The education you received surrounded by educators who had high expectations of you sounds amazing. Thank you for your insight as a instructor working with adults. I began my career as an O&M for adults who were deafblind and can recall most of their sentiments being negative towards their newly acquired or worsened blindness. I find your statement " I have to motivate students who may not have been motivated in school as young people" to be similar to how I feel as an instructor creating positive, motivating environments for students with progressive conditions. I agree with you- creating a learning environment that fosters communication, encourages honesty and self reflection is imperative. When it comes to literacy in a student who is new to blindness, I remind myself to meet a student where they are at emotionally while pushing them gently using high expectations and positive feedback.
I certainly agree on it not being feasible for teachers to know the studentâs native language which makes it difficult to adjust instruction to meet the ELLâs needs. Whereas I probably could assist elementary age students whose primary language is Spanish, I would have a more difficult time with other languages. Iâve worked with students from Nepal and Albania and there were translators which worked with them one-on-one, but I was clueless on all aspects of their native language let alone understanding the phonemic awareness and teaching phonics. Nepali and Albanian are not languages that is easy for me to learn, not even the basics. But I will say that students were taught a fair amount of English before they arrived in the United States. I do commend other countries for teaching English at a very young age because students seem to pick up and retain the language better. The students had some vision difficulties which would become progressively worst as they got older, but I was amazed at how much English was acquired by the age of 7yrs. and 8yrs.
As an interiant TVI in a rural area, I found your comment that " it is my responsibility to be a resource to families that may struggle" very true. I spend a lot of time trying to find resources in places I work in (but do not live in!) for a variety of things. I have found literacy to be the easiest, I appreciate the public library system!!
I agree with the notion that some families donât believe school is a priority, and parents may raise their children just as they were raised. This idea could be related to their cultural or socioeconomic background. Some families instill personal values and beliefs into their children and maybe certain educational skills are deemed unnecessary. As long as the child can do the basics such as read and write, enough to move around in the world with ease and be able to perform simple arithmetic, then not much else is needed. Some caregivers find it more important to instill other values into their children such as having an allegiance to the family, providing for the family, taking care of loved ones, maintaining community, preparing oneself to find a lifetime partner as well as other beliefs that has nothing to do with education.
- Reflecting on your own experiences as a student, how did teacher expectations influence your academic performance and motivation? How might you apply these insights to your own teaching practice?
During my elementary years, I had a teacher who will always be my favorite, Mrs. Reagan! She took a student who was afraid to speak because of an occasional lisp and pushed me to play Bob Hope in the school play. She advocated for me to get the services I needed and always was there to get the most out of me. By the time I moved on to middle school (7 and 8), I was in the highest reading group.
She did not put up with anyone making fun or giggling when other students were reading out loud. I spent a lot of time just reading with her and a few other students at the beginning of the year. I was painfully shy and still can hear her encouragement when I have to speak in front of a group of people. I was able to give a eulogy in front of a full church when my father passed away and I could still hear her voice in my head as I waited to give the speech, âYou can do this, easy peasy!â Another one of her pet peeves was when a student would say, I canât. She would always tell them to take a breath and help them accomplish the task together.
I use those same words with my students all the time! Her kindness, compassion and high expectations were a major determining factor when I decided to enroll in the TVI program at UMass Boston. Not a week goes by without my students hearing me say Easy Peasy or that we donât say canât.
Hello Sharon,
I have a braille reader who is a dual medium learner at this time. She underwent testing for dyslexia right before the end of the school year. She is very quick to recognize contractions and runs into trouble when the words have multiple contractions in them. She is able to recognize all the contractions but struggles sounding the entire word out. I tried a similar passage and did not put in any contractions and she still struggled on the same words. She receives daily pull out services from a special education teacher to target some of these skills. It is in a small group and I have observed her in this room struggling with the same type of words in print.
I look forward to seeing what the findings of the testing will be when we meet again in the fall.
Completing that activity really opened my eyes to the struggles that dyslexia can cause. It was so difficult to maintain any pace or comprehension.
Hello Serena,
I work with a student that both parents have the same visual impairment. During her early years they spent much of their time jumping between state housing and living with relatives. They never had a stable place of their own until they moved to the town I work in when my student was 3. They missed out of many Early Intervention opportunities and I was glad to get her into the integrated Pre K which she attended for two plus years. They are very involved parents but never had the ability, time or place to provide that early literacy components. Once in a stable environment they have been a great resource for their child and actually had another child with the same eye condition. They have been trying to provide some early tactile and literacy components when possible. I look forward to working with him when he starts Pre K next spring.
I completely agree that one needs to consider Maslowâs Hierarchy. Physiological needs must be met before focusing on other aspects of life. As you said if a family is struggling with the physiological and safety needs then it is difficult for anything else to be focused on let alone working on emergent literacy. I think there are times that teacher need to make sure that they step back and look at a family and look at what there struggles and challenges might be and see if there are supports in the neighborhood/school that can help on those areas.
- Prior to viewing the module video, what were your assumptions about Dyslexia? How did the simulation activity change or contribute to your understanding of Dyslexia?
