Getting Ready

Getting ready for church this morning.

Pastor invited us to be at his table for a banquet honoring a pastor at a sister church last night. Today I have to teach Sunday school class. I hope my co-teacher is there. We usually take over for each other when one has another duty later in the day so that we can take care of last minute matters concerning Children's Church.

I'm taking some music and craft activities for the lesson so I need to set up in another classroom. For regular Sunday school class we teach the seven and eight year-old children every Sunday morning. For Children's Church I teach four- and five-year-old children every two or three months. They are such fun, but I know I will need a good nap when I get home this evening.

I am curious as to why I have so many Chinese links to my blog. Can someone answer that?

Little Bits

I must describe her so a reader will understand why I call her Baby Doll. She is the tiniest child in her class. Although she is three years old she may be the size of an eighteen-month old. She has Asian features with the tiniest little button of a nose. He mom has some unusual little round lens glasses of which the frame is constructed of red plastic. The "arms" of the glasses wrap around and hook at the back of her head. She has wispy straight black hair that frames her little round face and tiny feet and hands which she sometimes swing widely when she walks as she imitates whatever adult she may walk next to.She looks like a baby doll that one would want to sit at the head of one's bed on a pillow as an adorable decoration.

I went back to Baby Doll's class and she was there. This particular school is a preschool center. There are disabled children there and non-disabled children. It is a wonderful garden-like place with many fun and engaging activities.

This Monday was the first full day for all of the preschool students to attend. They were coming on staggered times and days for testing last week so Baby Doll and I missed each other twice.

Monday the children were in play centers when I arrived. The teacher, who is a new and different lady from last school term wanted to call Baby Doll to me but I told her I'd rather she kept her routine. I could watch her being herself and observe how she explored toys.

Baby Doll was sitting at a table with another child, a cute little boy that I will call Mr. Man. He was playing with toy ducks on a toy lake. Baby Doll looked at the toy she had and decided the ducks looked like far more fun. She helped him line them up on the plastic lake where when a switch was flipped, the little ducks vibrated in a circle. A minute or two later, neither the ducks or the play house and all it's buttons were interesting as some other toy on the shelf caught her attention.

The teacher let me read Baby Doll's latest IEP (Individual Education Plan) while the class lined up like a miniature train for potty time. I needed to check the visual acuity numbers again. I remembered from last school term that her distance vision was not too good. With her little red glasses she held near objects at a decent length until she wanted to see details.. I have a photo of her from last school term from when I observed her for a couple of hours. She was in the cafeteria and in one photo her little face goes down to her plate as if she was saying, "Let me see what this stuff is you guys are trying to get me to eat. Oh. Pancakes. Terrific. No thank you." I had just the photo I needed to show that.

Recess was interesting and such great fun! I accompanied her with her class. The water fountain was a dandy thing from which to drink so that we could be refreshed while digging in the sand at one of the sand tables. Then we had to see what it was like to scoop the sand and dump it on the sidewalk. I signed and spoke "No" and reminded her that the sand had to stay in the sand table. A few signs are used with oral communication because of some hearing loss and because she is largely non-verbal.

Back in the classroom the teacher surprised her class with chocolate cupcakes and ice cream. It was the para's birthday. It was a photo moment, of course! Six tiny people eating chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing is worthy of several priceless shots. I snapped away at the little chocolate covered hands and faces. Later I emailed the photos to the teacher and had them printed out and put in a little photo album for the para as a gift for her birthday.

Mr. Man wanted to see his picture in the back of my camera. He is the only one in the class who is verbal enough to ask. I noticed earlier that his right eye was turning slightly outward and that there was a little nystagmus in that eye. I showed him his picture and he smiled his big Mr. Man smile. Then I covered his left eye and asked him if he could see his picture. "Um. Um." he stammered and that right eye started dancing all over the place. he clearly could not use it or was not using it very well. Then I covered the right eye and he said, "There I am!" as he looked at his picture.

I mentioned to his teacher and the para that he may have problems with his vision in his right eye. Since he is nonambulatory and had obviously had other problems, the problems with one eye, when the other seemed fine could easily be overlooked. She asked me to mention it to the nurse across the hall so she could also check him and together they would notify his parents to have him seen by a pediatric opthamologist.

