The week of July 8th

This was the week after our 2 week break. All students and staff at Gentry took a break and the facility was closed. Starting back on Monday was tough! One of my students "B" did not return after the break due to medical reasons. I continue to work with student "A".

 I also evaluated a new student "F" and began O&M services with him. "F" is a 21 year old young man who is legally blind with autism and intellectually disabled. His eye condition is microphthalmia and coloboma with light perception only in his left eye. His eye condition does allow him to travel independently. He is able to learn a route rotely but has difficulty with problem solving and generalizations. I am working with him to help improve these skills when crossing streets safely. He had difficulty waving cars on so the people in the vehicles understood him(he used a very floppy fish hand) so I have taught him to wave cars on with the appropriate hand motions. We have been working on how to determine when it is safe to cross intersections. Once he is back in his home town he will need an instructor to teach him the route needed to travel to work on a daily basis.

My student "A" is progressing nicely. I am so pleased! This week began with rain so played the TREKKS game to increase and reinforce directional skills. The remainder of the week we began by
working in a semi-residential/business  area. She began her route in a residential area near the Alabama School for the Blind and traveled to a Walgreens located on Battle St. which is the main street through Talladega.  By the end of this week she progressed to completing and reversing the route with no problems. In her initial evaluation with her,  she explained that she had many fears about crossing big intersections. She had a "not so good" experience with a previous O&M instructor in a business district so I have purposely taken it slow with her to allow time to build up her self-confidence when traveling.

This week ended on Saturday with a trip to University of Alabama to observe my supervisor orient a student to fall classes. This student has been at the campus for 2 years but needed some review on bus routes and to find the routes to buildings to new classes. This was a beautiful campus! And a great experience for me!