When I was in middle school, I was assigned to read a story for one of my classes that I ended up discussing frequently with my friends during class or during lunch. Our discussions weren’t necessarily about our opinions of content or specific plot points, rather it was me asking a bunch of questions about what different items looked like, if it was realistic that someone would be able to see something from such a far distance, and how I felt like it was difficult to remember which character was which when they had such similar names. My wonderful friends took the time to answer my questions and helped me to better understand certain plot points or figurative language that had just gone over my head when I first started reading. Situations like this didn’t happen very frequently, so I figured that I was just missing the point of these books or that my eyes were just “fried” from having to go from one high-demand visual task (class assignment) to another (reading a book).
Years later, I was working with a student diagnosed with CVI who faced a similar problem when it came to reading books for their classes, especially since they often had to read multiple books at a time for school. This student expressed that they had no idea what was going on most of the time as they read because it was hard for them to visualize details like what characters look like or the settings they were navigating, and they didn’t have a visual reference for so many of the details authors would weave into their stories. Remembering how my theater friends would act out different scenes of a story or use props and using my own experience with writing descriptions for my writing projects, I worked with the student’s support team to create a handout that I call “Meet The Cast,” a strategy for supporting literacy for students with CVI in the academic setting.
Introducing Meet The Cast
“Meet The Cast” is a workflow for creating handouts that support literacy access for students with cortical visual impairment (CVI), sometimes referred to as cerebral visual impairment or neurological visual impairment. Similar to a pre-performance description for a play or the setup of a screenplay, “Meet The Cast” provides information on characters, key settings, and “props” (objects) that are commonly used or mentioned throughout a story, with detailed descriptions that the reader can reference or use to supplement their memory. Depending on the individual student needs and access preferences, these documents may incorporate text content, color-coding, graphics, photos, or artifacts/tactile models to help the student visualize what is happening in a story and follow along.
Many of the students I have worked with use digital books, most of which are downloaded from Bookshare or with EPUB/MP3 titles from another source.
Related links
- Reading Bookshare Titles With Microsoft Word
- How To Find Accessible Picture Books For Low Vision
- Mainstream eReader Apps and Low Vision Accessibility
- Sora Free Audiobook Summer Reading Programs
- Streaming Audio Description For Performing Arts Videos
What’s the purpose of Meet The Cast? Does this provide an unfair advantage?
Some students who have CVI may have difficulties with accessing text presented in certain modalities (e.g. large print, audiobooks, braille). In lieu of or in addition to issues with text access, some students with CVI have an issue with processing what is happening in a story. This can make it difficult to conceptualize information from a sentence or visualize how the story “flows,” especially in a text with a lot of figurative language. When reading a story, students may end up focusing more on “keeping up” with the pace of reading or listening to text, rather than taking the time to understand the story and what is taking place.
One important thing to note is that “Meet The Cast” is not designed to be a substitute for reading content or why something is happening. Instead, it is a reference tool that students can use to keep track of key points, and provide a “preview” or way to refresh memory before engaging further with text content. It is specifically designed for students with CVI or that have otherwise missed out on incidental learning experiences that are primarily visual in nature. I think of it as a way to “annotate” content or provide additional explanations for what is going on.
Related links
- A to Z of Assistive Technology for Reading Digital Text
- The Best Study Tips For Visually Impaired Students
Who creates these handouts?
“Meet The Cast” handouts may be created by the student’s support team member(s), who may play one or more of the following roles:
- Classroom teacher: Provide key information for what student needs to know about book, test/quiz questions that relate to specific concepts, assemble handout if needed
- Librarian: Provide additional information about stories and supply suggestions for creating content
- Teacher of the Visually Impaired: Provide information on student learning media assessment and preferred channels, assemble handout if needed
- Parent/Guardian: Assist with sourcing materials if needed
- Student: Provide feedback on materials, assist with construction, ask questions about items if needed
In my experience, the classroom teacher and teacher of the visually impaired (TVI) typically work together to assemble the handout, and iterate it based on feedback from the student. My background is in assistive technology, but I created the first iterations of these handouts in conjunction with the classroom teacher, primarily using digital materials to create a handout the student could access independently.
