Pathways to Independence: Maximizing Options

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Pathways to Independence Maximizing Options

• Jane N. Erin
• The University of Arizona

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The common goalA better quality of life in
adulthood

• For a visually impaired individual, quality of
  life depends on skills that may not be taught in
  the regular classroom.
• Expanded core skills enhance
• Independence
• Initiative
• Options
• Opportunities

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Are we ensuring options for all students?
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Most people would agree on a high quality of
adult life for Sydney

• A college degree that leads to a satisfying
  career
• Choices about relationship, marriage and family
• Several important leisure activities
• Friends and acquaintances
• The skill to make personal decisions and to meet
  personal needs

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Dominick communicates through iconic signs and
gestures

• Abilities
• lifting and physical activities
• opening doors for others
• smiles, laughs, and enjoys favorite people

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What do you think a high quality of life for
Dominick will be?

• He will be allowed to develop friendships. He
  will be able to participate in favorite
  activities as a reward. He will have work, be
  paid for it, and be able to spend his own money.
• Diane Raab, Teacher

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Most of the work in assessment of Q o L is from
medical literature

• Quality of Life Profile for Adults
• (University of Toronto, www.utoronto.ca/qol/profil
  e/adultVersion.html)
• BEING Physical, Psychological, Spiritual
• BELONGING Living space People Access to
  resources
• BECOMING Daily activities, Leisure, Growth

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1. Daily living skills

• In setting instructional priorities, consider
• Family and student preferences
• Activities that peers are doing
• Activities that will allow greater current
  acceptance and independence
• Activities that will allow acceptance and
  independence in future settings

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If the child is not doing an age-appropriate task
efficiently, is the difficulty

• Physical strength or coordination? Then work on
  physical capacity in related skills.
• Exposure and experience? Then arrange for child
  to observe others doing the task.
• Lack of awareness of visual information? Then
  describe visual aspects and problem solve
  options.
• Lack of motivation ? Then build in external or
  internal reinforcers.
• Inefficiency in time? Then work on speed building
  and adapting key steps of task.

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In a study of DLS by Lewis and Iselin (2002),
students with VI were significantly different
than sighted peers

• Based on parent report,
• notable differences were
• use of hair dryer, alarm clock
• washing hair
• applying toothpaste
• tying shoes
• spreading with a knife
• preparing sandwiches
• wash and dry dishes
• empty wastebasket

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Traditionally, assessment is through task
analysis / discrepancy analysis

• Assess and teach in natural
• settings with real materials
• at appropriate times.
• A. Identify the steps in a typical task
• B. Compare how your student completes the
  activity
• C. Make needed adaptations
• D. Teach steps at which the student is not
  proficient

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But this method does not teach students PROBLEM
ANALYSIS

• Students also need to learn
• to identify decision points in the task
• to compensate for visual elements
• to organize space and materials
• to choose time and cost-effective options

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To take initiative in learning new skills,
students can

• Observe others doing them
• (Career skills)
• Interview other visually impaired people about
  how they do the task (Social skills)
• Locate and consult resources (Academic skills)

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Tips for teaching DLS

• 1. Do the task yourself with a
• simulated visual impairment
• 2. Ask blind/VI adults how they do it
• 3. Make sure student has observed the entire task
  being done by someone else
• 4. Generalize teaching to different settings
• 5. Encourage students to think about more than
  one option and when each is appropriate (e.g.,
  Say When vs. finger in a glass)

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The problem of time

• Demands on student and teacher time make
  it difficult to make time for extensive
  instruction and practice. Instruction may
  be
• INTEGRATED Teaching math and reading in a
  cooking lesson
• SHORT LESSON 10 minutes during each direct
  session
• AT HOME After school during natural times
• WEEKEND OR SUMMER GROUPS With visually impaired
  and/or nondisabled peers
• PARENT and PEER INSTRUCTION Provide guidance to
  families and friends on techniques

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Daily living skills

• 1. Product evaluation
• Do the cookies taste good?
• Is the laundry clean?
• 2. Task analysis data (Chart or graph)
• How much prompting is needed?
• What steps are done correctly?
• 3. Journal, schedule, or calendar
• Is the task completed consistently?
• Is the task completed in an appropriate time
  span?

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2. Interacting with others

• The two subjects I use every day of my life are
  social skills and orientation and mobility. These
  were the two areas in which I received the least
  instruction.
• - Kevin Carrey

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Why is social skills learning different for VI
students?

• They need skills that are
• Standard, like not interrupting others
• Invisible, like getting in line
• Disability specific, like storing a braillewriter

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Informal assessment of social skills

• Time diaries Students maintain record of regular
  social activities
• Quality of involvement measure (Sacks and
  Wolffe) Four-point measurement scale for rating
  involvement
• Observation checklist Initiations,
• topic maintenance, length of interaction,
  appropriateness of topic
• Videotaping or audiotaping social interactions
  (with participant permission)
• Problem solving scenarios

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Social Skills Intervention Research

• Sacks, S., Gaylord-Ross, R. (1992). Peer
  mediated and teacher-directed social skills
  training for blind and visually impaired
  students.
• Three study groups of 5 students each
• Sighted peers trained to teach gaze, posture,
  social initiation, and joining groups
• Teacher-directed intervention
• No instruction (control)

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Which group learned best?

