[blindkid] Street crossing

Dr. S. Merchant smerchant at vetmed.lsu.edu
Thu May 17 20:00:07 UTC 2012


I just had to comment and share an amusing story that dovetails with your
statement about needing to concentrate on  good O and M services so that
your son would be ready to walk to the regular bus stop. (And I totally
agree with using the regular school bus and I totally agree with you son
walking to that regular bus stop).   That set up was what I had in the IEP
for my son when he entered middle school.  His regular ed bus driver was so
afraid because she knew it wasn't safe for him to walk to the bus stop and
home from the bus stop (about 1/2 mile each way - but only in our
subdivision) , so she (on her own - not consulting with the administration)
wanted to pick him up and drop him off at our house, and although I
appreciated her concern I had to reason with her and show her how my son
could do this.  I would have used the IEP to make it happen, but I wanted
her to believe it and after she saw my son's skills, she developed a better
appreciation for the skills of blindness. 

Sigh,  sometimes our children get killed with kindness and don't get to grow
up/grow wiser.  

Sandy Taboada

-Mother to a 19 year old son that lives in the dorm at a large university
(over 45,000 students) and travels the campus independently.


-----Original Message-----
From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Chantel Alberhasky
Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2012 2:16 PM
To: Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Street crossing

Drake is finishing 2nd grade and this year he had the goal of being able to
 safely  cross a low traffic residential street.   He is able to do it 75%
of the time - he indicates when it is safe and of course his O&M instructor
doesn't let him cross if a car is coming - so we are continuing with this
goal.  Once he accomplished the goal, we will change it to crossing high
traffic residential street.  

My sighted daughter began middle school this year and has to walk two blocks
and cross two high traffic residential streets to get to the bus stop.
 Drake who just finished 2nd grade began expressing concern about how he was
going to find the bus stop and find his house when it came his turn to ride
the bus to middle school.  I assured him that his O&M instructor would teach
him the skills so he could do it.   

Although I told Drake he would ready to independently walk to/from the bus
stop I didn't believe it.  His concerns got me thinking how I would argue
the district must accommodate Drake by having the bus stop in front of our
house.  I would refuse the special education bus because the travel time on
the regular education bus is important social time with his friends so they
would simply have to make our house his bus stop.  

But then it dawned on me I was preparing for the WRONG fight.  Instead of
worrying about the school accommodating him I should be focused on ensuring
my blind child can independently walk to the bus stop.   I realized I need
to make sure his O&M instructor is teaching him the proper techniques so
when the time comes for him to walk to the middle school bus stop he will be
able to do so just as his sighted peers are able and expected to do so.   It
really brought home how important good O&M training is to our kids.

Chantel
 
Chantel L. Alberhasky, Esq
419 Boonville Avenue
Springfield, MO 65806
417.865.4444

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________________________________
 >> street crossings I needed to do for this route were merely residential
>
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