THE VISION IMPAIRED STUDENT IN THE CLASSROOM -

INDIVIDUAL, SOCIAL & FAMILY PERSPECTIVES

Geoff Bowen

Psychologist, Statewide Vision Resource Centre

CONTENTS

• Living your life fully!• Families, grieving and disability• Issues re. counselling• Working with students in the classroom:• Discipline issues • Stepping back• Social skills

American Foundation For The Blind – Living With Vision Loss

Our Members want to:

• Live independently and productively

• Read and write

• Raise a family

• Have a social life

AFB – Living With Vision Loss

• Travel

• Maintain a career—or launch a new one

• Enjoy recreational sports and games

• In short, lead a normal life

Unemployment - Australia

“Surveys suggest that while people who are blind or vision impaired are eager to work (62% participation rate, which is high relative to other disability groups (ABS 1997), only 21 % are able to find work (RBS 1996: 101).”“BCA estimates that the rate of unemployment amongst vision impaired and blind people in Australia to be around 70 percent.”

Children With Disabilities “Finding out that your child has a disability, whether

at birth, or later or after an illness or accident is one of the most shattering things that can happen to parents. They may go through all of the emotions that people feel after a major loss -the loss of the child you expected to have, the loss of your dreams for your child's future, the loss of the your child's quality of life, the loss of your way of life. When these losses happen unexpectedly there is the added shock of things going wrong at a time of life when you expect every thing to go well. There are such big adjustments for parents and families to make that it is no wonder it causes stress and puts pressure on your relationships.”

Coping With Disability

“Every child is different and every disability is different so how you cope will depend on your own particular situation. There are differences in the kind and severity of disability and also differences in experience of grief and ways of coping. Families can have children with very similar disabilities but learn to cope very differently depending on their own situations, finances, and the support they get from other family and friends.”

Child and Youth Health - Parenting SA http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetails.aspx?p=114&np=306&id=1635#3

Quality Of Life

• Children with a disability can lead positive, happy lives and bring joy to themselves and many people.

• Quality of life is not about ability - we all have different abilities.

• Quality of life is about your child feeling well, being safe and comfortable, having experiences to enjoy, feeling that she is a lovable person, and having some things that she can feel proud of being able to do.

Dealing With Families “It is important to be sensitive to a family’s

current emotional state and equally important to avoid categorising family members according to predetermined expectations that accompany traditional models. At any given point, families need opportunities to express themselves, and they need acknowledgment of their feelings by others. They also need specific, relevant information regarding their child, presented in an honest, empathic manner.” (Cohen et. al. 1992)

How Well A Parent Copes

• What sense you are able to make of what happened (what you tell yourself about it) - this can be related to how well it was explained to you and what the cause was.

• The amount of support you have from family and others, including service providers and other parents.

• The relationship you are able to build with your child.

How Well A Parent Copes

• The quality of life your child is able to have (even children with very big problems can have enjoyment of their lives).

• The effect it has on your family life.

• The effect it has on your working life, • For some people, support from their

religious faith.

Helping Parents with “Grieving”• Be aware that all responses to the loss are

ways of coping. This is anything the person does, thinks or feels. The response moves round!

• Individuals will move through the process at THEIR rate. As with death the Kübler-Ross model of linear development usually does not usually apply.

• Don’t take it personally some parents can be very confronting.

• Be with the person – I have found that really spelling out the truth of how crap the situation actually is makes it real (particularly in recent severe vision loss).

• Allow the pain - enter into it/ not try to take it away.

• Allow expression of feelings without judgement.

• Accept the story being told over and over again.

• Listen and hear what is really being said.

• Communicate information in an honest and empathetic manner.

• Involve the client in collaborative problem solving so parents feel they can have some control of the management and education of their child.

• Our attitude can be disabling.

• Be aware of the needs of the siblings.

• Ethnic differences. Be aware that different groups deal with disability in different ways.

• Information should be provided from a culturally relevant perspective and in language understandable to the client.

• Crisis or change may reactivate a more intense period of stress.

