Happy November, everyone! Time is flying over here, so before we get too close to winter I’d like to share about a fun fall-themed book I enjoyed introducing to my daughter that has Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI) (Rosalie) this year. If you follow Everyday CVI on Facebook or Instagram, you may have already seen me mention this book, but I thought it was worth sharing here on the blog as well. 😉

“The Littlest Pumpkin” book (which has English, braille, and tactile images of foam pumpkins) is available through American Printing House for the Blind and can be purchased with federal quota funds. If you’re in the United States, this means you can ask your teacher for the visually impaired (TVI) about getting a copy at no cost to you.

Our TVI dropped this book off on our front porch back in September (I’m bummed our therapies need to be virtual right now, but so grateful to have a team that still delivers tangible materials to us!), but it didn’t really come to life for Rosalie until October – after we visited a farm and brought real pumpkins home.

People with CVI often struggle to visually understand novel 2D images, which is why pairing books with 3D objects is such a helpful strategy for learning.

Many times I simply have toy versions of what is shown in books, so I have to specify that it is a “TOY” and ensure that I use salient feature language to describe and/or provide tactile opportunities to help teach how the real thing looks and feels. But when I have the actual object (like a real pumpkin), that’s even better!

What kinds of seasonal objects have you been using to teach someone with CVI about this time of year and/or to provide them visual access to stories? Please share in the comments below!