[blindkid] What are your thoughts on coloring?

Brandy W branlw at sbcglobal.net
Fri Sep 30 16:24:16 UTC 2011


I couldn't agree more with Heather and I'd get that coloring right out of 
the IEP! The kid isn't even coloring in raised lines which may have a tiny 
purpose!

Bran



"When we treat children's play as seriously as it deserves, we are helping 
them feel the joy that's to be found in the creative spirit. It's the things 
we play with and the people who help us play that make a great difference in 
our lives."
- Fred Rogers

Brandy Wojcik
Discovery Toys Educational Consultant and Team Leader
www.playtoachieve.com
(512) 689-5045

Looking for team members nation wide!
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <hpscheffer at aol.com>
To: <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, September 30, 2011 11:18 AM
Subject: Re: [blindkid] What are your thoughts on coloring?


> Heather, it was so great to read your post! I'm glad there are blind TVI's 
> like yourself that can educate others. I hope your message gets across. My 
> daughter loved painting in preschool, we didn't stop her from doing it 
> since for whatever reason she did enjoy it, and it certainly was not to 
> develop a skill, but just for her own pleasure. We did a lot of modeling 
> clay and she loved that as well, she has a great collection of her 
> interpretation of flowers, birds, hearts that are beautiful and spot on. 
> Her finger strength came with practice on the perkins.
>
>
> Thanks again for sharing your knowledge, it was a pleasure to read.
>
>
> Heidi
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Heather Field <missheather at comcast.net>
> To: NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children) 
> <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Fri, Sep 30, 2011 7:28 am
> Subject: Re: [blindkid] What are your thoughts on coloring?
>
>
> Hi,
> I am a TVI and blind myself. It is my experience that most TVI's aren't
> really very well trained in the area of early childhood. Thus, they find 
> it
> difficult to come up with activities that really do develop fine motor
> skills for blind children. Further, many of them don't actually know the
> alternative, nonvisual methods that blind children will actually use to
> perform fine motor tasks, such as buttoning, snapping, zipping, tying,
> identifying coins, pouring, measuring etc. so they don't know the 
> precursors
> to those skills. Also, as many of them are itinerant and must travel 
> between
> schools, it is quite a challenge to organise and carry all kinds of 
> hands-on
> activities/equipment for young blind children, replacing it often. So, 
> it's
> not easy to do it well under the usual circumstances of the
> included/mainstreamed, young blind child needing fine motor skill
> development. It is much easier at the end of a tiring day when the 
> children
> are doing art to simply justify the blind child's coloring with nonsense
> about fine motor skills and inclusion.
>
> In my opinion, this nonsense about coloring is simply a result of teachers
> not knowing appropriate alternative activities. Holding a pencil is a very
> specific fine motor skill that benefits writing for sighted writers. I 
> have
> seen no evidence that it develops the kind of finger eexterity and
> sensitivity, or strength for that matter, that TVIs claim it does for 
> blind
> children. It makes my blood absolutely boil when I hear of children's time
> being wasted on such rubbish. This is a skill that they will never use for
> anything. Yes, I've heard the old "strengthening for the slate for the 
> slate
> and stylus and the braille writer", but I'm a blind adult and I never had 
> my
> time wasted with coloring and I use my stylus and slate just fine. Also, 
> the
> braille writer has three keys for each hand to push. If this rediculous
> coloring is supposed to be so important for developing hand strength,
> shouldn't the children be using a crayon or pencil in both hands? How does
> it mystically develop strength in the hand not used to hold the marker? 
> This
> is clearly nonsense. Furthermore, Creative expression is supposed to be 
> part
> of art and, unless children are specifically Coloring as part of an 
> activity
> such as a math worksheet - "color the six dogs blue" - all the sighted
> children are expressing themselves creatively. I cannot agree with denying
> blind children this creative expression. When do they get to decide how
> their art will look?
>
> As for using coloring to justify inclusion this is perhaps the silliest
> reason of all. The blind child clearly cannot color and all his classmates
> see his incompetence. worse, they see that, unlike all of them who improve
> during the year, even with the help of an aide or teacher the blind child