When I returned to my little spot at my home school I emailed the teacher, her principal and my supervisor concerning my opinion. I attached the photo closeup of his darling little face as he looked at the camera. If one were to cover his left eye in the photo it would appear that he was looking up and to the right. But if one covered the right eye, one can see the left eye was looking directly into the camera. My supervisor suggested I check his educational evaluation for an eye report and praised me for "good looking out."

When I was able to get to the evals on line I saw where it had been done when he was two years old--maybe two and a half. At that time the evaluator wrote that he was not verbal enough to get get enough response concerning his vision. Well, I thought, That certainly isn't the case now. Mr. Man is talking up a blue streak in that class these days! However, it was mentined that he'd had surgery on that eye a bit before that. His eyes had probably not been checked since then, because of his other physical involvements and because he is functioning so well with the good left eye. The right eye problems could easily go unnoticed. If all it needs is training like what is done for amblyopia now is the time to get that started as soon as possible. I pray that is all. He may not end up being one of my students but I would hope that whatever he has in the right eye can be improved or maintained under a doctor's care.

Ah! This was just part of my day at one school of four I visit, in one classroom of several. Such a joy with the little bits--the ones in whom God shows us and teaches us. I'm tired and I love it.

BIZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZEEEEEEEE!!!!!

I'm in the middle of the first full week of school. Can you say "busy" boys and girls?

I'm now housed at the same school where Mr. Hebrews 13 goes to school. He is SO overjoyed about that. Of course he knows where to find me because my space is located where his class used to be. His class is now in the main building.

I could tell that with the cerebral palsy his little fingers are too weak to press the braille writer keys on the standard braille writer. The new light weight braille writers are supposed to be easier to be more touch sensitive lighter in weight and easier to load but I know what ordering one for him will be like. They are at least $700 and getting such for multi-disabled kids. They are not considered as important for such as "regular" children with visual impairments. For example, with my high school students once we were instructed to take care of ordering their books and materials first because they were readers and college-bound versus the multi-disabled children in community-based/self-contained classrooms. Needless to say, I have been on a soapbox many times on that issue. I understand that those with that attitude don't understand these children.

I showed Mr. H. the keys for the first three braille alphabets. I tested him on his knowledge of which dots make each letter and he had not forgotten any of them. In fact, I could ask him in reverse--"What letter is made with dots one and four?" He gave me the right answer every time. But on the Perkins braille writer he had to use two finger to press one key. Ms. Jessie, his child specific para, wants to work on hand strengthening exercises with him. She is so excited about how well he is reading, she wants him to be able to use the braille writer in conjunction with the Intellikeys so he can read what h has written himself.He read all of his homework. Ms. Jessie went over it with him at the teacher's instruction because his mom did not. She was so excited that she ran him over o my room to show me that he could read all of his homework.

Before I went out to any other schools, I made three more lessons with sight words based on the some of the words we worked on last year, one word he wanted to add and his name. I made cards with all the Dolch words from preprimer to third grade last year, so we will do those as well during the year. He is a little sponge and Ms. Jessie is fantastic with him. She learns new braille with him. Now if Mom keeps him in school and helps him with homework, he will be an excellent reader because he wants to be so badly.

I have seen Matt at his new high school. He's let his beard grow in full--or at least as full as it can get on a young teen. It's so funny to see him like this when I remember this squeaky voice. Looks like his mom has compromised and had a barber attempt to give it shape. He is excited that I am his teacher again. He has an excellent community-based teacher who does not mind actually working with the children and taking Matt's vision into consideration in all of their activities.

I also went to see a graduate of Mrs. Beryl's pre-K class. She and her sister are attending a new elementary school. The class they are in is for exceptional students and the ages and abilities seem so varied. Their teacher is really working with them. She has some writers and some who cannot read and one with Down's who does not talk. Her room is a leftover space that part of a converted auditorium. it is brightly decorated and word rich--which I love. She has made it into a cosy, inviting place. The airconditioner kicked off twice while I was there. She has a window unit which seems to throw the breaker of occasionally in this older model school. Of course they are down at the end of the hall. Often our kids are segregated from the "regular" classes, at the end of the hall, int the special wing or in the portable buildings.

I have been late coming home most evenings and in my after school state which is shoes off and feet up. My sister and her daughter left for Colorado so my mother is feeling the effects of empty nest syndrome. She cannot cook for one or two so we have been visiting each evening. Then I am good for nothing else but sleep after that. Thus the lack of entries here in my blog and the lack of visits to my FaceBook page.

