HAND OVER HAND A blind teacher of the visually impaired at work with a blind child A blind teacher of the visually impaired and a 9 year old blind pupil interact with each other in different daily activities. Selected situations are videotaped and analyzed by the blind teacher, a sighted psychologist and a sighted teacher of the visually impaired. The results illuminate the strengths and weaknesses of the blind teacher when working directly with a blind child. Teachers who are blind have their limitations. They are often reminded of this. People who are sighted are not as accustomed to seeing the limitations in their way of sensing the world. However, when working together on the project described in this article, it was our experience that most of the limitations were found not in the teacher's blindness, but rather in our ability to understand and describe what we experienced. The technical terminology of our special education and psychology backgrounds became inadequate instruments. Concurrently with the analysis, it became a challenge for the three of us involved in the project to find words and concepts which were adequate The process demanded that we who are sighted changed our perspective, from a purely visual perspective to one where sound and touch, taste and smell are sources of experiences and information. Some preliminary examples also show that the blind teacher reflected upon and became conscious of her own intuitive actions and experiences during instruction: The use of hands of both, together: Our hands move together across the table. What do we find here? By laying my hands like a lightweight blanket over Nora's hands, I read and interpret her motivation and attention. The action together of our hands is like a dance. Who leads, when to alternate - the "rules" are given in each other's signals. When we examine the unknown together, our hands alternate between being the tour guide and the traveling companion. We alternate between a "survey" or "peripheral vision" where we use a large part of the palms, and "central vision" when we use our fingertips. On the importance of conversation: The pitch of the voice, breathing and rhythm are affected by peace, space and time for conversation. The pitch of my voice might become a little deeper than I would use in other situations, and I notice that Nora matches her replies to this. I try to read Nora's mood by the intonation, pace and pitch of her voice. When her voice is light, in combination with a quick rhythm to her words, this often indicates intensity, and is a good starting point for intimacy and a good club-day. When her voice has a monotonous tone, in combination with her using few words in each sentence, this is a sign that she needs more time to feel at ease with the situation, or it might be an indication of other emotional issues. Background and description of issues in hand Within the special schools for the visually impaired, it was traditional to have teachers who were blind. After the restructuring of special schools and the integration of pupils with visual impairment, blind teachers continued to work within the resource centers. We do not know of any examples of blind teachers working directly with blind children in local schools in Norway. How then, are they to acquire the necessary teaching experience, and how will blind children have the opportunity to learn work strategies, and develop learning processes through interaction with blind adults? Many of those working with the children had professional objections. For example it was held when the teacher has to touch the hands of the blind child, that this would be disruptive, steer too firmly and would hamper the blind child's development. On the bases of experiences and considerations of our first approach, the following issue was formulated: "What strategies do a blind teacher and a blind pupil use in contact and interaction with each other?" Method and implementation One teacher of the visually impaired, herself blind, and one blind pupil participated in the project. The pupil, Nora, is congenitally blind (ROP). At the time of the project, Nora was approximately 9 years old. The teacher, Astrid, is visually impaired due to a progressive disease of the eye. As a child, she was partially sighted. The acuity of her best eye is currently 0,05. She has a peripheral field of approximately 2 - 5 degrees, but her visual functioning has always been dependent upon good lighting conditions, and she is functionally blind in most situations. Nora and Astrid have known each other since Nora was 4 1/2 years old. Astrid worked as an assistant teacher with Nora in the day-care center she attended with other sighted children. The two other project participants are both sighted and have a lot of experience in working with people who are visually impaired. During the project, Astrid and Nora met at Huseby Resource Center altogether at seven "club-days". They were alone (except for the video-camera operator). The pattern of these days looked like this: Astrid fetched Nora from Nora's home by taxi. They then went into the playroom where they always had a conversation which included agreeing on how they were going to spend the day. After one or more activities, they would set the table and eat