[NFBWATlk] Looking for some Input on Teaching Braille to a Low Vision Student

[Humberto Avila]

Becky,


Where can I find this video you mentioned? It sounds like a great 
example that maybe me or our O&M instructor that she works with can show 
to her!


On 2/15/2024 1:51 PM, Becky Frankeberger via NFBWATlk wrote:
> The video of the person playing Pokemon walking in a mall and falling in a
> fountain. Now this is a fully sighted person, but distracted and not seeing
> the low wall of the fountain. If that can happen to someone fully sighted? I
> would say using a long white cane would be way less embarrassing.
>
> Becky
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NFBWATlk <nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Humberto Avila via
> NFBWATlk
> Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2024 1:32 PM
> To: Corey Grandstaff via NFBWATlk <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Humberto Avila <humberto_avila.it104 at outlook.com>; Mike Jolls via
> NFB-Braille-Discussion <nfb-braille-discussion at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: [NFBWATlk] Looking for some Input on Teaching Braille to a Low
> Vision Student
>
>
>      Hello All,
>
>
> I hope all is well for you. Happy Thursday.
>
>
> I am reaching out to see if anyone can offer some input and assistance.
>
>
> I am recently teaching a student in my local school where I work at. She is
> learning uncontradicted Braille. In fact, she has mastered the whole
> uncontradicted Braille and we're moving on to contracted. She has low vision
> and is very new to blindness and vision loss.
>
> She does enjoy learning about the Braille code, however, more recently, she
> has been becoming more and more resistant to learning. I work closely with
> another TVI and we've determined that this resistance may be stemming from
> her struggles with losing her vision, which is quite apparent when she says
> things like not wanting to learn to navigate with a cane or other blindness
> skills because she thinks she will not use them ever. I knew she was
> struggling, but I also know she really likes her class period where she is
> with me learning Braille. She in particularly likes Braille art, and I have
> tried to incorporate this type of art / concept as much as possible in my
> lessons. She also likes watching motivational videos about successful blind
> people.
>
> It is more recently that she has begun doubting the skills that we have bee
> teaching her, and going out of her way to boldly and unapologetically say
> so. We have tried referring her to a counselor or therapy, but the student's
> belief system does not encourage her to go that rout. I, as a successful
> Blind person myself, have tried countless and numerous times to model the
> high expectation for her, with my use of my Braille display, and embossing
> the Braille lesson to read along with her, as well as traveling through the
> school proudly with my white cane.
> I even labeled the classroom number(s) and stuck the labels on classroom
> doors, because the school I currently work at was built pre-ADA and sadly,
> has no Braille.
>
> It is her recent struggles with mounting resisting to learn the alternative
> skills of blindness and the Braille that perplexes me and I am new to this,
> perhaps due to the lack of relativity with me being legally blind since
> birth and never experiencing sightedness, and her being fully sighted for
> the 14 bright years of her life and losing her vision. And, while she does
> enjoy inspiration videos of all sorts, I can not simply just flash out and
> shove NFB philosophy and blind culture in general without overwhelming her
> even more.
>
>
> I am therefore looking for suggestions. In what ways can I ground her
> interests and create expectations without making her say she utterly
> dislikes Braille? What other strategies have proved useful to you,
> specifically for those who are either totally blind or legally blind since
> birth, and encountering this situation? How can I further relate to and
> understand her perspective of this person losing their vision and struggling
> in this way, while I have not had such an experience as a blind person? I'm
> not sure if i"m making sense here. But, anyways, your input is valuable and
> immeasurably appreciated. I think my student has a lot going for her and a
> lot she still has to live through. And I need to be able to supplant her
> with the seeds she needs to be a blind person because even though it sounds
> kind of hard and sad, this will now be her new life. So any way that I can
> say these things without really saying them in a realist, tough, or in a
> more positive and optimistic fashion will be appreciated as well.
>
>
> Thank you! Have a blessed day!
>
> - Humberto
>
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