[blindkid] Recess can be fun!!

Carlton Anne Cook Walker attorneywalker at gmail.com
Mon Jan 26 00:49:31 UTC 2009


Brandon and Sarah,

Hi,



A few things:



First, an introduction: I am mom to Anna Catherine, a 7 year old second
grader who is blind and has some usable vision.



Next, some schools, including my daughter's, do not allow twins to be in the
same classroom – in order to promote independence and foster social
development.  If your twins are in the same class, you may want to consider
changing that placement next year and thereafter.  If they are in different
classes but have a grade-level recess time (as at my daughter's school),
sometimes well-placed statements to recess monitors about your concerns can
help facilitate more inter-mingling (For example, "Today, Mrs. Smith's and
Mr. Jones' classes will play on the equipment while Mr. Cook's and Ms.
Johnson's classes will play in the field.  We'll switch tomorrow.")







Also, your question reminded me of something that happened with my daughter
last year (and continues today).

A VERY popular piece of equipment on her elementary school's playground is
the monkey bars.  Unfortunately, like her parents, Anna Catherine is not
athletically gifted.  I hated the monkey bars as a child and so did my
husband. Anna Catherine hates then even more -- because she can't see how
far off the ground she is.  However, when most of the kids in the class are
in the long line for the monkey bars, she wants to be there, too.

Here was my advice to Anna Catherine (she was the one who needed to change
her behavior):

Get in line for the monkey bars with everyone else.  Talk and play with your
friends in line.  When it's your turn to get on, let the person behind you
go ahead.  Do this for a little bit, then go to the back of the line with
your friends again.  This way, you get to do what you want -- talk with your
friends while waiting in line.  Your friends don't have to give up the
monkey bars.  You don't have to DO the monkey bars.  AND people think you're
really nice for letting them jump ahead of you.  Everyone wins!



>From what she tells me, it worked out for a while.  Then the group moved on
to another piece of equipment.



Well, when they moved on to the swing, Anna was scared again.  We practice
together at the playground to build up her skills, but she is afraid of
being hit by others swinging (not an unreasonable fear on her part).  We
talked about getting there early so she could be one of the first on, but
she is often kept in for a portion of recess to finish worksheets, so that
didn't work very well.

Since that early arrival option didn't work, I talked to Anna Catherine
about placing herself to the side of the swings so that she could still talk
with her friends while they were swinging.  Even though I asked, she never
really talked about the effectiveness of this option.



Right now, the favored piece of equipment is the "merry-go-round," a round
metal plate with about 12 3-foot handles (bars) that spins on a piece of
metal attached in the middle of the large plate.  She enjoys it, but was
concerned earlier this week that she dirtied her tights (she loves wearing
dresses to school) while jumping off of the merry-go-round (the other kids
didn't want to stop).  I told her it was no problem.  In truth, I was
thrilled that she was brave enough to jump off and that she didn't whine to
get the others to stop.  This IS progress!!!







The saga continues . . .





Carlton








-- 
Carlton Anne Cook Walker
213 North First Street
McConnellsburg, PA    17233
Voice: 717-485-4529



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