Such a busy beginning of school. I will survive!

Code Amber Alert!

Please scroll down near the bottom of this page and look at the Code Amber Alert for our friends in Canada!
I hope that everyone reading this will post both the US and Canadian Amber alert ticker on their blogs and web sites.

AFB article: Specialized Education Services for Children Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired

Thought you'd be interested in thise interested in this article from the American Foundation for the Blind.

"Specialized Education Services for Children Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired"

This article can be found on the web at:

http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=58&DocumentID=1243


Visit American Foundation for the Blind at:
http://www.afb.org

IDEA TASK FORCE White Paper

Don't know how this will come out since it was copied and pasted to an email.I may need to revisit the site 'cause the source link didn't come through.

IDEA TASK FORCE White Paper September 15, 2002 The American Council of the Blind is a national consumer organization of blind persons with a long history of commitment to improving opportunities for blind individuals to learn, work, participate in community activities, raise families, and contribute to a better society for all Americans. As an organization of concerned and responsible adults, the ACB seeks to make it known that the future of blind and visually impaired children is at risk of being wasted as the result of a faulty educational system. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) sets out in Federal law how children with disabilities will be educated in our schools. While it has certainly made a positive difference for many disability groups, its impact on the lives of children with visual impairments has been far less easy to assess. Seventy-five percent of all blind children already attended public school before IDEA was implemented. Over the years, IDEA has actually had the effect of limiting educational and social development of blind and visually impaired children. We believe that this is because of the nature of the law which focuses attention on process rather than on performance and favors adherence to philosophical principles such as the least restrictive environment and full inclusion over the need to plan the education of each child based on that child's needs. This paper focuses on three major aspects of an appropriate education: people, tools, and environment. By looking at each of these we paint a picture of a system that is fundamentally flawed and does not educate blind children to their full potential. After we describe our concerns we suggest changes that we believe can substantially and positively impact the educational and social success of children who are blind. PEOPLE One of the primary prerequisites for the successful education of any child is the people involved in that process. Parents, classroom teachers and specialized personnel versed in the disability-specific training needs of the children must all function individually and collectivly to optimize performance. Too often, this does not happen. Many parents of blind children are afraid to intervene with the school system on their child's behalf. They may feel that their child is in need of specific instruction, however, the school system isn't convinced such instruction is necessary, and therefore not willing to recommend it in the student's education plan. Parents, generally, are not adequately informed of their rights, and often think that the educational professionals must know what's best for their child. Parents often fear retaliation or retribution against their child in the future, and will not press for services that they believe would be beneficial in order to avoid angering the school system. While parents are dealing with the entire spectrum of educational requirements for their child, many parents are also coping with feelings of guilt that their child has a "disability." Mainstream classroom teachers have not had enough opportunity or have chosen not to take advantage of specialized training to work effectively with children with severe disabilities. Consequently, general education teachers either ignore the blind child in their classroom or smother the child with inappropriate attention. Qualified and experienced teachers of the visually impaired remain scarce and are concentrated primarily in urban areas. In many school districts teachers specializing in serving blind and visually impaired students are not the norm. Instead, teachers are hired with a generalist disability qualification that have no notion of how to teach the blindness-specific skills that are so essential to a child's future. In other cases, para-professionals take the place of fully certified teachers placing the specialized instruction blind and visually impaired children require even further out of reach. A core value of IDEA holds that placing a child in a classroom with mostly non-disabled students encourages integration and acceptance by their chronological peers. Unfortunately, this theory seldom occurs in reality for blind children. Because many classroom teachers have little knowledge about dealing with blind children or have minimal expectations of their capabilities, they allow isolation of the blind child by classmates, leading to poor social development and low self-confidence. Either mainstream teachers give blind students too much attention or they ignore them and leave all the training to a specialist itinerant teacher of the blind or to a teacher's aide. It should be noted that, with the rise of the concept of full inclusion, it is becoming increasingly popular to assign a teacher's aide to assist the teacher and the student. Too often, the aide ends up doing much of the work for both the teacher and the student. Moreover, aides frequently lack training in the specialized techniques blind children must learn. For too long, blind children have been isolated academically and socially within the general classroom because the general education staff does not consider it their responsibility to teach blind children, because special educators with expertise in Braille, assistive technology, and other services are in short supply, and because print information, such as textbooks, daily worksheets, library materials, and building signage, are not simultaneously accessible to blind students. The isolation has resulted in woefully inadequate academic and social learning, leaving blind students ill equipped for self-direction, independent living, and employment. All educators must consider blind children to be truly "included" in general education first, provide equal access to the academic, social, and