[Nfb-idaho] Boise Bell Academy on channel 7 news tonight

Tue Jul 19 22:38:57 UTC 2016

Just to let you know to watch out for the boise bell academy on channel 7 news at some point this evening. a reporter came down to see us this morning and we are looking forward to seeing the results!

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 19, 2016, at 4:12 PM, Chris Jones via Nfb-idaho <nfb-idaho at nfbnet.org> wrote:

Dear All:
Wonderful article! Congratulations Sandy and everyone involved!
Chris Jones

-----Original Message----- From: Sean Malone via Nfb-idaho
Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2016 1:02 PM
To: nfb-idaho at nfbnet.org
Cc: Sean Malone
Subject: [Nfb-idaho] Post Register Article

Hey everyone we're on the front page of the Post Register newspaper this morning! And don't forget to tune in to 94.3 FM BYU Idaho radio at 12:45 PM and again at 5:48 PM for the interview and story on the local Idaho Falls chapter and organization!

Post Register Article
Here's the story:

The goal is to push blind and visually impaired children toward autonomyBy KEVIN TREVELLyAN
ktrevellyan at postregister.comSeveral children slipped what appeared to be sleeping masks over their eyes Monday morning, and began clacking away at what looked like misshapen metal type- writers from a bygone era.The children are blind or heavily vision-impaired. Their keystrokes punched braille dots into heavy card stock paper, and the masks prevented some of the kids from cheating and using their limited vision to type, faces inches from the keys.It was the first reading and writing lesson of this year’s BELL Camp at the Idaho Falls Activity Center. Short for Braille Enrich- ment for Literacy and Learning, it’s the camp’s fourth year under the National Federation of the Blind’s Snake River Valley Chapter.The two-week camp was the first of its kind in Idaho. Another opened this summer in Boise, and Coeur d’Alene will host a third in August.The goal: to push blind and visually impaired children toward autonomy.“It’s respectable to be blind,” said Snake River Valley chapter President Sandy Streeter. “It’s important for these kids to have these skills for them to leadsuccessful, independent lives. And they need to have good attitudes too and realize that there’s nothing wrong with being blind.”Five children sat at different stations at the activity center Monday, separated by their levels of Braille fluency.MeiMei Hill, 10, has partici- pated in the camp since it began.BELL Camp’s group-oriented nature is central to its purposeFluent in Braille, she fin- ished typing sentences about her time at school last spring — time with friends, learning about Idaho’s history — before moving to another table with Carver Anderson, 9, and Streeter.A pile of note cards sat between them.Streeter quizzed the children on contractions. Instead of words such as “we’re,” Braille contracts words that remain whole in written English: “not,” “they” or “then.”“How many dots are there; tell me the dots,” Streeter said to MeiMei, guiding her fingers.Braille takes up a lot of space. MeiMei’s algebra textbook last year was 36 volumes. The braille con- tractions condense the type into a more efficient, usable length.“It’s a little bit like learning Chinese charac- ters; it’s much more concise. It allows you to have less print on the page,” said Teri Hill, MeiMei’s mother
and teacher of the visually impaired.MeiMei and Carver both read above grade level compared to their sighted counterparts. MeiMei learns math in Braille and is set to begin calculus next year as a fifth-grader.“The kids here are mostly good students with good grades. This isn’t remedialfor handicapped kids; it’s a fun way to give them good experience as average or even advanced kids,” Hill said.The children also practice everyday activities that they wouldn’t be exposed to during school. How to do the laundry based on touch, for example, or cook.The BELL Camp is run by blind instructors, which can be critical for teaching visually impaired children the mundane activities nec- essary to provide a founda- tion for self-reliance.“Last year MeiMei wanted to fix dinner like her sister, and I had to call a blind friend and ask ‘How do you make cheese sand- wiches?’” Hill said.MeiMei uses her hand as a thermometer to test whether the griddle is prop- erly heated, and she knows how long to grill each side of the sandwich for. MeiMei can smell whether the sand- wich is cooked, and she presses a finger into the toasted bread to make sure.Monday, after the chil- dren finished their reading lessons, they baked cakes with Braille-inscribed mea- suring cups.The kids are also taken on field trips. Prior years they went swimming or jumping at a trampoline park. This year they’ll go horseback riding, and
Wednesday they’ll take a Museum of Idaho tour. Arti- fact donors have given the museum permission to let the children handle Revo- lutionary War relics outside their display cases.The BELL Camp’s group-oriented nature is central to its purpose. In instructors the children find role models, in their peers they find friends.“It’s just kind of fun to hang out with people who have the same thing about themselves that you do,” Carver said.
Every year,sticks close to Carver at the camp and at regional National Federation of the Blind holiday events. The two have grown close over the last four years, Hill said.MeiMei is the only heavily vision-impaired child at her school in Pocatello.“She doesn’t have anyone who has some of the same everyday issues. She has lots of friends, but there are times when she says ‘I want to be normal.’ This is a chance for her to under- stand that she is normal, to not feel quite as isolated,” Hill said.

Sent from my iPhone
_______________________________________________
Nfb-idaho mailing list
Nfb-idaho at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-idaho_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Nfb-idaho:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfb-idaho_nfbnet.org/clj53787%40gmail.com 

_______________________________________________
Nfb-idaho mailing list
Nfb-idaho at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-idaho_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Nfb-idaho:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfb-idaho_nfbnet.org/pecans65%40gmail.com