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PARENTS: Parents of visually impaired children play a pivotal role in their education .Teachers must recognize the role of parents and involve them in the education process . Working with parents is no longer an ideal but a mandate, be it in Africa, China or Brazil and whether the parents are professionals, or have no formal education. It is parents who can make or break a program. Teachers should view parents as neither friends nor enemies but as colleagues and therefore they deserve the same respect, training, patience, understanding, off-days, and sick leave accorded to any co-worker. The only difference is that parents work much longer hours, are burned out more than the teachers and their remuneration isusually intangible.
There is no mystique about special education as my colleagues the teachers would like to believe. It is easy for parents to feel intimidated when the highly trained specialist uses educational jargon and seems totally competent particularly at a time when parents feel incompetent and insecure. All successes and achievements of the child belong to the professionals; and the failures and temper tantrums of the child to the poor parent.
Partnership can be affected by who is in control - be it the administration of the school, or the specialist. People like many of us here who are in the profession of working with handicapped children are people who have chosen it. It is a profession that gives you and me a lot of self- esteem and a lot of good feelings.It is such a noble profession and the world at large admires people who work with handicapped children.
The scenario is quite different for parents of handicapped children. Unlike us teachers , the parents did not make this choice. No parent would choose to have a child with a disability. Teachers and parents want the best program for the child. The same noble aim but from two players coming from very different domains. The teacher or professional comes from a place that gives a lot of self esteem. A parent of a handicapped child does not have that self esteem. The parent's feelings of being out of control of the situation can affect parent-child relationships and teacher-parent relationships. Educators need to be aware of how their actions, language and judgments contribute to this insecurity and at the same time develop strategies to help parents gain control over their lives.
Paul Ennals says that "we
need to be clear about roles. In the classrooms it is the teacher who is
in charge. At home it is the parent". Does this mean that the parent should
not be involved in the educational program of the child?
It is critical for teachers
to understand that an individual parent's involvement in the educational
program at any given point in time is dependent on many factors. Parent
aspirations, examination pressure, the paper chase, anxiety, and their
own confidence that their child can be successful. Parents are capable
of teaching and often already function as their children's teachers. I
have known many parents who devote daily time to working with their children
on homework. They no longer see blindness as an overwhelming handicap and
can be highly successful and seem to know how to motivate their children
in obtaining optimal performance much to the surprise of the teachers.
Many parents too are capable of making judgments which are best for their
children. Can we, teachers deny them this?
A sensitive professional should not only recognize and accept the level of participation of parents but ask for their input. This increases self- concept and helps parents to feel more in control of the situation. There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up. We teachers must practice doing this exercise. As teachers we do not have all the answers. With all the best teaching strategies, intervention programs, diagnosis etc. we cannot make the kids better . . . . The bottom line is "he can't be fixed", as they say. This makes a parent sad and as professionals we have to be sensitive of this. Listening to parents is a skill, professionals must learn. One of the strategies I have found effective was to schedule parent group meetings. Most often it was planned as a fun thing and included a picnic at the beach. There was opportunity for discussions, some hands-on- experiences like doing chores and mobility blindfolded , and demonstration lessons especially with multiply impaired visually impaired children. The bonding with other parents and sharing experiences and feelings about their children as well as the professionals they have encountered were invaluable lessons for me and my co-teachers. These meetings enhanced parent participation in and support of the educational program, while strengthening parent-professional relationships.
TEACHERS
I would like to share a
few thoughts on how the itinerant or special education teacher can be an
effective partner in the school where a child with visual impairment is
mainstreamed. Itinerant programs, resource rooms, special classes, residential
schools and inclusive schools all have their place in the continuum of
services for visually impaired students. Each option has its strengths
and its weaknesses. Each option should be available to every student according
to his or her needs and abilities. Ideally no child should be locked into
one particular program but should have the option of alternative placement
as his or her needs change. "The challenge now is to formulate requirements
of a 'school for all'. All children and young people of the world have
the right to education. It is not our education systems that have a right
to certain types of children. It is the school system of a country that
must be adjusted to meet the needs of all children." Bengt Lindquist, Salamanca.
June 1994. To meet the needs of the visually impaired children effectively,
it is not adequate for the itinerant teacher just to have "some basic skills"
as Paul Ennals says, rather she should have good teaching techniques to
provide direct services to the visually impaired students, a thorough understanding
of social psychological and medical implications of visual impairment,
and the impact of visual impairment on each students interaction with his
or her peers and family. She should be knowledgeable about appropriate
interventions that will enhance the student's education process. I do however
agree that it is equally if not more important for her to possess the inter-personal
skills, and the skills to form partnerships.
Itinerant teachers can be like ships that pass in the night. They often isolate themselves. They come into the school and are confined in the work room diligently brailling or transcribing texts and preparing learning -teaching materials. Itinerant teachers should leave the work room sometimes and meet with faculty and staff. The best place to have rapport and relationships with regular teachers is in the lunch room or staff room. These informal discussions are equally as important as the formally arranged meetings. Although it is more conducive to prepare work or transcription in the resource room or work room, it may be an idea to sometimes do this in the staff room. This will help classroom teachers have a better understanding of the work load of the itinerant teacher and will broaden the base of communication.
