I am an itinerant instructor in Oklahoma. Maybe the best place to start is by having her just sit with the sleep shades and listen to her environment. Get a sense of the space of the room and what's in it. Build success. I think the simple mobility lesson in the home is a great idea. Like most people, she probably gets around her house pretty well at night without thinking about it or turning on the lights. Maybe start there? Have her practice getting around her home several times with the sleep shades and teach her techniques blind folks use in that kind of situation on a regular basis. Then, incorporate the vacuum. Maybe start in a wide open space and teach her the fan method or the grid method? Which ever you think is best. The grid method is great because you cover a larger area in less time. But the fan method works well for folks who get disoriented because they stand in one place and fan out from there and just do overlapping fans. Start with the small room first so she gets used to it. Or part of a room. Or maybe even just start with a throw rug if she's really confused. Maybe have her go around the room with a cane to get a sense of the layout before actually vacuuming. Would teaching indoor mental mapping skills be helpful? Labeling the walls based on cardinal directions and using larger pieces of furniture as landmarks. Maybe turn on a radio or the television to give her a sense of direction. Hope that helps. Sent from my iPhone
On Oct 3, 2016, at 1:28 PM,
wrote: I was glad to have a recent request from a student for instruction with the use of sleepshades, but was at a loss for a teaching approach after observing her performance with them. My student is an 87-year-old woman who is highly organized and has an immaculate home. Although I think she is almost obsessed with preparing for complete vision loss, I do encourage her to learn non-visual skills which can, of course, serve her in the present. I am an NOMC working as an itinerant rehab teacher, and my student?s most recent lesson was with cleaning (specifically vacuuming) skills. I initially encouraged her to use her sleepshades from the very start, and she found her vacuum cleaner which she plugged into the outlet after some time. She then proceeded to move a few chairs away from her dining table so she could clean beneath it, but quickly became much disoriented. After attempting to problem-solve with her through the challenge of locating a chair which was only inches from her (yes, she was that disoriented), I suggested we do the actual vacuuming under sleepshades and perhaps have a very simple O&M lesson during the following visit. However, she again became disoriented within just a few minutes of vacuuming. I would have suggested removal of sleepshades under rare circumstances when I taught cane travel many years ago, but I was at a complete loss here, as I have never seen someone so disoriented in her own home. My guess is that she was so much at a loss because she didn?t have the opportunity to develop basic skills with the use of sleepshades?this was like one of those blindfold simulations that don?t accurately capture the experience of blindness. I want to encourage the continued use of sleepshades, but don?t have the luxury of working frequently enough to develop and build skills as I would have at a training center. Are there itinerant instructors who can offer some suggestions?
Sumara
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