Today, I worked so hard to be more Zen-like and take direction from distracters, not get stuck in the minutia that comes from those distracters. It felt so great to be successful! I was able to easily correct the few things that didn’t go smoothly, so today felt good. Other than my big giraffe steps, I think things went really well. I think I really do have a tendency to trail with my left hand when I feel a bit unsure. I think that hand might have to go in my pocket for a while, especially around the bathroom.
The first floor got a bit more mysterious today, but I was proud I was able to navigate it successfully. I really had to work hard on imagining the end of the hall in order to be successful because I couldn’t get the information I needed from following walls. Because of all those things lining the hall, I wasn’t able to fall back on shore-lining the wall, like I had the past few times. I couldn’t use my tactual backup. So really, it was a good thing all that stuff was there because it forced me to use more complex skills.
Those stairs though, got me, as they tend to do. It’s still really frustrating. I know the trouble starts when I start thinking too much and stop moving. Still, knowing that going down stairs works better if I just go, I can’t always convince myself to make my legs work. I was able to be pretty successful that first time through (with just a tiny bit of redo), but I felt very reckless and unsafe – kind of like I was running down the stairs. That second time around, though, I was really off balance, and the stairs didn’t seem to be at right angles, like the first time through. I was so sure that I was just gonna miss a few stairs entirely. I even reverted to sliding my foot to find the steps. I was trying to be subtle (probably not successfully). :-) Now, I realize that reaching with my foot probably just made me more off balance, but in the moment, I was really not into trusting my cane.
On the teaching side… Lauren learned so quickly! I wasn’t sure if I was throwing things at her too fast, but each time I checked her knowledge, she was dead on. She really does have a great sense of direction and concept of the space.
I think teaching worked so much better this time around because I spent more time having Lauren show me what she knew. I think this worked well because she already has a lot of knowledge about the building, and she easily puts together new information. Many times, she surprised me. I was intending on teaching part of the route, but today, I first asked to see if she could complete the skill before I taught it. Every time except the last, she was able to put it together without instruction. I know that won’t be the case with most students, but it is a good lesson for me in not setting the expectations too low. If I hadn’t asked Lauren to show me all her skills, I would have spent a bit of time teaching her things she’d already figured out.
So, her final task was an extension of the “let’s see what Lauren can figure out day.” I wasn’t sure she could do it, but I knew that she’d been introduced to each piece of information she’d need to complete the task. I had a really hard time letting Lauren be wrong. So many times, I would have stepped in and given some sort of prompt. It was a good exercise, I suppose, learning to sit on my hands and bite my tongue.
No comments:
Post a Comment