Do you have a friend or family member that is blind?

[clarabelle]

Someone I know has a child that has been diagnosed with a genetic retinal disease and will lose vision.
I am unclear on if it will be all vision or what.

Anyway I was wondering how blind children are educated these days? Does anyone know? What do they play with? I have lots of questions was just wondering if anyone had some knowledge they didn't mind sharing.
When I talked to Mom -she had just found out and was way too upset to ask.
Thanks

 

[anotherdisneygal]

I don't have any specific infomation, but she should talk to a pediatric retina specialist (the American Society of Retina Specialists: www.asrs.org). S/he would be able to help her and her child.

 

[Cindy B]

I am a former teacher that has had visually impaired students in all levels (prek to high school). I'm not visually impaired but have had some training on various levels with certain students. I can tell you what I have seen in a local public school district.

In middle school, certain specialists would come in on an intermittent basis to cane train, Braille train and train students on adaptive materials. Truth be told, Braille training in my area is getting harder to receive and find. Not to be alarmed, since there are all types of technological advances.

I had younger non reading studnets use a "soundboard" which had different sounds to help the student with letter sounds.. it was sort of like a Speak and Spell (remember that toy in the 70's?)

In the middle and high school level, the student used Jaws -a voice enabled computer software that enables a student to "hear" commands. If Jaws wasn't working we would just set up voice commands via Microsoft Options.


Its important to know that in my cases, these were non special ed classrooms.. just a regualar classroom adapted with a computer, seating and in some cases an aide was there to assist with the Brailler. In some cases (the Prek classroom) there was some other modifications that needed a special education teacher but that was more for early intervention things.
In the classroom I used a lot of expressive language, tactile resources (for example a set of raised dice, wiki sticks for graphing) and books on tape.

I was able to teach math (especially decimals) to a blind student. This student used a brailler device--which was similar to a typewriter. Basically he would type the words and then dictate what he typed to an aide or myself and we would write it underneath. I knew a little Braille, so I could say.. break down that word for me.. or reread that line if it sounded like he was being sneaky (he did that occasionally).

In another class, a student had limited visual acuity and was given braille copy of the science textbooks. You just had to plan in advance for the lessons because the Braille textbooks took a while to order in advance. Sometimes the books wouldn't come in time and we would just have to figure what to do.. either read the book on tape, use the online supplement of the text or make it a partner read activity for the whole class (tying literacy into science)

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I live in Florida and there is a school for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine that does wonderful things for students who can't see or hear, or in some cases can't do either.

 

[sunnyday123]

I would also be supportive of her and maybe help her find out everything she can about this and the future.


I work with someone who has been blind since 2, he's a body builder ( he competed in the special Olympics ) walks to work everyday, and works in our computer department-he helps design programs and fixes burps in the system.

 

[clarabelle]

Thanks everyone. I will be supportive. The Dad is a eye surgeon. How ironic. So I am not worried about them not knowing what to do or where to go for help. I was just being nosy.
I don't know any blind children or adults and my experience with blind people is limited to Mary on "Little house on the Prairie"

So kids stay home to be educated? What about toys? What do they play with?
It seems like vision is such a part of play -it is hard to imagine him playing without seeing.

 

[clarabelle]

Sunnyday -I find this fascinating -you can work on computers without seeing?

 

[clarabelle]

Cindy
Do they learn braille at home?

 

[Cindy B]

My DH had a colleague that was blind from birth and received an electrical engineering degree from a prestigious university. He has done engineeering, computer programming, website design, etc.


This persons spouse is also visually impaired. She runs her own business that trains other visually impaired individuals with adaptive equipment (Jaws, Zoomtext, Kurzweil). Plus she shows her clients how to use Word, Excel, etc.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

So kids stay home to be educated? What about toys? What do they play with?
It seems like vision is such a part of play -it is hard to imagine him playing without seeing.

Not as hard as one would think. We have 5 senses and while vision is extremely important, we do have 4 other senses.

 

[Cindy B]

Sunnyday -I find this fascinating -you can work on computers without seeing?

Very easily.. the Jaws systems enables that (its voice enabled). Its super easy to do!

