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The Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC) is a group of skills that are needed by students with visual impairments due to their unique disability-specific needs. They include: compensatory or functional academic skills, including communication modes, orientation and mobility, social interaction skills, independent living skills, recreation and leisure skills, career education, use of assistive technology, visual efficiency skills, and self-determination. Students with visual impairments need the expanded core curriculum in addition to the core academic curriculum of general education. The ECC should be used for assessing students, planning individual goals, and providing instruction.

At Governor Morehead School (GMS) for the Blind there has been a move this year to integrate this component more effectively into the students’ schedule. Inspired by Keri Lohmeier, the former principal at GMS, a team of teachers dedicated their time to bring this to fruition.

The focus is to provide four one-week sessions each year for the standard course of study high school students with emphasis in one area of the expanded core curriculum. If successful, the ECC will be expanded to the rest of the student body. Our first ECC week was from August 20-24, 2007, with the main focus on Compensatory or Functional Academic Skills and Communication Modes. Other components touched on, but not the main focus, were Orientation and Mobility, Technology, Independent Living, Visual Efficiency, and Socialization Skills.

A series of activities were planned to help the students begin the year successfully. The team targeted developing good study and organizational skills through student led discussions. On the first day, the students were assigned lockers and given the opportunity to personalize them using a wide variety of tactile materials. This aided the students in identifying their lockers and was just plain fun for the students. On multiple days, the students were given time to practice writing their name on the slate and stylus as well as practice their own signature writing.

For those attending Broughton High School for part of the day, a tour of the site was conducted to ensure safe campus travel. This also gave the orientation and mobility team time to assess individual students attending this school. To spark student interest in continuing their education, the students were given the opportunity to visit Wake Technical Community College. A presentation by disability services and the admissions office was provided to inform students of the education tracks available, the types of classes provided, and ways they customize individual student learning. A campus-wide tour was then given to showcase their facility.

To enhance socialization and orientation and mobility concepts, the students worked in teams and went on a campus-wide scavenger hunt at Governor Morehead School. Led by a staff member, the teams had to solve riddles made up by staff, plan and execute routes, and collect evidence as specified in the riddle. The teams thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The group of students then had to plan, estimate costs, and work as a team for a cookout. These same teams were told items needing to be purchased at a local grocery store. Each team had to estimate the cost of said items and then the group collectively estimated the total cost of the purchase made. The most exciting part was cooking and then eating what was brought back to school.

The students were given time to learn more about their vision loss and how to cope with this out in the community. Discussion groups were led by GMS’s low vision specialist as a means to have the students gain a better understanding of each individual’s vision loss. As a way to show students that a vision loss does not have to be debilitating, a movie about Eric Weihenmayer, the first blind man to climb to the top of Mount Everest, was shown and then discussed. We were also privileged to have a guest speaker visit our school. Tucker Dupree, an internationally ranked swimmer who recently has suffered from vision loss, gave a most compelling speech about his experiences. He has not let his vision impairment stop him from accomplishing the goals he has set for himself in life. He is currently training for placement on the USA’s swim team for the 2008 Para Olympics. The round table discussion the students had with him were enlightening and thought provoking.

At the end of the week, the students evaluated the first Expanded Core Curriculum sessions. The overall comments were quite encouraging. The evaluation results indicated they most enjoyed hearing Tucker speak and how he has overcome the adversity in his life, as well as the movie about Eric Weihenmayer and his individual accomplishments. Our next Expanded Core Curriculum week is scheduled for the end of October.