Structured Discovery Learning and High Expectations: The Ultimate Equalizer in the Early Childhood Development of Blind Children
By EvaMarie Sanchez
EvaMarie took her experience as an educator, having worked in the public school systems and city recreational programs, as well as a licensed social worker, and has added to that by attending Louisiana Tech University. There she earned her master’s degree in counseling and guidance to become a Nationally Certified Rehabilitation Teacher for the Blind. She is presently working with the Rehabilitation Services of Arizona. Living in North Scottsdale with her family, she is enjoying the warmth and activities having forgotten what it means to relax as she is constantly active in her community.
Abstract
The blind child is first and foremost a child. Exploration and discovery are essential components in their development. Here we will focus on the expectations towards young children, how structured discovery is used in teaching orientation and mobility from the beginning, and how this influences their development towards becoming autonomous individuals as they grow in all areas including physical, mental, and social. Also touched on will be the justification of the early introduction of the mobility cane and some of the arguments against this practice.
Keywords
Blind children, orientation and mobility, structured discovery, early intervention, developmental stages
Benefits of Early Cane Usage for Learning and Exploration
She was little more than a year old, barely enough hair for pigtails, and yet, Merry-Noel placed a small white cane in her hand. The scene was at the National Convention of the National Federation of the Blind, specifically at the Annual Cane Walk in 2015. The Cane Walk was started in 1994 when some parents of blind children wanted to understand what their children were facing. The Orientation and Mobility (O&M) instructors on hand decided to show them by taking them to where instructors, children, and parents could all walk freely with their canes. They called this the Cane Walk and it has continued every year since. Merry-Noel Chamberlain is a teacher of the visually impaired (TVI) and an O&M instructor based in Omaha, Nebraska. She is often seen at the annual Cane Walk handing canes to youngsters like the one mentioned above.
When asked about why she was giving a cane to such a small child, she was ready with an answer. The child needs to feel comfortable with the cane, it must become a friend. She did not expect that this little girl would be walking down the halls with great mobility skills. That would come later, but not if she refused to carry a cane when she was older. The child gladly grasped the cane and held it in her tiny hand, but it was not to be. Her father kept taking the cane from the child and putting it down. He would say that she does not need a cane. Like many parents he had only wanted to do what was best for his child. As a sighted adult who probably was experiencing blindness for the first time through his small child, he did not understand the implications of his actions.
Sadly this is often the case for blind children. The parents and families of the blind child want to protect the child and they want them to look normal. Holding a long white cane does not look normal to them. It makes a statement that this child—their child—is blind. The parents with those good intentions do not realize, or have not yet accepted, that their child is indeed blind, and as such, their safety and independence will only be enhanced by the white cane they are resisting. They, the parents and family members, also need to become comfortable with the cane in their lives. Their acceptance of blindness and the cane will foster an acceptance by the developing child, just as their resistance to them will also be duplicated by the child as she grows. Getting past this in adolescence will be a greater challenge, even if by this time the parents are accepting.
