Math assignments that involve drawing, sketching, or graphing elements by hand can be challenging for students with low vision who may have trouble with fine motor skills, creating visualizations or drawings of concepts, or viewing their own drawings/sketches. Even though I would understand what a solution should look like and could visualize it in my head, my hands and eyes didn’t quite get the message and I would end up drawing something that looked distorted, messy, or that didn’t quite align with the coordinates or ticks after all. Here are my most-used tips and strategies for adapting math sketches and drawings for low vision and dysgraphia, part of my Math Problems for Low Vision series that covers topics related to math accessibility.
Why are math sketches and drawings hard to see?
Like many students with low vision, I also have dysgraphia and difficulties with fine motor skills, which extend to drawing, sketching, and writing by hand. It’s challenging for me to lean in close to a page to see what I am drawing, or to draw in a straight or consistent shape/pattern, or my double vision makes it difficult to color or shade within an area. Sometimes I don’t catch these mistakes due to low vision, and other times I am very aware that my drawing or sketch is incorrect and spend time trying to fix it or annotate it so that people know what I meant to draw. Alternatively, I might strain my eyes to try to check my own work or examine a hand-drawn visual, and ultimately miss a lot of key details.
In many cases, my teachers or professors would give me lower grades on assignments where I had to draw or sketch something by hand because I made errors in the drawing/sketching process either with the shape of something or not lining it up correctly. While there are strategies I can use to help minimize this, I can’t eliminate it entirely, and this can lead to anxiety or frustration when I’m told I have to sketch out an equation. Some of my friends mentioned that they would break pencils, procrastinate drawing for as long as possible, or tear up paper out of frustration because they would find it so overwhelming and difficult to sketch things.
It’s worth noting I wasn’t fully exempt from drawing or sketching tasks, and I was given opportunities to practice and improve my fine motor skills. However, using additional scaffolds, supports, and strategies like the ones listed below were a tremendous help when it came to visualizing math problems or sketching out answers in a format that I would be able to read later on.
Related links
- No-Tech Solutions For Drawing Graphs With Low Vision And Dysgraphia
- How I Show Work For Math With Low Vision and Dysgraphia
- Dear Elementary School Teacher
- How I Use Technology To Improve Handwriting
Consider drawing with a stylus or dry-erase board
I find it easier to draw with either a dry-erase board or with a stylus on my tablet because I can adjust the line thickness, use multiple colors, and erase/undo mistakes much more easily than I can when drawing with a pen or pencil on paper. I prefer to use either a slanted/angled or vertical surface when possible, because I find it easier to write on and I can position the surface under the lined bifocal in my glasses. I can also draw on top of a pre-existing template with my stylus and zoom in to examine it closer if needed.
Related links
- Dry-Erase Eraser Alternatives For Low Vision
- Assistive Technology For Dysgraphia
- How I Show Work For Math With Low Vision and Dysgraphia
- Reading Handwriting With Assistive Technology
Provide a template for drawing/sketching
Instead of drawing a coordinate plane, chart, or shapes from memory, it’s helpful to have a template to use as a foundation for additional drawing/sketching or labeling. This can help students with low vision by removing unnecessary distractions and focusing on essential parts of the assignment. In one example, I remember struggling to draw a rhombus for a math exercise, and ended up spending twice as much time trying to draw one as I spent labeling it to answer the question I was asked about it. By having templates available, students can focus less on drawing and more on answering questions or prompts.
Related links
- How To Create High Resolution Images For Low Vision
- Adapting Coordinate Planes: Math Problems and Low Vision
- Adapting Digital Equations: Math Problems and Low Vision
Use manipulatives and tools to support sketches
Math manipulatives can be used in lieu of or in addition to drawing/sketching solutions or graphs, and can provide both a visual and tactile representation of a concept. Some examples of ways that manipulatives can be used for adapting math sketches include:
- Creating a 3D bar chart with linking cubes or tiles
- Using a ruler or protractor to assist with drawing straight lines
- Drawing with a Geoboard, which uses rubber bands to make shapes
- Dots for placing on a coordinate plane or visualizing a number/equation
- Stencils that can be traced
- AngLegs for creating triangles and angle shapes
- Fraction pieces/shapes
These tools can be used with a dry erase board, paper-based assignments, or photographed and attached to digital assignments to show the answer to a question. I share more digital alternatives later in the post.