lunch together before Astrid took Nora back to her school in a taxi. The activities were practical, for instance learning to use clothes-pegs, buttons, purse fasteners, or Astrid's key-card. They also focused on dressing and undressing together, placing and storing a backpack, bag, and white cane, moving independently, and - not least - setting the table. The Center's cafeteria was also visited. Less structured activities, such as role playing, or working with plasticene was also part of every club-day, much of this guided by Nora's needs and desires. The consistent use of interaction between Nora and Astrid became the main pedagogical principle during the club-days. Astrid served through this, to a great degree, as a visually impaired role model for Nora, while she at the same time became an "interpreter" into the sighted world for Nora. The attempt was made to give enough time for all activities, and the sense of tranquility and security for Nora (and Astrid) was to be more important than completing all the activities planned for that day. Demands of achievement and learning should not be prominent. Three information meetings were held with the network immediately surrounding Nora during the project, and a reference group discussed the results with the project group, also during the project. Results and discussion We found five central strategies in use between the blind teacher and the blind pupil. These appeared to be quite special for the interaction between them, and they differ from strategies we usually find between sighted people. We have decided to concentrate on some few, but central aspects of these strategies. These will be illustrated by selected single incidents which took place spontaneously during the club-days. The incidents we describe can often stand as examples of several of the strategies simultaneously. According to our assessment, these incidents are excellent exemplifications of the interaction between Astrid and Nora. Good interaction-situations like these tended to be characterized by pleasure, a high level of motivation for the task at hand, and the desire to share something with each other. This "something" we interpret to be the interaction itself (for example to "look" at something together), but also the social and emotional experience of being seen and confirmed by the other (increased self-esteem). By focusing on the relations between them, the teacher will not be engaged in changing the pupil, but rather in adapting the physical and social environment which creates the interactive space between them. The teacher's role becomes being a good partner in interaction. This direction (interactive pedagogy) is increasingly prevalent today in special education in Norway (Rye 1993, Rødbroe & Nafstad 1999). Interaction strategy #1: Simultaneous use of hands and physical proximity * Incidents (from videotaping). Comments are written in cursive below each interaction strategy: Nora and Astrid sit beside each other on a bench to talk together and plan the club-day. Nora edges right up to Astrid, so they are sitting very close together. They touch with each other's hands or bodies all the time, some times just for an instant, some times longer. On several occasions, Nora spontaneously places her hand on top of Astrid's when Astrid is reading in a Braille book. Astrid and Nora are examining the lock on Astrid's purse together. Nora "reads off" from Astrid's right hand to feel how the action is undertaken, and Astrid "reads off" Nora's left hand to feel the result of the action. It is as though they both "listen" and "talk" simultaneously by hand. * The blind teacher's insider perspective In my experience, physical proximity and touch are often the setting for good interaction situations, as well as an important condition for both using our hands. When I want to establish contact with Nora, I talk to her, while at the same time touching her arm or shoulder. The touch is brief, some times almost imperceptible. It confirms that I am there, and that I have "seen" her. From the way she answers me, I get to know if she wants us to talk together confidentially. Nora takes my hands and holds them with both of her own. She examines them with careful, soft movements most of the time we are talking together. After a while, Nora edges close to my body. I think she does this to reinforce and maintain a contract which states that we are together. The physical proximity means that I can read off much of Nora's body language, at the same time I assume she can read mine. As long as the pattern of her hand movements is soft and calm, and she sits relaxed and with a straight back, I interpret this as a sign that she shares my attention and is positive towards the situation. When Nora and I use our hands in interactive situations, the way we are positioned in relation to each other is significant. I can sit beside her, behind her, or we can sit facing each other. A natural initial position is that I sit or stand beside Nora. Then we share the same perspective towards the object we are dealing with, which simplifies verbal communication. At the same time, we share the angle from which to explore. I experience that this position makes it easy to achieve joint attention and equality in the interactive