A sighted child starts developing independent mobility before the age of one as they crawl and then stand upright to take their first steps. Thinking of it, mobility actually starts in the crib when the baby learns that they could manipulate the position of their body through lifting their arms, kicking their legs, and rolling from side to side. All of this is a step in the developmental growth of the small human. A blind child must replace visual percepts with a combination of sensory inputs from the remaining senses. These non-visual sensory inputs can only be gathered if the blind child moves through space and actively researches spatial relationships (Baldwin, n.d. a). The blind child is usually allowed to experience this step in their development just as the sighted baby does, but there are those parents that are so protective even at this early stage that the physical development of these tiny people becomes delayed. When their physical development is delayed, it affects so many other expected and scheduled milestones. A baby is first introduced to solids once they are able to sit in an upright position with minimal support, but a baby who has not been allowed to move freely, even in the crib, does not develop the muscle strength to do this. Once they are up and walking, or possibly even at the crawling stage, they may be thwarted. The concern of onlookers that the blind baby will bump into something or fall is prevalent, yet it is accepted as a natural consequence for the sighted baby who is allowed to explore their world. When the baby is allowed to explore, they learn to develop their senses. They feel, listen, smell, and learn the spatial awareness that is denied visually. Part of the reason for their success, I suspect, is that in learning to orient themselves to the world and to navigate within it, children do what comes naturally. Teaching them to do so (if teaching is even the right word) consists of enabling them to follow their natural inclination to explore the environment (Dodds, 1984). As mentioned, a child needs to be allowed to research the spatial relationships. Another area in which this occurs, other than in regards to travel, is with concerns of the objects or foods within their reach. At approximately the age of eight months, a baby is placed in a highchair and a handful of Cheerio’s is dumped on their tray. Most of those little rounds end up as dog treats for the waiting furry friends, but as the baby plays they inevitably succeed in picking up a Cheerio that somehow makes its way to their mouth. This is the beginning of learning that their actions produce results. These small actions enhance their fine motor skills development and independent eating and become a segway to further exploration and growth.
When the blind child has every need provided for by caregivers who may have wonderful intentions but low expectations, the child’s development suffers. A child cannot gain fine motor skills and dexterity if they are not allowed to attempt to feed themselves and pick up those small items proffered. It is difficult to see how a child can gain spatial awareness when they are not allowed to explore the space they are occupying and that includes the tray of their highchair. In fact that tray is the perfect place to start their mental mapping which not only leads to increased spatial awareness, but also increased cognitive development.
An acquaintance shared a story of two young girls, both blind since birth, who grew up in the same neighborhood. One child, his own daughter, was raised with expectations that provided freedom to explore and develop within expected normal parameters. She was expected to succeed and she met those expectations. The second child, no disability other than blindness, was sheltered and cared for by well-meaning parents who did everything for her. This child was guided through life with no chance for autonomy, fed by others and had all of her needs handed to her with no expectations of independence. These two children grew to be very different adults. The first is now the executive director of a widely known and successful rehabilitation center for the blind. The second woman is a client in that same rehabilitation center’s developmental disability program.
Traditional training is based on a vision paradigm. Vision is emphasized as the predominant sense, and those who do not have vision are looked at as impaired. They are taught and expected to navigate by visual cues from a sighted counterpart such as an instructor or to learn that the visual cues exist and they need to be utilized. A blind child, especially a blind baby, is operating the way that comes naturally to them as a non-visual person. They learn non-visually and learn to navigate non-visually. When this premise is accepted, it is then easily understood that a blind baby will develop in a way that is non-visual and if allowed to have the freedom to gain this development, based on their blindness alone there is no reason for them to not develop in line with their sighted peers. What often results from not employing or not knowing about the skills of blindness is that children will be vulnerable to adults placing low expectations on them, often using misconceptions about blindness to guide their practices. Consequently, the child will experience delays in the acquisition of life skills for independent movement and travel (Cutter, 2007). If the long white cane is a tool for a blind adult in travel, why then would it stand to reason that this same tool would not be beneficial to the blind child?
When you watch a child who with their imagination has all possibilities of using a cane, what you’re watching is an active learner and child who is deciding what they want to do to explore the environment. It is a discovery approach to learning the environment (Mydlack, 2011). Whether that child is a toddler banging the cane as they go, a preschooler waving the cane in front of himself as he walks beside Mom, or a school-aged youngster learning from a certified instructor, the child is exploring and gaining experience that leads to greater development. It is normal to observe a sighted baby sitting alone on the floor looking around for something they want, a bottle for example. This baby is able to locate the item and make their way to it to then grab the prize. A blind baby, not knowing that they lack the sight to look around, will do what they instinctively know will work. They may take that little cane, move it around the floor until it finds something, and then be able to also retrieve the prize. When thinking of orientation and mobility it must be recognized that orientation does not relate to walking alone, and without that ability to orient within an environment, independence is lost.