• Teacher trained?
• These students learned most right after training
  but did not maintain skills.
• Peer trained?
• These students learned more slowly but retained
  and generalized skills.
• Control?
• No changes except a small increase in joining
  groups.

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Peer instruction and monitoring

• Foster reciprocal partnerships (Vi student also
  assists peer)
• Clarify expected behavior with both students
• Identify monitoring cues
• Involve both students in monitoring progress

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Mentoring and Modeling

• Monitoring social skills that cannot be observed
• Understanding what next levels of skill are
  expressed by peers, people of different ages,
  genders
• Mentors with similar visual impairment
• Looking up to another with disability
• Having a confidant
• Learning from a mentor social skills

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Students with multiple disabilities

• Consider use of external reinforcers if social
  contact is not reinforcing
• Teach scripted routines
• Teach standard gesture (wave, hand shake, touch
  on hand or forearm)
• Teach distinction between
• Public and private
• Formal and informal

Interacting with others in Post-Secondary Settings
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Living with others in Post-Secondary Settings

• Making choices about where and with whom to live
• Balancing the needs of all residents
• Describing and referring to visual impairment
• Requesting and declining assistance

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3. Recreation and leisureIt is only recreation
if a person chooses to do it!
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Recreation and leisure

• Recreation and leisure are an ECC area because
• Students with VI may spend more time alone
  (Wolffe Sacks, 1997)
• Skills and activities are not learned by visual
  observation in and out of school
• Instruction is needed for inclusion
• Recreation and leisure affects adjustment and
  social skills

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Recreation and leisure

• Research findings suggests variations compared to
  sighted students in
• Physical conditioning Lieberman founds that
  fewer than 20 of the children passed at least
  four items on the Fitnessgram (compared to
  48-70)
• Students with visual impairments participated
  in fewer physical activities in leisure time and
  slept more than sighted peers (Wolffe Sacks)

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Assessment of Recreation and Leisure

• Social aspects
• Individual
• With one person
• With small group
• With large group
• With a team
• Combined options

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Recreation and leisure

• Awareness and initiative
• Does s/he know what options exist?
• Is the student willing to try new activities?
• Does s/he take initiative in describing his or
  her adaptive needs?

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Recreation is not just sports

• Hadley School for the Blind (correspondence)
• A birdsong tutor
• Accessing local sports and recreation programs
• Chess for beginners
• Chess Principles and strategies
• Container gardening
• On the move in the great outdoors

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Recreation and leisure

• Integrated instruction Links between academics
  and recreational activities
• MATH with card games, board games, cribbage
• ENGLISH with writing, poetry, book clubs
• ARTS Singing, sculpting, playing an instrument,
  drama
• SOCIAL STUDIES with travel to museums, movies,
  collections
• SCIENCE with hiking collecting
• (shells, rocks) cooking

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Recreation and leisure How can progress be
measured?

• Outcomes may include
• Achievement Speed, score
• Motivation Frequency of participation request
  reference in conversation
• Improvement Percentage increase of score or
  goal skill change on videotape
• Products (sculpture, stories)
• Portfolio Compiled products of activity (Poems,
  paintings, photographs)

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4. Travel and mobility

• Independence involves
• The ability to plan complex experiences that
  involve travel
• The ability to direct others in providing
  appropriate assistance
• Physical stamina
• The skills to reorient when confused

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Transportation (Corn Sacks, 1994)

• Level of frustration experienced by
• Preplanning BL 2.66 LV 3.34
• Relying on others BL 3.16 LV 3.97
• Accepting rides BL 1.50 LV 2.33
• Carrying objects BL 2.66 LV 3.55
• Explaining to others BL 1.50 LV 3.07

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Managing transportationAs students approach
driving age, they must acquire skills to manage
non-driving

• Access to transportation
• Using public transportation
• Using private transportation (e.g., taxis)
• Hiring drivers
• Charity rides
• Exchange rides
• Automobile knowledge and care

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A matrix for decisions about rides A trip to the
mall (3 is best)
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Community Mobility

• Access to Transportation
• (Finding Wheels A Curriculum for Gaining
  Transportation (Corn Rosenblum, 2000. Pro-Ed,
  Inc.)

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How can a person with severe multiple
disabilities make mobility decisions?

• Direct others about how to move wheelchair
• Make a choice of what direction to go
• Receive a signal to be moved and return a signal
  if able
• Make choices of activities, using object symbols
• Choose speed, when to stop and start

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Factor that contribute to a successful work
experience (Golub, 2003)

• Independence in traveling and performing the job
• Individual achievement (beyond the team)
• Good social skills, including conversation

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For people with multiple disabilities, other
factors contribute to the quality of life

• Mutually satisfying interaction with others .
• Opportunities for personal choices
• There is variety in daily activities, with
  community activities
• Some privacy in living situation
• Participation in productive daily routines,
  occupational if possible

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Integrating skills in community-based activities

• Education should include real life activities
  that involve
• Independent travel planning
• Interaction with others to request information
  and purchase services
• Use of money
• Choices based on preferences
• (Video example)