A blind boy from Doncaster has had his life transformed thanks to a pioneering technique that helps him to get to know his surroundings.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below. The activity is suitable for Intermediate 2 students.
1 What is ecolocation?
2 What has Mason learnt in ten minutes?
3 What are Mason’s parents feelings at their son’s independence?
4 What does ‘£500’ refer to?
5 Why is Mason travelling to US?
This is the longest Mason has walked on his own without holding someone's hand. He's 6 years old, and he's blind.
You'll know where the sides of the path are, I'll let you go in front... cos you're so good at it!
His parents have taken him to meet Daniel Kish to learn echolocation.
(1) Echolocation generally speaking is the use of reflected sound. Any sound that reflects from any object is referred to as ecolocation. We use a specific kind of pulse of sound or flash of sound, which can be a tongue click that bounces off surfaces all around us and returns to us and an image can be constructed from the patterns of sound that reflect back.
(2) After only 10 minutes of teaching time Mason learned how to click and scan, meaning he can accurately locate objects.
It's going quite well actually...
For his parents the process of letting go conjured up (3) a mixture of pride and fear.
This is just going to transform Mason's life. It's going to give him the independence to travel alone, to go to school independently. Just to have a normal life.
Some sort of normal life.
His parents are stumping up (4) £500 a day for these contact visits, a price they feel it’s worth it for learning to decipher the shape of sound. Daniel has invited Mason to one of his (5) workshops in the United States, where he'll continue to learn from and be around others who are in a similar situation.
