Teacher who is never seen but always welcomed

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32975, 22 July 1972, Page 9

Teacher who is never seen but always welcomed

An Auckland man,! Mr John MacnaughtanJ travels hundreds of miles a week, visiting 78 secondary school children throughout the country. Their faces light up when he arrives.

They don’t see him come; but they know his voice, and the material he brings is always welcome. These children are all either totally or partly blind. “But,” says Mr Mcnaughtan, ‘‘to them, their situation is normal. We’re the ones who are different. They’re very happy, and are affected adversely by too much sympathy and maudlin consideration.

“They are keen to do well and wait anxiously for the next Braille editions of their textbooks. Their faces light up when they get them — a much more eager reaction than you’d get from a sighted child.

“I try to get behind the blind eyes of each child I see, by spending time with them, by listening, and by understanding the type of world they encounter. It’s a bulky business, trans-

(porting Braille versions of normally compact books. The Braille equivalent of the [average textbook is from 10 | to 12 large volumes — up to 20 or 30 for bigger books. But Mr Mcnaughtan is in business to do just that (“I was in Kaitaia last week, off to Waiouru tomorrow,” he remarks), and he wouldn’t change his job for the world. He is an itinerant specialist, in charge of the itinerant programme at Homai College, the New Zealand Foundation for the Blind’s residential school and education centre at Manurewa, outside Auckland. “I look after these children from the third form, through adolescence, to employment,” he says. “An important point to be made on first visits to the pupils is reassurance for the school. The school can often not see how it is possible for someone who can’t see to succeed. “Then there is the question of whether the child needs to learn Braille. This is a big and serious change. And unless it is absolutely necessary, we don’t advise it. Less than half — perhaps a quarter — of the children I see use Braille. “But it’s a common misunderstanding that a partially sighted child needs large print. In fact, small print is better where peripheral vision is lost and central vision remains. Large print helps those that have lost central vision.” Course choice was also vital, Mr Mcnaughtan said. The students needed to take subjects which would see them right through school. Here he was able to advise, along with the help of the psychological service of the Education Department, which conducted tests on pupil’s potential. Equipment needs “And of course the children’s own desires are most important, as well as family preferences and background. But all this is aimed at eventually getting him a job.” Much of the success of the totally blind depended on their getting equipment, he points out. Each child needs: — two, perhaps three typewriters (one at school, one at home and one at Homai if he boards there during the week. This refers to Manurewa High School pupils); two Braille writers, a talking-book machine and possibly a tape recorder, if

talking book cassettes are not available in the topics required. “Public contribution allows us to use machines to this extent, because they’re not cheap. The itinerant programme originated some years ago, after a spate of premature babies whose sight was affected, was traced to the method of administering oxygen at birth, Mr Macnaughtan explained. “Almost over-night there were thousands of these visually handicapped children in both Britain and the United States.

They needed to be educated, but there weren’t facilities available. The problem was overcome by training itinerant teachers, and a similar programme was later adopted here.” Home-town jobs A group of visiually handicapped children from throughout New Zealand attends Manurewa High School, those aiming at professional occupations in the resource room, those after manual jobs in the home-room. “At first,” says Mr Macnaughtan, "employers are hesitant at taking on a ‘blind’ child to train. But in many cases they have offered the children permanent jobs. We don’t accept Auckland jobs on a permanent basis though for out-of-town children. We want jobs for them in their home towns. "At present one girl from the home-room spends one or two days a week potting plants; another folds laundry at Middlemore Hospital; one boy weigh potatoes; another does panelbeating. “They then come back to school and discuss their work. It’s a vital part of their education. We’re turning these children from liabilities into assets.” Mr Macnaughton also pays regular visits to the six blind students at Auckland University, as well as one severely restricted boy at Victoria University.