[Pibe-division] A Modest Proposal

Tue Jun 15 21:52:45 UTC 2010

Hi Carlton and friends... I would love to respond beneath each of Carlton's comments. I'll preface my comments with my name. 

From: Carlton Anne Cook Walker 
Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 5:04 PM
To: pibe-division at nfbnet.org 
Subject: [Pibe-division] A Modest Proposal

I believe that Sheila has hit the nail on the head.  If one does not teach a subject, one will likely lose proficiency in that subject. 

But this leads to the next question -- are there ANY other teachers who can spend 10 years NOT teaching a vital part of their subject matter?  Though I am no expert in the various specialties in K-12 education, I cannot think of another field in which this could take place.
Sheila: We have teachers who teach students from birth to 3... they do not teach braille as a rule. They teach pre-reading and pre-braille skills.
We have teachers who teach students who are severely multiply and/or cognitively impaired, but because there is a vision impairment, services of a TVI are often part of the IEP. I tell my graduate students to think about it like this. Would the student with cognitive impairments be a reader if he/she could see? If yes, then teach them braille. If no, then don't - but do maintain a braille-rich and a print-rich environment as appropriate for visual and/or tactual stimulation. 

Perhaps looking a another low incidence disability would be useful.  Like TVIs, Teachers of Students who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing have to learn a totally new communication mode with which they were likely unfamiliar growing up.  However, unlike TVIs, these teachers must be competent in Sign Language upon graduation.  Moreover, I am guessing (though I do not know for certain) that there are very few Teachers of Students who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing who go more than 1 or 2 years without any students who use Sign Language.  Why is this?
Sheila: I was a teacher of the Deaf for the first 27 years of my teaching career. I taught in two schools for the Deaf, and then I was an itinerant in a district and provided hearing and vision services. For the first 8 years of my career I taught in an oral Deaf school. I would have been immediately fired if I had used sign language. We also have a proliferation of kids getting cochlear implants now, who are essentially hearing children. Some parents refuse to allow their Deaf child to learn sign language, afraid that the child will not develop speech because they will depend on sign language. If you think we have braille/no braille fights, there is a parallel in the Deaf world as to sign/no sign. And just as there are varying degrees of visual impairment, there are varying degrees of hearing loss. Sign language is not appropriate for every single child with a hearing loss. Yes, it is possible for a teacher of the Deaf to go 10 years without using sign language. 

In fact, it seems to me that braille instruction is far more supportive of independence than is sign language instruction.  Braille PDAs (such as the Braille Sense, the PAC Mate, and the BrailleNote) allow students to independently create and read digital information from regular educators  In contrast, Sign Language communication in the regular classroom typically requires a translator.  

Sheila's point about the rustiness of braille skills should also be highlighted.  How many TVIs with rusty braille skills will find that a student with low vision (or who is totally blind) needs braille instruction?  A few, perhaps, but those who allow their braille skills to get rusty are not likely to thrill at the prospect of having to teach braille.  Therefore, it should come as no surprise that so very many Learning Media Assessments find that, "braille instruction is not appropriate for the student at this time."
Sheila: Unfortunately this is true too many times. Sigh.  I often tell the story that I heard from a parent about an 8 year old blind student correcting the braille of her TVI. <smile>

Now, for my modest proposal: a new certification.  Though I know there are good reasons not to do so, I believe that the dearth of quality braille instruction mandates that students may only receive braille instruction from an individual competent in braille.  This is really not so revolutionary -- every other subject matter (including non-native language instruction) requires competence from certified teachers.  I am envisioning a TNVS -- Teacher of Non-Visual Skills.  Also, in conjunction with this change and to reduce the current issues of teachers determining what they will teach, I would mandate that only a TNVS could determine that braille instruction is NOT appropriate for an individual student.
Sheila: What a great idea... can I share mine? I would love to see a two-tiered TVI certification. Level 1 could consist of uncontracted braille (and of course all the other necessary components to a certification process). These individuals would be able to teach in the birth - 3 population and/or with students with cognitive or multiple impairments for whom uncontracted braille would be the most appropriate medium. They could also teach the students with low vision who appropriately use large print.  Level 2 would consist of contracted braille, Nemeth Code, music braille, foreign language braille, etc. Those teachers would teach the academic kids for whom braille is the recommendation (after a FVA and a LMA and upon a team decision that includes the parents). An idea like this would free up the TVIs who are proficient in braille to have a caseload where braille is used, and it would allow the teachers who really want to teach early intervention - and see no reason why they have to learn Nemeth Code - to work with the little ones. I have lost too many graduate students who truly wanted to work in early intervention and/or with MH students because they could not get through the more advanced braille requirements.  And of course, we need to hit upon the states that have absolutely NO TVI certification requirements and get them to develop some standards for competence for their teachers. 

O.K., now rip me apart!  :)
Sheila: Not me... but move over and let me join you. There's strength in numbers. 

Carlton

-- 
Carlton Anne Cook Walker, cTVI, NCLB
105 Creamery Road
Boiling Springs, PA, 17007
Voice: 717-658-9894
Twitter: braillemom

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