Visions of the Blind

  Team Work Makes the Dream Work! Wait?!? What did that say? T-E-A-M? How does that work? For children with disabilities, we work as a team to write a report or plan that will provide them with support to learn, grow, and have relationships with their peers. Why should the team work end there? Don’t we teach our children to share and help others? Why is it such a foreign concept to provide holistic and well-rounded experiences? I remember as a child that one of my favorite books was about Grover being so terrified of what would happen at the end of the book because there was a scary monster waiting….oh no! Is the scary monster at the end really that T-E-A-M word?!? Aaaarrrgggghhhhh! In my mind, to provide the absolute best care, we should all learn from each other. Every PT session that I have with a student incorporates so much more than PT. We are ALL responsible for helping this child learn. I use colors, numbers, books, games, stories, playground equi...

White Ribbon with black braille symbols spelling brl (braille) It seems as though every month is a month to recognize or celebrate SOMETHING. Well, October is our month--BLINDNESS AWARENESS MONTH. I'm posting this a week ahead of time in hopes it provides time for creative juices to start flowing and time to get it all together (between everything else that goes on at this time of year)!! Falling into October is a great time to spread awareness about vision impairments in creative and fun ways. Blindness Awareness Month is the  perfect opportunity to get your children and students involved in spreading awareness while also learning about their own vision, building self-esteem, advocating, and developing interpersonal skills. Below I have listed only a few ideas to create Blindness Awareness and celebrate individuals who have visual impairments. EMAIL As the TVI/COMS (if not dual work with your team) send an email to staff i...

(Photo credit: Encyclopedia Britannica; Photo Description: A person's hands are reading the right-hand side of a braille book.) I wanted to be a veterinarian. But here I stand, a teacher of students with visual impairment and blindness and Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist. A job I never knew existed until I was 23 years old. And 18 years later, I look back and think about the twists and turns in my life that led to my discovery of this unique profession. A love for science. A dream to be an optometrist. A classmate who told me about the graduate studies program in the same building at Pennsylvania College of Optometry (now Salus University). Shadowing an orientation and mobility specialist at the Cleveland Sight Center. And the rest, as they say, is history. In the field of blindness and visual impairment, I can venture to say we are in a crisis. Although I do not have any hard-core statistics, I believe the ratio of TVI’s (teachers of students with visual i...

                                                  Picture description: A person standing in                                                   a hallway holding a white and red                                                   long cane in the left hand and brown stick                                                   in the right hand. As we get back into the swing of things for the new school year, a few things came to mind as I was preparing my students for the upcoming year. Our lesson...

PAPERWORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EEEKKKK! Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork! When it is the end of the week, month, quarter and you know that paperwork is due, are you scrambling to get it done and turned in on time? This week, we will explore ways to make sure that you do not get overwhelmed or behind on your paperwork!  As we all know, paperwork can be very hard to stay current. They can also feel redundant at times, but trust me, redundancy is your friend! The repetition of information shows your employer, county or school district, and service providers that you are consistent, put together and doing what is best for the student!  Staying organized is essential to keeping up to date on paperwork. If you cannot find your paperwork, your case notes, or your jotting journal then you might not be completing your paperwork with all the information that needs to go in there. Earlier in this blog, I did a post about staying organized on the road. Having one binder or bag ...

Greetings from the Blue Ridge Mountains! Being an itinerant teacher who travels down back country roads and up and down mountains has given me a chance to enjoy some of the most beautiful countryside in Southwest Virginia while fulfilling my passion! Since I began working for Allied Instructional Services (AIS) in 2012, I have worked in many school districts throughout the New River Valley and other areas of Southwest Virginia. My career journey has been full of twists and turns, but there’s no place I would rather be than doing what I love! It is always interesting to me how people get into the field of blindness and many never intend to, but come through unique experiences or circumstances. For me, I wanted to be an optometrist and majored in Chemistry (yes, that’s right, I LOVE science and math!) in undergrad. While in optometry school, I decide to shift gears (slightly) and got a Master’s degree from Salus University in Orientation and Mobility. After moving to Colorado, ...

Hello from Massanutten, Virginia! My name is Gwyn Suttell and I am a teacher of the visually impaired and certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist. I graduated from Kutztown University with a B.S. in visual impairments and education. I then went on to obtain my M.S. in Orientation and Mobility from Salus University. I have been a TVI/COMS for over 18 years. I feel lucky every day that was led into this career path. As a TVI/COMS, I work directly with students to promote independence and accomplish their personal academic and independence goals. My previous experience has been with working with local school divisions and the school for the blind in Virginia. These experiences have led me to my current position as a Vision Services Coordinator with Allied Instructional Services (AIS). AIS has given me the opportunity to work with more students with blindness and visual impairments across Virginia and use my years of experience to mentor other teachers of the blind and visua...