An employee volunteered to convert her color-coded communication system into text, as "each colour represented a letter, based on the same principle as braille," Blondin said.
- Despite the growth of digital tools, the school aims to get requested books to students within 30 working days. Blondin emphasized: "We teach them to write and to read, so paper braille is fundamental for us.
38 Articles
38 Articles
The Toronto Star
Quebec school finds creative ways to help students with visual impairments learn
MONTREAL - At Jacques-Ouellette school, learning can mean reading braille, making out large print, or relying on touch — and no two students learn quite the same way.
Longueuil school finds creative ways to help students with visual impairments learn
Learning without being able to see is the challenge faced by students at École Jacques-Ouellette, who have visual impairments. However, they can count on an educational team that constantly draws on its imagination to help them surpass themselves day after day. The hallways of this school in Longueuil came alive again last Monday with the […]
MONTREAL — Learning without seeing is the challenge faced by the students of the Jacques-Ouellette school, who have visual impairments. However, they can count on an educational team that constantly competes with imagination to help them overcome each other day after day. The corridors of this school in Longueuil have resumed [...]
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 76% of the sources lean Left
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