Signs That Grief Is Not Resolving

• If they are stuck with memories of the crisis and can't seem to get away from them.

• If they can't really accept your child as he is, but still believe that he will have great achievements in ways that he cannot.

• If they continue to be very angry or feel very guilty.

Signs That Grief Is Not Resolving

• If they are still looking for a reason why it happened, after they have had all the possible information.

• If they still, after time, cannot see anything positive about your child's life (or if you cannot see any of the problems but think of it all as a blessing).

Other Problem Issues With Parents

Some parents may want their child to change in their thinking/cognitive mind and not in their emotional mind. The emotional mind will win every time and your best efforts may be sabotaged and not valued.

Some parents burnout and have reached a balance in their life and do not wish to be bothered or changed. Again your best efforts may sabotaged or not valued.

Family Or Parent Stories

• “I’ve had to fight to get my child to here.”

• “No professional really understands my child.”

• “My child is only safe when I am with them.”

• “Nobody can see what he can do other than me.”

• “Nobody is allowed to make a mistake with my child. I can, but not you.”

Myths Of Parenting

• If I make a mistake, it will always affect my child.

• As a parent, I have the power to make my children do whatever I want and the responsibility to make them do what’s right.

Myths Of Parenting

• My children cause my unhappiness, so they must change for me to feel better.

• Children are naturally undisciplined and behave like wild animals. Parents must beat them into shape to make them civilized.

Myths Of Parenting

• It is my responsibility to solve my children’s problems and to protect them from life’s threats.

• When I had a disabled child my right to a happy and fulfilled life was over. I must completely sacrifice myself to my disabled child because I was the one that gave them life and I am responsible for it.

Narrative Therapy

“Narrative Therapy is a counselling technique that is growing in use in the mental health area. The approach uses a process to identify the problems that people may be having and the stories that dominate the person's life, and then encourages the development of more useful stories about the person. Therefore, problem stories are deconstructed and then the aim is to support the person and those in his/her support network to reconstruct stories that lead to better outcomes.”

Matthews and Matthews (2002): Narrative Therapy: Potential

uses for People With Intellectual Disability http://www.ijdcr.ca/VOL04_01_CAN/articles/matthews.shtm

Once you are aware of the predominate family story work with it.

e.g. It is because of your hard work and struggle that your child has got to where they are today. Now I am going to work with you and him to add to the brilliant work you have done.

Teacher And Parent Mottos

• Let us work together in the best interest of your child.

• Let us work together in your best interest.

• Let me work with you in the best interest of my child.

VI STUDENTS IN THE CLASSROOM

• Beware the“slippery sided sympathy pit”. Remember if you do it right they won’t need you anymore! Step Back!

• Non-verbal discipline skills: “the look”, eye contact, body posture and teacher placement.

• VI students need considerably more verbal indication of where they are “at” with their behaviour.

Beware, Beware, Beware

The slippery sided sympathy pit!!!

THE “MOVING IN” APPROACH

1. Get close to the child and gain their attention i.e. arms length, eye contact and say their name.

2. Tell your child specifically what you want them to do in calm clear voice.

3. Give the child time to cooperate and encourage them if they do. If they argue stay calm and even drop your voice level and say something like: I hear what your saying but I want you to do..(Repeat the instruction). If argument continues; step 4.

4. Back up your instruction with a consequence.

5. If they do what they are told after the consequence, use lots of praise.

EFFECTIVE DISCIPLINE

• YOU MUST PLAN FOR EFFECTIVE CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT.

• POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT IS THE KEY.

• BEFORE YOU RULE REMIND, WARN OR GIVE A CONSEQUENCE, PRAISE AT LEAST TWO STUDENTS FOR COMPLIANCE.

OTHER USEFUL IDEAS

• PROXIMITY PRAISE

• THE CANTER “MARBLES IN JAR” APPROACH

• ORGANISE “DOWNTIME”

A Good Quality Of Life

Includes

Having Power And Control Over Your Life

This Is:

Self Determination

Essential Characteristics of

Self-Determined Behavior

• Make choices and decisions as needed.