There are many demands placed on classroom teachers with classroom sizes , particularly in developing countries averaging 40-50 children. The itinerant teacher should be gracious in acknowledging the extra effort of the classroom teacher in teaching the visually impaired child enrolled in her class and should help when possible, by offering to share equipment such as the tape recorder or recorded materials, maps or mathematical models prepared for the visually impaired child.
Allow me here to share an idea I have tried as a resource/itinerant teacher. I have occasionally helped the classroom teacher using reverse mainstreaming by including some of her students when I was working with the visually impaired child. Doing so will not only help the classroom teacher but also the visually impaired student and his peers academically and socially. I have found it a good strategy to work alongside the classroom teacher in sports and extra-curricular activities. This gives the visually impaired child the opportunity to participate in these activities, and the classroom teacher feels happy to have a partner to help her. This can alleviate her feelings of being over burdened. The progress and participation of visually impaired students in school activities is enhanced by the good cooperation and rapport between the itinerant teacher and the school staff. Realistically in a mainstream program all the work cannot be transcribed. A wise itinerant teacher should consult the mainstream teachers who could give ideas on what needs to be adapted and how they themselves would adapt their teaching styles. By consulting the mainstream teachers, the itinerant teacher has made them feel important, "feel good , fell valued and feel skilled" and can rely on their support. People support what they help create. Asking for help is a strength not a weakness. These little tricks of the trade can help establish good partnerships with school and staff. Feelings of the visually impaired program or the child with visual impairment being ?thrust upon them? will not arise. Such responses from existing partners such as classroom teachers and administrators surface when there is miscommunication, poor communication or no communication.
Do we in our teacher training courses give the teachers the nitty gritty, practical suggestions they can use so that they can be effective partners? Do we give too much emphasis on the skills relating to visual impairment, and neglect the skills in networking and human relationships? Most of us present at this conference are educators and/or parents. We are here because we have a commitment to improve the lives of our visually impaired children-To Reach the Unreached. Like you and me Helen Keller had this dream of Reaching the Unreached.
"I would like to live to see the day when every blind child has the opportunity of an education......." Helen Keller. Her wish was not fulfilled in her life time nor today almost thirty years after her death. Why is this so? Why is it that 95% of the 5 million children with visual impairment not in school? Could it be because the different partners are not compatible and therefore are not working together? There are several international instruments in place to assist us in reaching the unreached. Of particulars significance is:
The World Declaration on Education For All....1990 and The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education 199 But these instruments will not make a difference if the principles they espouse are not understood by those who are concerned with developing educational services. It is not often understood that human beings have a need to be together and develop together. Inclusive education, which for us in developing countries, is the answer to reach the unreached, is about positive attitudes and acceptance of working together and developing together. Inclusive education is NOT about individual education or teaching, but about providing teachers with the knowledge and skills which will enable them to practice the "Together we are Better" principle.
I have not discussed the
roles of the other educators not because they are less important but it
is because they should become the partners that professionals and parents
must work with in preparing children for life.
"No one can whistle a symphony
it takes an orchestra to play it"
If we educators are not natural partners as Paul Ennals claims can we not develop the skill of effective networking and teamwork so that we can attempt to reach at least half the target of children with visual impairment before the end of the millennium and that Education For All may be realized before the 11th ICEVI world conference? "Working together ordinary people, can perform extraordinary feats. They push things that come into their hands a little a higher up, a little further on towards the heights of excellence."
No one can whistle a symphony.
It takes an orchestra to play it.
We are here today because
we want to make a difference.
We can make that difference
through effective partnerships!
I end with a pearl for each
of you that I found in the review Mission.
If the word said " A single
word cannot make a page" - there would be no book.
If the note said, "A single
note does not make a piece of music"- there would be no symphony.
If the stone said, "A single
stone cannot build a wall" - there would be no house.
If mankind said, "One gesture
of love cannot save humanity" - there would never be any justice, peace,
dignity or happiness on earth.
Just as the book needs each
word, Just as the symphony needs
each note,
Just as the house needs
each stone,
The whole of humanity needs
you.
Where you are
Unique
And therefore irreplaceable.
Working as partners in preparing
children for life
Mavis Campos is a specialist in the education of children with visual impairment and for 12 year worked with the Ministry of Education in Malaysia as a teacher and supervisor of intergrated education programs of blind and low vision students. She was also Principal of St. Nicholas School for the Blind, in Malaysia for eight (8) years. Mavis has conducted teacher training courses for special education teacher of the visually impaired in Thailand, Papua New Guinea, China and the Philippines. From 1989 to the present, she is based in the Philippines as the Education and Rehabilitation Adviser of Christoffel Blindenmission, and is involved with community based rehabilitation training. She also co-ordinates the prevention of blindness program of Christoffel Blindenmission partners in the Philippines through the Cataract Foundation Philippines, Inc.
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