13
VIDBE-Q Volume 62 Issue 3
Attending summer camp also helps our campers understand that they have to be
responsible for themselves. We have taught a number of campers to shower, wash their own
hair, use silverware, tie their shoes and much more. When a camper decides that these are
skills they WANT to have, it's easier for parents and teachers to teach them. At camp, they
often find that motivation to be independent!
The skills that our campers learn are
invaluable. We find that social skills are the
hardest for our students to learn. It is
estimated that over 80% of human
communication is non-verbal. This puts our
kids in a tough situation. Not only can they
not imitate others' behavior to learn to use
their hands and body appropriately to send
the message they wish to convey, but they
can't tell when someone is rolling their eyes,
making a face, pointing to a far-away object,
actively engaged in listening or even whether
the person they are talking to is still there!
We help our kids listen for subtle clues in people's voices that indicate their reactions and
thoughts, even if they are not verbalized, and use their other senses to "make sense" of non-
verbal communication.
At our camps, we also focus on learning to give to others. Way too often, sighted
persons (parents, relatives, teachers, and others) in a child's life sometimes send conscious or
unconscious messages that they "CAN'T" preform certain tasks due their visual impairment.
Our kids are surrounded by people that "give" to them. Yet it is human nature that we want to
A camper climbs the rock wall.
