Here is the beep baseball handout that I promised. It's a really good reader friendly handout on how to play beep baseball. 

Beep Baseball Guide
Compiled by John Peralta, Adapted PE Teacher

Rules:

·        Six (6) innings of play, unless more are needed to break a tie.

·        Three (3) outs per inning. An out is made if the ball if fielded before the runner gets to his or her padded cylinder (Beeping Bag/base).

·        A batter is allowed four (4) rather than the traditional three (3) strikes and only one (1) pass ball. The fourth swing must be a clean miss.

·        Each team has its own sighted pitcher and catcher.

·        First and third bases, four foot padded cylinders with speakers, are placed one-hundred (100) feet down their respective lines and ten (10) feet off the foul line.

·        Pitcher stands 20ft away from batter (traditional (90ft). The catcher gives pitcher a target to throw at, preferably where the batter normally swings.

·        A hit ball must travel at least forty (40) feet to be considered fair. A hit ball that does not reach the forty (40) foot line is considered foul. A ball that travels one hundred eighty (180) feet in the air is considered a home run.

·        Six person defense (traditional 9) with a number system.

Pitching:

·        Pitcher is obligated to clearly verbalize two words. He must say "ready" just before the ball is about to be released and as the ball is being released, the pitcher says, "Pitch" or "ball." These two words alert the batter.

·        Pitcher does not field but still plays crucial part in the game. A pitcher success is major by the amount of runs his or her team scores. Prefer a high Era unlike traditional ball.

·        A hit ball rebounded off the pitcher is ruled no pitch. It helps for pitchers to be quick and agile.

Batting:

·        Good grip on bat, level swing and listen to the pitcher ready commend and pitch or ball to get yourself ready to swing.

·        Batter is allowed to pass on a ball if he or she can’t hear the pitchers ready or pitch command.

·        Once batter has made contact with ball either first or third base will beep.

Fielding:

·        VERY IMPORTANT TO KNOW FIELDERS NUMBERS

·        Six players on defense with numbers starting with  the first baseman as one; two, right fielder; three, middle; four, left fielder; five, third baseman; and six, back fielder.

·        There are two sighted spotters positioned in the outfield, one on either side of the field. These people are very important to a team’s success. They need to make quick and accurate calls (fielder’s numbers) to where the ball is heading. Ex (ball is hit towards left field the spotters most yell 4 so that all fielders move towards the ball).Spotters may only call out one number if they call out more than one number the runner is awarded the run. 

Beep Baseball in PE Class

My students and I are doing something really cool in PE class! We are teaching beep baseball as part of their PE classes! It's great because we are able to do some disability awareness in their classes. My students and I play beep at almost all of our sports & rec programs. The thing that I love is that I am not the teacher for this. My students are! I bring the equipment (and loan it to the school) but my students are the ones who stand in front of their classes and teach. It makes me smile with pride :) This is something that we are really going forward with for this school year. My students are emailing their PE teachers and setting it all up on their own (yep, that is a little ECC skill that we are working on...). 

photo from online wsj.com

The great thing about playing beep is that everyone gets blindfolded so there is no visual advantage for anyone. The other great thing about beep in the classroom is that it is great for all grades! My second and third graders play beep at programs. You can partner with your TVI to go to younger kids. It's also a great way to practice self-advocacy and social skills with younger students. They can still help present. I love it with my older students because it's fun to watch them teach their peers.  


I've also posted a beep baseball tutorial starring the fabulous APE teacher, Justin Haegele (with two of my students assisting) so teams can watch how to play. I will also post a reader friendly handout that was compiled by another awesome PE teacher (who has joined our awesome teaching team at programs). I wanted to post about teaching beep in schools for one other reason. This is the time that we are doing all of our in-services--for Braille education, low vision, paras, etc. Our kids are also presenting in their general ed classes about vision. This is a really fun way to let other students in on the vision community. 


You can also play beep baseball with your family or at family reunions, church outings---anywhere! 

Here's what you need to play:

• Large cones
• Baseball tee
• Bats (I use assorted softball sizes for the little ones. We also put yellow tape on the bat to help with contrast, check it out in the video)
•  Beep baseball (we order ours from Qwest. You can order via the National Beep Ball Association, NBBA, http://nbba.org/equipment.htm). Make sure you buy the beep balls and the chargers--trust me! The cost is $31 a ball, $8 a charger. That's a great price!)
• Bases (as you can see from the video I posted, we have used APH Sound Sources several times. You can order Sound Sources, on quota funds usually, at www.aph.org. You can also get bases for about $300 from NBBA. Those are the standard kind. I recently purchased some from Flaghouse for about $900).
• Blindfolds (you can go fancy and buy ones or use bandannas--we've done that, too!

