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ICQ

The mobility instructor's satisfaction as he works with a visually impaired student is an important element in the teaching process. It maintains his interest in his work, helps to build a relationship with the student, and ultimately plays its part in the student's progress.

The satisfaction may stem from a number of sources. Personality factors may combine to stimulate it. Knowing that he is contributing to another person's welfare helps the instructor to feel "good" about his work. In addition, satisfaction may come from the observation that his student is making excellent progress.

If the instructor's satisfaction is merely a function of personality factors, he will react differently with each student. One student is easy to talk to. He seems intelligent, quick to grasp a new concept, and has a good sense of humor. His manner is outgoing, and he readily accepts suggestions and instructions. As a person, he sparks a quick response in the instructor. Another student is humorless in his approach to life or his mobility experiences. He may be making adequate progress, but questions everything the instructor tells him. If the instructor attempts to question him about his feelings and thoughts on mobility, he turns the question aside. In short, he is a difficult person to work with, and teaching him is a chore. As a result, the instructor does not look forward to the lessons. In either case the satisfaction of the instructor, or lack of it results from the interplay of personality factors; and the only students who benefit from it are those students with whom the instructor feels compatible.

A more general basis for feelings of satisfaction must be the awareness that as he teaches, the instructor is contributing to the welfare of each of his students. The feeling that he is making a worthwhile contribution may be the primary reason for his selecting orientation and mobility instruction as a profession. Where this is true, he is not as dependent on the immediate satisfaction he might get from working with a student who stimulates feelings of compatibility. He is more likely to maintain an evenhanded approach with each student regardless of personality.

More commonly, his satisfaction stems from the progress of each student. It is gratifying for the instructor to watch the growth of a particular student, knowing what he has contributed. He has seen the student begin his training as a relatively helpless individual, walking hesitantly-if at all-by himself. Family and friends meet most of his travel needs. Gradually he attempts new and more complex travel tasks, but the process does not simply happen. The instructor knows that as he has taught travel techniques, the student has been coaxed out of inactivity and into the community. Certainly the student has contributed his effort, his ability and his intelligence to the process. It is unlikely, however, that he could have succeeded without the instructor's professional help and knowledge.

It is important to be aware of this feeling of satisfaction, not simply for the purpose of self congratulation, but because of the effect it will have on the student. The instructor's words and tone of voice will transmit his feelings to the student. In turn, the student will always respond to these feelings and his perception of them.

The student who is aware that the instructor is pleased or satisfied will be more relaxed in his interaction with him. The added relaxation will be evident in his work on the lesson. Whatever tenseness is present will thus be a function of the travel situation, or the student's own emotional problems rather than a function of the student-instructor relationship.

An added benefit of this more relaxed relationship is the improvement in communication between instructor and student. The student who is more relaxed in this relationship is freer to ask questions and make comments. Thus, the instructor is in closer touch with what the student is thinking and feeling, and has a better basis for determining the reason for whatever the student is experiencing during the course of instruction.

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