Book Review: ECC Essentials: Teaching the Expanded Core Curriculum to Students with Visual Impairments

ECC Essentials: Teaching the Expanded Core Curriculum to Students with Visual impairments, Carol B. Allman and Sandra Lewis, Editors, Susan J. Spungin, Consulting Editor. New York: AFB Press, 2014,638 pp. Paperback, $59.95; online, $36; e-book (ePUB or Kindle), $41.95; by online chapter, $10.95 each. It is a well-established belief that students with visual impairments (that is, those who are blind or have low vision) need specific instruction in a set of skills called the expanded core curriculum (ECC) (Hatlen, 1996) in addition to the core curriculum subjects needed by all students. These specialized skills are needed because of the effect of visual impairment on the ability of students with visual impairments to observe others and the world in general, the way many skills and concepts are learned incidentally by individuals with vision. ECC Essentials: Teaching the Expanded Core Curriculum to Students with Visual Impairments is the first comprehensive publication that specifically addresses all nine areas of the ECC: compensatory access, sensory efficiency, assistive technology, orientation and mobility (O&M), independent living, social interaction, recreation and leisure, career education, and self-determination. This book is targeted for vision professionals, specifically teachers of students with visual impairments and O&M specialists, whose primary roles are to evaluate, instruct, and support the ECC with their students who are blind or visually impaired. It contains a wealth of information that will also be of value to the families of these children, other educators and related service professionals working with these students, and administrators who may not understand the significance of the ECC for students with visual impairments. The key message reiterated multiple times throughout the book is that ECC skills are necessary to access the core curriculum while in school and to function as independently as possible at home, at school, in the community, and into adulthood. The other repeated concept in this book is how all nine areas of the ECC overlap with one another. In fact, the suggestion that educators need to consistently embed other ECC areas into instruction in each specific area is one of the most important concepts purported in this publication. Teachers of students with visual impairments often feel overwhelmed when trying to determine how to address all nine areas of the ECC with all of their students. The multiple examples and scenarios in which many ECC areas are infused into one lesson are extremely valuable aspects of the book. ECC Essentials is an ideal textbook for use in a methods or strategies course for preservice teachers who are just learning how to teach students with visual impairments. It is chock-full of teaching strategies with sound rationale of the importance of each ECC area and why each is needed by students who are visually impaired. The book is divided into three parts: Part I includes the importance of the ECC, unique needs of students with visual impairments, and assessment and instruction principles and strategies. Part II has a chapter on each of the nine ECC skill areas that describes each area and provides assessment and teaching strategies, addresses the role of the teacher of students with visual impairments, offers suggestions for working with parents, and includes sample learning activities that could be used as lesson plan models. Part III focuses on ways to support the ECC in general education settings, how to align the ECC with state standards, and how to infuse the ECC into home and community. SOMETHING FOR NEW AND SEASONED EDUCATORS Considering that the book is over 600 pages long, it is probably most useful to a seasoned teacher as a reference tool that one would use to look up specific information and to get ideas for instructional strategies or to find resources when teaching an area of the ECC. It is, however, a valuable overview and reminder of the many principles of good teaching, which may have been forgotten over the years. …