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ICQ

The instructor may ask many questions of his student prior to the beginning of instruction and during it. He may wish to know if the student can travel at all and if so, how well. He may want to determine if the student is nervous about a particular assignment, or how the family affects the student's functioning. These are not idle questions. The instructor requires some basis for evaluation of a student with whom he has never worked. If the student is nervous, it will affect his performance on a lesson. If the family is supportive, he will be encouraged to work at his mobility training. If they are overprotective, it may stimulate anxiety that will inhibit his performance. On the other hand, if they push him beyond his ability, it may arouse resentment that can be displaced to the mobility instructor. With such information, the instructor has a better basis for judging or evaluating the student's behavior or performance.

But can the instructor accept the verbal responses of the student at face value? Can he believe what the student tells him about his ability, his feelings, or his family? Should he accept what the student says, or withhold judgment? Often there seems to be considerable discrepancy between the verbal responses of a particular student and the observations of the instructor. The student says he gets around quite well. "I walk to the corner and back every day." But the instructor watches him walk slowly, shuffling his feet, and wandering in and out of driveways. Yes, he finds his way around the house. But he keeps a hand stretched out in front of him. And it is clear he is tense with anxiety. "Sure, the family wants me to learn mobility." But they hover over him as he moves, and gasp when he almost bumps into an object; and they hurry to guide him to a seat.

Certainly there is great discrepancy between the instructor's observations and the student's report. But is he lying? In most cases the disparity is a matter of differing perceptions. The student may be comparing his performance to what he was able to do last week or three months ago. By such a comparison he is doing very well. But, the instructor, thinking in terms of competent traveling, sees that the student is disoriented, veers, and is afraid. The student sees the influence of his family according to his physical and emotional needs. He cannot allow himself to be too critical of them because he is dependent on them. Or he speaks harshly about how shabbily the family treats him now that he is blind when, in fact, the conflict predates the onset of blindness. Alternatively, he does not see that the family is overprotecting him; because his great anxiety demands all the help he is given. Stress also contributes to the distortion of perception. And the person who has recently lost his sight is usually functioning under considerable stress. He is trying to do without sight, things he formerly did with good sight. And the pressure he feels colors what he does and how he sees things. Lowered self-esteem may also result in an exaggerated description of the student's own abilities. Because he feels devalued, he must describe anything he does in a way that will help him feel better about himself as a person. Thus, the student's self evaluation is tempered by his emotional needs; and the instructor must consider this in his total evaluation of the student's ability and progress.

It might seem that the information gleaned from the student is not relevant because it might not be reliable. However, the discrepancy between the student's self evaluation and his actual ability is a useful bit of information in itself. It is a clue both to his emotional state and to the problems he faces. By noting and exploring the discrepancies, the instructor has greater insight into problems that will certainly affect the student's progress in mobility training.

Where questioning of the student seems essential, open ended-questions will usually get the best results. Obviously, a question requiring only a "yes" or "no" answer severely limits the quantity and quality of information received. Furthermore, the responses of the student are likely to be biased in the direction of the instructor's preconceived opinion of the student and his problems. For example, "Do you travel by yourself?" might seem to be a perfectly legitimate question. The student replies, "Yes." But what does this mean? To the corner? Around the block? To the store and back? Getting lost frequently? Wandering in and out of wrong driveways? Five minutes to walk half a block?

Instead, questions such as, "Tell me where you travel by yourself," and, "What kind of problems do you have when you travel by yourself, or with someone?" place the burden for providing information on the respondent. As the student talks, the instructor has a better-basis for steering the discussion into productive areas. The information he gives might not even have come up if the question had required a simple "yes" or "no" response. If the instructor asks, "Is your family overprotective?" the student may feel obligated to defend the family with a simple "no." The question, "Tell me what kind of help you get from your family," might elicit comments that would give a more complete picture of the family interaction. And with this complete information the mobility instructor is better able to make an objective evaluation of the student's needs and abilities for the purpose of mobility training.

It should be clear then, that questioning the student is an integral part of orientation and mobility instruction. The instructor checks the information he accumulates against his own observations in order to evaluate the needs and progress of each student. How he questions the student determines the quality and quantity of the information he obtains. If the questioning is careless, the instructor will not be able to teach at his best, since he lacks necessary information. If carried out properly, it will increase his knowledge of the student, and therefore, his effectiveness as an instructor. As a result, he will be able to provide the best possible travel training for each of his visually impaired students.

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