[blindkid] Question about Student Loan Forgiveness for Parent

[Richard Holloway]

Heather, your points are well taken. 

My response to you and all parents who consider home schooling is I hope you'll be as aware of all options as possible before you choose. Certainly, I would welcome any information about choices we have here that we have not explored. We make an effort to explore new possibilities whenever they present themselves, even with a working system in progress. There is often room for improvement.

Home schooling may be the best solution, though in some cases, I have seen parents struggle to manage aspects of home schooling to compensate for issues which may be avoidable through other means while using public (or private) schools. While I have never used home school options myself, I have used private school for all three of my children at times and attended private schools for some of my school days for similar reasons. I agree that there can be issues for all kids in public school, as well as private options. There is no "one size fits all" solution for educating children, sighted or blind.

Though I have never used home schooling options myself, I respect the right of others to chose that route. I just hope those making the choices, like any of us making any educational choices, are as fully informed as possible of options at their disposal. That was the primary point of my post.

I would also reiterate that some bad situations become better over time, as did the public options we explored, first avoided, and later decided to accept. I don't know if we could have managed with things as they were when we first explored them, so if things on't look ideal now, I would not assume they remain unchanged several years down the road.

Likewise, if things worked well for your friend's blind child 5 years ago? Don't assume it will be as good now. These are very dynamic matters.

Best regards,

Richard




On Dec 6, 2012, at 3:14 AM, Heather Field wrote:

