Helpful Hints for Paraprofessionals Working with Students Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired

Helpful Hints for Paraprofessionals Working with Students Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired

American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults
Future Reflections Special Issue: Early Childhood EDUCATION
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Helpful Hints for Paraprofessionals Working with Students Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired
by Merry-Noel Chamberlain
From the Editor: Merry-Noel Chamberlain is a teacher of the visually impaired (TVI) and holds National Orientation and Mobility Certification. Her articles on orientation and mobility training for blind children have appeared frequently in Future Reflections. She lives and teaches in Omaha, Nebraska.
Sometimes students who are blind or visually impaired have one or two paraprofessionals available to assist them throughout the school day. These paraprofessionals seldom receive specific training in how to work with blind or visually-impaired students. Generally paraprofessionals receive on-the-job training focused on the student's individual needs. Training varies widely from one school district to another, and it may be influenced by the supervising teacher and a variety of circumstances.
This article offers some helpful hints for paraprofessionals working with students who are blind or visually impaired. As not all students have the same needs, it is simply a place to begin.
In some ways the duties of paraprofessionals working with blind or visually-impaired students are similar to those of all paraprofessionals who work with students one-on-one. Overall, the goal is to avoid promoting learned helplessness in the student. The aim of most paraprofessionals is to:

Assist the student without doing for the student.
Encourage the student to be as independent as possible―equal to his or her peers.
Be as invisible as possible to avoid becoming a wall between the student and his peers or teachers.
Provide just the right amount of support for the student―not too much and not too little.
Work as a team member with the classroom teacher or special education teacher to help the student reach her or his highest potential possible in the least invasive way possible.

Basic Duties
For the paraprofessional who works with a blind or visually-impaired student, the basic duties go well beyond those listed above. For best results, the first person the paraprofessional needs to turn to for guidance is the teacher of students with visual impairments (TVI). The TVI works directly with the student and knows best the individual student's nonvisual or low-vision needs. Although paraprofessionals work one-on-one with students, they are not teachers. They are supporters who reinforce what has been taught by the classroom teacher, TVI, or orientation and mobility (O&M) instructor.
In a sense, paraprofessionals are reporters. They relay information back to the TVI or O&M instructor, noting problem areas they have observed or upcoming events of which the TVI or O&M instructor may not be aware.
Paraprofessionals work closely with the TVI, the O&M instructor, and the classroom or special education teacher. Because of this close working relationship they have with the student, they are part of the team. They need to participate in the student's Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meetings. If the student attends his IEP meetings, he will be aware that the paraprofessional is current on all expectations and will support those expectations. The student will not be able to pull the wool over the eyes of the paraprofessional in order to avoid taking responsibility―not that children will ever attempt to do such a thing, mind you!
Here are some of the basic roles and duties of paraprofessionals who work with blind and visually-impaired students.
Reader
Paraprofessionals who work with blind or visually-impaired students serve as readers. In this case, a reader is not simply someone who reads printed materials such as textbooks, worksheets, or storybooks. Rather, she or he is a person who describes the environment to the student. This describing may include, but is not limited to, the following:

Verbalizing overhead or board information/instructions, such as daily assignments on the board that are to be read as soon as the students enter the room.
Verbalizing worksheets that have not been Brailled or enlarged.
Verbalizing filmstrips or movies, especially any words that may appear on the screen but are not read aloud by the teacher or made clear via the film. This is especially important when the information is pertinent to the class instruction or to the film's storyline. For a better understanding of how to verbalize filmstrips or movies, watch a recent movie with the audio description option turned on, or go to a movie theater where descriptive audio headphones are available.
Verbalizing actions during special presentations or lectures. The paraprofessional needs to describe actions that are pertinent to the program or presentation. Sometimes simply verbalizing the actions may not be enough for the student to comprehend what is happening. If this is the case, the paraprofessional may need to let the student touch her arms or hands as she goes through the actions to provide the student with a clear picture. Such physical movement may be most necessary during P.E. classes or during music classes when physical movement accompanies a song.
Verbalizing signs on the walls at the school.
Verbalizing observations while on field trips.
Verbalizing lunch options and describing where items are located on the salad bar.
Verbalizing actions happening around the classroom, playground, or hallway.
Verbalizing where friends are located on the playground or in the lunch room.
Verbalizing (on occasion) the presence of power cords, hoses, or other obstacles that may temporarily be in the path.

