HEllo Ardith,

On Mon 2011-Jul-25 13:20, Ardith Hinton (1:153/716) wrote to Richard Webb:

RW>  Sometimes the teachers can be the best advocates for
RW>  the students, but sometimes not, which is why we have
RW>  such programs here in the states as the individualized
RW>  education plan,


AH>           We have IEP's here too.  As a teacher, I wrote some of
AH> them....  ;-) 

  THought you might.  oUr systems are similar in many
ways I understand .


RW>  which is supposed to be developed with professionals *and*
RW>  parents, but first the parents often have to be educated,
RW>  both to understand options and possible outcomes.


AH>           Yes.  The professionals often need to be educated too,
AH> however.  I'm reminded here of Nora's kindergarten teacher... a
AH> woman with whom all three of us got along famously.  When she told
AH> Dallas & me "I don't know anything about [various medical issues
AH> pertaining to Nora]" I chuckled & replied "I know that stuff. 
AH> You're the expert in teaching kindergarten.  So... we'll put our
AH> heads together!"  As a former teacher & as a parent, I expect to
AH> work on a collegial basis with professionals.  AFAIC the real gems
AH> actually appreciate that.  :-)) 

THose who really have a grasp of what's going on wish for
that sort of relationship with all the parents of their
students 




AH>  A person who can see well enough to read large print
AH>  and/or who is satisfied with being read to by synthesized
AH>  voices may not feel motivated to learn Braille, however
AH>  ... from that standpoint you were fortunate in some ways.
AH>  At the blind school you probably didn't have a choice &
AH>  your classmates were learning it too.  ;-)

RW>  YEs, but back then there were the dreaded "talking books"
RW>  on record, or reels of tape.


AH>           I remember those.  I used them on occasion when I wanted
AH> my students to hear how English was pronounced a millenium ago.  But
AH> in my experience kids generally prefer to have some opportunity to
AH> interact with the reader....  :-) 

YEp, and it's difficult if at the learning stage you use
recorded books and readers to learn much about your written
language.


RW>  Also, and maybe you don't want to get me started on
RW>  this one, but the "professionals in the field" had
RW>  this grand experiment called "sightsaving" going on,
RW>  which they started after WW II when the system was
RW>  receiving a large influx of blind children thanks to
RW>  the babies blinded by incubators,


AH>           Hmm.  I was dimly aware of the theory as one of those
AH> 1950's "use it or lose it" ideas which probably did more harm than
AH> good to me & others I know but I hadn't yet connected the dots.  The
AH> timing is interesting... [wry grin]. 

INdeed, it had its root in implementation in imho a bit of
laziness.  WE don't have enough braille teachers to meet the needs of the
system, so we'll do this.  tHe theory ended up
further handicapping a generation of blind youth, and that
slide down the slippery slope continues to this day.  US
blind activis types have been sounding the alarm on the
braille literacy crisis now for a generation.


RW>  or Retrolentral fibroplasia (spelling) 


AH>           No problem... you added one letter to a suffix, that's
AH> all.  My best girl friend in high school had twin brothers with this
AH> condition.  Retrolental fibroplasia is the abnormal proliferation of
AH> fibrous tissue behind the lens of the eye... most common when
AH> incubators were first used & the ideal quantity of oxygen was yet to
AH> be determined.  I didn't realize the "sightsaving" stuff had been
AH> going on for such a long time, however.  One of my friend's
AH> brothers, who AFAIK was totally blind, went to the school for the
AH> blind when there was still such a thing here.  I do remember the
AH> panic my older colleagues expressed when they were required to teach
AH> kids with special needs.  They'd been trained in a lockstep era
AH> where the only alternatives were to shape up or ship out... where
AH> left-handedness, introversion etc. were regarded as perversities
AH> which must be eliminated... and thus the learning curve in many
AH> cases was fairly steep.  :-) 

IT still is.  WE reject what we don't understand, or try to
ignore it altogether.  THey started me in that "Sightsaver"
thing when I first started school, but my mother wasn't
going to have any of that nonsense.  SUch things have caused me over the years
to develop a bit of schepticism toward  any professional that comes to me with
an attitude of "trust me, I know what's best for you" and won't discuss his/her
intended course of action in much more detail than that.


Regards,
           Richard
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 * Origin:  (1:116/901)