> Hello Richard,
> I'm taking the liberty to reply regarding Natae's statement regarding her rural situation and the quality of the education available through the school district. I know Natae well and she's one of the most positive and accepting of blind people person I know. She is one of the parents currently involved in launching our new Parent division here in Tennessee. In commenting on the quality of education available in her school district, she speaks of what she knows. She worked for the school district and has had discussions with administrative staff in which she has bluntly been told that, despite IDEA, they don't bother with the blind children, they just pay for them to be bused, one and a half hours each way, to the Tennessee School for The Blind. She has decided, as I would also, that this is not an acceptable educational option for her son.
> 
> Speaking as someone who lives in Tennessee and is in touch with parents and teachers all over the state, let me assure you that it's not as easy as simply persuading a school district to "contract with professionals". There's a shortage of these professionals in the United States and there's certainly a shortage in Tennessee. I have friends who teach in the blindness field in Georgia and, given the level of service available there, I think you would find it almost impossible to imagine what goes on in Tennessee. for example, in Chattanooga we are working with a mother whose perfectly average, only blind, 10-year-old son was sent to a school for mentally retarded children for several years because they "thought he would do best there." No testing, just a decision by someone who didn't want to deal with a blind child (this school district has a history of this attitude), and a mother without support. While there the child received no literacy, numeracy, speech or occupational therapy, and certainly no orientation and mobility. I can tell you of another case where a teenager whose sight is rapidly deteriorating, to where he will soon need to be a braille reader, is being  refused services of any kind. The parents have been told "we don't care what advocates or who you bring with you to the next IEP meeting, your son is not getting any braille or training with a cane". Even if many counties would agree to hire teachers of the blind, the teachers can't be found. Early intervention is my passion but, the program available in Tennessee is woefully inadequate. It is my experience that most of the visiting teachers are not trained in working with blind children. The few that are believe in the "use vision at any cost" approach to early intervention and they counsel parents to expect delays and retarded development. Parents who move from other states to Tennessee have told me that they are so amazed at the lack of services that they almost can't believe it's true. So, living and working on the coal face of blindness education in Tennessee, I wholeheartedly encourage ay interested parent to homeschool their blind child and I help them access the resources to do it.
> 
> As to your discussion regarding homeschooling a blind child, I am a member of a Yahoo group which is made up of parents who are very successfully homeschooling their blind children. The laws differ somewhat from state to state but, basically, all blind children are eligible for Quota funds from the American Printing House and parents work with the state trustees to obtain equipment and materials. Involvement of school districts and the state agencies for the blind vary between states but homeschooling is very doable. Those who believe in it actually believe with all their harts that it is the superior way of schooling blind and low vision children because one can integrate life skills and experiences, such as self-advocacy, orientation and mobility work, braille writing and reading and maths facts, all in a simple trip to the supermarket. I am seeing incredible progress in literacy, numeracy and language learning in newly adopted blind children and incredible achievement by children who the system was trying to convince parents were all but unteachable. Parents are saying "no more print" for struggling low vision children who are only six or seven years old and can't read their own writing the next day and have no hope of ever reading more than 30 or 40 words per minute with print and visual aids, provided their sight doesn't deteriorate. They are saying "yes" to braille and potential reading speeds of 300-400 word per minute. they are teaching their children to use their sight for what it can do and their nonvisual techniques for what it won't. These parents have had enough of fighting schools to allow their children to be given the tools for acquiring an education. They have taken them home, or kept them home, and are teaching them themselves and, I'm excited to say, they're really doing a great job. As an ever growing number of parents are proving that homeschooling blind children is extremely doable, more and more parents are bypassing the Russian Rolette of public school education and taking charge of their own child's future.
> After all, folks tend to forget that public school education is only a 200-year-old experiment, an even shorter experiment for blind children. Before that, parents and tutors educated children. I take issue with the idea that learning orientation and mobility/cane skills is hard. I, and I know others who are the same as me, have never had a formal orientation and mobility lesson in my life and I travel internationally without assistance if I choose. Contrary to what professionals would have us believe, it really isn't that complicated to take a long stick and systematically move it in front of you as you make your way through the world. children who get enough experience "orienting" themselves in the world as they move and grow will not need a special instructor to teach them to do it. I submit that homeschool children get much more chance to go out and about in the world on a daily basis than those children in public school. As to the reason why there are so few braille reading students in your county, you will probably find that it is because so many children who should be using braille are being forced to use their vision and use technology such as cctvs. This is much cheaper for the school district and it feeds into the stereotypes that reject braille as representing blindness and all that dreaded word "blind" represents in the psyche of even trained teachers.
> 
> When mainstreaming became law back in the 1970s congress promised to fund it to the tune of paying 80% of the cost. To date, the best estimates I've read put the amount of funding at about 17%. It's expensive to educate a blind child and budgets are tight and getting tighter. for many children with visual impairment, it's not about what best for their education it's about what works financially for the school district and the poor harried, overworked itinerant vision teacher. Just think of how Hank Miller's parents had to fight for two years of their child's life to get him taught braille and given braille resources. Imagine seeing your very bright child struggle just to get his homework done because of the obstacle to achievement that using limited vision to read print created.
> So, the education of functionally blind children, which includes all those very low vision children who should be using braille, in much of this country, but particularly in rural areas, is in a terrible condition. If it comes to fighting an unwilling, underfunded, unresponsive, even antagonistic school district, or homeschooling a blind child, I am encouraging parents to give homeschooling their best shot and I'm supporting them in doing it.
> 
> Warmly,
> Heather
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message----- From: Richard Holloway
> Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2012 10:37 PM
> To: Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children) ; nataejones at hotmail.com
> Subject: Re: [blindkid] Question about Student Loan Forgiveness for Parent
