[blindkid] [Bulk] I am so incredibly proud and need to share!

[Brandy W]

Hi, This is awesome!!! You are an great mom, and I wondered why you hadn't 
been posting. Hope things continue to go up hill. Talk soon, Bran
Brandy Wojcik
Discovery Toys Educational Leader
www.playtoachieve.com
(512) 231-8697
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rene Harrell" <rjharrell at gmail.com>
To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)" 
<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2009 3:12 PM
Subject: [Bulk] [blindkid] I am so incredibly proud and need to share!


> Hello all,
>
> I've kind of dropped off the face of the earth these past few months. My
> just turned three year old has been struggling with unstable heart issues
> and after several rounds of hospitalizations, a couple of heart
> catherizations, two open heart surgeries plus a new baby due in a matter 
> of
> weeks....well, we've been in that "survival" mode I'm sure others of you
> know very well.
>
> In the midst of all of this, we've still been plodding away homeschooling
> wise. Clare just turned 8 and we have been working, working, working on
> mastering her alphabet for several years now. Progress has been slow, but 
> we
> have patiently continued to plod along, hoping to give her every 
> opportunity
> for the light bulb to finally go off.
>
> Well, I have to say that this was the week! We've been using Tack-Tiles in
> combination with real braille, and last week you could tell she was 
> actually
> processing letters and trying to read. I had the word "MAT" on the 
> tack-tile
> slate and I switched off the "T" for a "P" without telling her and asked 
> her
> to tell me what word was there. She scanned the board, started to say 
> "MAT"
> again, then paused and all on her own said "No, not MAT....MAP." She still
> doesn't have full mastery of all her letters but she is truly starting to
> grasp the concept of reading, and is demonstrating the consistent ability 
> to
> read words! Not memorize them, but truly read them!
>
> I am completely and absolutely thrilled. We dealt with so many people who
> doubted she'd ever have the cognitive ability to read, and while it's not
> Shakespeare, she is indeed reading and she's only just turned 8. Here is 
> to
> long-term persistence and effort......I'm just so completely thrilled for
> her! And better yet, you can tell she is feeling very proud of herself.
>
> So, I couldn't help but share. It's been three years in the making, but 
> you
> never know when it could possibly happen.
>
> Rene in Colorado Springs--- Mom to 5, including Clare (ROP) who is 
> becoming
> the champion of words ending in -at, -ap, and -an
>
> -- 
> " I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up
> where I needed to be."
> -- Douglas Adams
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