[blindkid] Street crossing

Carol Castellano carol_castellano at verizon.net
Thu May 17 20:07:02 UTC 2012


Chantel,

Glad you shared this story.  Virtually every time we or the school is 
ready to provide an accommodation, there is a skill that the child 
can learn instead that would take care of the situation.

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 03:16 PM 5/17/2012, you wrote:
>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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