space. When Nora and I have a conversation we often sit beside each other. In some cases however, I sit behind her, often on the floor, and Nora has her body very close to mine. In this position I experience more flexibility with regard to reading and listening to each other's hands, in addition to our touching each other with large parts of our bodies, and being able to read each other's body language tactually in a good way. In learning situations, when we use our hands together, it is rare that I find it natural that Nora and I sit face to face since the mirroring complicates a common understanding. This position is appropriate, however, for instance when Nora is to show me something, and there is less demand for simultaneous exploration with our hands. A face-to-face position is often used by sighted people when they speak with each other, presumably so to ease visual "reading" of non-verbal communication. During meals it is also natural for Nora and myself to sit across from each other. I believe that this insight into different body positions will give Nora more ways of socializing to choose between when she is together with people who are sighted. * The sighted teacher's perspective The way in which Astrid and Nora used their hands together, was full of nuances and very advanced. This was not something Nora had learned in a systematic manner. When Astrid showed Nora something, Astrid placed her hand on top of Nora's as if she were "listening" to it. When Nora wanted to show Astrid something, she would bring in Astrid's hand and let Astrid feel her own hand. Nora's hand "spoke". This hand-listening and hand-talking could be as advanced as the example above, and is familiar from the communication of people who are deaf-blind (Andersen and Rødbroe 2000). At the same time, the pressure against the other person's hand when they listened was very light, like a tactile breath (consider the light pressure used on the Braille cell by good Braille readers). Astrid often said afterwards that she didn't know if Nora had touched her hands, and she never experienced that they disturbed each other, even though as a sighted person I sometimes felt that it looked like a real case of "hand-spaghetti"! If Nora needed to examine something on her own, I saw that in a friendly but firm way she pushed Astrid's hands away until she was finished. Then Nora would bring her hands back in again to show her something interesting. If she was not interested, she could easily pull her hands away from Astrid's. I do not mean that Astrid's touching of Nora's hands was harmful, as long as the touching was sensitive and intentional. However, if Astrid forgetfully led Nora's hand (by taking her hand and steering it towards something), I saw how Nora immediately became passive and constricted in her movements. Hands express a great deal of blind and deaf-blind children's intentions with regards to communication, perhaps on par with sighted people's facial expression (Fraiberg 1977, Miles 1998). Astrid writes: "When Nora has flexible, active motion with her fingers, this is a sign of involvement and feeling of security. Stiff fingers that passively hang on to my movements, is a signal that I should stop to clarify the situation. Perhaps she needs a break? Temperature and pressure of touch are often the effect of emotional conditions, which can affect interaction" (Andersen, Brandsborg & Vik 1999 pg. 13). Communication is established, maintained and is broken naturally and almost exclusively between sighted people through using vision (for instance by alternating between eye contact and looking away), and is less dependent on body position and physical environment. For blind children, this eye contact must be replaced by body contact. This body contact is absolutely necessary for very young blind children, but the need for it does not disappear with age. I saw clearly how both Astrid and Nora unconsciously used body contact in the same way as sighted people would use eye contact. This need for physical touch does not appear to be an expression of immaturity or dependency from Nora, but rather a natural use of her body as compensation for the lack of eye contact. How would it be for us to speak to someone who always sat behind a wall? Or only to be given the opportunity of speaking with other people on the telephone? It happens then that we think: "This is too difficult a theme to talk about over the phone, I have to speak with the other person face to face!" Do we believe that people who are blind should always have to make do with "telephone conversations" while there are better alternatives? * The sighted psychologist's perspective There is a great deal to suggest that we have overestimated the likelihood that language alone is enough to establish joint attention and promote concept development in blind children. Contact based on only one sensory channel at a time may be considered restrictive both to communication and language development (Hunstad 1994 and 1996). This may be one of several reasons why such a large proportion of congenitally blind Norwegian children (20-25%) appear to show a very abnormal development, and that a further 25 % have shown considerable deviance (Brandsborg 1993). To an unnecessarily large extent, they