[Nfbf-l] IEP and cane help needed

[Lappland]

doreen,
I recommend that you contact joe cutter, an O&M instructor, through the NFB. 
He has several articles on the www.nfb.org web site about teaching children 
mobility. i have attended his workshops which are very informative and 
pasted one of his artivles below.
if you would like to speak to a local O&M instructor or need to hire one 
yourself, the florida outreach center for the blind has a mobility 
instructor that worked with children in the public school system for 30 
years. hope this helps.

Sincerely,
Carolyn Lapp
Executive Director
Florida Outreach Center for the Blind, Inc.
Office: (561) 640-6029
E-Mail: info-focb at bellsouth.net

Please remember to support the Florida Outreach Center for the Blind by 
donating a dollar or more to help fund our worthy programs. Send your tax 
deductible
gift to:
Florida Outreach Center for the Blind
1280 N. Congress Ave., Ste-108
West Palm Beach, FL 33409
Or use the Pay Pal link on our web site at:
www.flblindcenter.org
Thank you!



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Doreen Franklin" <theconelady at yahoo.com>
To: "NFB Parents" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>; "NFB/List" <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 1:45 PM
Subject: [Nfbf-l] IEP and cane help needed


Your help is needed again for our 4-1/2 yr old who will be going to the 
pre-K class in August.

We are in the process of having 8 individual evals done for the 
Comprehensive Psych Eval in her IEP. One of the evals is for O&M, but I have 
not gotten a call for the eval yet. (Our schools are out June 10). We feel 
strongly that our daughter needs a cane and we have gotten one thru NFB. We 
also were at the state convention this last weekend and cane and Braille 
were reinforced many times! (And I have just been sent an email indicating 
that even with the evals done, the reports will not be done even for our IEP 
meeting on June 8. We do need to have the meeting to do a few other items, 
one of which will be a placement at an ESE-inclusive pre-K class).

At our last IEP in April, it was suggested that I get her pediatrician to 
write a note for the cane, take it to the nurse and then get an 
Individualized Health Care plan written for the cane; it would then be an 
addendum to the IEP. Long story short, I am being told the doc cannot do it 
(it is not a medical issue) - but school board cannot cite a law/statute 
which prohibits it from happening or not happening. At this point, I am not 
even sure the cane will be discussed at our next IEP on June 8 without the 
O&M eval being done.

If you talk to our daughter, she will even tell you she does not trip or hit 
as many things with her cane in her hand. She FEELS safer with the cane and 
IS safer with the cane, but the school board is not seeing it. Other parents 
of blind and VI children can see the need for the cane, but other people are 
not seeing her need. Even at home, she is like the "pinball wizard" - 
sometimes hitting one chair, to a 2nd chair on her way to her room. She has 
not gotten seriously hurt, but she has hit her face about a half dozen 
times.

Question is ... can we provide private instructions for her (thru a friend 
who is blind and uses a cane) so that she can use the cane in school when 
she goes to school in August without the school board saying she cannot use 
it without proper instruction by them? Is there a law I can give to them for 
the cane? What are our recourses, besides threatening a law suit should 
something happen to her?

Any and all help will be appreciated .... MANY thanks!!!!
Doreen and David Franklin




Doreen
Please support Braille literacy & programs for our youth by sponsoring me in
the Motor City March for Independence!
www.marchforindependence.org/goto/doreenf




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