Scribe
On occasion the classroom teacher may assign a project on short notice, without allowing time for the materials to be enlarged or transcribed into Braille. Perhaps she has decided on a teachable moment or a pop quiz. To ensure that the student doesn't miss out, the paraprofessional may not only be the reader but also serve as the scribe. A scribe is a person who does all of the writing. This writing could involve filling out a worksheet, completing a math journal, or completing an assignment on an inaccessible website. The paraprofessional needs to keep in mind that:

This is the student's work.
She needs to write down nothing but the answer the student dictates.
She needs to avoid making comments, providing additional instruction, or offering prompts such as "Are you sure?" unless the team has determined beforehand that this can be done.

Here are some other helpful hints a paraprofessional may wish to keep in mind when serving as a scribe for a student:

Ask the student if he is ready to go to the next question.
If the student seems confused about what you have written down for him, ask, "Is that your final answer?"
If time is available, review all the answers with the student.

If a paraprofessional is too helpful, a student may learn to accept unnecessary help from everyone around him, such as friends, family, office staff, acquaintances, and the general public. This behavior is known as learned helplessness. Keep in mind that the paraprofessional is not:

The student's errand runner. For example, the paraprofessional need not volunteer to deliver the student's work to the teacher. The student must be responsible for the completed paper; he must turn in his assignment if that is the next step required of all students.
The one to sign the student up for extracurricular activities. When requested by the student, the paraprofessional may write the student's name on the sign-up sheet, but the paraprofessional is not responsible for doing so when the student is not present.
The one to remember the student's assignments and the dates when they are due.
The one to carry the student's materials from one class to another, unless there are extenuating circumstances.
The one to do anything that encourages learned helplessness.

Adapting Materials
Paraprofessionals working with students with visual impairments may be called upon to adapt materials, that is, to make them accessible for the student. Examples of such materials are worksheets, games, diagrams, pictures, and charts. Depending on the individual student's needs, they may be adapted in three ways: tactile, outlined, or enlarged.
Tactile: There are many ways to provide students with tactile access to materials. The paraprofessional can use puff-paint, foam stickers, raised-line graphing tape, raised-line drawing kits, or tactile graph paper. Braille labels or other items can be glued onto paper, game boards, or posters.
Outlining: For low-vision students, targeted areas on a worksheet may need to be accented with a bold black marker. The marker indicates the box where the student needs to write answers or the line the student needs to cut with scissors.
Enlargement: Enlarged materials need to be discussed with the TVI. The TVI will explain the percentage of enlargement needed and the size of the paper to be used. Some students need to have enlargements on 11x17-inch paper, while others have a preference for legal-size paper. The TVI or O&M instructor may be able to provide instructions on how the materials need to be adapted for the individual student.
Finding time to adapt materials can be a challenge for the paraprofessional. The availability of such time depends on the student's schedule. Unlike teachers, paraprofessionals are seldom given official planning periods. Time may be available while the student participates in activities that do not require the paraprofessional's direct involvement, or when the student is out of school due to illness or doctor's appointments.
Braille
Paraprofessionals working with students who are Braille readers or who are learning Braille need some general knowledge of the Braille code. Beginning paraprofessionals may learn alongside their young students or their students who are just starting to receive Braille instruction. However, most paraprofessionals learn Braille through correspondence courses in order to keep ahead of their students. It is extremely important that the paraprofessional's Braille skills surpass the student's level. The TVI may provide the paraprofessional with information on available Braille correspondence courses.
Some paraprofessionals wonder why they need to know Braille since they are not the ones who teach it. Knowledge of Braille is important for several reasons:

Paraprofessionals need to support the student who is learning Braille when the TVI is not present.
The paraprofessional can help ensure that the student has the Braille volumes he needs for each class. For example, the student may be nearing the end of the second Braille volume of a math textbook. The paraprofessional can go to the storage room and collect the third volume of the math textbook so it is available for the student when he needs it.
Once a paraprofessional learns Braille, she may be able to provide some simple transcription. She may be able to transcribe sentences from print into Braille or transcribe the student's completed Braille homework into print for the teacher.
Some Braille materials entering the school may not include print labels, or the print copy somehow may have become detached from the Braille pages. With some knowledge of Braille, the paraprofessional may be able to sort things out.