As for Braille at home, I can't say. Braille (at least here) is getting to be an "extinct" language. I actually wrote about a paper regarding the downward trend of Braille literacy. In my former district, there was a stronger emphasis -especially with the younger students for the technological literacy components--Jaws, voice software, etc.

I went to my DH's colleagues house one time for a party.. it was full of visually impaired individuals and DH and I were the only ones with vision. All the individuals had all types of jobs.. some worked at Fedex, some worked at local TV/radio stations, some worked at city departments, etc. Currently I work with the federal government and there are quite a few blind individuals. I will say that blind individuals can make some mean drinks.. they would be great bartenders!

One works in the disability department working with clients on thier disability filings, one is a computer programmer, one works on the executive floor, one is a claims examiner and one is a typist (yes a typist.. using that computer software). The federal government is a great employer. We even have a snack stand run by a blind individual.. he had an adapted lottery machine, runs his store, does stock and such. Him being blind is a NON issue.

 

[Cindy B]

Thanks everyone. I will be supportive. The Dad is a eye surgeon. How ironic. So I am not worried about them not knowing what to do or where to go for help. I was just being nosy.
I don't know any blind children or adults and my experience with blind people is limited to Mary on "Little house on the Prairie"

So kids stay home to be educated? What about toys? What do they play with?
It seems like vision is such a part of play -it is hard to imagine him playing without seeing.

No they don't stay at home.!

 

[clarabelle]

Thanks
This is so hard to imagine he loves to ride his bike and play wii. It is difficult to think of him not doing those things.

I appreciate you guys letting me ask my stupid questions here instead of offending the parents.

 

[Disney Ella]

The type of retinal disease he has and the rate that the loss will occur will determine what special visual aids he might need. If the disease is something like retinitis pigmentosa and he has the recessive form of the disease, he could have usable central vision into his 30's or 40's, while having the dominant form of the disease could mean losing all vision in his 20's. It really will depend on what disease the child has, but computerized devices make it much easier to adapt these days.

 

[4 Ears]

I was an Ed Tech for a visually impaired student for a couple of years. What an experience, I loved it!!
I had to learn Braille, I have my certificate in uncontracted Braille, and was well on my way to receiving it for Contracted.
For the computer he had voice recognition programs, and a keyboard that at first had Braille stickers on it until we got him a plastic cover that was Brailled.
He has programs that I could type, just like I am now and it would convert it to , and then I would print it out.
We had lots of tactile aids. Art Class was great! Everyone else used markers, crayons, the typical; we used beads, yarn, clay.....
His teacher would come in about 2 or 3 times a week and taught him Braille, me as well.
For gym, he had balls just like the other kids but they had bells in them, we would also use a timer and hold it near the "goal" for him to shoot towards.
He also had a teacher that came in to teach him correct cane usage. Several times I was blindfolded in "his" class to get a better understanding.
Would love to give more info if you have more questions.

Sorry to hear of the child loosing vision. There is SO much available, good luck!

 

[clarabelle]

I would have never thought about putting a bell in a ball. That makes so much sense!

I am feeling better.

I know he has significant vision loss already -mostly in things that are far away.
He has some other health problems -a few other congenital birth defects -so this comes very hard.

Thanks again for your input

 

[keetmommy]

I have a daughter who is legally blind due to a brain tumor. She recently lost all vision in one eye, and has limited out of the other. She is still reading and does the same work as classmates although stuff needs to get blown up for her, if you just looked at her you wouldn't know she has a vision problem...once she starts moving it is more obvious.
Our district has a vision teacher that helps her to succeed.

 

[clarabelle]

Thanks keetmommy

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

I have a cousin who is blind. She's about 13 years older than I am and was internationally adopted into our family at around 13, so I can't tell you about her childhood or toys.

She went to college and grad. school and now teaches first grade and is fantastic at it.

 

[SOnotLayuh]

I had a blind professor who was INCREDIBLE! He walks to campus every day. His computer would speak commands back to him, and there are a lot of options with books and scholarly journals to have things sent in a format he could just listen to. He got around really well, is incredibly funny and smart and just like anyone else.

I also have blind cats, but that definitely isn't the same thing