[Ohio-talk] Fw: Blind 10 yr old near Cleveland needs Braille

Wed Jan 5 21:24:57 UTC 2011

I have no problems with this but we have 2 chapters there. This would
also be agreat way for them to work together and help out also. Richard 

-----Original Message-----
From: ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Dr. JW Smith
Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2011 10:30 AM
To: NFB of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List; Shelbi Hindle; Colleen
Roth; Carol Akers; Anne Marble; Annette Anderson;
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Subject: [Ohio-talk] Fw: Blind 10 yr old near Cleveland needs Braille

Let's talk about this some on Saturday but in the mean time if anybody
has any other recommendations please don't hesitate to chime in here ok?

Read on.

jw

Dr. J. Webster Smith
President National Federation of the Blind of Ohio P.O.BOX 458 Athens,
Ohio, 45701-0458 Phone Number - 740-592-6326 "Changing What it Means to
be Blind"
----- Original Message -----
From: Carol Akers
To: Dr. JW Smith
Cc: eduffy
Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2011 9:35 PM
Subject: Blind 10 yr old near Cleveland needs Braille

                  I recieved a call from Lori Kaplan who is the parent
mentor for OSSB.  She also serves as a parent resource for the whole
state.  She had a call from a mom in Maple Heights whose son is 10 and
she wants him to learn Braille but the school is resistant.  His VI
teacher feels he has vision and should continue to use the stand
magnifiers for his reading.  Mom feels his vision will be decreasing and
she wants to  be proactive by having him begin to learn braille now.
The notes Lori had said he had 20/100 in one eye and 20/60 in the other,
but since his IEP he has had eye surgery in late December.  One of the
diagnoses is Glaucoma, but I think there is more.  Lori was going to
contact mom to see when he had an eval for media, etc and what it
detailed.  

                  Lori contacted me since she had recently recieved my
mailing and thot perhaps we could assist this mom and give her guidance.
Lori said she realizes that NFB is a proactive organization and promotes
Braille use.  She also told mom that people who learn braille have
better opportunities for employment in the future and wondered if we had
any data to back that up for her.
                  I think this would be a good opportunity for the Ohio
chapter to assist this family and show ourselves as a resource
parent/child advocate and educator of the school system/VI teachers.
Our goodwill and participation or involvement will be a positive mark
for the NFB.  
                  Hopefully increase our visibility and cooperation with
OSSB and the rest of the state.  We aren't real visible like we were in
the past when we sent people to IEP's and assisted parents in advocating
for the kids.

                  Since Debbie Baker is retired and a teacher of blind
students, I think this ia an opportunity I would like to share with her.
Perhaps she could work with this mom, student and VI teacher to come up
with a solution that works.  If possible, perhaps if she is willing, she
could go meet with this family in the Cleveland area.  What do you
think?  I told Lori that we have our  board meeting this Sat and I would
pick some brains on this topic and get back with her.
                  Carol Akers

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