Team Work vs Independence

Your visually impaired student's life is affected on an everyday basis which means that adaptations must be made to help him learn in a safe environment while developing his skills to not only become independent but also become an active member of our society. Here are some tips to help him reach these goals.

• There is no room for pity! Your student may sometimes feel helpless enough without have to feel that everyone in his environment is feeling sorry for him. He could either become frustrated and chose to avoid social contact or could start using people to do things for him that he can do on his own. Either way, pity will create more problems than be helpful. Also, by having others accomplishing things for him, he will gradually show a lack of confidence in himself and his abilities which can only have a negative impact on his life.

• Team work is important. Your student must learn how to develop both his social skills as well as his potential as a team member. In our society, your student will have to work with colleagues in several occasions. If your student does not participate actively because he is used to have others do his share, he will not be able to enjoy a job for long as his services will not be retained after a few weeks or even days. You must make adaptations that will give him the opportunity to become an active team member. For example, if he is able to use the computer by changing the size of the font on the screen or using a special software, he will be able to do some research for his team.

• Learning is a process. Your student might sometimes want to take the easy way out, but you must persevere and show him that a task is only difficult until you know how to accomplish it. It takes time and effort but in the end, the product will be worth it. Show him how to do a task, step by step, make him do this task over and over in several occasions as practice makes perfect. Also, when he encounters some challenges, ask him to try to find a solution on his own prior to helping him out as there will not always be someone available to help him out every time. Make him realize that he will become self-sufficient in life is by becoming an active participant who shows that he is capable and willing to work hard. This way, he will be able to be on his own one day and maybe even have a family that can count on him and his support.

• Variety is one of the keys to success. Your student must work in a variety of situations, groups and environments to be able to adapt to the life in our society. You should provide numerous situations that will provide him both social skills that will enable him to work actively as a team member as well as the abilities necessary to develop his independence. That is why the adaptations that you make to help him out must be present in every area in his life. For example, in every class, there should be adaptations made to help him in participating actively in every aspect in life. Discuss these adaptations with your colleagues, the students services, the administration and his parents.

• Do what you preach! To be able to develop social skills and personal skills that will enable your visually impaired student to become both an active team member and also an independent individual that can take good care of himself, you must model those skills yourself. For example, when you talk about becoming and active group member, show your student how important it is to develop these skills by working as a team with your colleagues, the administration and his parents. When you want to teach him about the importance of becoming independent as it will give him the opportunity to become self-sufficient, show him that sometimes, you can count on people's help for certain things but not for everything. Discuss with him that as he gets older, he will be alone more and more and must be able to provide for himself. Let him know that he can do it and prove his fears and concerns to be wrong.

By using these tips, you will see both a lot of progress in your student's development as well as a considerable increase in his self-esteem when he realizes that he may now have a lot of vision but he can see himself as a successful individual that has a lot to offer to our society while also not feeling unable to fend for himself.