Related links
- Implementing Shared Folders For Accessible Materials
- How To Create Accessible Summer Reading Lists For Print Disabilities
- Unique Summer Reading Prizes For Print Disabilities
First step: Determine how information will be presented
The first step of creating a “Meet The Cast” handout is to decide how information will be presented, and what modality/modalities will be used. This will be tailored to the student’s access preferences, and may include one or more of the following:
- Text based descriptions, which can include formatting such as headings and ordered/unordered lists
- Photos or graphics of different characters, objects, locations, etc.
- 3D models, either digital or physical models that can be examined visually or by touch
- Sound effects or music playlists
- Artifacts, textures, or items that can be explored by touch
- While not part of the handouts, field trips can provide an option for developing references for different settings or objects that are used in stories, such as a trip to a farm before reading a book about farms
- Exercise activities or references for movements/distances
- Tactile graphics
- Videos of locations or movement
Some examples of sources I have used for finding materials for these handouts include:
- Photos from movie/TV adaptations of content
- Stock image websites that include content against plain backgrounds
- Toys and plastic figures
- Dolls that show hair textures or clothing similar to what is worn in the story
- Thingiverse and similar 3D modeling websites
- Themed audio tracks like Tabletop Audio ambient music and streaming playlists that cover specific genres/styles of music
- Braille and tactile image libraries
- Craft materials that incorporate different textures or can be used for collage-style graphics
- Sound effect libraries
- Familiar items that the student has at home or in the classroom, which can be used to form a reference for unfamiliar concepts
It’s important that information is organized in a way that the student can access, and does not create a giant pile of visual clutter. I find it easier to use headings to navigate individual areas, and to use single-column layouts for text and consistent sizes for images. For active learning approaches or for content that has a lot of tactile elements, the student may benefit from having a partner to assist them with exploring objects in order.
Related links
- How To Create High Resolution Images For Low Vision
- Free Braille Art and Tactile Image Libraries: World Braille Day 2024
- Tabletop Audio – Ambiences and Music for Tabletop Role Playing Games
- Novel Effect App Review For Visual Impairment
- Adapting Page Layouts: Math Problems and Low Vision
Determining what to include in order to “Meet The Cast”
So, what does the student need to know to “Meet The Cast?” Here is the template that I created for teachers, librarians, or other support team members to figure out what to include in a handout for their student:
- First, begin with a short synopsis of what the story is about. For longer books, multiple handouts may be created to synthesize what happens in specific parts of the story or if new characters are introduced. Don’t worry about spoilers here, as students likely want to know what to expect from a story.
- Include a list of locations and a brief description of the setting, using photos or tactile items as supplements.
- List characters (“the cast”) in order of appearance. If their physical attributes are described, share explanations for the figurative language or provide photos/tactile items as a reference. For example, it would be helpful to elaborate that a character with “eyes of coal” has very dark or black irises, or if the character literally has eyes made of coal (like Frosty the Snowman!)
- Mention the sounds of the character’s voices or their environment, and what different things may sound like since the student may not have a reference for them. A character with laryngitis may have a scratchy quality to their voice for example, while air raid sirens sound very different than sirens on fire trucks. Some students may have more context for sounds than others, and these sound effects may already be incorporated in human-read or full cast audiobooks.
- Share objects or “props” that are frequently mentioned in the story, or descriptions of animals that play a significant role. When possible, provide real objects that can be explored by touch safely (no knives or sharp edges).
- If clothing plays a significant role, it can be helpful to include swatches of fabric or photos of outfits that replicate what is shared in the text.
- Some students may also benefit from trigger warnings or content warnings for a specific story/section, such as if a person or animal is hurt. It may be difficult for the student to focus on a story if they are worried about or fixated on a specific topic, so it can be helpful to have a “spoiler” here about how this is handled.
When creating these handouts, some teachers prefer to include a short synopsis at the end of each chapter in a story to synthesize what has happened, which the student can reference before beginning the next chapter. Again, this isn’t meant to provide students with the “answers” they need to a quiz or to form an opinion on a text, rather to supplement their memory on what has happened so far.
