[blindkid] Do blind kids need personal aides in school?

[Richard Holloway]

> My intuition is that aides who don't actually teach alternative
> skills, but who simply act as the child's "eyes", are unnecessary and
> could promote superfluous dependence. But, I'm not a parent or a
> teacher, so perhaps the aide does serve a legitimate purpose that I'm
> not aware of?

I think one key issue in this area has to do with individual teaching  
styles. If a teacher learns to adapt lessons so that describing  
things, especially things like demonstrations and offering hands-on  
demonstrations when possible, etc., are included, there is far less  
need to have someone "acting as a student's eyes". At times though, a  
person to describe what is happening does seem very appropriate. I  
suspect you're familiar with described videos, for example. That sort  
of information seems really helpful to Kendra (our blind daughter)  
much of the time-- describing the situation or lesson around her.

Skillful teaching techniques can reduce this need, but there will  
always be times when more information for a blind student could be  
really helpful. A simple logistical solution from Kendra's first grade  
class last year comes to mind: Many classrooms have table designations  
for where the kids sit. "Red Table", "Blue Table", and "Green Table"  
come to mind. Sighted kids glance for the green table top and know  
where to go at once. Last year, the tables in Kendra's class became  
(for all students) "The Table Near the Cubbies", "The Table by the  
Sink, etc.", Meanwhile, the teacher quickly adapted lessons to  
describe objects and illustrations as well.

This is where the paraprofessional can step back a bit, but when a  
guest teacher comes in-- perhaps a parent is reading a book to the  
class and showing he pictures, or maybe on a field trip that is fairly  
visually focused, the aide can be ready to quickly slip into place and  
start describing-- filling in as much missing information as possible.  
There is a great deal going on which sighted kids are learning  
incidentally by seeing it, so I do see very legitimate reasons to have  
someone describing that information to blind student when possible. No  
doubt, as kids get older and a broader knowledge base is developed,  
the need for so much described input may be reduced somewhat but I  
suspect it can be beneficial for students of all ages, to some degree.