> continues to be a pitifully bad colorer. How can this be seen as a 
> positive
> factor in the inclusion of a blind child. Does anyone imagine for a moment
> that the blind child doesn't know that he can't color and that his 
> coloring
> is worse than the other children? Why is it that TVIs will force children 
> to
> color, telling them that they must learn to do what they don't like, but
> will not push them in areas of independence, such as being organised or
> travelling quickly down the hallway, even if they don't like doing so? 
> these
> inconsistencies expose this coloring issue for the travesty is really is.
>
> there are so many things that young blind children should be learning.
> Threading, cutting, modelling, ripping, screwing - bolts & nuts, jar
> lids/containers - paper folding and twisting, a million and one
> manipulative/construction toys designed to strengthen small muscles. This
> coloring is just an excuse for lack of teacher versatility and
> imaginativeness.
>
> I have actually attended IEP meetings where we have challenged the TVI's
> claims for coloring for blind children. When closely questioned about 
> their
> claims for its value, especially in reference to preparation for brailling
> when only one hand is actually being used, and with reference to future 
> use
> of this skill beyond signing one's name in 10 years or so, they concede 
> that
> it isn't really that useful. We then get it specifically written into the
> IEP that this child will "NOT be made to color with any medium for any
> reason. The child may use a crayon to mark with a check mark when 
> correcting
> their work". Guess what, we have had to fight over it during the year,
> showing them the IEP to get them to stop making the blind child use 
> scented
> markers in coloring; to stop them pretending to themselves that they are
> somehow providing a meaningful art experience to a child who has no idea
> what they're doing besides moving their hand randomly on the paper until 
> the
> aide says "yes, that's good." The fact that the TVI agrees in an IEP 
> meeting
> that it's meaningless as an art experience and inferior as a fine motor
> development activity, and agrees to have it prohibited in the IEP itself,
> and then proceeds to try to make a blind child color in class when they
> think they can do so without anyone knowing, speaks to me of the true 
> nature
> of this activity.
>
> Can anyone tell that I am passionate about the topic of blind children's
> time being wasted by teachers making them color? If I were a parent of a
> blind child being made to color, I would immediately call an IEP meeting 
> and
> have it written into the IEP that my child would not be made to color in 
> any
> medium under any circumstances. Naturally they will argue but if you add 
> up
> the time in any given week that your child is wasting his young life
> coloring, you will be convinced it's worth the trouble.
>
> Regards,
> Heather Field
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: Meng, Debi
> Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2011 2:40 PM
> To: Katie Cochrane ; NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind
> children)
> Subject: Re: [blindkid] What are your thoughts on coloring?
>
> I did see the benefit at 3 and 4 but he should be beyond that.   Thanks 
> for
> the advice.  I guess I need to find out what the goals are and if we can
> achieve them in another way.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Katie Cochrane
> Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2011 2:05 PM
> To: NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)
> Subject: Re: [blindkid] What are your thoughts on coloring?
>
> My son is 3, and they spend a lot of time on coloring, too.  He is totally
> blind.  Our TVI explained to me it is important to build finger strength 
> and
> dexterity for learning Braille, using a stylus to make Braille notes 
> later,
> etc.  They also want him to get used to participating in tasks just like 
> the
> rest of the kids in the class.  They do a lot of coloring of raised line
> papers, and they put textures under it.  We also have one of those musical
> coloring tablets (I think it's from Crayola) where it plays music as you
> scribble...the faster you scribble the faster the music plays.  No matter
> what we do, it is not his favorite task, either, but I think the reasons
> they gave were reasonable.  Have you asked your TVI what the reasons are 
> for
> focusing on coloring at this point in his education?  I know my son is
> younger, but I would imagine all of these reasons will still be relevant
> when he is in kindergarten.
>
> Take care.
> Katie
>
>
>
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