If not the child’s own cane, the use of a teaching cane with the adults in their life is a great start when it comes to early introduction of the cane. The child can learn from the role modeling of the parent or by actively taking part in the adult’s use and control of the cane by grasping it and following the motion. When the cane finds something like an obstacle, a drop-off or even a texture change, the child can be encouraged to trace down the length of the cane to see what was found. This is making a game out of the exploration that is teaching the relationships between the sounds and sensations that are translated through the cane to the child. They are discovering for themselves rather than being told what it is, so they are receiving a lesson they will retain and they will be able to recognize the sensation the next time it occurs. The importance of the role modeling should also not be lost here. Children learn through mimicry of those they look up to. My own little girl was often seen walking around and using her light saber as a cane. If the adult treats the cane as acceptable, the child will know it as being acceptable and will not be resistant to using it even as she grows.
Acceptance of Blindness
Exploration does not indicate or justify a lack of guidance towards appropriate and safe behaviors though. Often parents, no matter what their expectations are regarding abilities, feel their hands are tied when it comes to teaching appropriate behaviors and etiquette. Sighted children are taught to eat with spoon and fork. While very young children are often seen eating with their hands, and without the lessons provided to their sighted peers, the blind children grow into blind adults still playing with their food. Sighted children are taught to respect another’s personal space while blind children are often invading the imaginary bubbles of their peers. Many blind people have heard the words “you do not look blind.” It is not that people who are blind should look a particular way, but there is a perception held by some that the blind are unkempt and dirty. Presumably this perception stems from the few individuals that are never taught to care for their own hygiene or appearance. There is no reason for this other than the low expectations and perceptions of others that have created roadblocks to the social development of these individuals. It must be noted here that this situation is not unique to the blind. Many sighted children are also denied these basic lessons so they never grasp the need for cleaning up as adults either, but for some reason this fact does not create low expectations towards the sighted population.
Dodds (1984) also wrote of the need for professional intervention for the blind child as the parents realize that their skills “…are wholly inadequate when dealing with an infant whose behavior and development milestones are going to be quite different from those of this sighted sibling” (p. 42). The counter argument for this is that though professional intervention is needed as the child grows, just like with any aspect of education for any child, the education of the child actually starts within the home with the parents or caregivers. If the blind child is supposed to wait until they are of school age to meet with a professional O&M instructor for maybe three hours per week so that they could become independent travelers, they will already be greatly far behind their sighted peers in development. The independence sought at this time will not manifest as well as with the blind child who is allowed to be a child first. An ability to walk is not necessary in order to use the teaching cane strategy. The only requirement is the ability to hold the cane in a manipulative grasp. Children transported in wheelchairs or strollers can use a cane for tactile and vibratory feedback, extending reach, previewing a walking surface, and exploring (Tellefson, 2010). At twelve months, what is the age-appropriate thing a child should be doing? One thing is walking. There is no reason not to expect it, even though we are told quite often by mobility instructors that blind kids don't walk until twenty-four months (Ryles, 1992).
Many are familiar with the TVIs, but there are also Teachers of Blind Students (TBS) which hold the same high expectations as their fellow Structured Discovery counterparts. Aside from the teaching methods and the expectations, the greatest difference is the visual paradigm. TVIs are traditionally trained and often focus on their student’s remaining vision for instruction. For true and lasting independence, a student who is taught to believe in their abilities no matter their vision, and is guided to learn non-visually, will reach a greater lasting success in whatever they attempt in life. For example, those operating by the visual paradigm might encourage their young students with low vision to read print even if they struggle, need increasing amounts of magnification, and suffer from headaches brought on by eye strain. A TBS will provide the opportunity for each child they work with to learn braille and have true literacy. Statistics have shown that the blind or visually impaired individual who is a braille reader grows up to become more employable and successful in life.
