Expanded Core Curriculum vs. General Education: A Teacher's Guide for Teaching Visually Impaired Students

expanded core curriculum mindset for teachers orientation and mobility Sep 16, 2025

You’ve just welcomed a new student into your classroom. They're bright and eager to learn, and now you learn that they have a visual impairment. Soon, you start hearing new acronyms in IEP meetings, TVI, O&M, and the one that stands out most: ECC.

Someone mentions the Expanded Core Curriculum, and a wave of questions hits you. Isn't the standard curriculum enough? How is this different from the general education core curriculum? Am I expected to teach a whole separate curriculum on top of everything else I'm already doing?

If this sounds familiar, take a deep breath. You are in the right place.

Understanding the General Education Core Curriculum

First, let's start with what we all know: the general education curriculum. This is the foundational set of academic standards that every student is expected to learn. It’s comprised of core subjects like:

English Language Arts

Mathematics

Science

Social Studies and History

This curriculum is typically standardized by the state and district, providing a consistent educational framework for all students. It's designed to be learned primarily through visual means, reading textbooks, watching demonstrations, looking at the whiteboard, and observing peers. And for about 90% of students, this works.

But what happens when a student can't access information visually?

The Critical Need for Something More

Here is a statistic that is foundational to visual impairment education: Up to 90% of what a child learns about the world is learned incidentally, through vision.

Think about a toddler sitting in a highchair watching a parent make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Day after day, they observe. They see the parent go to the fridge for the jelly, the pantry for the peanut butter. They watch how the jar is opened, how the knife is held, how the bread is spread. No one is actively teaching them this, yet they are learning. They are closing "concept gaps" they don't even know they have.

A child with a significant vision impairment may miss this entire experience. They don't incidentally learn what a refrigerator looks like, that different foods are stored in different places, or the sequence of actions required to make a simple snack.

This is the "why" behind the ECC. A visually impaired student needs explicit, direct instruction in the skills and concepts that sighted students learn simply by looking around. Without it, they can fall behind not because they lack intelligence, but because they lack access to the foundational information everyone else takes for granted.

Introducing the Solution: What is the Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC)?

The Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC) is a disability-specific set of nine skill areas designed to address the unique learning needs of students with visual impairments.

Crucially, the ECC does not replace the general education core curriculum. It supplements it.

Think of it this way: The general education core curriculum provides the academic "what" (algebra, world history, literature). The ECC provides the access "how" (how to read that information in braille, how to use a screen reader to write an essay, how to navigate the school to get to history class).

Teaching these ECC skills is essential for a student to access their Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) and, ultimately, to live a full, independent life.

The Key Distinction: General Education Core Curriculum vs. Expanded Core Curriculum

This is the central question for so many educators. While the two curriculums work together, their goals and methods are distinct. The most significant difference of the general education core curriculum and expanded core curriculum lies in their focus and delivery.

A Deep Dive: The 9 Areas of the Expanded Core Curriculum

To truly understand the ECC, you need to know its components. These nine areas are the pillars of teaching students with visual impairments.

Compensatory or Functional Academic Skills: This is where we bridge the gap to the general curriculum. It includes communication modes like Braille, using a screen reader, accessing large print, and learning to use an abacus for math.

Orientation and Mobility (O&M): Taught by a certified O&M Specialist, this is the skill of knowing where you are in space and moving safely and efficiently through your environment. It includes everything from using a long white cane to navigating a school hallway or a city block.

Social Interaction Skills: So much of social communication is visual—body language, facial expressions, eye contact. Students with VI need direct instruction on how to interpret social cues, initiate conversations, and present themselves confidently.

Independent Living Skills (Daily Living Skills): This area covers the skills needed to manage daily life: cooking, cleaning, personal grooming, managing money, and organizing belongings. It’s about building the confidence for independent living.

Recreation and Leisure Skills: This involves adapting hobbies and sports for a person with a visual impairment and introducing them to new ones (like goalball or tandem biking) to promote physical and social well-being.

Career Education: This is a broad area that includes exploring career options, understanding one's strengths and interests, learning job-seeking skills, and understanding workplace etiquette.

Assistive Technology (AT): This is one of the most vital areas. It covers the full range of technology, from low-tech devices like magnifiers to high-tech tools like screen-reading software (e.g., JAWS, VoiceOver), refreshable braille displays, and CCTV magnifiers.

Sensory Efficiency Skills: This involves teaching a student how to use all their remaining senses, hearing, touch, taste, smell, to gather information from the environment. For example, learning to listen to traffic patterns to cross a street or using tactile skills to identify objects.

Self-Determination: This is the skill of being your own advocate. It involves understanding your visual impairment, knowing what accommodations you need, and being able to confidently explain those needs to teachers, employers, and peers.

The ECC in the General Education Classroom

Now for the most important question: What does this look like for me?

This is where teamwork becomes paramount. You are not expected to be an expert in the ECC. That is the role of the TVI and O&M specialist. Your role is to be an expert in the general curriculum and to collaborate with the vision team to make it accessible.

This collaboration often happens in two ways:

Push-In Services: This is when the TVI or O&M specialist comes into your classroom. They might co-teach a lesson, discreetly support the student during an activity, or model a strategy that you can use later. For example, during a science lab, the TVI might work alongside the student, providing tactile models and verbal descriptions to ensure they can participate fully. This is a powerful way for you to see accessibility strategies in action.

Pull-Out Services: This is when a student is pulled from the classroom for intensive, one-on-one instruction in a specific ECC skill. For example, a student might leave class for 30 minutes to work on Braille with their TVI or to learn a new cane route with their O&M specialist. A good vision team will always strive to schedule pull-out services during less critical academic times, but even when a student misses part of a core class, the skills they are learning are designed to feed directly back into their ability to access your curriculum.

Remember, the vision professional's goal is not to give you more work. It’s to support you, provide resources, and ensure your visually impaired students in general education settings can thrive.

Your Role as an Empowered Partner

You are the expert in your classroom. By understanding the fundamental difference of the general education core curriculum and expanded core curriculum, you become an even more effective and empowered educator.

The ECC is essential. It is the key that unlocks the door to the general curriculum and to a future of independence and opportunity for your student. Embrace the collaboration, ask questions, and know that by supporting both curriculums, then you're on your way to truly helping a future independent and successful visually impaired student.

topics covered: Expanded Core Curriculum, visual impairment, general education, visually impaired students, ECC for VI, special education, assistive technology, orientation and mobility, daily living skills, compensatory skills, vision impairment education, inclusive classroom, braille instruction, TVI services, low vision students, concept gaps vision, push-in services, pull-out services, FAPE, IEP goals.