Maryland School for the Blind

Philosophy

The philosophy of the Maryland School for the Blind is to educate their visually impaired students on not only school subjects, such as history, math, etc, but to also teach them skills and independence that they can use at and outside of the home. These skills are taught through the Expanded Core Curriculum and are available during school, after school, weekends, and even over summer vacation. Parents and others interested in helping students like these can even take classes and train at the school to learn how to properly do so.

Residency

The Maryland School for the Blind is a large co-ed school with its own campus and dorms. There are several different academic buildings for the students’ specifics academic-needs, such as buildings for blind students, blind and deaf students, blind and autistic students, blind and mentally-retarded, etc. The dorms at MSB are called “cottages”. Each cottage houses five to six students and comes with bedrooms with 2 beds in each so that each person has a roommate, a kitchen, living room, and bathrooms. Though the students do live by themselves, there are cottages occupied by staff members so that if a student needs assistance, it is nearby. Like the academic buildings, some buildings are built for students with a specific set of disabilities, such as the Autism-Blind cottages. Though the majority of MSB students live on campus, many of them do choose to go home for the weekends or holidays just like college students.

Curriculum

According to Michael J.Bina, the 12th president of MSB since 2008, public schools cannot fully support students with visual impairments because they have not learned or been trained how to. He states that despite the government’s efforts to make all children regardless of disability feel welcomed and accepted in public schools, “schools for the blind and visually impaired continue to be relevant… The services of these institutions help visually handicapped students to gain access in normal educational settings. They provide the necessary support for attaining skills that would complement the ones they learn from public schools.” Therefore to accomplish this standard that President Bina has set for schools that intend to help the visually impaired, the Maryland School for the Blind, along with many other institutions for the blind, incorporate the Expanded Core Curriculum. Of course these schools teach subjects that are taught in public schools, such as history, math, English, etc, but they are known as the core curriculum. The Expanded Core Curriculum’s aim is to teach students the life skills that will help them become proficient in their core curriculum and eventually live well off on their own. The ECC covers nine aspects that the students need to learn: compensatory or functional academic skills, orientation and mobility, social interaction skills, independent living skills, recreation and leisure skills, career education, use of assistive technology, sensory efficiency skills, and self-determination. Each aspect focuses on a specific set of skills. The orientation and mobility aspect, for example, teaches students how to get around private and public environments - their own home, restaurants, parks, etc., special techniques - trailing, techniques on self-defense, cane skills, etc., and how to travel in unfamiliar or dangerous terrain - revolving doors, iced sidewalks, etc. Then there is the social interaction skills. It may sound unnecessary to those without any visual impairment, but the seeing learn social cues, such as gestures, the meaning of certain facial expressions, body positions, and movements, through what they see and hear. They are able to associate reactions and expressions to certain concepts even if they are not doing so intentionally. Understandably, the visually impaired cannot learn social skills through this method of sight. Therefore, the ECC carefully teaches the blind and visually impaired students numerous socials skills so that they can interact with those around them whether they be blind or not.

Student-teacher relationships

The school has 325 employees that work very closely with the kids, especially since many of them live on campus along with the students, so it has been known for the teachers and students to form close relationships even if they are supposed to keep up professional relationships. One example of such a relationship, though it is rare for one to go as far as this one, is between the blind, deaf, and mentally-retarded student Tony Hall and his teacher’s aide Nancy Foster. After Hall’s mother left his family, his father couldn’t take care of his needs so social workers took away Hall and placed him in several foster families. When Hall was having his tantrums, Foster would take him to the treadmill to run until he was calm again, and eventually, he would ask to be taken to the treadmill to soothe his anger instead of being forced there. Eventually, Foster helped him to learn how to control his emotions and that helped them grow closer. When Hall was about to lose his last foster home and be sent to an institution, Foster, who was only about 10 years older than him, took him in as his foster mother. They lived together for years and were the priority of each other’s lives. Foster reunited Hall with his father and siblings and even introduced him to her own family, stating that Tony comes before anything else. This even included her dating life though her boyfriend understood and even became friends with Tony himself. Foster never considered herself his mother. They both were each other’s best friends and lived together for years before Hall died at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center from undetermined causes.

Presidents

Unfortunately, the name of every president is not available on this page or on the Maryland School for the Blind’s website, but the school has had twelve presidents in total, including the current and 12th president Michael J. Bina. The school’s first few presidents were called superintendents. When the school opened up in 1853, David E. Loughery was the first superintendent followed by Frederick Douglas Morrison for forty years and then John Francis Bledsoe for thirty-six years. Eventually, Herbert J. Wolfe became a superintendent and then Dr. Richard L. Welsh after him. The 10th president/superintendent was Louis M. Tutt and the 11th was Elaine Sveen.