[blindkid] help needed with IEP goals

[Leah]

Doreen,

I second what Kim said about learning both Braille and print. In fact,  
I was about to write a post to this list about this (coming soon).

Here are some of the things that have helped me with some of what you  
are going through that came through the NFB:

-reading the Early Years edition of Future Reflections and the extra  
articles provided with it upon request
-reading the "low vision" articles from the NFB on issues and  
decisions faced by people who have some vision
-going on a blindfold cane walk at an NFB state convention
-walking around with people who are confident cane travelers

Another thing that we did that was available here in Texas was meet a  
blind college student who is majoring in education and an NFB member,  
and spend time with her asking lots of questions and her perspective  
on my child's little and big issues. She cared for him part time for  
several months and between her expertise with children, interest in  
special ed, and her experience with the alternative skills of  
blindness, she introduced him to many things that others had been  
unsuccessful with, such as chalk, painting, coloring, certain types of  
toys, and walking with hands held (he also has cp). I want for him to  
have blind role models and she was his first.

I totally understand about vision professionals not always being  
experienced with the very young child.

Do you have anyone you can sit down and talk with about her  
development overall, how you see her strengths and weaknesses, and  
your hopes for her?

It can be hard to know when to push the school district to implement  
things that they are not, or to renegotiate, and when to tackle things  
yourself. It sounds like for now you are going to have her at home. I  
homeschooled one of my children for preschool and first grade and am  
homeschooling my visually impaired son who is preschool aged now. It  
is fun! Each state has different laws - some states allow some  
services to continue through the school district forever or only up to  
a certain age. If you use google you can find homeschool organizations  
in your state and also homeschool listservs in your state or city.  
Also, the organization (your state's name) Parent to Parent may be a  
place to find other homeschooling parents of kids with various things  
like visual impairment or other disabilities.

You can also use a volunteer or paid advocate to help you learn your  
rights and work with the school district. Wrightslaw.com is a good but  
overwhelming resource.

As far as your IEP goals, it is your decision, but I would urge you to  
consider Braille instruction and use of a cane. People working for the  
school district told me that NFB people were so attached to their  
canes and their Braille that they would not even look at something if  
they could see it and they would not allow their children to walk  
somewhere without their cane even if they didn't need it. When I went  
to my first NFB conference I saw that this was not true. Blind adults  
who were using Braille were using their vision if they had some and  
when they chose to use it. People were walking all over with canes,  
but they were also putting down their canes and walking around the  
room if that was right for them. In the short time that I have been  
reading NFB material and exposed to NFB members, I haven't found any  
negatives to using a cane and using Braille. Those things are just  
there to help. And the law states that instruction in Braille shall be  
allowed unless there is an express reason not to use it (others can  
provide the exact text).

When my son was 1 or 2 and I went around asking everyone how to know  
if he should learn Braille, many people told me that they were  
"encouraged" to use only print and that by the time they realized how  
slow their reading speed was and how bad their headaches were from  
reading heavy reading assignments in the upper grades, they felt they  
had missed a crucial time when they were young and could have been  
more easily learning Braille.

For pencil grip, I would consult a good private OT, even briefly if  
there are no other needs.

Don't feel that you need an expert before she can have a cane. There  
are some great stories about this in the early years articles in  
Future Reflections. If she is hurting herself, a cane might help, and  
it is okay for you as the parent to give it to her.

I think school district personnel are more likely to feel that  
specific visual training is necessary. We started with trying to learn  
about basic normal development, and finding in what areas our child  
needed help, and finding any way, even creative ways, to help him  
learn and progress. In playing on the playscape he learned to "use  
your fingers" to feel in front of him for steps and changes. I was  
ready to hand him a cane but he has cp and hasn't yet learned to walk.  
Meantime, he has an IEP goal to learn his letters in both Braille and  
print at the same time. He's learning to draw lines and circles which  
are pre-writing goals (in OT) and in time I hope he can play more with  
a slate and stylus and a Brailler. His TVI was nice enough to loan us  
a Perkins Brailler so that he could "scribble" on it last year. It's  
fine with me if he can see large print, but I'm still going to keep up  
with the Braille until I have a reason not to. I would hate for him to  
have a subject he loves to read about but can't because the print  
becomes too hard.

Two of the helpful things that school district personnel did tell me  
were 1) that the child will be able to learn to interpret blurs as  
things come close and go far away - as in "oh that brown blur is my  
dog!" and 2) make sure that things that are too far away to see are  
directly experienced by the child, such as the print on the food  
boxes, how food is prepared, what is on the high bookshelves, how does  
mom put on her makeup, or whatever is important to you.

Please keep writing and asking. I hope our experiences will be of some  
help!

Leah in TX