Keep in mind that the paraprofessional (or even the TVI) who knows Braille is not considered a certified Braille transcriber.
There is more to Braille than simply learning the code. For example, Braille students need to:

Have proper posture when reading Braille, with the paper positioned correctly on the desk. If the student is not sitting up straight when reading Braille or if the paper is not positioned correctly, the student can misread the Braille. If the page is tilted to the left, a 'k' could be read as a 'ch' contraction. The 'k' could be read as 'st' if the paper is tilted to the right.
Have proper posture when writing Braille on a Perkins Brailler. If the Brailler is on a table that is too high or too low for the student, it will be difficult for the student to maintain his stamina in completing assignments, reading what he has written, or putting paper into or out of the Brailler.

Specialized Equipment
At times students with visual impairments use specialized equipment such as a closed circuit magnification device, Perkins Brailler, or electronic notetaking device. The paraprofessional is not required to know everything about the student's specialized equipment. However, it is very helpful if he knows basic functions and problem-solving techniques.
Some students use the abacus for doing math or the slate and stylus for writing Braille. The paraprofessional may wish to learn more about this equipment, and the TVI can provide information about correspondence courses or online tutorials.
Orientation & Mobility (O&M)
The paraprofessional needs to observe the student's orientation and mobility lessons. This will give the paraprofessional insight as to how to assist the student when the O&M instructor is not present. The paraprofessional is not an O&M instructor, but he can support and reinforce the techniques the student has been taught. The paraprofessional reports to the O&M instructor when he notices problem areas for the student.
School staff and other students sometimes assume that the paraprofessional is the blind student's personal human guide. The paraprofessional will learn the proper human guide technique, as there may be critical times when walking human guide is necessary. However, when given the proper skills, the student can become an independent traveler.
Orientation and mobility involves much more than teaching a student to walk from Point A to Point B. O&M involves concepts including cardinal directions, posture and gait, walking in step, problem solving, and mental mapping skills. When a paraprofessional works closely with the O&M instructor, he learns these skills with the student and can reinforce them outside of O&M class.
Letting Go
This section is mainly pertinent to students who have been blind or visually impaired for quite some time and have considerable experience working with a paraprofessional. It is not relevant for newly blinded or visually-impaired students.
When the student reaches high school, her need for a paraprofessional diminishes. The upper-level high school student needs to become less dependent on the paraprofessional; frankly, the paraprofessional is not going to follow her to college and beyond. It is important to wean the student from her dependency. However, this can be a tricky situation, because the paraprofessional still needs to be on hand in case the student truly needs the assistance of a scribe or a reader.
The paraprofessional needs to back away so the student can attempt to be as independent as possible. Basically, the paraprofessional is "on call." Sometimes it is difficult for other staff members and even administrators to understand this process. They may see the paraprofessional sitting in the back of the classroom, seemingly unengaged. Some classroom teachers give the paraprofessional other duties during this fading-out period. Ultimately, the goal is for the student not to need a paraprofessional any longer.
The second semester of the student's junior year can be the transition time for students with visual impairments, for this is a great opportunity to help prepare them for college. When students go to college, they will often be required to hire their own readers/scribes, and their senior year is a great opportunity for them to practice using a reader/scribe via the available paraprofessional. Therefore, it is important for the paraprofessional to only be available to read or scribe when requested by the student. This process is, of course, overseen by the TVI and the classroom teachers to ensure that the student is completing work in a timely manner. This is not a time for the student to fail; rather it is a time for the TVI, classroom teacher, and paraprofessional to provide guidance to the student, then step back, monitor, and provide feedback to the student, as needed.
Final Notes
The relationship between the paraprofessional and the student needs to remain professional. Sometimes when a student spends the majority of his educational experience attached to one paraprofessional, the relationship can become too close. If that happens, the student may take liberties she may not otherwise attempt with someone else. In addition, the paraprofessional may do things automatically for the student instead of waiting for the student to take the proper initiative on her own. If a paraprofessional has had the opportunity to spend several years with one student, the two can create a strong bond. If the relationship has remained professional, in that the student is aware of the role of the paraprofessional, the relationship can be successful and enriching.

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