[blindkid] Preserving memories

Mon Jan 2 18:18:59 UTC 2012

Jennifer,
My son max is 5 and sounds in a similar situation. He has light perception only and is mainstreamed in kindergarten and doing awesome! If you have any questions on anything please let me know.
Anyway, I am a huge scrapbooker and this had been on my mind since Max was born.  So, this is what I do but would love to hear other ideas.  One, videos are key!!  Max loves loves loves videos.  I am not a big video person so I am very thankful for phones that record on a whim.  I save all these and burn to DVD often.  I have taught Max about photos because I take lots.  I tell him all the time about why i take photos.  He's finally getting on board with me.  You also get over what makes a 'perfect picture'...Max has had numerous eye surgeries and has had most of his irises removed so his eyes look anything but normal but they are beautiful because it's him.  It's a perfect photo if he's smiling and head is towards the camera.  One thing his art teacher did for me this year is take a roller that makes a perforated outline on the photo.  She outlined his body and my moms (that is who the photo was taken of) and I think that helped him realize what is on a picture.  I have also created his 'school' books almost 100% tactile with things he's made and added Braille descriptions.  He loves these books because touching the pages is just like a sighted child looking at pictures.  Max tells me often that if isnt tactile or if it doesn't make noise he is totally not interested.  Good reminder all the time :) i still do make his scrapbooks but i know they are for me, for maybe his wife and/or kids someday if they are sighted.  I also use jolees brand items in his scrapbooks because they are actually a pretty good tactile representation.
Sorry for the mouthful but this is a subject near and dear to me:)

Best of luck,
Erin

On Dec 29, 2011, at 11:09 PM, DrV wrote:

> Hi Jennifer,
> My kids are older now, but since about preschool or so they have been
> recording things on their BrailleNotes.
> They have recordings of toys from their childhood that in real life no
> longer work; they have recordings of conversations with relatives &
> friends.
> When we travel they will record the sounds they hear. My son was recently
> reorganizing files & found some from kindergarten or 1st grade -> for his
> birthday that year he wanted to go on a train adventure, so we drove down
> to Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles & hopped on a train for a
> spontaneious day trip to Santa Barbara - what an adventure! He has
> recordings of the train from inside & out, of the conductor, & a bunch of
> other memorable sounds - a trip that we all still cherish.
> All the best,
> Eric V
> 
> On 12/26/11 4:10 PM, "Carol Castellano" <carol_castellano at verizon.net>
> wrote:
> 
>> Hi Jennifer and welcome to the list.
>> 
>> We started making recordings for our daughter when she was
>> little.  The first ones we made were the voices of her favorite
>> people--mom, dad, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents--and
>> recordings of her birthday parties, etc.  Then we began to get
>> creative :-).  When we went on a day trip or on vacation we would
>> give a little verbal intro and/or description and then record
>> characteristic sounds.  For example, we'd record the sound of the
>> waves crashing or the crickets and bullfrogs calling at
>> night.  Eventually we got pretty good at it--any time we were going
>> to take a photo, we found a way to record a memory for Serena,
>> too.  She took over the recorder when she got to eighth grade or so
>> and instead of having her yearbooks signed, she asked her friends and
>> teachers to record their words.  Very precious memories for all of us!
>> 
>> Carol
>> 
>> Carol Castellano
>> President, Parents of Blind Children-NJ
>> Director of Programs
>> National Organization of Parents of Blind Children
>> 973-377-0976
>> carol_castellano at verizon.net
>> www.blindchildren.org
>> www.nopbc.org
>> 
>> At 04:20 PM 12/26/2011, you wrote:
>>> Hi everyone, this is my first time posting to this listserv, but I
>>> have been reading it since our son Hudson was born in July of this
>>> year. Hudson's eyes did not develop correctly in utero w999hich
>>> caused his blindness. It has definitely been a roller coaster of
>>> emotions since his birth, but we have found acceptance and are
>>> enjoying our sweet funny boy. We have services in place for him, and
>>> he seems to be thriving.
>>> In looking back over our pictures from Christmas today, it struck me
>>> that Hudson won't be able to see them (I'm still getting used to how
>>> things like that just catch me by surprise). We did record a few
>>> videos, but I didn't think about doing something specifically for
>>> him so he can listen to it later. I have always made photo albums
>>> for our older daughter, and she loves to look back at them and talk
>>> about past events. I would love to hear your ideas about how I can
>>> preserve memories for Hudson. Maybe videos where we talk about the
>>> events of the day? Or some sort of box with tactile items related to
>>> the special occasion? I'm sure you all are a wealth of knowledge, so
>>> please share it with me and help ease my "mommy guilt"! Thanks so much!
>>> 
>>> Jennifer Weisner
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>> 
>> 
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> 
> 
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