Day 36

So Zack was sick this weekend, and he was not his usual, bubbly self this morning. I hope he can stay healthy this week so I can keep learning from him! I realized this morning that I completely forgot to give the new homework packet to my vision teacher (the one I've had ready for over a week!). . .you'd think after almost two months I'd remember things like that!
So the latest chapter I've started reading from my vision textbook deals with the psychosocial needs of children with visual impairments, and it's just what I've been needing to see. It talks about there being a continuum of attitudes toward the student who is blind. On one end is a completely negative and depressing attitude in which those around the visually impaired student believe he or she is destined to always be missing out on life and lonely and dependent on others for everything. On the other end of the continuum is the attitude toward the visually impaired student that he or she can do anything and everything and function completely independently without recognition of any limitations. The authors of the text feel that those around the visually impaired student must find a "happy place" along the continuum in order to help the student to thrive. I've only started the chapter, but the discussion about how much those around the student can impact his or her self perception is eye-opening. Those who interact with the student every day (according to the text--Foundations of Education: History and Theory of Teaching Children and Youths with Visual Impairments, 2000, edited by Holbrook & Koenig) play a huge role in the development of his or her self concept. Every time an adult does something the student could do for himself or speaks to another person as if the student were not there has an impact on how the student will perceive himself. On the other hand, every time someone ignores the student's blindness and treats him like he faces no obstacles, the student's concept of self is falsely inflated. Those of us in Zack's life have an important line to walk in order to help him learn to be proud of himself and to be independent and confident. I am going to closely monitor my interactions with him over the next week (which I guess I have been doing already) to see if I am negatively or positively impacting his development of his self image.