have missed out on information, joint attention, and confirmation, because we have not utilized the opportunities given by using hands together. From a psychological perspective, simultaneous use of hands and physical proximity are seen as fundamental to maintaining and strengthening self-esteem. Becker (1962 and 1964) puts self-esteem at the center for a holistic understanding of man. By self-esteem, Becker means a person's experience of being of value, of being "good enough as I am". Becker sets up three conditions for maintaining or strengthening self-esteem: Physical confirmation, symbolic confirmation, and a large and solid repertory of actions. The foundation of self-esteem is laid in infancy through touch and skin contact, but is very important throughout life. Tactile communication will be one type of physical confirmation. Fogel (1997) believes that the blind infant needs a continual flow of experience with another person, which can be compared to sight, and that the child has to receive this mainly through hearing and touch. Mutual touch between people should, theoretically, serve the same role as continual physical contact: the feeling of commitment, the experience of another's loving presence, and a protection against loneliness and sadness. Symbolic confirmation is all the other ways a person can know he or she is valued, that one is good enough as he or she is. This can be expressed through words, intonation, and other ways of using the voice. Sighted people receive in addition a great deal of confirmation from other people's eye contact and body language. Confirmation has been termed the "fuel" of children's development. A solid repertory of actions presupposes that the actions are well grounded in the person. Self-esteem will be connected to actions which have resulted in satisfactory experiences, which the child has internalized physically. The opposite is a superficial and senseless repertory of actions. As I understand Becker, this grounding also presupposes that actions are accomplished on one's own premises, in ways that accord with the person's own manner of sensing or acting. Blind children miss a great deal of the normal confirmation with which sighted children fill their "tank of self-esteem". They receive that which is given through voice, but lose most of that which is imparted silently, through eye contact and distant body language. Both physical proximity and simultaneous use of hands entail physical confirmation, and can in themselves contribute to strengthened self-esteem. In addition, this can strengthen the symbolic confirmation in that the child receives a far more explicit experience (through more than one sensory channel) of being "seen" in many variations, of seeing/experiencing together, of being confirmed as good and valuable. The blind child bends down and touches her shoe. "I've got new shoes." The adult says, from a distance: "They are nice". A parallel to this for a sighted child would be that the adult stood with his back turned (instead of looking at the shoe), and said the same thing. How would a child experience that? Simultaneous use of hands to "look" at the shoe together would ensure that the child did not feel rejected and alone with her experience. Interaction strategy #2: Critical information * Incidents (from videotaping): Placing the white cane on the floor close to the skirting-board of the kitchen fixtures: Nora is given verbal and tactile guidance in how it is practical to place the cane in such a manner that she can easily locate it, and avoid stepping on it. Astrid and Nora have entered the vestibule at Huseby. Astrid takes a long time in replacing her key-card back into her purse. She tells Nora that this is a strategy she often uses in order to collect herself and gain an impression of a room without seeming too conspicuous. In sighted terminology: taking time to look around oneself and survey the surroundings. Alternative formulation: have a "listen around" before they go in. They set the table together. Astrid stands quietly at the end of the table while Nora puts plates onto the table. Astrid becomes an auditive and tactile marker for Nora, which eases her orientation. * The sighted teachers perspective The theory of imparted teaching experience was first developed by Reuben Feuerstein between 1950 and 1963, and later continued by among others Pnina Klein (Egeberg 1998) and in Norway by Henning Rye (Rye 1993). Feuerstein believed that when children are exposed to impressions and experiences from their surroundings, what they get out of it and learn are wholly dependent upon the child's ability to filter out the unimportant from the important aspects of the experience. If a child is exposed to a great deal of impressions and/or stimulation, it might have difficulties in separating the "noise" from important information. Furthermore, he believed that children who do not receive adequate experiences of imparted teaching (through a supportive adult), may become culturally deprived. Through imparted teaching, stimulation from the environment is not random, rather it is perceived in a new way because the intermediary has organized it, selected it, and attached importance to it. This emphasis can be non-verbal or verbal. The best setting for