Just as with waiting until school age to start O&M training is detrimental for these blind children, it must also be considered that the services provided by the TBS concerning their activities of daily living are greatly delayed when put off until school attendance, no matter the expectations of or methods used by the instructor. What I am advocating for is the notion that a blind child provided with the necessary tools will seek out new experiences and begin to explore the world. This will do more to develop space and body concepts than any other activity (Schroeder, 1986). Blind children must systematically study environments. They have to move through space to develop mental schemes about the world. Teaching a blind child to be oriented in space, and to stay oriented while moving, is the major challenge to the public school mobility specialist (Baldwin, n.d.b). When a child comes to the point of receiving education from a professional and already possesses the skills gained through normal development, they will have a spatial awareness that is in step with their sighted peers. This will make the job of the O&M instructor easier, as well as being a natural benefit to the life of the child and those with whom he interacts. This is true, of course, under the presumption that the mobility instructor has a true belief in the potential of the blind child and who understands the individuality of the child.
Even as a child, it must be known that there is informed choice and no professional, whether a mobility instructor or a school teacher, should force their ideas on the family. This was exemplified recently when a seven-year-old attending school in Bristol, England, had her cane taken away by the mobility specialist. The school stressed the measure was a temporary one while the situation was discussed with the family (Blind student asked to stop using white cane in school, 2015). No matter the eventual outcome, to the little girl who had been using this particular cane for the past year, her independence had been taken away. The ultimate reasoning was that the specialist feared that the length of the cane would cause a risk to other students and teachers as she walked down the hall and that they would trip over the end of her cane. In essence, the child was denied her cane because of a visual paradigm (the length of the cane) and an assumption made without validity. Education before action could have prevented this from occurring.
Since perception and neuromuscular activity are food for the intellect, movement is necessary for cognitive development (i.e., intelligence). The more self-directed the movement, the richer the sensory input, leading to sharper perceptions and eventually keener intellect (Baldwin, n.d. a). Back to the child being handed the cane, it must be believed that the parents of this child would want her to have a keen intellect. The teaching cane strategy promotes early cane use as a way to facilitate the development of fine motor, cognitive, and sensory skills (Tellefson, 2010). I remember my first convention of the National Federation of the Blind and the memory of a small boy, likely about four years of age, who was seen running down the crowded halls of the hotel alongside of his more lengthy striding parents. He held his small white cane out in front of him almost like a javelin. His cane skills may have made an orientation specialist cringe, but he had most likely not even met one yet. He was traveling as he knew how and he was doing so without incident or fear. He was displaying the appropriate behavior for a normally developed child of his age. When developmentally appropriate, the child's use of the cane is shaped toward its intended use as a travel tool (Tellefson, 2010).
Even the American Foundation for the Blind advocates the early intervention for young children. They offer the use of specialized kiddie canes and modified travel equipment for the young. Young children who use adapted canes, pre-canes, and alternative mobility devices learn to probe the environment to gather information about obstacles and other details such as drop-offs and changes in texture of the footing along the travel path. They learn to use the information about their surroundings conveyed by the devices for staying oriented and for avoiding possible injury (American Foundation for the Blind, 2016). The question arises that is it truly necessary to have specialized equipment for the child? Should they have canes with modified grips and roller balls that are heavier to use than the standard white cane which is lightweight and flexible? I heard somewhere that children using these modified devices have been known to chew on the soft handle grips and actually bite off pieces of the foam. Does the risk of choking outweigh the risk of not gaining travel skills while in their early stages of development? Then again if they are exploring with this modified equipment, they have not had the opportunity to become acquainted and comfortable with the cane that they will hopefully use when older, the cane that will afford a greater independence as it is not as cumbersome as many of the modified devices. Especially when one looks at the mobility walker for the blind child who has no disability other than the lack of sight, one must question if this is in the best interest of the child. Children as well as adults want to be accepted. They want to fit in and to not stand out as being different from everyone else. The equipment recommended by the traditional O&M instructors is seen as that obvious statement of difference. So why utilize modified equipment when the appropriate equipment is available and the modifications can be hazardous, as well as carrying a statement of abnormality or deficit? When we work with children, we are not thinking deficits. We are thinking assets. And we are thinking gains each day in their development and their progressions in child development (Mydlack, 2011).
