[blindkid] O&M Instruction for Aubrie

[Dr. S. Merchant]

Bonnie,

I have never allowed Michael to be pulled out of a class for O and M
instruction.  Since some time in middle school, we have done it after
school. We did compromise at some time and have him do O and M during parts
of his PE time.  As concerns the after school, this is what we did.  O and M
instructor would drive over to Michael's school at the end of the day, park
his car and then he and Michael would go to the nearest bus stop and take to
bus to various places.  I would then pick them up at the end of this session
and bring the O and M person back to their car.  This will not work for you
so, this is a possible suggestion and this depends on how big of a city, how
safe a city, the area of the city explored etc.. but O and M person could
ride bus back to school, get off there and have Aubrie continue on the bus
route to the bus stop nearest your house - if it is a straight enough and
safe enough route. Don't know if you are comfortable enough with her in 7th
grade for this or not.

Or right now, the 7-8 or 3-4 O and M time in the neighborhoods around her
school would be good.  But soon, I think a wider community exploration is
important.

Michael's high school is near Louisiana State University so now, he and the
O and M instructor take a bus to LSU and are learning routes there.  Don't
know if you live near a college campus that would have intra campus bus
routes to practice on.

But I do agree about not pulling them out of academic classes for O and M

Sandy Taboada

-----Original Message-----
From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Bonnie Lucas
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2009 11:00 AM
To: blindkid at nfbnet.org
Subject: [blindkid] O&M Instruction for Aubrie

Hello all,
Hope everyone is recovering from a fun-filled Holiday. Aubrie struggled to
get up for school this morning.  She didn't read as much as she had hoped
because her older sisters came to visit and she had fun with them.

I would like to hear from some of you regarding O&M instructions out of
school hours, that is the actual classroom time. Aubrie is in school from
about 8 to 3 each day. The actual school hours are 7-4 daily. She is in 7th
grade and currently has no O&M instruction. She knows the school well and
the TVI worked with her some around the outside of the school while she was
taking a study skills classduring the first quarter. However, she is in all
mainstreamed classes right now and I have said that she absolutely may not
have O&M instructions as a pull-out during the day. Because we simply could
not come to any agreement last spring, I just said I would think about what
to do and that we would do without O&M for the time being. 
Now I have schedule a meeting with the special ed. director to discuss how
to approach this situation. Some of my ieeas are to ask that someone work
with her between either 7-8 in the morning or 3-4 in the afternoon. Then, of
course, they will need to come up with some transportation as they do not
permit their O&M instructors to transport students and I cannot drive her
there or pick her up. I also plan to ask for ESY services as other related
services are also needed,and then to insist that Buddy Camp would be the
best option. 
What are some ways others have dealt with receiving O&M instruction without
missing classes? I appreciate any suggestions you may have. One thing my
husband suggested is that we invite the principal and ask her to support us
in wanting Aubrie to miss no class. It will be interesting to see if she
supports us or if she sides with the special ed team. 

thanks for your help and support!
Bonnie
Bonnie Lucas
(770) 544-7523
lucas.bonnie at gmail.com
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