imparting knowledge is, in both Feuerstein's and my opinion, the qualitatively good interaction such as, among other things, we have described it in the project report (Andersen, Brandsborg and Vik 1999). The possibly most decisive factor to experiencing interaction as qualitatively good, will be that the child and the intermediary experience harmony, and have joint attention towards a theme and have joint experiences, including those regarding the feelings, and not least that they can confirm each other in the same sensory channel. I presume that Astrid's tacit knowledge springs largely from her personal reflections regarding being blind and being a teacher. Astrid was already conscious of some of this tacit knowledge, and she wished to impart it to Nora, while other things were done intuitively. Throughout the project period, she became increasingly conscious of this. Even though Astrid often spoke a great deal to Nora, this information or instruction was not experienced as exaggerated or as unnecessary "noise". Could this be because Astrid as a blind person intuitively knew which information was critical and necessary for Nora to receive, and which information she did not need? For instance, when Nora and Astrid walked together from the playroom to the cafeteria, which was in a different building, Astrid didn't mention what they were passing along the way, but she used the time rather to prepare Nora for what they were going to do together in the cafeteria. Pnina Klein (1989) says that the adult, through interaction, "...becomes like a tour guide for the child" (p. 81). I believe I saw several examples of Astrid being just such a "tour guide" for Nora. Interaction strategy #3: The importance of conversation and the use of auditive strategies * Incidents (from videotaping): While Astrid and Nora move through the corridor, they carry on a dialogue. The content of the dialogue can easily be interpreted as "empty words": "A: We are going to the left over here. N: Here, yes! A: Do you recognize this from last time? N: Not here (she makes a sound) A: There is quite an echo here. N: Yes, what do you think we are going to do today? A: We'll do things more or less like last time, I think. N: Yes." * The blind teacher's insider perspective What is really going on between Nora and myself? When we move, sounds from both our footsteps and the dialogue itself represent important attention markers for both of us. Besides the "clicking-sounds" with the tongue which I believe is one way for Nora to explore the room, dialogue exchanges give us information about where the other one is physically placed. Perhaps this can be compared to the way vision functions in similar situations with sighted people? The sounds which occur when we talk, also tell us about the room we move in, in that they create an echo in the room. This tells us, for instance, if it is far to the playroom. In addition, we get information about each other's mood, spirits, and general condition that day. * The sighted teacher's perspective Vision, and to a great extent eye contact, plays a very important role in the communication between two sighted people. When one or both partners are blind, dialogue functions must be maintained primarily by hearing and the tactile sense. During all the years that I worked on a daily basis with children who were blind, I often wondered about their great need to talk and also to ask about all sorts of things while we were doing an activity. Not a few times did I consider that the themes they took up were unexpected and outside of my context. I interpreted this as an expression of a need for contact, or perhaps even a kind of inattention or lack of concentration. Today I view this as expedient and often advanced strategies to maintain dialogue functions. Vision as a regulatory mechanism within a dialogue is also something sighted people lose when we talk on the telephone, and cannot sit facing one another and use our sight in a familiar way at such a time. We also experience the need for some introductory phrases to hear how things are before we come to the point. Perhaps we have not seen blindness as also being a communicative handicap to the extent that we should have done? * The sighted psychologist's perspective Many in the professional field believe that blind children develop the ability to take another's perspective, and thus also empathy, much later than sighted children (MacAlpine & Moore 1995, Warren 1994). This delay can have many causes. One of them could be that most blind children lack regular contact with blind adults. According to psychoanalytic theory, identifying with someone older, usually one of the parents, is a foundation of the development of empathy. There are many indications that it may be more difficult to achieve strong identification with adults who are too unlike oneself. The opportunity for recognition can be too limited. Company with a blind adult expands the opportunity for recognizing and identifying, and maybe also to put oneself in another's situation. The other side of the same phenomenon is that most sighted adults will have difficulties putting themselves into a blind child's sensory and experiential world, as opposed to that of a sighted child. Perhaps many blind children