[blindkid] Leaving classes early

Sat Jan 24 17:44:28 UTC 2009

Dear Sally,
Within the typical middle school among sighted students there is a spectrum
of organizational abilities among the students.  There is also somewhat of a
spectrum of challenge for them that they do not get to choose. Some kids get
stuck with a locker far away, some may get lucky with a locker placement.
Some have a schedule with the last or first class far from the locker and
some get lucky and most are in the middle. Some are in band, or forgot they
need to grab their gym clothes, or have something they need to carry or
manage. They all have to work with what they get, and learn to make changes
if they are late, miss the bus, or miss an assignment. This is preparing
them for life.

Our children need the same opportunity and responsibilities.

We were also offered special locker placement and also extra passing time
for Jordan. We never took a special locker placement. That said, he did have
(and has every year to this year-his senior year-a permanent hall pass).
>From the beginning we placed on him and the staff the expectation that he
would have to manage as everyone else. He could be marked tardy, and if he
missed the bus due to poor time management he had a consequence from home.
(I will state also that Jordan is one of those kids who if you give him an
inch-he never tries to take a mile-unlike my other son. This tendency, or
lack of it, in a student's personality is a factor that must be
considered.)The staff, especially administrative or general special ed.
staff, always gave surprise at our "no thanks" to accommodations such as
extra passing time, or resistance, and wanted very much to give Jordan every
"break".

Early on because of the technology he had did need to go to a resource room
to print assignments. He also had quite a bit of equipment, and a band
instrument. But he had the onus on him (and we helped in the beginning of
course-but we made it HIS problem, not ours or the school's) to figure out
how to get things done in an efficient manner, that did not disrupt class,
cause him to be late or leave early or lose too much class work time. He did
have a something more than the sighted kids-BUT HE WILL ALWAYS HAVE THAT-and
we knew for the future and employment he would just have to deal with that
something.  He began to organize and find best times, and consolidate his
printing and to print at home and mark the print with Braille notation and
organize it to turn in. Today because of jump drives and e-assignment
capability he prints much less, but he still must print some. It is a
constant learning of problem solving to get things to the teacher in a
format the teacher can read and on-time.

Sometimes equipment broke, or something was lost, or he was overwhelmed in
the learning process. He had the pass to go to the resource room as needed
during class time. I will say from sixth grade to now his senior year he has
rarely used it, I mean maybe less than a dozen times. We did have ONE
teacher very early on who did tell us Jordan was coming to class a few
minutes late-he was printing--she did not like the disruption and was
worried he was missing stuff-we did not realize the plan he had come up with
for that class, we sat down and figured something different and he was never
late again. So in the end he really did not even need the permanent pass.
And I guess that is the test-what did he truly truly NEED? And then if that
need showed he needed "extra time" was it temporary while building
organization-how did we move him to not need it. In other words that should
be the goal--needing LESS time everyday--not piling on supports in needing
so many extra accommodations. I recall at an IEP meeting one director of
Special ed. being totally baffled and repeated to us several times--"You
mean you want LESS? You want this accommodation TAKEN OUT? Is that fair? Can
blind people really get there as fast? I've never had someone request LESS."
This is actually what this woman said.

In his sophomore year we began to hear these statements from teachers at
regular teacher conferences. "Jordan is the first one to class" "Jordan just
flies through the halls, I don't know how he does it" Jordan has never had
one tardy. He has missed the bus less than I can count on my one hand. In
real life if he misses a city bus to work or class, it will not be mom he
can call to come and get him right away for free.

Also we never ever had a designated buddy for Jordan. Getting peer help was
Jordan's responsibility--to find a good student himself to ask for anything
to be read or what ever might be needed. This takes a good deal of
confidence, analyzing who is a good peer, and some social skill--they need
opportunity to develop that. It will not come if we do it for them. It was
also always his responsibility to get notes either from the teacher or peers
on anything he ever might have missed. This is the same for sighted peers.
They too sometimes have need and have missed something. They have to figure
out who of their classmates is responsible or smart. My sighted kids
sometimes forgot to bring a book home or lost the assignment sheet, or did
not listen or missed some direction. They knew they had to call a classmate,
find out who was reliable, etc. This is real life too. When they get to
college, or anywhere they have to be able to find their own sighted
assistance--and to be in charge of it. There will not be designated buddies
out in life.

Sincerely, 

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
-----Original Message-----
From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Andy & Sally Thomas
Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2009 7:38 AM
To: blindkid at nfbnet.org
Subject: [blindkid] Leaving classes early

My son's O&M instructor has told him that next year in junior high he will
be dismissed from classes 5 minutes early in order to get a head start into
the halls to make it to his next class. I'm wondering if most of the blind
kids out there get this "accommodation."  I personally think it is an
opportunity to miss some afterthought the teacher has and to be singled out
and isolated in the classroom. Walking to classes with friends is one of the
few times kids have for private conversations.  Would you share your
experiences with this?

Sally Thomas
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