Transcript Historical Perspectives on Working with VI Students

Historical Perspectives on
Working with VI Students
• From ancient times, people have been fascinated
and curious about blind people. Unfortunately,
some sighted people have also been cruel and
terrified. Two examples from ancient times
spring to mind.
• France was the birthplace of education of blind
children in the 18th century.
• Its patron was Valentine Hauy, who was
motivated to establish an “institution” for the
blind by this experience:
– “One night in a café he saw a troupe of blind men in
grotesque costumes performing a skit which elicited
pity and ridicule from the audience.”
• Hauy’s primary objective was to teach the blind
something “useful” and skills that would make
them more socially acceptable.
• He used his students extensively to raise money
for his institute.
The Importance of Brl
• A critical development in the field of visual impairment
was the development and acceptance of Braille as the
dominant reading and writing media.
• Many tactile reading modes were employed and
developed.
• Some feel that education of students with visual
impairments did not truly begin until a workable system
was adopted. Braille began being adopted in mid 1800s.
• The struggle to adopt of a single code/method lasted
through the 1800s into the early 1900s.
Early Schools in the US
• Three private schools funded almost
simultaneously.
– New England Asylum for the Blind (Perkins -- 1829)
– New York Institution for the Blind (New York
Institute for Special Education – 1831)
– Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the
Blind (Overbrook – 1833)
Local Schools –Texas School for the Blind (1856)
Arkansas School for the Blind (1859)
• Boarding schools were very fashionable in the
early to mid 1800s. This made it perfectly logical
for schools to sequester their students and even
to recruit them avidly.
• In the field, there were already rumblings about
whether or not isolation from the mainstream
was a good thing.
Physical Arrangements of Schools for
the Blind
• Dormitory
• Cottage System
• Partial mainstreaming into the local school
district with a specialized VI resource room
• Total mainstreaming into the local school
district with a specialized VI resource room
Samuel Gridley Howe
• Superintendent of Perkins School for the Blind.
Was the head of the school for 44 years.
• He supported the education of Laura Bridgman
and developed the foundation of techniques for
teaching students with deaf blindness.
Laura Bridgman
• Laura Bridgman was the first totally deaf, totally
blind student to be taught at Perkins. While she
was able to repeat some things by rote, she
always had limited communication ability.
Helen Keller
• Helen and Ann Sullivan Macy were almost
inseparable with Perkins. They had a long
association with the students and administrators
who lived there.
• Helen gave sighted people the proof that the
blind (and the deaf) were quite capable of doing
anything that needed to be done.
• 1900 - Frank Hall, Superintendent of the Illinois
School for the Blind
• In the Chicago schools started the first well
organized, planned VI resource program.
• The TVI’s name was John Curtis and when he
was interviewed about the project, he noted that
there were SOME problems with the model it
did begin change.
– Didn’t group students with all vision loss together
– Did still practice some sight saving techniques but
allowed print reading
Low Vision Students in the Public
Schools
• The pendulum swung very quickly away from
residential education.
• The director of Perkins, for example, maintained
that low vision students tended to develop a
sense of superiority over blind children. When
they are returned to society, they are very likely
to suffer extreme disappointment.
• He also maintained that these students tended to
loose patience with the rules that were necessary
just for maintaining the safety of blind students.
• Finally, he indicated that students with low
vision resented the fact that they were asked for
mobility help by blind students at the school.
New Techniques for the Field
• Robert Irwin was the first director of the VI
program for Cleveland schools.
• In 1913 he developed what he thought would be
a solution to the issues of the students with low
vision.
• Two classrooms were developed for the
program. One had materials for students with
low vision, and one had equipment for totally
blind students.
Trials and Missteps
• Students were not allowed to go into the room
of the group they didn’t belong to.
• Irwin also completed some research on the
appropriate size of print for persons with low
vision. He determined that 36 point was the
optimum size. However, after he had studied
the problem a bit more, he determined that 24
was the perfect size.
Blinded Veterans
• After World War II, some attitudes held by society
began to change.
• Soldiers who had lost their eyesight in battle were
streaming back into the country.
• Suddenly almost everyone knew someone who was
blind.
• The veterans themselves were likely to be independent
and demanding where training was concerned.
• For example, this is when Hoover developed many of
his cane techniques.
Blind and VI Students. . .
• Blind and visually impaired students tended to
benefit from this improved understanding of
“the blind.”
• A number of opportunities to explore the
community were opened up for them as well.
An Epidemic of Blindness
• Two infants in Boston were born in 1940.
• They had an eye condition that ophthalmologists had
never seen. The condition lead to blindness.
• In 1942, doctors named the disease Retrolental
fibroplasia (RLF)
• More than 10,000 children were eventually blinded by
this condition.
• In 1954, it was determined that the common practice of
administration of oxygen to premature babies increased
the prevalence of ROP, methods changed and the
epidemic stopped.
Personnel Preparation
• Essentially during the 1920s, there weren’t any.
• Dr. Sam Ashford was the first person to hold a
doctorate in vision in the nation.
• He put together a training program at George
Peabody in the 1950s.
• In the 1960s more programs began to be
established including San Francisco State—
whose faculty included Georgie Lee Abel, Phil
Hatlen, Sally Mangold, and Pete Wurtzberger.
Texas
• Texas has had and continues to have a
leadership role in the field of blindness
– Braille Bill 1991– The landmark braille legislation
that other states have copied
• LMA
• Term functional blindness rather than legal blindness
• Teacher requirement of demonstration of braille
proficiency
• Braille must be equally considered to print as medium
• Mandate that textbook publishers furnish electronic files
“in a timely manner”