[blindkid] Descriptive books??

[Colleen Davis]

Hi, Jena,

My initial response is "Just ask."  I can almost hear the howls from here, but I think that if you talk to his teachers, you may find that they either already do some description or that they will be happy to do it.

When I go into early childhood, pre-K, and kinder classes, I often see teachers pointing out pictures and asking the kids what they see and what they can infer from the picture. Example: "Look at the little boy's face. Does he look happy? How do you know?". etc. While that is not full description, it is an instructional practice that benefits everyone in the class, not just the kids who have disabilities.

Talk to the teachers, explain the need for description, and see what they say. Maybe you or a friend could volunteer to read a story to the class and demonstrate. If that doesn't help, enlist the help of your child's TVI, reading specialist, or librarian. No luck? Ratchet it up. Speak to your child's principal, then to the SpEd director. Work the chain and then have it written into the ARD/IEP documents as a required modification.

Good luck and let us know how it goes. Please feel free to contact me off-list if I can be of any further help.
Thanks and have a great weekend.
Colleen




________________________________
From: Jena <holmanj at charter.net>
To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 6, 2008 2:42:48 PM
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Descriptive books??

This is very interesting to me....My youngest son is legally blind but we do think he can see colors and certain lights. He has many other disabilities too and being descriptive about pictures in a book is a great idea I also have a older son with many disabilities he can see but does not understand what he sees so maybe this would benefit him too we are not sure how much he understands. Next question is how to get the teacher and paras at school to do this?
Thanks,
Jena
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Colleen Davis 
  To: NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children) 
  Sent: Saturday, December 06, 2008 12:18 PM
  Subject: Re: [blindkid] Descriptive books??


  Carlton and Carrie,

  My husband is director of libraries and AR comes under his "umbrella". I talked to him about it and he is going to address this when he meets with the teachers that use AR and the librarians for when they do readings for classes. 

  I have always talked to classroom teachers about describing pictures in books that they read aloud to their studies. I don't have any Braille students of the AR age right now, but I used to describe any pictures in books since I saw them daily.

  Your comments got me thinking that there are probably kids with other disabilities that would benefit from this. Also, I may begin adding the description of pictures for AR books to modifications required for my kids with low vision. A parent volunteer or paraprofessional could do this. I will have to think it through and work it out, but I 'can do what I can do".

  Thanks to all of you who bring up the things that you as parents encounter. It helps us TVIs do a better job. Last week I combined all the storage ideas and resources for audio descriptive DVDs, etc., and made it a part of my newsletter (giving the list credit, of course!).

  Colleen in TX




  ________________________________
  From: Carrie Gilmer <carrie.gilmer at gmail.com>
  To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
  Sent: Saturday, December 6, 2008 8:59:34 AM
  Subject: Re: [blindkid] Descriptive books??

  Dear Carlton,
  I am so glad you have pointed this out. I had not heard this about the AR
  specifically before. We are taking a close look at online and computer based
  tests and gathering information on a national level. I am forwarding your
  concerns on. Thank you for bringing it up. If anyone has any troubled
  experience with online tests or experience in attempting to contact or work
  with a testing company--or you have experience with something working
  well... please send me your experience asap.

  And thanks for the nice words for me Carlton...smile. 

  Carrie Gilmer, President
  National Organization of Parents of Blind Children
  A Division of the National Federation of the Blind
  NFB National Center: 410-659-9314
  Home Phone: 763-784-8590
  carrie.gilmer at gmail.com
  www.nfb.org/nopbc