Visions of the Blind

In a presentation given by the mother of one my students, she describes the process her family experienced as they discovered her youngest son was diagnosed with a  degenerative eye condition which would eventually lead to total blindness. As a professional in the field of vision impairments, listening to her experience helped me gain a deeper understanding of the tragedy a family experiences when a child is diagnosed as blind. In my mind when I hear a student has a vision impairment, I immediately look at ALL THE POSSIBILITIES and get super excited to teach "blindness skills". On the other hand, I have to take a step back and respect the journey of the family. After all, my time with the child is simply a fraction of his/her life. As I continued to listen to this mother pour out her family story she made a profound statement that will forever be etched in my memory and holds extreme power. "My husband and I decided we were not going to assign our fears about bl...

The beginning of the school year is right around the corner! As teachers of children with visual impairments and orientation and mobility specialists, we always want to start the year off on the right foot. Starting the school year successfully will allow everything to flow in to place easier. Scheduling will be easier. Teaching will be easier. Your October-self will thank you for the work you put in now. When I first started teaching Orientation and Mobility 12 years ago, I was so flustered at the beginning of the school year. On one hand, it felt exhilarating to get back into the swing of the school year. On the other, there is SO MUCH to do. Between the mandatory meetings that have little to do with students with visual impairments and the desire to start the school year off on the right foot, I ended up stressed out every single year. For the first five years of my teaching career, I worked 14 hour days from August through mid-October. You don’t have to do that. I am going ...

Campers & Counselors stand around Camp Abilities North Georgia banner As I sit here on my front porch on a balmy Saturday morning, I reflect on my summer experiences. Yes, I work throughout the summer but I also slow down with the change of pace--just enough to rejuvenate for a new school year. One of the ways I both slowed down and worked is attending Camp Abilities North Georgia (CANGA). What an  INCREDIBLE experience! I grew up attending camps all summer long when I was not spending time on my grandparents' farm. At the time, camp was something to do that did not include sitting around the house all summer. Now, I know camp was so much more ! As a child, I had a ton of fun at camp while also learning new lessons which cannot be taught in school or at home and believe those experiences impacted who I am today. I also may have found myself in trouble one year for being sneaky but that is for a different post... So what does camp do for children? Over 3 days at CANGA ...

Hello! With the new school year fast approaching, I wanted to reach out to those general classroom teachers who may just be finding out that they will have the joy of teaching a student who has a visual impairment in their classroom! This week's blog post will address ways to adapt your classroom, materials, and routines to allow your student who is visually impaired to seamlessly adapt to the new year and compete on the same level as their peers. Chances are, you've already met your student's Teacher of the Visually Impaired (TVI) and Certified Orientation & Mobility Instructor (COMS). They will be wonderful resources for you this year and provide you the support you need. They may also be able to assist in the set up of your classroom!  Let's dive right in! Adapting your room to be VI friendly! Make sure that you check their IEP to see if they need preferential seating towards the front of the room or away from glare. It is important to make sure t...

In my last post "I Believe...In Working Myself Out of a Job", I referenced creating independence in students to the point where I am no longer needed. To dig a bit deeper, I recall a conversation with a supervisor many years ago. I was called to an office where my caseload would be reviewed by my supervisor and I would have the opportunity to state my case on a few new students. As we reviewed my caseload student by student, we came upon my most recent student. I had recommended a specific amount of service time based on the student's unique needs and what I knew he required to develop appropriate skills towards independence. My caseload was completely packed and I had no idea how I was going to serve this student. I was asked why I had recommended the service time if I did not have time to provide the services. I was thoroughly confused because I recommended the service time a child requires based on the child's needs, not based on my availability to serve.   A...

The ECC (Expanded Core Curriculum) for students with visual impairment includes social interaction skills and independent living skills. My caseload this year consisted of several middle school students at the same middle school who had IEP goals related these aspects of the ECC. Social interaction skills can be a challenge when considering each student's needs and how they best communicate. Some students are boisterous and outspoken, while others have processing delays and other disabilities such as autism. Conversations may take longer as I lead by example and prompt students with appropriate questions and responses to share fun information about the past weekend or upcoming summer break. For one student, it is important to structure the conversation and the way the answers are provided in the same format each time. For another, it teaches patience, as she waits for her friend to respond to the question. Both students also have daily living skills goals. On one partic...

Am I seeing a pattern??? Rolling marshmallow tip, after rolling marshmallow tip, after rolling marshmallow tip! As an Orientation and Mobility Specialist who works with children, I started to see a pattern. I would say about 95% of the students that I was working with had the standard aluminum cane with a rolling marshmallow tip. Rolling marshmallow tips are all well and fine, and definitely have their place, but sometimes we need to try something new, or our students require different tools to increase their efficiency and independence. So, I did a little self-reflecting and decided to get myself out of my own rolling marshmallow rut and challenged myself and my students to try something new. I asked my students to forgo the rolling marshmallow tip for a trial period and try out a new cane tip for a few weeks. I brought in several tips and allowed them to choose which one they wanted to start with and we went from there. With a littl...