Social Development
When children are introduced to the long white cane between the ages of two and eight, there seems to be little concern about other people's perceptions. This is the best time to introduce the cane to a child. At this age, using the long white cane becomes a simple fact of life. The child ventures forward quite easily, provided the parents or guardian have a positive perception of the cane and its use (Chamberlain, 2013). The older adolescent will not be as comfortable with the cane if a relationship has not been started while younger, and the introduction will be difficult to say the least. Often it is found that blind children of any vision level will consider the perceptions of their peers above their safety. All one needs to do is talk to one of the many young blind individuals that are attending transitional services, or observe the older elementary or middle school-aged youth when it comes to their travel. It warrants reiteration here that the perceptions of the family play into the acceptance of the white cane as well. If the family encourages the child to leave the cane behind it will be perceived by that child that the family is embarrassed. This will then in turn be seen as reinforcement that the cane, and by extension, the blindness are things to be embarrassed about. Rather, the family should be the strongest proponents of the cane being used, for they are the most influential people in the lives of these children.
Another area in which the perceptions of the people are involved in the education and development of the blind child is literacy. Many blind children attend school but are being denied an education equal to their sighted peers. They are again victims of the visual paradigm. Whether it be by their parents, teachers, or even their TVIs making the call, to deny a child braille and insist that they learn to read visually when their vision is not adequate for the job, is a disservice to that child. So many children with low vision struggle within the school systems, never reaching their full potentials because they are denied something as readily available as braille. Just as the ones who deny the use of canes, this often again is due to the same intentions of adults who want these children to appear “normal”.
It is said that a baby is born a blank slate. This is true in equal extent with both sighted babies and congenitally blind babies. Each movement, each sensation, each situation that is experienced by the baby is recorded on that slate. This is the beginning of who this baby is to become. One could say that the stories of their lives are being written as they are lived. If the experiences we give blind children are developmentally sound they will experience independent movement and travel age/stage appropriately. Blind children will develop the concept or self-perception of themselves as travelers (Cutter, 2007). Watch young children at play and you will see that they do not need to plan their activities. They do not need to play to expectations. They do as the moment dictates and as their abilities and environment allow. They have no feelings of inferiority at not being adults and this is just as the blind child has no feeling of inferiority of not being sighted. They just are.
These children that are allowed to interact with peers via their own volition are more confident and often will take the lead in assuring that the games being played are accessible to them. Schroeder (2004) shared a story about a boy who wanted to join in a game of tag, but was tired of always being it. He independently came up with a plan to fill a jar with pebbles and demand that the player who was it had to carry this jar. In this manner, the boy was able to hear him coming, and as equally as any of the sighted children who saw him coming towards them, he was able to avoid being tagged. The boy was presented with a problem, examined the information, and created a solution to the problem. This is Discovery Learning at its best.
Just like any child, the blind child needs to be given the chance to explore their world and even at a very young age the cane can facilitate this exploration. Sighted infants are typically encouraged to explore their environment. Parents, siblings, and relatives are continually providing stimulation which helps the infant become an active participant in his or her world. Blind children deserve the same opportunity to develop experientially (Schroeder, 1986). The family member can play with the children using sound-making balls or other toys that may stimulate and attract the blind child to them. Doing this can create the awareness of their spatial environment. Letting them explore independently with the cane in hand, the parents will likely see the child hitting things along the way. This is the beginning of their developing echolocation. Just as the older blind person taps the cane for audible feedback, the baby will slap the floor or start drumming the cane. They do not yet need to have formal instruction; they just need the introduction to see what comes naturally through their developmental stages. Children become more confident about who they are. They learn basic concepts at an early age, when concept development is most critical. Travel skills can be honed as children progress through the stages of development (Mackenstadt, 2014).