extracurricular activities of the school, and take specific steps to provide for the specialized instructional needs of each blind student. The net result of all the "people" issues is that the blind child is not acquiring the skills he or she needs to be successful and independent, and is not feeling accepted in the very full inclusion environment that is supposed to create a sense of belonging. TOOLS OF THE TRADE No child can be successful in school without the right tools. Educators are now convinced that these tools include real literacy, access to and training in the use of computers, opportunities to explore careers, and enough life experience and sufficient sense of self to allow the student to believe that he or she can learn. A comprehensive range of specific needs (a Core Curriculum) must be met in the education of a child who is blind. These include: orientation and mobility (teaching the child to understand spatial position and travel independently); daily living skills (training to live independently, including maintaining clothing, preparing meals, cleaning, and managing money); blindness-specific computer training (use of an audible screen reader, large print magnification or a Braille display, keyboard skills, access games, word processing, and other programs); and, of course, Braille instruction (teaching the child to read using the Braille system). Without training in these areas, the blind person, no matter how intelligent, is not equipped to function effectively and competitively in the real world. There is alarming evidence that blind students are not receiving Braille instruction. Without Braille, many blind students end up graduating from high school functionally illiterate, lacking the ability to read and write in a medium they can access independently. It is not sufficient to be able to use a tape recorder or a computer. Both approaches can supplement literacy skills, but can never substitute for Braille. Blind students must develop strong literacy skills in Braille first and foremost. As suggested earlier, there is a set of additional tools that a blind child must learn to use. These most often include a white cane; low vision aids, or after a child is at least sixteen years of age, a guide dog. Serious teacher shortages, administrator apprehension of lawsuits, and insufficient time in the school day impede the acquisition of critical orientation and mobility skills. The issue of technology is much more complex and much harder to impact. Often, school districts are prepared to provide technology for students who are blind or visually impaired, though frequently without appropriate evaluation of the effectiveness of the specific technology. Moreover, useful technology is made available to the student exclusively at school. As a result, the student is learning skills at school, which promote independence while being forced to depend on others for help at home. This kind of mixed message only serves to deepen the child's sense that he or she will never truly become independent. Appropriate technology must be available both at home and at school. A designated staff person needs to be identified to learn how to use and teach the technology. All too often, classroom teachers have no notion of how to make access technology work in the school. They generally don't know if it will work with the specific software that the class is using and simply don't have the time to find out. So, by default, the technology access becomes the job of the vision teacher or the aide. Unfortunately, even fully certified vision teachers don't know how to use and teach their students to use assistive technology and don't know what to do with that access technology when it is received. Often blind students finish high school with no personal training in independent access of technology. Teachers are comfortable with letting the aide or the vision teacher make sure that the student's mandatory computer competencies are met. Usually this involves having someone else do the work for the student. Much of the time the access technology is just turned off so it doesn't disturb the rest of the class. Perhaps the most important single change in the provision of education in the last decade has involved the implementation of mandatory vocational counseling for all students. Planning for and exploring career options now begins in elementary school in virtually every state. Unfortunately, it does not begin and, in fact, doesn't usually happen at all for blind students. This reinforces and deepens their sense of difference and serves to reinforce their low self-esteem and the belief that they probably can't work anyway. We cannot and must not judge the success of education simply on the basis of academic performance. Clearly, as a recent OSERS survey indicated, when 95 percent of the blind students graduating from high school have held no job or participated in any extra- curricular activities, we must question their possession of the social tools they need to survive in the post-school world. Differences deepen when classmates have print textbooks, but the school does not make them simultaneously accessible to the blind student. The rest of the class receives print worksheets and handout materials, but blind students do not receive the information at all or at a much later time, creating a separate and unequal environment. Despite the law and regardless of the fact that technology exists that makes it fairly easy to produce accessible materials quickly, schools do not take the necessary steps to provide an appropriate education with simultaneous access to all curriculum materials. The failure to provide information in an accessible format simultaneously with information provided to other students certainly constitutes unequal treatment, which is contrary to IDEA, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Rehabilitation Act. How can we expect blind children to thrive when the tools that are available for everyone else are not simultaneously available to them? ENVIRONMENT The objective of every school must surely be to create an environment in which children can learn effectively. Clearly, many blind children in a mainstream classroom do not have access to such an environment. While IDEA has always allowed for the "continuum of services" which means it supports the notion that all children need not be educated solely in a classroom with non-disabled students, practice has moved towards inclusion. A continuum of educational placements was supposed to be a fundamental part of IDEA but has failed to appear. With the emergence of full inclusion it is becoming more and more common to see blind children educated in a single classroom using aides to help them. This environment assures