are delayed in their empathy-development because they themselves are met with less empathy than most other children are? Perhaps here we are dealing with mutual difficulties in comprehension and empathy? Can one of the reasons why many blind children develop psycho-social difficulties also lie somewhere in the mismatch between their unique experiential world and the teaching system which believes that it understands what is best for them (Fogel, 1997 pg. 86)? I would here add: this relates to a teaching system which in all too small a measure offers blind children experiences with people and phenomena rooted in their own culture. Interaction strategy #4: The significance of pace, time and tranquility in interaction * Incidents (from videotaping): Nora tries to open a bag, but cannot find the opening. Pushes it away without saying anything. It does not seem as though Astrid has discovered that Nora has for the time given up. After a while, Nora finds the bag again without saying anything, searches for the opening and finds it. The fact that Astrid does not see that Nora has given up for a while, probably contributes to giving the child a natural opportunity to consider whether or not she would like to try again, and on her own initiative, without a teacher's external fuss. They sit together at a table before they go to the counter. Astrid describes what is going to happen when they go over to buy food. In using so much preparation time, Nora's opportunity to understand the context and develop a general view of the whole situation is greatly increased before they start on the details at the counter. * The blind teacher's insider perspective According to my own experience, lack of time and tranquility is a recurring problem in different situations, and in many contexts the quality of learning and experience is dependent on whether or not I can use the desired amount of time. When I planned the activities in the project, having enough time and tranquility in each activity was an important foundational principle. I believe this created good learning conditions, both for Nora and myself. I experienced that the quality of my teaching - as well as my ability to observe, became poorer when I was pressed for time. In the situations described above, it is of great importance that I, as a teacher, often need to use almost the same amount of time as Nora needs, and that we are dependent upon using alternative methods of observation which are more time consuming. An example of this is when we enter a room, we need time to stand quietly by the door for a little while in order to have a quick "survey listen" of the room before we go further in. My experience, however, is that having enough time for both Nora and myself became one of the project's strengths. In certain situations, Nora gave up quite easily, which I did not always register. I assumed that she continued to work with the problem, and gave her time to do it. We saw several examples of Nora realizing this, or else she gave up waiting and solved the problem herself. Given enough time to solve the problem, she experienced both being able to master things and independence. In other cases, this obviously might have been a disadvantage had she not realized that she had to tell me that she needed assistance. My experience is that sighted people often forget or may have difficulties in comprehending how much time is needed to complete an activity when one is blind. We completed fewer activities than we had planned during our club-days. I believe our priorities were correct. The learning effect from these shared activities was better than I am used to from other teaching situations. These observations also agree with reports from Nora's parents. Her mother writes: "It's always about how there is never enough time to do everything which needs to be done, and that in the project, one simply "took" the time. I am utterly convinced that Nora learns best from one occasion where one spends plenty of time rather than several occasions where one spends little time. The challenge becomes to make this the case "in real life"." Her father comments: "The most important aspect has been to become conscious of what Nora does do and does not do. I feel that I don't draw such hasty conclusions as I used to do, but I spend more time in judging whether Nora does something appropriately. First and foremost this has the effect that I don't hassle Nora as much, but let her have more time to do things her way." Interaction strategy #5: Similarity, equality, and identity * Incidents (from videotaping): Nora rocks a little back and forth with her upper body as they sit beside each other and close to each other. Astrid: "Can you feel how my body is sitting?" Nora stops rocking and does not do it again for the rest of the club-day. Nora: "We are both blind. Well, you are almost blind. You can't see it. Nora: "We have a "special club"." Nora: "How do you manage to fasten the zipper even if you can't see?" Nora: "Now it is kind of the two of us who are talking together, and not Knut." (Knut is operating the video) * The sighted psychologist's perspective Many of Nora's comments which are referred to in the report, concern the similarities between her and Astrid: both are blind. We had the