Mathru School for the Differently-Abled
Friday 12/27/2013
I'm back in business. Not 100 percent yet, but close. Amazing, considering that two days ago I felt so awful I thought it'd be at least another week before I'd be well enough to teach. But I was fine to teach today.
My 9 to 11 kids are deaf and non-oral, but can see well. My 11 to 1 kids all have some physical or cognitive impairment along with some vision impairment, but can still see better than I can. I'll be working with them again tomorrow.
Next week I'll be on our originally-planned schedule: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays here at the Mathru School for the Differently-Abled, and Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays over at the other school (Mathru School for the Blind). My students there will be older, and will have at least as much vision as I do (which isn't much).
Today's students were so engrossed in their projects I felt almost superfluous. One student wanted to incorporate a mirror into his project, and asked me to cut one into a rough round shape to fit his design. When I showed him how he could use the mirror shards too in his design, if he wanted, he very happily indicated he did. Even accounting for the fact that most of them have good vision, their projects are impressive, considering how young they are and how they're not strong enough yet to cut the tiles and mirrors without help.
Today was a public relations day. Muktha arranged for photos to be taken during one class, and brought one of Mathru's major supporters around during the other class. He seemed delighted with the mosaic projects, and said he might be able to find wheeled glass nippers and tile nippers for us. He'll look for the tubed adhesive tile caulk, too. The furniture glue we're using is working just fine, but the tubes are easier and less messy.
Another thing I'm teaching around here is mobility. It's odd, but O&M is not one of the skills Mathru teaches. (I still think "operation and maintenance" from my water business days, but in the blind world it's "orientation and mobility," and includes white cane training.) We'll see what I find when I start spending more time at the other facility, but so far I have yet to see another white cane anywhere, and none of the staff here, including Muktha, seem to have had any training in safe sighted guiding methods.
My classroom was changed to the building across the driveway, mainly so we can lock the room when it's not in use. Anyway, Andy and I made sure to do a few trial runs so that I can navigate there on my own with my cane. It's not difficult, but involves getting myself situated from my front doorstep so that I'm headed in the right direction, and once I'm across the driveway I shoreline to the steps, go up three of them, turn left, pass one set of windows and turn in to the first set of doors on my right. I'm familiar enough with the grounds now that if I veer off course, I can figure it out and get myself back on track.
The staff's inclination, however, is to rush up, grab my elbow and try to propel me forward, or even lift me up the steps. They'll also grab my cane and try to point it (and me) in the right direction. It's a real effort sometimes to refrain from giving them a hard whack in the patooties. Instead, I stop and gently shake them off, saying, "I'm fine, the cane tells me where to go." Or "Don't worry, with the cane I'll find the right place, just let me find it." Or, "No, I need YOUR elbow, and YOU go first."
They are starting to get the message. I am sure they all got a chance to watch Andy guiding me around, and that was probably an education in itself. He really did a great job, and we got to the point where it was automatic and smooth, even over the most complex mazes of curbs, steps, ramps and potholes that is typical here. The cane helped, too, because I was often able to find curbs and steps before Andy had time to tell me about them. It made his guiding job easier.
Anyway, I'm on the lookout for the appropriate opportunities for impromptu sighted guiding lessons, and maybe even a few cane lessons. I doubt I'll have to frog-march anyone, but we'll see.
Friday 12/27/2013
I'm back in business. Not 100 percent yet, but close. Amazing, considering that two days ago I felt so awful I thought it'd be at least another week before I'd be well enough to teach. But I was fine to teach today.
My 9 to 11 kids are deaf and non-oral, but can see well. My 11 to 1 kids all have some physical or cognitive impairment along with some vision impairment, but can still see better than I can. I'll be working with them again tomorrow.
Next week I'll be on our originally-planned schedule: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays here at the Mathru School for the Differently-Abled, and Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays over at the other school (Mathru School for the Blind). My students there will be older, and will have at least as much vision as I do (which isn't much).
Today's students were so engrossed in their projects I felt almost superfluous. One student wanted to incorporate a mirror into his project, and asked me to cut one into a rough round shape to fit his design. When I showed him how he could use the mirror shards too in his design, if he wanted, he very happily indicated he did. Even accounting for the fact that most of them have good vision, their projects are impressive, considering how young they are and how they're not strong enough yet to cut the tiles and mirrors without help.
Today was a public relations day. Muktha arranged for photos to be taken during one class, and brought one of Mathru's major supporters around during the other class. He seemed delighted with the mosaic projects, and said he might be able to find wheeled glass nippers and tile nippers for us. He'll look for the tubed adhesive tile caulk, too. The furniture glue we're using is working just fine, but the tubes are easier and less messy.
Another thing I'm teaching around here is mobility. It's odd, but O&M is not one of the skills Mathru teaches. (I still think "operation and maintenance" from my water business days, but in the blind world it's "orientation and mobility," and includes white cane training.) We'll see what I find when I start spending more time at the other facility, but so far I have yet to see another white cane anywhere, and none of the staff here, including Muktha, seem to have had any training in safe sighted guiding methods.
My classroom was changed to the building across the driveway, mainly so we can lock the room when it's not in use. Anyway, Andy and I made sure to do a few trial runs so that I can navigate there on my own with my cane. It's not difficult, but involves getting myself situated from my front doorstep so that I'm headed in the right direction, and once I'm across the driveway I shoreline to the steps, go up three of them, turn left, pass one set of windows and turn in to the first set of doors on my right. I'm familiar enough with the grounds now that if I veer off course, I can figure it out and get myself back on track.
The staff's inclination, however, is to rush up, grab my elbow and try to propel me forward, or even lift me up the steps. They'll also grab my cane and try to point it (and me) in the right direction. It's a real effort sometimes to refrain from giving them a hard whack in the patooties. Instead, I stop and gently shake them off, saying, "I'm fine, the cane tells me where to go." Or "Don't worry, with the cane I'll find the right place, just let me find it." Or, "No, I need YOUR elbow, and YOU go first."
They are starting to get the message. I am sure they all got a chance to watch Andy guiding me around, and that was probably an education in itself. He really did a great job, and we got to the point where it was automatic and smooth, even over the most complex mazes of curbs, steps, ramps and potholes that is typical here. The cane helped, too, because I was often able to find curbs and steps before Andy had time to tell me about them. It made his guiding job easier.
Anyway, I'm on the lookout for the appropriate opportunities for impromptu sighted guiding lessons, and maybe even a few cane lessons. I doubt I'll have to frog-march anyone, but we'll see.
RSS Feed