that the very skills that are so essential for the success of blind people such as Braille, orientation and mobility and independent living skills are not being taught. Furthermore, placements once made, seem to become permanent not allowing for the growth and changing needs of a child over the twelve years of their education. Long before IDEA such models as the "resource room" created a central classroom in a school where all the blind children would spend part of their school day learning blindness skills. This system worked. With IDEA resource rooms have become far less widely used partly because children who are blind are not being sent to any single school in large enough numbers to justify resource room creation. When possible, these classrooms can successfully provide both specialized instruction and important socialization opportunities for blind students to develop a positive self-image as individuals with blindness. For other blind children, a school for the blind may be the most appropriate place for education, both because it assures that the blindness-specific skills that are so necessary are taught and because it offers an environment where healthy socialization can happen. We believe blind students need socialization, not only with non-disabled students, but also with other blind students, in order to develop self-confidence and self-esteem. Schools for the blind also provide for the employment of teachers with highly specialized skills such as mathematics and music for those who use Braille and specialized equipment for the teaching of science and geography. Currently in many states, a struggle continues between local school districts and schools for the blind as to which placement option will prevail. What works best for the student is often a combination of local school placement and temporary placement at the state's school for the blind. This partnership allows the student to take advantage of the expertise of the school for the blind to learn essential skills such as Braille for general reading, mathematics and science, and for music; orientation and mobility training, adaptive physical education, techniques of daily living, and field trips and other social opportunities that cannot be replicated on the local level. The originating purpose of IDEA centered on the needs of the disabled child and not that of the educational institution. Where has this principle gone? SO WHAT DO WE DO? In the past, the blindness community has tried to work with all elements of the education system to make the law work to the advantage of students who are blind. We believe that we now have no choice but to seek to impact an intransigent bureaucracy by changing the law itself. For the sake of generations of blind children we must mandate changes that equalize the playing field for blind children so that they have a chance to become all that they can be. Our proposals fit well into the three categories of this paper and, in the following paragraphs, we will describe how our changes to the law will impact each of these areas. Most of our proposals relate to people. Right now, teachers who must work with children with disabilities in mainstream classrooms have no more than a single survey course on disability. We propose that all teachers in all states be required to have at least nine credits of disability-related education (including blindness) to acquire or retain their teacher certification. We allow a five-year period for bringing teachers up to this level and urge the Federal government to earmark funds to support this initiative. We believe that the current funding formula for low-incidence populations under personnel preparation has disadvantaged programs preparing specialists in the blindness field, which is part of the reason that so many programs are finding it hard to survive. We propose that thirty-five percent of the funding allocated for personnel preparation for special education be allocated to low-incidence populations and that twenty percent of that sum be specifically allocated to programs that train specialists to serve blind children. Parents need to know what the options are for their children. To encourage the recognition of the range of choices that might best serve their children, we propose requiring each school district to provide parents with a document that lists the range of options both within and out of state that might be appropriate for their child. This document should be mailed along with the notice of the IEP so that parents have time to read it before the team meeting. In order to assure that blind children and their teachers have the tools they need to be successful, we include two major proposals. First, we propose amending IDEA so that the core curriculum is expanded to include instruction in orientation and mobility, assistive technology, daily living skills, and low vision. Second, we have asked the Secretary of Education to create a priority during this funding cycle to train teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators, and students to utilize access technology. Obviously, there is overlap among these areas. In terms of affecting the environment in which education is delivered, we make several proposals. First, if children are to be educated in a mainstream classroom, we propose that the law be amended to assure that they are not so disadvantaged as they are now. We propose that they have access to technology, hand-outs, textbooks, classroom activities, field trips, audio-visual presentations, notices and all other activities conducted in the classroom at the same time as they are available to their non-disabled peers. We also propose that one of the requirements for all blind students regardless of their environment is that the expanded core curriculum described earlier becomes a part of IDEA. Finally, we propose that the definition of least restrictive environment be amended to include two exceptions instead of one. Currently the law says that a child whose disability is so severe that education in the mainstream classroom is not appropriate may be placed elsewhere. We propose the suggestion that a child whose educational needs can best be met, in the opinion of the IEP team, in an environment other than the mainstream classroom that child can be placed elsewhere along the continuum of services. The changes proposed here are crucial to creating an educational system that will assure blind children the opportunity to learn and grow into adults who can take their proper place in the world. That is what education is all about for all children. Can we ask for less for those who are blind? Return to the Helpful Resources Index http://www.kathyskids.org Ms. Kathy's Kids Blog: http://mskathyskids.blogspot.com/

