Accommodations for a blind or low vision child, with the format and day fixed
Blind and low vision students most often need print in the format they read, delivered when classmates get theirs, braille or screen-reader software taught as a skill, every visual described or made tactile, and orientation and mobility as a service. Sight is the channel most classrooms teach through, so each accommodation swaps the channel and leaves the content and the pace alone. You can check your own IEP against this list today: open its accommodations page and ask, line by line, whether it says where, how often and by whom.
By The Advocate Ally, checked against the rules it cites. Sources checked September 16, 2026.
The accommodations, line by line
Print in the format the child reads
Classroom
The worksheet lands on the desk in braille, large print or an accessible file while the rest of the class gets the paper copy.
IEP wording
State the format and the deadline for every subject: “all instructional materials provided in contracted braille and accessible digital text, in the student’s hands when classmates receive print.” 34 CFR 300.172(c)(2)
Check
Pull a week of handouts from the backpack and count how many arrived in the named format on the day the class used them.
Braille taught, or the reason written down
Classroom
A teacher of the visually impaired works with your child on reading and writing braille as its own lesson, on the schedule, rather than squeezed between subjects.
IEP wording
The IEP has to provide braille instruction or record the evaluation that ruled it out: “direct braille instruction from a certified TVI, four sessions weekly, in a separate room.” 34 CFR 300.324(a)(2)(iii)
Check
Read the service grid at the back of the IEP for the TVI line, then match its minutes to the log the TVI keeps.
Every picture spoken or made touchable
Classroom
When the lesson turns to a map, a graph or the whiteboard, the teacher describes it aloud and hands over a tactile copy prepared in advance.
IEP wording
Cover what nobody lists: “verbal description of all board work and charts, and tactile graphics for diagrams in math and science, prepared by the TVI before the lesson.” 34 CFR 300.320(a)(4)(ii)
Check
Borrow the tactile graphics from the last science unit and hold them beside the diagrams in the print textbook.
Orientation and mobility as a service
Classroom
An orientation and mobility specialist walks the routes with your child, bus to locker to cafeteria, until the building is known by cane and by count.
IEP wording
Write it as a service with minutes: “orientation and mobility instruction from a certified O&M specialist, sixty minutes weekly, on campus and along the bus route.” 34 CFR 300.34(c)(7)
Check
Walk the route your child takes to the gym or the bus and watch whether they manage it without a hand on an adult.
The state test in the same format
Classroom
On test day the booklet is braille or the screen reader is on, the setup your child used all year, and nobody is learning it that morning.
IEP wording
Match the daily format on the state form: “braille edition with tactile graphics and extended time on every state assessment, ordered by the case manager at registration.” 34 CFR 300.320(a)(6)(i)
Check
Request the accommodations record the district filed with the state testing office and read the format line for braille.
What the rule says
“A statement of the special education and related services and supplementary aids and services … to be provided to the child, or on behalf of the child”
For a blind child the statement is the format, the person and the day, because “accessible materials as needed” gives a teacher nothing to be late against.
If it is written but not happening
Email the TVI and the case manager together, listing each handout that arrived late or in print, with the date and the class.
Call a meeting to put a delivery date and a named provider on every material line, so the next miss is visible in the service log.
Each of your child’s teachers has to be told the specific accommodations the IEP requires (34 CFR 300.323(d)(2)); a refusal to fix a gap owes you prior written notice (34 CFR 300.503).
A list is a starting point: it does not replace an evaluation of your child, or advice from someone qualified to read your file.
Have the accommodations in your IEP read back to you, free.
The review reads every page you upload, names the accommodation wording that is vague or missing, and gives you its page number.
