Mainstreaming Visually Impaired Children: The Need for Modifications

Abstract

The study reported in this article investigated the extent to which 20 regular education teachers (RETs) modified the mainstream learning environment for visually impaired children attending public day schools in British Columbia, Canada. In in-depth interviews with each RET, nine areas of modification were examined. It was found that the elementary-level RETs tried to make modifications to a greater extent than did the secondary-level RETs, but that the two types of teachers did make both “typical” and “substantial” modifications. The implications of the various findings, positive and negative, are discussed.