2007 Study:Better Help in Schools for Children with Low Vision

Contact: Heather Woolwine 843.792.7669 woolwinh@musc.edu Aug. 16, 2007 Study Shows Way to Better Help Blind Children in School Project Magnify offers low vision children chance to catch up quicker to peers Charleston -- The answer to teaching a legally blind child in a South Carolina public classroom traditionally has been large-print books and materials for that childís use. Results from a study conducted by the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Storm Eye Instituteís (SEI) Feldberg Center and the South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind (SCSDB) suggests that optical aids work better in improving the reading abilities and skills of visually impaired children than large-print books. "An optical aid designed for each individual studentís level of impairment seems to hold more promise in helping each student reach his or her maximum level of performance," said Stephen Morse, O.D., Ph.D., SEI Feldberg Center for Vision Rehabilitation director. Project Magnify tested the idea that visually impaired students who use magnification devices for reading will perform as well or better than visually impaired students using large print reading material. The projectís success in its pilot format has resulted in a commitment from the South Carolina Department of Education to bring low-vision examinations and visual devices, with training in the use of the devices conducted by teachers of the visually impaired, to groups of 20 students each academic year through at least 2010. Jeanie Farmer, SCSDB Vision Instruction coordinator, said, "Since 2005, 19 students in 11 South Carolina school districts have demonstrated tremendous gains in reading abilities as well as greater independence and confidence in home and community activities. Thirty students will have an opportunity to benefit from the program during the 2007-2008 school year." In the current study, students in the experimental group had low-vision devices prescribed by a low-vision doctor and read standard grade-level-sized print with their magnifiers. Students in the control group received large print reading materials. All students took oral and silent reading tests at the beginning and end of the 2005-2006 school year, and their reading rates were recorded. Of the students using the magnification devices, all increased their reading rate; approximately half showed an increase in reading comprehension, and most decreased the reading font size required to see the text. Those who did not receive the magnification devices and who used large-print books continued to read at their respective font sizes by the end of the year; no one in that group increased reading comprehension; and only a handful of students increased their reading rate when compared with the experimental group. The study findings lend evidence to the concept that one size does not fit all when it comes to large-print books. "Large print may be fine for one visually impaired student, but significantly too small for another, and way too big for yet a third," Farmer said. Books are only part of the everyday struggle for children with low-vision who seek education in the same environment as their normal-sighted peers, as these children often struggle to copy things from the board, find the right bus in the bus line and correctly measure the chemicals in a science laboratory experiment. Inaddition, the costs are high to enlarge color photos, graphs, charts and other instructional tools that teachers provide for their classes. According to Jill Ischinger, the director of the South Carolina Instructional Resource Center, the cost of providing a set of books to students each year is approximately $2,237 per student. About MUSC Founded in 1824 in Charleston, The Medical University of South Carolina is the oldest medical school in the South. Today, MUSC continues the tradition of excellence in education, research, and patient care. MUSC educates and trains more than 3,000 students and residents, and has nearly 10,000 employees, including 1,300 faculty members. As the largest non-federal employer in Charleston, the university and its affiliates have collective annual budgets in excess of $1.3 billion. MUSC operates a 600-bed medical center, which includes a nationally recognized Children's Hospital and a leading Institute of Psychiatry. For more information on academic information or clinical services, visit www.musc.edu or www.muschealth.com. ##### http://www.kathyskids.org Ms. Kathy's Kids Blog: http://mskathyskids.blogspot.com/

Beeping Eggs

Cheap Finds to Use with Children with V.I.

