[Massachusetts-NFB] MAPBC July Meeting Minutes

[Liz Lesperance]

Good Afternoon,

Attached and pasted below please find the meeting minutes from the latest
parents' division meeting held on Thursday, July 11th.

Stay cool!

Thanks,
Liz

********************

The MAPBC met on Thursday, July 11th. The meeting began at 6:02PM. Those in
attendance included:

Stephanie Valdes

Shirley Doris

Hai Nguyen Ly

Ellen Bartelt

Tanaya McClorin

Liz Lesperance

Masha Sten-Clanton

Jennifer Bose

Liz recited the NFB pledge.

We introduced ourselves as we had several new meeting attendees.

We discussed the national convention. Stephanie attended a meeting where
there was a discussion on how to create games with materials commonly found
at home. Also, there is an NFB member hosting a braille academy for
parents. Stephanie attended the blind parents’ group for children from age
0 to 5 years. One topic that came up was how to tell your sighted child
that you don’t need help in certain circumstances.

Hai shared that he attended the convention on behalf of Target and
co-hosted a panel on Target accessibility. He noted that there was a strong
emphasis on Ai and the monarch this year.

Liz shared how her son was eager to help with navigation which was helpful
but also presented a challenge and resulted in a conversation around when
and how to offer assistance.

Jen shared that she is getting into voice acting and was intrigued by
several items at the exhibit hall including the games offered by 64 Ounce
Games and the Touch Pad Pro. These might be helpful activities to
incorporate into the BELL academy in a future year. Jen shared that it is
important for children to feel encouraged when they provide assistance. It
is important for kids to feel that their contributions are valued.

Stephanie stated that in her home the children are encouraged to help for
the sake of helping others.  That is – they should offer to help because
they truly want to help and not because they feel obligated.

Stephanie pointed out that there needs to be a correction to the May
meeting minutes. The age range of the BELL academy is from 4 to 12 years.
The May minutes mistakenly had the age range as 7 to 12 years. Liz has
noted this correction. Hai put forth a motion to approve the amended
minutes which Jen seconded. The May minutes were approved.

Stephanie provided an update regarding BELL. She has located the files to
document each day of the BELL academy, but they are inaccessible at the
moment as they are in BRL format. Once Stephanie gets the files back she
can note the details about each day. Volunteers who have morning shifts
will arrive at 9am and help set up. When the children arrive, they will
begin with braille yoga. There will be braille stations that encourage
learning through play. Stephanie states that the children will help make a
grocery list, go to the store to purchase the ingredients, and then prepare
lunches.  After lunch the children will clean up and have recess. The theme
of this year’s BELL academy is “I Can Lead” and this will be worked into a
group activity. The activity will be followed by reading and games that
will assist with fine motor skills like working with buttons or velcros.
The children will be encouraged to look for jokes to record for the
presidential release. Stephanie believes both parents have given
authorization for this recording. There will be two field trips. The first
will be to the fire station and the braille trail. The second will be at
the Boston Science Museum.

Masha asked for clarification on volunteers helping with both the morning
and afternoon sessions. Stephanie shared that volunteers are welcome to
attend for either the morning or  afternoon sessions but volunteers can
also certainly stay for the entire day. The national office encourages the
day be split up into a morning and afternoon session and that as many
volunteers be incorporated into the schedule to expose the children to as
many blind individuals as possible.

Stephanie will be putting together a schedule for the volunteers once she
hears from everyone. Masha and Shirley have completed their background
checks. If any volunteers are having issues with their background checks
they can contact BELL at nfb.org.

Hai shared that the BELL academy is not only an opportunity for the
children to learn from us but also for us to learn from the children. Hai
and Youme would like to attend the field trip to the Boston Science Museum
and will purchase their own tickets.

Stephanie emphasized that the purpose of the last day is for the families,
not just the parents. The children will share something that they are very
proud to have learned. All of the games and activities that have been
completed throughout the two weeks will be set up around the room.

Shirley advised that since this is our first attempt at the BELL academy it
will be trial and error and we will learn as we go. We will be
demonstrating to the children that even adults don’t know all of the
answers. This will demonstrate for the children how to use your voice and
ask questions.

Stephanie shared that most BELL academies start with 2 or 3 children and
there are other BELL academies across the country that only have a few
students. For us, this will allow us to focus on the quality of the
program.

Stephanie encouraged anyone interested in attending to complete their
background checks and to contact her with their availability a.s.a.p. Any
volunteer who doesn’t complete their background check by the start of the
academy cannot participate.

Stephanie stated that the program is still welcoming new students up
through August 5th.

Stephanie will try to hold two meetings on Wednesday nights as the academy
approaches to help the volunteers. One session will go over the curriculum
and the other will go over situations that might arise or anything to know
in advance about games, etc.

We will discuss outreach in our next meeting.

We will meet on Sunday, Augst 11th at 6PM.

The meeting adjourned at 7:10PM.
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