[blindkid] Why Do You Want to Make that Child Blind?

Wed Mar 24 20:12:26 UTC 2010

Hi Eliza,

Please do come to Convention--I'd love to meet you, too!  And I know 
exactly what you mean about feeling like crying--or really 
crying--with relief at someone understanding what you mean.

My daughter was a premie and started walking at 28 months, or 24 
months "corrected age" (she was 4 months premature).  You will see 
"research" showing that it is typical for blind kids to be delayed, 
but I have great skepticism about this and other research in the 
field.  It sounds as if your daughter really likes to move--that is a 
great thing.  She will like using a cane as a feeler much more than 
using her head as one!

Is your daughter standing?  Cruising along the furniture?  Walking 
along if someone is holding one or both of her hands?

There is a great book that will help you get your child going.  It is 
"Independent Movement and Travel in Blind Children: A Promotion 
Model," by Joe Cutter.  He has all kinds of ideas for young 
kids.  Here is the link for the 
book: 
http://secure.nfb.org/ecommerce/asp/product.asp?product=852&cat=47&ph=&keywords=&recor=&SearchFor=&PT_ID=

Carol

Carol Castellano, President
National Organization of Parents of Blind Children
973-377-0976
carol_castellano at verizon.net
www.nfb.org/nopbc

At 12:01 PM 3/22/2010, you wrote:
>Carol,
>  Your article completely struck home, I actually started crying, 
> someone finally understood.  I want to go to the convention just to 
> meet you and thank you in person. I completely feel/felt like 
> nobody understood my anxiety of the situation. My daughter's TVI is 
> wonderful, but she too is worried about her having "too much" 
> vision. She still readily approves learning braille and cane 
> walking, just wanted me to know it my be difficult, since she still 
> has "decent" vision. She can see about 12-18 inches in front and 
> that's with her attention on one object. She crawls into 
> everything, not so much now since she's used her HEAD as her feeler 
> for the last six months or so. Also, I know it varies, but is there 
> an estimate on age of when a visually impaired child may start 
> walking? Is it the vision that is delaying her walking or could it 
> be a combination of things? She is also moderately to severe 
> hearing impaired, they have her down as developmentally
>  delayed, but is it probably because of the two sensory 
> impairments? She is coginitively within a month or two of her age, 
> she's 21mths. Let me know what you think, I would appreciate any guidance.
>
>Thank you,
>Eliza
>
>
>
>
>________________________________
>From: Marie <empwrn at bellsouth.net>
>To: Blindkid email <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
>Sent: Mon, March 22, 2010 7:46:15 AM
>Subject: Re: [blindkid] Why Do You Want to Make that Child Blind?
>
>My husband read it last night and he also thought it was excellent. 
>It was an opener to a pretty good discussion. It was perfect timing 
>for such a discussion too. Today we return to our son's vision 
>rehabilitation doctor for re-testing and recommendations. The school 
>district relies pretty heavily on her recommendations for guidance.
>Our appointment is at 1045 am central time. I will be checking email 
>until about 945 am. I would love to hear suggestions from anyone who 
>is able to send them.
>I should mention our son's TVI will be attending the meeting as well.
>Marie
>Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Carol Castellano <blindchildren at verizon.net>
>Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2010 07:44:13
>To: NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,\(for parents of blind 
>children\)<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
>Subject: Re: [blindkid] Why Do You Want to Make that Child Blind?
>
>Hi Marie (yes, you may call me Carol!),
>
>Thanks for the kind words.  I feel really strongly about the
>subject--as do many Federation members--as I truly get call after
>call from parents whose children are kept from learning the very
>skills that would enable them to lead independent lives.  Just a few
>days ago, there was another such situation.  The child is being
>taught braille now--after "flunkiing" kindergarten--but the parents
>have been told no, he doesn't need a cane.  You can predict what is
>going to happen.  He is already using his foot as a feeler on stairs
>and when it is bright or dark in a room or outside.  He will reach
>the age that most kids learn to cross streets and that will be
>delayed.  He will become a pre-adolescent and will not be able to go
>out at night with friends--he'll be embarrassed because he can't walk
>at night independently and believe me, a bunch of boys will not want
>a guy holding onto them all evening.  And then someone will say, gee,
>maybe he ought to have a cane.  He'll be thirteen or fourteen or
>fifteen and guess what, shocking, he won't want to have anything to
>do with one.    then the "experts" will tell us, nope, kids just
>don't like canes.
>
>Ugh.
>
>Carol
>
>Carol Castellano, President
>National Organization of Parents of Blind Children
>973-377-0976
>carol_castellano at verizon.net
>www.nfb.org/nopbc
>
>At 11:30 AM 3/21/2010, you wrote:
> >Carol (may I call you Carol?) I loved your article "Why do you want
> >to make that child blind?" It says so much and spoke to my own
> >wondering about how much to emphasize Jack's legal blindness. I am
> >going to get my husband to read it too. I would also like to copy it
> >and distribute it to every member of our IEP team. I'll talk to my
> >husband after he reads it and see what he thinks.
> >Moms and Dads out there go read the article. It's a fresh
> >perspective and likely not the way provided to you by most people you know.
> >In fact, Carol, is there an online link to this article someplace?
> >I'd love to point my blog readers to it as well.
> >Marie (mother of Jack, 4 years old with Apert Syndrome)
> >http://allaccesspasstojack.blogspot.com
> >Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
> >
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>
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