[blindkid] blindkid Digest, Vol 73, Issue 21

[Leslie Ligon]

Julie,

Regarding your daughter's IEP and mainstream v. specific v.i. classes, our 
son, now 13, simultaneously attended a regular university run children's 
emergent learning center (i.e., explore/address; perfect for a yound child 
of any flavor, but particularly, a blind child)  five afternoons a week and 
a PPCD (pre-school program for children with disabilites). Though I was 
opposed to the PPCD class idea for our son in that school, thay are not all 
necessarily bad, and in our instance we agreed to it because Ethan would be 
pulled out for most of his time there to work with the o&m or vi teachers. 
He was infrequently in the PPCD class room, and I didn't mind him being 
there some because there are often going to be people with greater 
disabilites, so it was good that he started being around all kinds of kids 
at that early age.

Ethan had great times at the university day care he attended each afternoon 
after "school" for about four hours. He took the bus by himself from the 
PPCD school (loved that!) and was then, the only blind child at the 
university's child development center. None of the other kids are actually 
playing together much at ages 3-5; seems they're all practicing "parallep 
play," where they interact incidentally more.

I was a big worrier and  wasted a lot of time worrying about what Ethan 
might not get through school, so I wish now that I'd simply enjoyed things 
more - especially since we were fortunate having a great v.i. teacher and a 
good o&m teacher. I like the suggestion of taking a strong friend to your 
daughter's IEP. In the early days (before this fantastic Internet coalition) 
and before I started skimming through developmental psych books to find out 
what other children that age were expected to do, when "they" asked what we 
wanted to put down as goals for that year, my husband and I often asked, 
"What were your children/other children doing at that age?" (Ethan was our 
first, so we didn't know anything about kids!)

Several people have given you good advice about this first IEP, so you've 
got the basic information such as taking a notebook to keep your 
papers/written thoughts, photos of your daughter playing in a familiar area 
(to help show all others there , such as likely teachers, to see how normal 
blindness is) and if you think you might hve difficulty, managing, a local 
blindness community representative or adroit adult or high school or college 
student. And you could also find out from neighbors whose non-disabled 
children are also bright and ready for conquering the world, what things 
they would ask of the school if they could. (We wish all children had IEPs, 
and actually talk about our younger, sighted son's educational goals much 
the same as we talk about Ethan's.) I remember one parent mentioning having 
an introduction notebook with several photos of her child doing different 
things. I would maybe even add a cassette tape of a conversation between 
your daughter and another adult, friend, so they can get an even better idea 
of how she interacts with others.

Your daughter will be put under this IEP microscope again and again through 
the years. Ultimately, what you want for her and expect of her is no 
different than any parent wants for/expects of  any child: the best and the 
most!

Best luck,
Leslie Ligon