• Exhibit some personal or internal control

over actions.

• Feel capable and act that way.

• Understand the effects of own actions.

Component Elements of Self-Determined Behavior

Choice-Making SkillsDecision-Making SkillsProblem-Solving Skills

Goal-Setting and Attainment SkillsIndependence, Risk-Taking and Safety SkillsSelf-Observation and Self-Evaluation Skills

Self-Reinforcement SkillsSelf-Instruction Skills

Self-Advocacy and Leadership SkillsSelf-AwarenessSelf-Knowledge

19 WAYS TO STEP BACK

It often feels right to give help to students with visual impairments, but this may not be in their best interest. Use the following list to help yourself step back.

Adapted from Classroom Collaboration, by Laurel J Hudson, PhD (Perkins School for the Blind) Available at: http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=6&TopicID=19&DocumentID=1573

1. You’re stepping back so your students can step forward and become independent. Keep this in mind.

2. Pause before answering or helping.

3. Sit on your hands for a whole task while you practice giving verbal instead of touch cues. Hands off the hands.

4. If you need touch cues, try hand-under-hand instead of hand-over-hand. This gives students much more choice. 

5. Acknowledge your impulse to make students' days go smoothly.  There's a reason you chose the helping profession.

     

6. Sit further away. If you have been within arm's reach, sit just within earshot. If you have been sitting just within earshot, sit across the room.

7. Pat yourself on the back every time you help with seeing, not thinking. Your job is to give information. Record your and their behaviour over time – Functional Behaviour Analysis.

8. Even though helping can feel right, be aware that to much assistance is short sighted. Sometimes less is more, less is better.

9. Unless you are the Classroom Teacher, catch yourself before you correct students' work. Remember, this is about the students' skills . . . not yours.

10. Commit to no intervention for a whole activity. Take data instead. Things may not fall apart as much as you expected.

11. Have students discreetly ask their classmates for information (what page they are on, what is the school lunch, who the teacher is talking to, etc.) Coach them to do this on the telephone in the evening as well as during school hours. Remember you can’t always be there and you are not there for the rest of their lives.

12. Assign students learning partners and sighted guides. This can help the caring “patsy” friend from developing.

13. Teach students to decline assistance, “Thanks, but let me try it by myself.”

14. Whenever you add prompts, include a plan to phase them out.

15. Make sure that team members (especially the principal) know your reasons for stepping back so it doesn't seem like you are shirking your responsibilities. Get the whole school onboard including the students.

16. Collaborate with other adults to break your habits of helping too much. Agree to remind each other to step back.

17. Try helping only when classroom teachers give you a signal. They may prefer to respond directly, or give students longer to work it out.

18. Let your students make mistakes and get into trouble. It's part of the human experience!

19. Post a sign, “Are there any other ways I could step back?“

Other Thoughts

• Never do something for a child that they can do themselves.

• People change their behaviour when they are inconvenienced not when those who care about them are inconvenienced.

Other Thoughts

• Increase student’s sense of mastery in their lives. Don’t cheat them and lie to them by trying to give false self-esteem. Self esteem grows out of challenge and mastery rather telling a child they are great regardless of what they do. (Seligman 1996, The Optimistic Child)

• Have a laugh now and then. Blind people have not lost their sense of humour!

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND DISABLED STUDENTS

• Non-disabled peers tend to react less favourably towards disabled children.

• Less likely to initiate social interaction with disabled classmates.

• Less likely to respond positively to the approaches of disabled peers.

• There is a limitation of the positive learning experiences that children with disabilities have in their social interaction with other children.

• They have fewer chances to interact with peers and on the other hand their attempts to use appropriate social skills are often not rewarded.

• The lack of success from social interaction may, in turn, produce poor self-image on the part of the disabled child.” Spence, 1995.

Social Deficits

It is not surprising therefore to find that disabled children often have social skill deficits!