What happens to the belief system in blind children, in their ability to move and travel independently, when we teach them that someone else will take responsibility for their movement by guiding them in a manner that is not age/stage (i.e., developmentally) appropriate (Cutter, 2007)? Inferiority is not a feeling that comes naturally; it is learned. This is a lesson that we do not need to be teaching our children. Independence is the lesson we need to pass on, and the best way to do so is by allowing independent exploration and discovery. When asking Mr. Cutter about the effects of early intervention, he responded with, “Yes, early intervention matters… This is one of the reasons and passion for writing the book. Since I was involved in the field nearly 40 years, I have had the opportunity to observe the benefits of early intervention that promotes independent movement and travel” (J. Cutter, personal communication, February 19, 2016).
Is it a steadfast rule though? There will of course be opposition to early intervention or O&M instruction for school-aged children, so it must be noted that it is not always the single determinant to successful and independent travel when older. Acceptance is still the most important factor and without acceptance, the rest will not come. An example of a blind child who did not have early personal intervention is a child whose parents were both blind cane users along with an older sibling. This child, though she attended a blind school, was determined not to be “like those blind people”. She was given instruction, but refused to use a cane or embrace her blindness. Instead she had relied on facial vision and echolocation as they came naturally for her. She only fell down the stairs once and was luckily not hurt seriously. After graduation she attended training in Iowa. This is when she first took up the cane and this was likely only because it was required. If you spoke to her in recent years, she would have told you that she was a bad blind child; she was rebellious (A. Hill, personal communication, 26 February, 2016).
Though she had been around blind people all of her life and was legally blind since birth, she had not accepted her blindness. It took the acceptance to gain the skills that carried her through life and to becoming one of the first blind O&M instructors in the country. Arlene Hill remained a bit rebellious, but she went on to help others accept their blindness and was proud of her travel skills. She always used her cane, taught others to use theirs for over 30 years, and truly learned the importance of the cane for herself. Cane use promotes active movement, contact with the world, opportunities for exploration, and a sense of safety (Tellefson, 2010).
Ms. Hill was a great example of someone who was unaccepting of her blindness. Even though she had been around blind people and was herself legally blind, she did not consider herself as one of them. How different her perception might have been if she was handed her own cane when young, to walk around confidently with her family and exhibit the image of a blind person with skills to be proud of, for it was the inept blind people that she rebelled against joining. Yes, early intervention matters (J. Cutter, personal communication, February 19, 2016).
During our correspondence, Mr. Cutter’s parting words were, “My book, as flawed as it is for literary merit, was an attempt to convey what I had sought to learn, a story of breaking out of a conventional, visual perspective and to do the best as a sighted guy could to convey the importance of independent movement and travel for blind children. It is left for you and yours to build upon” (J. Cutter, personal communication, February 19, 2016). Perhaps his words need to be passed on to not just the educators and future educators, but to the parents of the blind children. The young father stating that his daughter did not need a cane meant well, but if he can hear the messages of Ms. Chamberlain, Mr. Cutter, and all of the many other instructors of blind children, he may be less intent on denying that cane. For the little girl’s sake, let us hope so. And as we should note, few people who fall down a flight of stairs walk away unscathed. Everyone needs preview of what is ahead. Sighted people usually see what is ahead and plan for it. Blind children need to plan for what is ahead, too. When moving, no one likes to be startled by confronting an object or another person unexpectedly. This could result in trips and falls or bumps and bruises (Cutter, 2007). In the words of a blind youth, Tommy Carrol, “I feel like I could push myself to the next level when I’m protected, to try big tricks and not worry about getting hurt” (WhatsWorldsUp, 2013).
Early childhood development leads to competent individuals that can not only navigate the world, but also navigate the social environments in which they live. Competence and confidence are paramount to successful social interactions and relationship building. Friends are important to the health and well-being of an individual, but friends come in many forms. It is an established fact that the cane provides safety. It is also a common belief that safety is assured by the presence of a good friend. When the very young blind child is allowed to build a relationship with their cane, they gain a friend that will be with them for every step of their life.
References
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The Journal of Blindness Innovation and Research is copyright (c) 2019 to the National Federation of the Blind.