Illawarra vision support teacher Jasmina Pascoe with Polish professor Boguslaw Marek. Picture: ORLANDO CHIODO
Ask a blind child to draw a bus and they're likely to draw three straight lines - one for the step, another for the railing and a third for the seat they sit on.
It's not a bus many sighted people may recognise, but for kids with a vision impairment the world is limited by what they can touch and feel.
This means that teaching them the vital skills of how to read maps in a book, understand diagrams or recognise pictures and drawings - even those that have been made into lines they can feel - is a huge challenge.
After years of watching her colleagues and students struggle, Illawarra vision support teacher Jasmina Pascoe was inspired when she came across Polish professor Boguslaw Marek's "pictures for the blind".
After encountering his work at a Wollongong conference two years ago, Ms Pascoe set about raising almost $2000 to bring the professor back to the Illawarra and purchase a set of his resources, called tactile graphics.
The tools include a series of three dimensional blocks representing everyday objects such as tables and toys, as well as bendable stick figures that help teach children about the shape of their own bodies and tactile storybooks which gradually teach students what certain objects feel like.
Over the past week, Prof Marek has worked with Illawarra vision support teachers to develop lesson plans that will be used in the region's schools this year.
Ms Pascoe said these would have far-reaching benefits for vision impaired students.
"We live in a visual world so it is so important for children to understand these concepts," she said.
"One day we want them to be employed or go on to university, so while they can't see the world the way we see it, through these tactile graphics they are able to see it through touch and learn the concepts of maps and pictures."
Ms Pascoe said she was grateful to the IRT Links Seaside community for funding Prof Marek's visit.