> 
> I don't want to jump into the middle of this discussion on the other aspects of the post. I don't have anything useful to offer there, but this one comment below made me take pause:
> 
>> When it comes to homeschooling, I live in a very rural area, and I have heard nothing great about our local school systems and their education of the visually impaired.
> 
> I would submit that most people on this listserv, and indeed most parents of blind children in all areas (rural or urban) could make a similar statement. (Most, not all.) Especially if there are few, if any similar situations in your area, one never knows what can be done through the school system based only on word of mouth or various anecdotes.
> 
> I do confess that i wonder if you have heard bad things about how the schools deal with blind students, or just assume their lack of experience will spell disaster. It sounds as if you are still pretty early in the process of determining your son's education plan. Try and be patient and explore your options.
> 
> I don't know your child's situation, but if he is going to be a Braille reader, for example, there is a great deal involved in teaching Braille proficiency. I assume he will need to learn cane travel skills. This takes a great deal of work too. My point is you will likely need services from your school system or through some state agency, no matter if you ultimately home school or use public education. Ultimately some parents find this is all more than one can manage alone. If possible, check with others in your local area through the NOPBC or your state division, if one exists and/or your state or local chapter of the NFB. Apologies for not remembering your specific state if posted already.
> 
> Speaking of state agencies, programs such as Babies Can't Wait (here in Georgia) can also provide some useful services and support until your child reaches school age. Have you looked into a similar program for your state?
> 
> As kids get older, many (perhaps most) also need many thousands of dollars in equipment to be able to have reasonable access to brailling equipment, embossers, computers, etc. If this equipment is required under the concept of FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education), your school system will have to supply it. It doesn't matter if they have it already or not, they will have to find a way to get certain required equipment for you, and generally the are funds available, or ways to have equipment loaned through other means to the school also exist. Can you gain access to this through other means? Possibly so, but you will likely have more support in the teaching of the use through a school as well. It isn't like picking up a conventional laptop to use these machines in many cases... There is a learning curve. Likewise with adaptive software for conventional computers. (Screen readers, like JAWS, for example.)
> 
> There will be need for other things too-- including nearly countless Braille books, including text books, tactile maps... All manor of supplies. Almost certainly you will need lots of braille transcription services. Some books you can order through certain libraries and services, but some may prove rather difficult to acquire without the right system in place. .Save to say this is a very complicated business. I find it overwhelming sometimes just from the standpoint of a parent trying to properly support a blind student attending public school.
> 
> May I suggest a couple of things to you?
> 
> If you have not, research what is available through various means as far as Braille support, orientation and mobility, etc., and also (if you have not done so) find out what the school can actually do for you. If this is a very rural setting with few if any other blind students and they have no qualified staff, they may simply be compelled to hire out needed services through qualified specialists. They might partner with other school systems or perhaps a state school for the blind or other state agency.
> 
> It may seem like a lot to consider, to try and find a way to make public schools offer a way to educate your child, but long-term home schooling is a big thing to attempt as well, and what concerns me most with that is the Braille and O&M aspects of doing so.
> 
> I'm not suggesting you cannot do it yourself. I'm sure others here have managed just what you appear to be thinking of, but if I were in your place, I would want to explore all options before I were committed to that path.
> 
> I remember when our daughter was born. I felt like I was going to have to adapt the entire world for my child personally. It took me several years to realize most things were already adapted. As parents, my wife and I realized that our job was to find these existing solutions and tweak them to our needs. Reinventing the wheel was generally not needed. It took me several years to figure this out. It took several more years to begin to feel like we had a working system in place. Now we know to try and adjust/adapt existing solutions before we start from scratch.
> 
> Does your state have a school for the blind? If so, plan a trip there. Many schools offer resident placement for students of many ages, but I'm not suggesting you need that option. What the school almost certainly can do is give you an idea of the process to educating a blind student through a tour and some discussion. You might learn you live within bussing range. (About 60 miles in our state.) They may have much information to share and many suggestions to make even if you don't want to consider that school as an option. We looked at many public and private schools before we found a good fit.
> 
> In our case, we have a daughter with no light perception whom we started off in a private school. After a couple of years in a great learning environment, the situation began to change-- decline actually, as the needs for Braille and O&M also began to become more pronounced. We soon realized that only a well managed plan in a public school setting was going to work for our needs.
> 
> We live in a large metro area. Our county has nearly 700,000 residents and we are in a part of the largest metro area in our state (Atlanta, Georgia). I assumed there were many Braille-reading students in our county. Imagine my surprise when we learned recently there are only three Braille-reading students in our entire school system. (All grades, all schools.) We get good services, but not because the schools here have a vast number of Braille students to support. Now in fourth grade, our daughter has been the only blind student in her school since pre-k, so rural or not, being the only blind-, or at least the only Braill- reading student is a pretty common issue for our kids. Fact of the matter is, there aren't a lot of blind people in the general population in most areas. Blindness is a fairly uncommon thing, especially for children. Once grown, our kids end up living in a mostly sighted population as well.
> 
> Again, this is no reflection on you personally. I just hope ANY parent of a blind child trying to find the right educational path will explore all possibilities as thoroughly as possible before they rule any of them out. Your local public schools have a legal obligation to proved your child with a Free Appropriate Public Education. Why not talk to them and learn what you are planning to decline before you turn it down?
> 
> I expect there are also homeschool support sources and maybe some of those can help with blindness adaptations to consider, but it sounds like you have much time to weigh out your options before you commit yourself long-term to a path, and in fact one can even change paths as we did (from private to public school, in our case, around age 5). We have made many unexpected adjustments since our blind child was born. The best news I can offer about that is it seems to get easier over time.
> 
> Sorry for the long post but hopefully it will present some options to explore further.
> 
> Best of luck to you,
> 
> Richard
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