[blindkid] National Media Reading Assessment

Heather Field missheather at comcast.net
Tue Nov 6 19:52:45 UTC 2012


Hello,
It's designed to be administered by a qualified teacher of blind students. 
However, there are ways you can have your child assessed by such a qualified
teacher when homeschooling.
Regards,
Heather Field
-----Original Message----- 
From: Elizabeth D
Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2012 12:00 PM
To:  (for parents of blind children)Blind Kid Mailing List ; Merry-Noel 
Chamberlain
Subject: Re: [blindkid] National Media Reading Assessment

Hi everyone! I posted information about the NRMA on our Texas Parents of 
Blind Children TPOBC Facebook page, & was asked the following question:
"Do you need to be a teacher or TVI? How can parents access this eval?"
Any assistance y'all could give is appreciated. When I went to look at 
creating an acct. it seemed to me it was only for TVI's. I may be mistaken 
though. Being a parent who home schools(after years of trying to work with 
our district), & teaches my blind child directly, I think it could be a good 
tool for us as well as for other parents who want to be more hands on.
Thanks so much for your help & clarification!
-Liz Johnson, Mother to Emily, 7 yr. old, blind due to ONH/SOD

--- On Sat, 11/3/12, Merry-Noel Chamberlain <owinm at yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Merry-Noel Chamberlain <owinm at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [blindkid] National Media Reading Assessment
To: "Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)" 
<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Date: Saturday, November 3, 2012, 7:00 AM

Wow, what a great conversation!

I was on the team to help create the NRMA and yes, Arielle, part of the 
reason for creating the NRMA was to 'fix the problem'.  It seemed that the 
traditional LMA focused on gearing the student towards large print or 
auditory methods, thus avoiding Braille.  The NRMA focuses truly on the 
child's ability to see print and his/her behaviors "throughout the whole 
day" which suggest whether or not print is difficult for him/her, among 
other things.  It actually looks at the future needs of the child whereas 
the traditional FMA does not. By including everyone in the process - the 
NRMA evaluates so much more of the child... thus giving a much better 
picture of what is going on. The NRMA "has been developed with three 
purposes in mind: to determine the most appropriate reading medium/media for 
students who are blind/visually impaired; to ensure that the reading medium 
is appropriately identified both for current as well as for future need; and 
to
ensure that student success is not hampered by incorrect identification of 
literacy needs." (quote taken off their website) I strongly encourage 
parents log on to the NRMA at:  www.NFBNRMA.org and assess their own child - 
it's FREE - to see if it agrees with the services your child is or is not 
getting.  If it suggests your child needs Braille and he/she is not getting 
it, then take action.

Also the NRMA or FMA is not the same as a Functional Vision Assessment 
(FVA).  These are two different types of tools.  The NRMA is a type of media 
assessment.  Now, Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments can select 
the traditional, (LONG) FMA or they can select the shorter, yet more 
accurate NRMA.  The FVA does not truly address "reading" - rather it focuse 
on lighting, near/far distance in the classroom, tracking of objects, color, 
contrast, and a bunch more.  Children with Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI) 
will get a FVA but a child with CVI may not get a media assessment.

Hope this helps.

Merry-Noel Chamberlain, TVI, NOMC, MA



________________________________
From: Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com>
To: "Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)" 
<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, November 2, 2012 9:43 PM
Subject: Re: [blindkid] National Media Reading Assessment

Chantel,
So then does the National Reading Media Assessment fix the problems
you cite with the traditional Learning Media Assessment?
Arielle

On 11/2/12, Chantel Alberhasky <chantel at alberhaskylaw.com> wrote:
> It was my understanding the National Media Reading Assessment is in lieu 
> of
> a Learning Media Assessment.
> Yes an IEP team must consider any IEE presented to it but it doesn't have 
> to
> accept the IEE.  If you request an IEE at public expense (school pays for
> it), the school district must pay for it or file due process to have a
> hearing officer determine whether their evaluation is appropriate and an 
> IEE
> is not needed.  The school district can provide you with a list of
> providers, but you are not required to use anyone on the list.  The school
> district can have a criteria the evaluator must meet - it can not be more
> stringent than that of its evaluators - and the evaluator need only met 
> the
> criteria.
> If a parent has the financial resources to pay for an IEE, I find that is
> usually an easier route to just get the IEE on their own.  Many school
> districts have gone to automatically filing for due process when an IEE is
> requested as a way to deter other families from requesting an IEE.
> Finally, personally I don't think a Learning Media Assessment is a tool 
> that
> should be used to determine whether a child learns Braille.  How a child
> learns has nothing to do with whether a child should be literate in 
> Braille.
>  Many sighted kids are auditory learners, for example, but no one would 
> ever
> then suggest the child should forgo learning print and just listen to 
> books.
>  And yet our children are told this on a frequent basis in re to braille.
> I have a low opinion of the LMA and how it has been used to prevent 
> children
> from being taught Braille.
> Chantel L. Alberhasky, Esq
> 419 Boonville Avenue
> Springfield, MO 65806
> 417.865.4444
>
> The Missouri Bar Disciplinary Counsel requires all Missouri attorneys
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>
> --- On Fri, 11/2/12, Emily <elgibbs at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> From: Emily <elgibbs at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [blindkid] National Media Reading Assessment
> To: "Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)"
> <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
> Date: Friday, November 2, 2012, 11:05 AM
>
> Leah,
>
> The National Reading Media Assessment is designed to be used as part of
> Learning Media Assessment.
>
> _______________________________________________
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