Again, I will post the directions/rules/modifications for playing beep tomorrow. You can use the three posts on beep to get you started with your own game!!

Still feel stuck with understanding? Don't worry! Email me and help will be on the way. 

Play ball!!

Beep Baseball Tutorial A

Follow me by email

Hey there blogland,
I just added the "follow me by email" gadget. I know that not everyone has a gmail account to follow me on. Now you can follow me by email! Remember, I update every Tuesday (usually...) with something awesome relating to the Expanded Core Curriculum.  Feel free to email me with topic suggestions, questions or comments. See you next week!!

Back to School Cool!

Happy back to school!

I hope everyone has gotten off to a great start. Back to school is crazy and exciting but for our kids, it's also the time they make their rounds with their teachers to review their vision statements. Does your child have a vision statement? A vision statement is a document that explains the vision impairment, modifications and anything else that the general education teacher needs to know. I know most of the students in CT have them. Our TVIs help them write them. This year I was so proud to see that one of high school age students made a brochure for her vision statement. It was so cool!

Parents, have you read your childs' vision statement? I think kids as young as fourth grade can handle coming in right before school starts and present their vision statements. Vision statements are also awesome for our kids because it also helps with some self-advocacy training. Our kids, when mature, should be the ones out there educating their general education teachers about their vision impairments with supports from their TVI or parent.

So....if your child doesn't have a vision statement, get one!


Next on our back to school discussion is how to addres the disability sensitivity issue. This is much easier to do in the elementary through middle school. High school isn't really the environment for my ideas but have no fear, I have one or two good ones for high school!

Here's a few of my ideas for elementary and middle school:
-- Vision simulation fun! Grab the simulator goggles and sleep shades and have some fun with mobility, independent living skills and classroom organization.
-- Vision inspired activities!
*Edible Braille (see my post on it) is a super fun one. We even do it for the paraprofessionals when they come to Braille day.
* I also like to do the Tactual Challenge with my students. The Tactual Challenge uses a box filled with everyday items in it. Students have to be blindfolded (no vision! even my print readers) and have to name as many items as they can pull out. They get a point for every correct item they identify in one minute. Before you play this game, preface it with about learning tactually. Take time to discuss the importance of correctly identifying objects for people with vision impairments.
*Braille Bug & The Braille Trail--These are great activities for Braille awareness. Heres' the one thing that I do that's unique. I don't let the sighted kids get the Braille Code dot combinations. That means that the numbers to each cell aren't on them. Instead, the sighted peers have to go to the Braille reader, give them the dot combination and then solve the puzzle. I do an overview of Braille before to get everyone familiar. www.afb.org/braillebug

For high school kids...
High school is just tricky because the social climate is different and the disability awareness units aren't like they are in middle school. You can do several of the activities with a little modifications that I listed above with high school classes. It really depends on the teachers.
One idea that I do is to reach out to the physical education teachers and offer to teach goalball and beep baseball in PE. I like to have my student be the teacher (and me play the dazzling role of assistant). They are great sports to play during PE. Everyone can play!

I hope everyone is off to good start with their new school years! Remember, if you have a teacher or education team that won't listen to you about implementing a disability specific curriculum, the Expanded Core Curriculum, get involved! Address the ECC as often as you can!

Feel free to send your OTs & PTs my way for more supports or resources. Anyone can email me for ideas. I am happy to help! Just please respect HIPPA/privacy laws. Email me: robbin.keating@gmail.com

Awesome documentary that you have to see!

I came across this trailer for the film documentary, "Do You Dream in Color?" at this month's regional AER conference in Boston and LOVED what I saw!! I literally sat there with chills as I felt totally inspired by the message of this film. It's not out yet but it will be soon.

Until then, here is the website and trailer address: http://www.doyoudreamincolor.org/. You can also view the trailer with audio description.

Please check this out! I don't think anyone in our community will be disappointed. In fact, I urge my parents to check this out as I know it will give you a glimpse at what the future can hold for your young children.

I loved this and can't wait to see it!! I'll buy the popcorn and see you at the movies :)