Formation vs Information

Often, when a teacher learns that he/she will have a student in her class that is visually impaired, confusion, concerns and a feeling of being loss in the sea of the unknown are amongst the multiple emotions that will fill the mind of this person. So many questions, so few resources and not enough answers and facts to really help and you end up learning most things the hard way by being on your own.

Colleagues might be supportive and wanting to be helpful but without any formation and a huge lack of information, it is enough to keep you up at night. Why? Because, for this student like any other one of your student, you want to do what is best for him. Not so easy, is it?

How is it possible to understand your student's situation? How do you know how it feels to live with such a condition, day after day? How can you understand the frustrations that come with the territory? Simple! Get some formation!

A few years ago, I was sent by my School Division, all expenses paid, to follow a Braille and Visually Impaired through the Northwestern University, in Ontario, Canada. The University was offering the course on the campus of a school specialized in the field of people who are either blind, visually impaired, deaf or mute.

By living on the campus, I experienced things that no books, no videos, no human resources can ever provide to you...experiencing the conditions, the lifestyle and the educational resources that people with special needs are living on an every day basis.

Here are the things that I experienced there and that I suggest strongly that you experience yourself if you ever have the opportunity.

• Interact with other colleagues who are taking this degree as well, especially if some of them are affected by the same or similar visual needs as your future student. I met two wonderful women that I ended up sharing a close friendship with, and both were legally blind. One owned a guide-dog and the other one was using a white cane. They were also teachers and suffered the loss of vision due an infection of the retina. During a period of four weeks, I learned how they felt going through this ordeal, how it affected their family and their work as well as the resources, the adaptations to their lifestyle, how to guide them as well as how to treat and use the services of a guide-dog.

• Experience how your student might feel in various situation that he encounters every day. For example, brush your teeth or order a meal and eat it in a cafeteria with a blindfold. You can also use special goggles that represent certain types of visual conditions and cook. Ask someone to guide you or give you instruction while making some pudding. Play music or identify food by taste and smell or objects by touch. Try to find your way out of a room while blindfolded, by yourself. These are the kind of assignments that you would have in your classes. These experienced proved to be priceless in the future for my visually impaired student, her family, my colleagues and me.

• Learn how to use the methods and resources such as how to read and type braille by using a brailler. Prepare some tactile books or semi-concrete material by molding the shapes of objects with a special machine that makes some special paper to mold to their shape and all the details.

• Make some connections with the other people attending these classes with you. This will represent both your support group and will also provide you with ideas, experiences and resources.

Books, courses and the media provide a lot of information but the experience give you so much more as it really makes you understand what your student might be going through, why, what causes frustration and what really helps in a variety of situations. Take my word for it and you will not regret it!