[blindkid] Independant LMA in NJ area

[holly miller]

Hi!
I'm fairly new to the list.  I have an 8 yr old son w/ Albinism who we
adopted from China in July 2006.  We've been chipping away at the vision
issues as well as the learning English & adjusting to family life.  As
typical w/ Albinism, he is legally blind (20/200 best corrected, between
20/300 & 20/400 uncorrected) & has nystagmus.

Long story short, his IEP is woefully lacking vision accommodations and
doesn't include braille.  I have been pushing since October to get braille
added.  Yes, I know the IDEA, I have shown them what the IDEA says.  The
school is rebounding my requests onto the CoB.  Our CoB rep is clearly
anti-braille and very slow to follow through on promised services/equipment.
I have a meeting this afternoon with my son's school case worker, the
director of our special svcs department and the CoB rep.  His IEP review is
scheduled for 3/3, this is kind of a pre-IEP meeting meeting LOL!  A few
mintures ago I finally received a faxed copy of the LMA she's been working
on since October.  The whole report is very vague (I have the PA
LMA<http://www.e-advisor.us/workshop/tmaggiorePPT/PFFVLMA.pdf>printed
as a comparison) and of course, she's not recomending Braille.
I have no faith in the objectivity or accuracy of her LMA.  I want to ask
the school to send us for an independant LMA (or get one on our own if
necessary)  Does anyone have recomendations in the NJ/NYC/Philly area?
We've been to the PA College of Optometry for a Low Vision evaluation, the
dr there recomended someone by the name of Missy Garber.  I haven't
contacted her yet, I wanted to gather any other recomendations first.

I know this afternoon's meeting will be spent with the sp-ed staff trying to
convince me Hank doesn't need braille.  Aside from repeating the IDEA
passage and employment stats for non-braille users, any other snappy
comebacks would be appreciated!!!

Thanks!
Holly