LASER TOP: This toy was at Walgreen's drug store in the sale bin It requires batteries. I thought of it as visual stimulation for low vision multi-disabled kids as it can be spun for them on their wheel chair trays. It lights up, spins and makes a sound. It has a hazardous choke warning so for children who can grab and handle it themselves I'd be certain they have an MA of 5 years and over, as it says on the package, so they will not be tempted to put any parts of it in their little mouths.



VIBRATING BALL: I've had this one for a few years, also with multi disabled children in mind. I had a child with cortical visual impairment and deafness. Pull the string and this one vibrates. Use much supervision as the string may detach. For the kids I used it with, I would pull the string for them. Some were able to let me know they wanted the action repeated by either grabbing my hand or in the case of a nonverbal child with modified signs, she would sign "again." It doesn't make a sound, though. This one is hand sized. There is a larger version of this one that runs by batteries and makes a sound as it vibrates.



TEACHING COINS: I saw these in another teacher's class and thought, Wow! I have needed something like that for my low vision kids when I was teaching money!

She was going to let me borrow hers to make copies. But in my travels I saw these at Dollar Tree in the school supplies section. I have found coin worksheets on line AND placed real coins under the CCTV for students with low vision. When you don't have access to a CCTV or can't carry several in your back pocket, these are a cool alternative. They are printed on front and back. The adult size scissors didn't show up too clearly, but I placed them in the picture to give a size reference.

I've had these laminated and I will have them brailled for low vision students who read braille

Retinopathy of prematurity - Pediatrics Videos - The Doctor's Channel

Here's a video from The Doctor's Channel about Retinopathy of Prematurity.
CLICK HERE or copy and paste this URL into yoour browser area.

http://www.thedoctorschannel.com/video/1636.html?specialty=24

Words of the Day Part 9

Affable: (Adjective) Friendly; easy to talk to. Christy's sentence: "I think Barack Obama is the most affable because I've been hearing him on the news a lot."

Ephemeral: (Adjective) :Lasting a short while. Christy's sentence: "I had a fish that had an ephemeral life."

Adjective: (noun) A describing word. "Adjectives can tell us color, size, shape and how many."

I posted this on my message board but it's worth posting here too!


[Another good thing about having a handsome, intelligent "A" student in the White House. ~K ]

Prevent Blindness America Commends Barack Obama and Congress for Expanding Access to Vision Care Coverage for Children
Additional $32.8 billion in SCHIP Funding Gives Millions of Kids a Chance at Brighter Future

CHICAGO – Prevent Blindness America, the nation’s oldest volunteer eye health and safety organization dedicated to fighting blindness and preserving sight, praised President Barack Obama for his public support of providing vision care to America’s underserved children. By allocating an additional $32.8 billion for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), health care, including vision care benefits, will now be available to approximately 11 million children across the country.

“No child should be falling behind at school because he can’t hear the teacher or see the blackboard. I refuse to accept that millions of our kids fail to reach their full potential because we fail to meet their basic needs,” said President Obama at the bill’s signing. “In a decent society, there are certain obligations that are not subject to tradeoffs or negotiation – health care for our children is one of those obligations.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), only one in three children in America have received eye care services before the age of six. Yet, more than 12 million school-age children, or one in four, have some form of vision problem including amblyopia, strabismus or significant refractive error. Fortunately, many of these vision problems can be corrected through early detection and treatment.“We know that the availability of much-needed government funds continues to dwindle as health care costs continue to spiral upward,” said Hugh R. Parry, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness America. “We applaud President Obama and all those who worked to make this expansion of coverage possible for recognizing the importance of vision care for our most precious resource, our children.”

The newly expanded plan will now cover approximately 11 million children by 2013, up from the current 7 million. The plan seeks to bridge the ever-increasing gap for families whose incomes are too high for Medicaid but are unable to afford private insurance.

To find out more about children’s eye health or how you can urge your government representatives to support sight-saving legislation, please call 800-331-2020 or visit www.preventblindness.org/advocacy. download the press release (pdf)http://www.preventblindness.org/news/releases/SCHIPRelease.pdfSource Link: Prevent Blindness America http://www.preventblindness.org/news/releases/021209_1.h

http://www.preventblindness.org/news/releases/021209_1.htm