Sensation and Perception

I remember ever since I was a kid having a passion for students with special needs. I have always been drawn in by these students and always wanted to work with them. Growing up as a teachers kid, I knew all the teachers. Because of this, I was always asked to come help in the life skills class. I remember the student I always got to read to was blind. His name was Graham. Throughout the rest of my time in the school district, I always hung out with Graham every chance I got. I chose to write about Echolocation because of my old friend Graham. I always wondered how Graham got around so well, I know he had been used to this life by now, but still! He would go all around the class room handing me book after book with or without his walking stick. After reading this article about echolocation, most of my questions of Graham were now answered. I always noticed he was making noises, wether he was snapping his fingers, making clicking noises with his tongue, or just flat out making random noises with his mouth, he was never quiet, this is probably why we got along so well.  In the article is says "Subsequent research showed that both blind and sighted people can develop the skill to avoid obstacles without vision, as long as they have normal hearing. In sum, these studies showed that the “obstacle sense” was not a mysterious skill that only some blind people possessed, but instead a general human ability." 
This shows me that Graham was able to tell his surroundings by his hearing. Echolocation is also used often in animals such as Bats, and whales. Although neither of these animals are blind, they use this to know their surroundings because they have some things about them where they can not see as well as other animals, therefore this is put into their daily life to help them survive. I really enjoyed reading about this topic because as someone who wants to go into special education, this helps me understand some of my students better!

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/using-sound-to-get-around