Prior to viewing the module video my assumption about dyslexia was that it was something that professionals came to understand and define within my lifetime. I had no idea that it was first described in 1877 as âWord Blindness.â My first job out of college, before I got a job as a TVI, was working in an optometristâs office that works with children who had difficulty with visual processing problems often reported to be related to reading problems that I believed was dyslexia. This was in the late 80âs. I never really saw the benefit of the therapy and left the job after a few months. I continued to think that dyslexia was visually based. Information from the video stating that there is research that includes brain scans is fascinating to me. I was glad that the video reviewed the current definitions of dyslexia which included: it is a neurobiological condition; resulting in problems with reading associated tasks; causing difficulty with overall decoding of letter, syllables and word; resulting in difficulty identifying letters, processing syllables, and reading words; and resulting in performance below anticipated levels for individual students. Something I will consider as a teacher that was said is that âif you have a student with average intelligence or above and theyâre still struggling with reading, with even the basic recognition of letters and sounds, then you certainly can start suspecting that something, in addition to maturation, is going on with that student.â Seems logical enough but I think with students with visual impairment if there is not the high expectation, something that was also discussed in class videos, this might be something that can lead to extra time being given to a visually impaired student to âcatch up because they are visually impaired or blindâ rather than get supports that can help them. Also, the speaker reported that dyslexia is probably underestimated in school settings she thinks because schools focus on kids who have fallen so far behind that they meet the category of specific learning disability. This doubly impacts our students who are blind or visually impaired. I will be keeping in mind that there is statistical estimates suggesting 5-15% of population likely has dyslexia and work with other professionals to help any of my future students that might appear to be struggling with reading.
Reflecting on your own experiences as a student, how did teacher expectations influence your academic performance and motivation? How might you apply these insights to your own teaching practice?
When I was in elementary school, I remember several teachers that held high expectations for me. I strived to meet them. In high school there were teachers that definitely raised the bar high, while others barely said a word and wrote and assignment on the board. Though I always expected As from myself (an expectation instilled in me from my parents), I did the very minimum for the teachers that did not expect anything at all.
Now as a parent and a teacher, I believe I set realistic but high expectations for my students and my own children. Kids will rise to the occasion and meet the expectations you set for them. I recognize that all studentâs strengths are different and that they will be able to achieve greatness in their own ways.
When creating IEP goals, I always look to the students needs as well as their strengths to create a goal that will stretch and grow them, but is also achievable. My end goals are always high but may be broken down into bite size chunks in order to create in the student a sense of success, pride, and drive to go to the next step.
When goals are met, I donât stop moving forward with them. I keep building going to the next step. Always pushing them to the next level. I feel that my students are challenged and understood. If we never raise the bar, the studentsâ and some parentsâ expectations will stay low.
I have been surprised by the lack of expectations for my students by their parents. I have had students that are still fed and changed, never have to pick up or do anything on their own (I teach 1st-4th grade). Having high expectations and the âyou canâ attitude in my classroom has helped bring awareness to the student and the parent that âYES THEY CAN!â I hope that this creates an attitude that breaks of limitations and preset stigmas that the students and possibly parents have.
Hello Charlene,
I also found the video about dyslexia eye opening. I had some questions about it with one of my prior students. I also thought that dyslexia was an eye issue, but was not 100% sure. One of my total blind students often read letters flip flopped or backwards. Since this was not too uncommon for her age, I marked it, but did not pursue other forms of intervention aside from the normal procedures. Listening to the video about how other indicators that a child may be dyslexic and blind, such as scrubbing, I now wonder if I missed something.
I will reach out to her ininerent TVI and see if she is still showing these signs.
How might the cultural background or socioeconomic status of families impact their ability to implement the suggested strategies for promoting emergent literacy in toddlers with visual impairments?
After reading this article it brought forth the importance of the family being able to implement strategies for children with visual impairments increasing their exposure to emergent literacy skills. If parents have the skills or knowledge of how to implement it, it will have a positive impact on the child. Working with families as early as possible is essential to enhance their ability to work on emergent literacy skills in all settings. Families with different socioeconomic levels and cultural backgrounds will have different priorities and views of what is essential to teach their children even if the child has a disability. Increasing parent knowledge and placing appropriate supports in place for parents to feel comfortable and understand the importance of teaching emergent literacy skills All stakeholders have to actively reach out to families.
Some families will not allow teachers to assist. Parents just want the child to be taken care of in the school and let them take care of home. Families often do not value education and want their children just to graduate. These are difficult cases.
I completely agree as a TVI I not only need to understand my students but also their families. I cannot completely support my student if I do not understand their home dynamics. To create accommodations and offer support I need to know the ins and outs. I believe being a good TVI I need to be there for my student and their family.
@mnangle Sounds like youâre already going above and beyond in supporting families in making these specific connections for their children. Keep up the truly amazing work.
I have never thought of not teaching the entire code; it is just a question I had once reviewing the module on dyslexia. I have a student who I believe has reading difficulties, but they have learned the entire code. Now it just having them read, read, read to encounter the words that they still have trouble with.
Hello Michael,
Interesting that your student exhibits some of the same struggles as one of my students. While not a dual medium student, she still struggles with words that have multiple contractions. I, too, have created the sentence/paragraph in uncontracted braille and she struggles with the same words. I will see if the school can test her for dyslexia.
Maryann,
- How might the cultural background or socioeconomic status of families impact their ability to implement the suggested strategies for promoting emergent literacy in toddlers with visual impairments?
Understanding the childâs culture and socioeconomic status is key to providing quality and meaningful support to them. We meet families where they are at and focus on their family needs. This is the center of an IFSP. When thinking about providing emergent literacy experiences I wouldnât assume that the child has access to all of the same things. Therefore, providing them with materials you can leave behind, setting them up with free programs like ones available from their local organizations, national ones like Seedlings Braille Books for children and APH books and materials. Modeling the concept can also be helpful for families so that when you leave, they can repeat what you have just done. We also must consider that some families have more defined roles as to what persons in the family do. Maybe the family feels they arenât being a good caretaker if they âallowâ their child to put away toys, help with making food or trying to dress themselves. Therefore, they donât give their children those skills that other learn incidentally. What a family has is not a reflection on their desire to provide the most meaningful life for their child.
I love the rose, bud, thorn concept. What a great way to generate authentic conversation.