impression that Nora found someone to stretch towards, to emulate, someone who in one important way is more like her than her parents. She received an important supplement to her parents as a figure with whom to identify (Andersen & Hunstad 1988). Moreover, it was confirmed for her, in her immediate environment, that someone who is blind is capable; among other things, she can become a teacher and also a teacher of the visually impaired. About one year previously, Nora had asked her school principal if she thought that Nora herself could become a teacher when she grew up. There are several indications that interaction and conversations with Astrid contributed to Nora being able to reflect upon, and almost certainly strengthened, a positive identity as a blind person. Many of Nora's "we are alike" comments have to do with this identity: the two of us are different from "the others". Comments from the network surrounding Nora confirm this impression. They mention the pride and pleasure Nora shows regarding the "club-days", as well as increased awareness about what gives her the greatest advantages. Astrid also uses this similarity in combination with a great respect for Nora. Nora is allowed to affect the content of their days. This may be the same phenomenon which shows itself in Nora's smile when she discovers a candlestick before Astrid, and can show it to her: "Look!" Perhaps this is something which does not happen very often in a blind child's life, that she is the first to "see" something? Conclusion The blind teacher's knowledge and experience when working with a child who is blind (summary): * Interaction between a blind teacher and a blind pupil is strengthened as the pupil is clearly confirmed through her touch and hearing simultaneously. * A blind teacher will, to a great degree, know what is critical information for a blind pupil, and can express this in a natural manner * Blind teachers and blind pupils share the need for achieving a general overview, time and tranquility. * The blind teacher and the blind pupil have a degree of similarity which strengthens the experience of a common identity, and a blind teacher will, with a great degree of credibility, vis-à-vis the pupil, be able to function as a role model for the blind pupil. * In relation to a blind pupil, a blind teacher is a carrier of the specific history and culture of the blind, which, both intentionally and unintentionally, is transferred to the pupil through being together. In some situations, lack of vision was a disadvantage, especially when there was too great physical distance between the pupil and the teacher. What, however, we more often found was that the blindness as a handicap "disappeared" for both of them when the interaction was good. With regard to pedagogical work, it will always be a matter of degree of personal suitability, both in connection with those who are sighted and those who are visually impaired. Teaching a pupil who is blind will always present special challenges. Being visually impaired in itself is not a sufficient qualification to being a good teacher for a blind pupil, just as not all sighted teachers will be able to interact and communicate knowledge well to all sighted pupils. Teamwork between blind and sighted teachers is important and necessary so that blind and sighted teachers can complement and support each other. We hope that, to a certain degree, sighted people can learn to understand and use blind teachers' special strategies. Transferring the strategies which Astrid used together with Nora, to other people in Nora's sighted network, is one of the aims of stage II of this project, which commenced in the autumn of 1999. We will recommend that blind pupils, to a larger extent than today, are given opportunities to meet and be taught by blind teachers. That such few blind pupils are given opportunities like this today is a matter of concern for us. Today, meetings like this occur mainly between blind teachers and pupils at summer camps, on short-term courses, and during consultative guidance sessions, and more ideas are needed in order to create practical ways by which this can be achieved. Blind teachers often need increased experience in meeting and teaching blind pupils. We believe that their intuitive knowledge and experience, made visible through, among other things, the strategies described in this project, will increasingly become further developed. More explicitly this may in turn become a natural part of their pedagogical repertory, knowledge and experience, and so perhaps expand and strengthen their professional role. It would be interesting to investigate whether similar or strategies other than those we found between those who are blind, also could be described in the interaction between teachers and pupils who are partially sighted. With regard to deaf children, it is recognized that they have a right to be educated in sign language, and children from foreign countries living in Norway are taught in both Norwegian and in their mother tongue. Will we in the future be able to say that those who are visually impaired have the right to be educated in their own modality? References Andersen, K.J., Brandsborg, K. & Vik, A.K. (1999). 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