Intern 5.2

Am done teaching for the week and didn't have too many challenging lessons to teach.  I've been reviewing the basics of cane techniques and sighted guide with my more experienced traveler.  Next week we're going to start doing street crossings. 

Am still in the assessment phase with my newest student.  I've put her in a lot of different environments and so far she hasn't had any difficulty during the day.  She reports having worse vision at night, but I wish there was a way that I could see for myself.  Either way, I'm planning on teaching her cane skills during the day so that she can transfer them to the nighttime.  We can also have her take nighttime mobility lessons.

I'm still working on staying in step with SL, but it hasn't been as much of a focus.  She had been working on a longer route and was having difficulty reversing it.  She finally got it, so I had her go on the route and come back to my office by herself.  She did it without any problems!  The biggest thing she needs to work on is being aware of all of her senses and her landmarks.

I've been working on street crossings with TM, which is something she's anxious about.  We started by crossing driveways and then moved into a quiet residential area with stop signs.  Yesterday I took her to a small lighted intersection.  However, it was a challenging intersection because it was semi-actuated.  So rather than having her wait for the all quiet or crossing with the parallel traffic (which was very unpredictable), I had her use the pedestrian buttons. 

I'm not sure if this was the best way to do it, but I didn't want to put the student in an unsafe situation.  I mentioned this previously- the center has a policy of teaching street crossings in a clockwise motion.  The problem is that this student has a significant hearing loss in her right ear.  At least two or three times she has missed the turning traffic over her right shoulder.  So is this really safe for her?  I suppose I need to work with her more on scanning with her eyes.  At any rate, small, simple, and straightforward intersections seem difficult to come by here.  Or maybe they're not common anywhere anymore?

My last student missed a lot of class this week and she was out most of the first week that I had her, so I've only worked with her a handful of times.  She is working on crossing driveways and is very anxious about it.  She also has a difficult time remembering routes and using mental maps.  It's frustrating to me when she misses so much class because I can tell that there is a backslide in her skills.  Also, she is a very slow walker so it limits how far we can go in one lesson.  Hopefully she'll build up her stamina over time.