Related links
- How To Create Helpful Visual Descriptions For Visually Impaired Audiences
- How To Write Alt Text and Image Descriptions for the Visually Impaired
- 8 Myths About Audio Description
- How I Receive Accessible Quizzes and Tests in the Classroom
Assembling the “Meet The Cast” handout
Whenever possible, the student should be involved in the process of assembling their “Meet The Cast” handout and provide information about what format(s) they would like to access information in. Some examples of options include:
- Word documents, which can include headings and hyperlinks to external content
- PowerPoint/Slides presentations, which show one element at a time and contain section headers
- Hyperdocs like Wakelet or Sway, which incorporate multimedia content
- Physical page/board with tactile items added
- QR codes that can be embedded into documents and scanned to display multimedia content
- Audio narrated images that provide verbal descriptions of visual content
- Plain text documents with markup that can be imported into applications
- Audio recordings
- Positioning items on a slant board
When assembling the “Meet The Cast” handout, it is critical that it is in a format that the student can access discreetly, or that they can reference while reading. I try to sideload digital content into the student’s preferred reading application/device, or store tactile items in a desk or in a home area the student can access on their own if needed. Some students may only need to read the handout once, while others may reference it multiple times while reading or studying text.
Related links
- Secret Microsoft Office Accessibility Features I Use Every Day
- How To Create Accessible PowerPoints
- Wakelet Accessibility Features For Low Vision
- How To Create Accessible Assignments With Microsoft Office Sway
- Adapting Accessible Trifold Posters For Low Vision
- Creating Audio Narrated Images For Low Vision
- Tips For Using VDWrite In The Classroom With Low Vision
- Upcycling Music Stands into Assistive Technology
Should the story/book be modified for the student?
Determining whether modifications are needed as well as identifying appropriate modifications for content is a decision that should be left to the student and their support team. Some strategies I have incorporated for text access without editing the original content include:
- Color-coding names of characters, especially if a lot of names start with the same letters or look visually similar. This can also be helpful for place names that resemble names of characters; for example, I might color-code my name (Veronica) and where I live (Virginia) because these words have the same number of letters and the same starting/ending letters. One option is to use the Find/Search tool in an application and use colored underlines or highlighters to support text recognition.
- Color-coding dialogue based on what character is speaking. For example, the character Veronica could have dialogue highlighted with the same consistent color each time to help with recognition.
- Showing the student how to access a built-in dictionary on their device for searching unfamiliar words or idioms.
- Adjusting the text spacing or number of lines displayed on a page at one time, which can help with line tracking.
- When answering questions about specific parts of a story, each question would include a hyperlink that takes the student to a separate section in the document that contains the text excerpt from the story that is referenced in the question. There was also a return/back hyperlink to return to the original question.
- Searching for human-read audiobooks or Audible integration with Kindle books, which tend to be more expressive compared to text-to-speech or speech synthesis tools for screen readers.
- Instead of enforcing specific times for reading text at school, provide students with the option to take vision breaks between visually demanding text and complete required reading at home or in shorter bursts of time
Another helpful strategy I personally used as a student was to have an agreement with one of my friends where I could ask them questions about idioms or concepts I didn’t quite get and received detailed explanations without judgment or hearing things like “I can’t believe you didn’t know that!” I’ve also done the same for other friends who have less usable vision than I do, and appreciate being able to get this additional context in a nonjudgmental way.
Related links
- Highlighting Information With Low Vision
- Amazon Kindle App and Low Vision Accessibility
- Activity Ideas For Vision Breaks
- Mainstream Technology and Low Vision: Headphones
More ideas for using “Meet The Cast” and CVI supports
- When I shared the story at the beginning of the post about eating lunch with friends, we weren’t actually sitting in the cafeteria. I share more about how I navigated cafeteria environments in School Cafeterias and Low Vision
- I’m working on growing my collection of posts on neurological visual impairment/CVI! Browse my current posts on the topic at CVI Archives | Veronica With Four Eyes (veroniiiica.com)
- Interested in learning more about participating actual theater/drama programs with low vision? I share tips in Participating In Drama and Theater Programs With Low Vision
- Want to learn more about digital text access? Check out A to Z of Assistive Technology for Reading Digital Text
Published July 31, 2024. Updated September 2024