[Mdpobc] Fundraiser Campaign for SMART Brailler

[christopher nusbaum]

Jill,

While I understand your reasoning for asking these questions, I must point
out that the child in question is currently in preschool. So it is likely
that the preschool in which he is enrolled is not affiliated with a County
school system and therefore is not under the same legal obligation. In
addition, the IEP process has probably not yet begun. I would advise that
this family wait until their blind son is fully enrolled in the public
school system and an IEP has been drafted outlining the basic services he
needs before they start pursuing school system funds for technology. For a
child of this age, there are many more fundamental aspects of blindness
services which must first be taken care of: Braille, TVI services, O and M,
etc. Without these fundamentals in a child's initial IEP, any assistive
technology the school system might purchase for him/her would, in my
opinion, be useless.

 Please understand that I am not saying that school system funding for
technology should not be pursued or that the school's legal obligation
should be ignored; quite the contrary. I am only trying to make sure we
don't put the cart before the horse. Please also understand that I am only
basing my opinions on my experiences as a blind student in the public
schools, and that Amber is free to correct me if any of my assumptions are
wrong. In our experience, however, my family and I have found it better to
go after the schools for technology funding only after my basic services
were provided for under my IEP.

Chris Nusbaum

On Nov 23, 2013, at 6:19 PM, Kyle Richmond <Kyle.Richmond2009 at comcast.net>
wrote:

 Has the school said this child would benefit from a Perkins Smart Brailler
and/or needs a Smart Brailler to participate at school?  If so, why is this
parent having to pay for this device herself?  Shouldn't the school be
paying for this?  I don't know enough about this situation to make
suggestions but just want to ask these questions!  Finally, parents of very
young blind children, try not to set a precedent that you will pay for
everything, let the school provide for what it legally needs to provide
under the IDEA laws.
Jill Richmond
PS - the Perkins Smart Brailler does look super-cool, love the new
technology and the T-shirt is adorable!


----- Original Message -----
*From:* Gmail <eliaam87 at gmail.com>
*To:* Maryland Parents of Blind Children List <mdpobc at nfbnet.org>
*Sent:* Saturday, November 23, 2013 10:49 AM
*Subject:* [Mdpobc] Fundraiser Campaign for SMART Brailler

Hi Trudy! My name is Amber and my son, Max, is a totally blind 3 year old.
We are up in the Frederick area and he is enrolled in Pre-K already. I am
trying to get the word out about a fundraiser I am doing in the hopes of
being able to purchase him a SMART Brailler. It's a tee shirt campaign and
I have attached the link below. Do you think you can send it out to the
listserv? I appreciate your help getting the word out.

http://teespring.com/brailleliteracy

Sincerely,
Amber Elia

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