Related links
- Adapting Coin Activities: Math Problems For Low Vision
- Adapting Math Symbols: Math Problems and Low Vision
- How I Show Work For Math With Low Vision and Dysgraphia
- How I Use Microsoft Lens With Low Vision
Generate images with another application
Instead of sketching or drawing by hand, many of my teachers would allow me to generate images with another application that demonstrate the solution to the problem. Since I have trouble drawing items with a consistent size or continuous line shape, this helps to eliminate having questions marked incorrect because a sketch didn’t look the way it should. Some examples of strategies I have used either myself or with students include:
- Graphing equations with Graph or Desmos and inserting them into a digital file
- Creating a chart, graph, or infographic with Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or another visualization program
- Using a template in Desmos to draw or graph something- there are several free Desmos templates and lessons available that can be used with low vision
- Drawing with the free Sketchometry web application and converting the drawings into digital images
- Other online coordinate plotting web applications and drawing applications may also be used, and the images can be exported either within the application or by taking a screenshot
Related links
- How I Use Graph With Low Vision
- How To Create Accessible Diagrams For Low Vision
- My Favorite Free Math Websites For Low Vision
- Notability and Low Vision
- Desmos | Let’s learn together.
- Sketchometry website
Allow students to write an image description
When I’m drawing something, I like to add a description or label describing visual information to provide additional context for whoever is looking at it later on. This can include writing out essential coordinates/location information for a graph, describing the visual characteristics of whatever I drew, labeling angles or values, or writing a few sentences to describe an image. That way, if a line I drew isn’t perfectly straight/curved or the shape of a bar chart doesn’t extend quite as high as I thought, I can still explain my work and demonstrate that I know the answer in another format.
Related links
- Adapting Accessible Charts: Math Problems and Low Vision
- How I Show Work For Math With Low Vision and Dysgraphia
- Writing Aids For Low Vision: My Personal Superlatives
Modify the assignment to include answer choices
Instead of having me draw the answer to a question, one of my teachers modified assignments so I could select which image matched the function/equation from a list of multiple answer choices. While it can still be challenging to see graphs or coordinate systems, this was a lot easier than having me draw something or getting frustrated over not having something turn out as planned.
Related links
Make digital manipulatives available
Virtual manipulatives use realistic photos or illustrations of different tools or concepts and display them on a screen that the user can interact with or customize to fit their needs. Students can move the manipulatives around the screen, zoom in on them, or use tools such as a backlit display or inverted screen to make content easier to see. Users can also export an image of the manipulatives or take a screenshot to share the answer to a question in lieu of drawing.
The vast majority of physical manipulatives are available in digital formats, such as the Geoboard, linking cubes, tiles, XY coordinate boards, and more. Digital manipulatives may provide even more flexibility for visual content as they can be enlarged, placed on a backlit display, or shown with different colors.
Another option is to create short videos with digital manipulatives that can be used to explain reasoning for a given problem or solution. I used this technique with the Clips application on my iPad to create a recording of me working through a problem that I shared with a tutor.
Related links
- Adapting Coin Activities: Math Problems For Low Vision
- Creating Audio Narrated Images For Low Vision
- How To Create Accessible Videos and Narrated Images With Clips
More resources for adapting math sketches and drawings for low vision
- Want to read more about low vision math accessibility? Check out my Math Problems for Low Vision Series by browsing the tag Math Problems for Accessibility Archives | Veronica With Four Eyes (veroniiiica.com)
- Curious about accommodations for drawing in the context of art classes? Read Art Classes and Low Vision
- Dysgraphia still exists even in online classes and digital formats- learn more in How I Manage Dysgraphia In Online Classes and Dysgraphia Accommodations In The Classroom
Published February 19, 2024. Updated May 2024