 FRIENDSHIP: THE SIGHTED AND

VI STUDENT

• VI students list two significant criteria for friends: “they don’t make fun of my eyesight” “if I have problems they help me out”

• Sighted students the most important criteria for friends: “they hang around with you” “they are fun”

WHAT VISION IMPAIRED STUDENTS MISS OUT ON

• Visual modelling• Visual cues to regulate social interaction

E.g. Eye contact regulates conversation • Turn taking.• Visual feedback after their behaviour.• Incidental social engagement.• Freedom from the “prying eyes” of “caring

adults”.• Honest feedback from peers.

COMMON SOCIAL DIFFICULTIES OF VI STUDENTS

• Focus too much on themselves rather than others interest and concerns.

• Are not good listeners.• Have poor gaze direction.• Use inappropriate smiling.• Avoid conflict.• Have low levels of risk taking• Don’t understand peer group rules and

what’s “cool”.

• Make inappropriate movements, which emphasises how different they look.

• Demonstrate a lack of peer preference and affection.

• Give low levels of peer reinforcement.• Have limited or no opportunities for

reciprocity- they are always the ones who need assistance.

• Are unresponsive to overtures from others.

• Ask more questions and more irrelevant ones.

• Suddenly and abruptly change a conversation topic.

• Are often over involved with adults.• Miss contextual cues.• Make too many demands on others.• Show too much dependent behaviour

(independence is confidence in action)• Play with toys inappropriately or with

inappropriate toys.• Have low levels of collaborative skills for

group work.

• Look different and seem low in confidence.

• Stand too close.

• Are passive and unassertive.

• Use echolalic speech.

• Frequently have poor motor skills.

SKILLS AND BEHAVIOURS TO FOCUS ON

• Gaze direction and appropriate body posture.

• Controlling inappropriate movement.• Active listening.• Assertiveness (proactive and reactive).• Sharing and taking turns.• Cooperation.• Joining in and approaching.

• Giving and receiving compliments.• Focussing on the interests and concerns

of others.• Expressing preference and affection.• Conversational skills.• Identifying peer group norms and what’s

“cool”.• Giving peer reinforcement.• Demonstrating competence.• Demonstrating independence.

• Conflict resolution.

• “Tease proofing” by learning internal emotional control.

• Learning to be open and “cool” about their disability.

STRATEGIES TO USE WITH VI STUDENTS

• Cooperative activities and games.• Direct teaching of social skills.• Provision of social descriptions for

students to work from.• Peer prompting.• Musical and sound games.• Changing seating and grouping.• Setting up a buddy system.

• Discussing the skills of friendship.• Developing independence.• Giving opportunities for the students to

demonstrate competence.• Develop a risk-taking program.• Setting up situations where the student

helps others.• Setting up opportunities for social

interaction.• Sharpening listening skills.

• Using the same discipline system as is used with the other students.

• Involve parents in the development and implementation of the program.

• Have more regular PSG meetings where the student’s social development is a high priority.

• Encourage the development of social skills OF all students within the school.

• Self-monitoring of inappropriate movement.

• Positive encouragement & reward.

QUESTIONS TO EVALUATE SOCIAL SUCCESS

 

1. Does the VI student play with and talk to peers as much as do his/her classmates?

2. Do students talk with VI classmates in the classroom, play with them on the playground, and invite them to after school and weekend activities?

3. Does the VI student show affection and display preference for classmates?

4. Do you go out to observe interactions during recess, and intervene when necessary, so the VI student is not isolated in the playground?

5. How does the status of the VI student among his/her sighted classmates change during the school year, and how do interactions between the VI student and sighted classmates develop?

SELF PERPETUATING SOCIAL SKILLS PROGRAMS

1. Changing the attitudes of non-disabled peers towards their disabled classmates, through discussion and education.

2. Teaching non-disabled children to initiate interaction with disabled peers and/or rewarding them for doing so.

3. Teaching non-disabled children to respond positively towards the social initiations of disabled peers and/or rewarding them for doing so.

4. Teaching non-disabled peers to train children with disabilities to use social skills. This method assumes that the training process will carry over into naturalistic situations and that peers will become naturally occurring triggers for socially skilled behaviour in real-life settings

(Social Skills Training by S Spence, 1995)