[blindkid] service time?

[Pat Renfranz]

Hi again Rosina,

My daughter is entering 9th grade and is on an A/B schedule.

The transition from elementary to junior high was difficult: 1 teacher to
many, balancing class work with special ed pullout, etc. She has sacrificed
electives in order to receive her services. There are lots of compromises.
We have tried many times to get some services after school. Our district
just won't do it.

I don't have any great ideas, but here are a few thoughts:

The amount of Roman's pullout time and other time with TVI should be based
on his IEP goals. I would suggest calling an IEP meeting to review the
goals, update as needed (with assessments, such as in technology), then
figure out time required. For example, how does he do his math? The
symbology will change every year; does he need instruction from his TVI to
keep up to date with Nemeth code Braille?

Being "mainstreamed" for Reading in the mainstream class sounds like a good
idea.

Why does he have PE and Athletics? Can one of those be substituted by Cross
Country practice? That would free up another class period, at least for now.


Orientation and Mobility: Does he receive training by an O&M instructor? Has
he had an assessment in this area, at different times of day/night? Can he
travel independently to use the bus, shop, get around school and
neighborhood, cross at busy intersections, etc?

Technology: How does he produce his work? Is he really able to keep up using
a Perkins Brailler? Does he get behind because the work has to be
transcribed by someone?
    My daughter survives in secondary school because of technology. Although
we've had difficulty finding people who can train her, it is absolutely
essential. Once the work is digital, there are many ways to get it to the
teacher, no transcriber involved.
    In our case, she uses a Braille Note for taking notes, doing most of her
homework (except math), taking tests, editing documents...; she uses a BN to
read, write, edit, then print the work in text to turn in (printers
compatible with the notetaker have been planted around the school).
    She started on a Pac Mate, but it was unreliable, very buggy, & not
maintained. She has found the BN more intuitive to use. If he has been
receiving regular, quality instruction with the PacMAte and it's just not
working, maybe it's time to try another device?
     She also uses a NetBook (a miniature laptop) with a screen reader
installed. Kids with low vision often use a screen magnifier. Or perhaps he
needs a way to magnify the board and the laptop screen--there are devices to
do this. Because the workload increases so much in secondary school, it will
benefit him long-term to learn and use technology in school.
    In other words: it sounds to me like he needs a technology assessment by
someone knowledgeable about technology for blind students.

Is Keyboarding taught in a way that someone who uses a screen magnifier or
screen reader can participate, or does he need specialized instruction?
Could keyboarding with accessibility software be taught during the pullout,
as an IEP goal?


As for carrying around Braille books: She keeps the current volume(s) (plus
one or two) in her classrooms, the rest are stored in a room she can get to.
Certainly the teachers can make room for a couple volumes! She has to bring
home volumes for the homework. That is a pain (literally). Tell him to make
sure he brings home all the volumes necessary to complete the assignment
(Braille volumes can break within an exercise)!

Oh my gosh, this turned into a long lecture. I sure hope it is useful! We
are dealing with this stuff right now, as school starts Monday. It's always
seat of the pants at first--very stressful (I guess that's why I'm venting).

If nothing else, please know I sympathize.

Pat
P.S. Like Richard said, if a doctor refused to give him a physical or,
furthermore, wouldn't sign off on the form for Roman to run on the team, get
another doctor!



On 8/19/10 11:18 AM, "Rosina Solano" <colemangirly at yahoo.com> wrote:

> 
> 
> Okay, Roman has been receiving 90min a day with his TVI doing braille and
> getting help with his math assignments and generally anything else that he
> needs help with.  He has always gone to her during his time block for Reading
> and for Language Arts.  Roman is starting 7th grade and told his teachers that
> he wishes to be in the regular classroom for Reading this year as he thinks he
> is reading much better now and he feels he is missing out and being in the
> group.  Okay, so they (school) is willing to try this on a trial basis and see
> if he is ready, I think he will struggle at first, but will succeed.
> Problem?  Well, when to get service time.  We tried to see if he could come in
> a little early or stay a little late, but that didn't fly.  Next solution was
> to use his 7th block rotation.  Let me explain, they have 4 classes a day and
> change every other, so day A would be Reading, Math, P.E., Band;  then day B
> would be Science, Social Studies, Athletics, and 7th block rotation.  Then it
> just repeats back to day A and so on.  7th block rotation changes every 7
> weeks, right now he has an extra P.E./Health next time it will be Keyboarding,
> then Choir/Art, and so on.
> Well Roman opted for the 7th rotation to get his services.  However that means
> he will now only get services for 90 min every other day instead of every
> day.  And when the rotation turns to something he needs, like Keyboarding, how
> is he supposed to do both?
>  
> My question for all of you is how do you get your services, when do you fit
> them in, how much do you get and is it enough?  Also what services do you
> think are REALLY important after just learning braille?  Roman can read at
> approx 60 wpm at grade level.  I really want to kick it up to 80-100 but I
> know it will just take practice which we do, but now what should we really be
> trying to get?  He needs to type and to learn technologly, but what do we
> shoot for?  He is tired of dragging large braille textbooks to class and his
> perkins brailler.  School has a Pacmate but it seems so difficult and he has
> trouble just learning simple things on it.
>  
> Also Roman Has decided he wants to run Cross Country this year as well as
> track.  The school is willing to work with him, but they say he has to get a
> physical before he can even practice.  The doctor surly wouldn't not give him
> one just because of his vision, would he?
>  
> Trying to work through this transition time, any input on options would be
> greatly appreciated.
>  
> Thank you in advance;
> Rosina and Roman
> 
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> 
>       
> _______________________________________________
> blindkid mailing list
> blindkid at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindkid_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> blindkid:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindkid_nfbnet.org/dblair2525%40msn.com
>