Connect With the ECC on Social Media

Logo for the 9 More Than Core social media groups

Hello friends!
I am so excited to announce my newest project, 9 More Than Core! I wanted to find a way that ECC resources, support, ideas and discussion were more accessible to parents and teachers. My lovely school, The Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, were way supportive of this new initiate. I will also have a website that is on the way!! Woot, woot for more ECC support!! You can find me on Facebook and Instagram by searching for 9 More Than Core. I am pretty faithful about posting regularly. I am also still sharing ideas here on The Bee so check back for more ideas and projects. I look forward to connecting with more of you on social media!

The student that changed my life

I received a call on Christmas Eve letting me know that Kyle Hardy passed away. I've kept it private, only sharing it with a few friends, because the grief is quite strong. But then I thought about how much Kyle truly is one of the most influential people in my life and I wanted to honor him. I wanted to share my tribute to Kyle now that I am ready to share this with all of you.

I am sure many people passed by Kyle throughout his life with thinking that he would not be famous. That he would not influence teachers, students, paraprofessionals, parents and countless others in the education field all over the country. He did though. Every time I instruct in the classroom, consult with a teacher, present at a conference or spend individual time with a student, Kyle's influence can be felt. He's at the heart of all my teaching over the last 10 years of my career. His picture sits on my desk and I look at him almost everyday. I look at his smile and remember that I probably blew on his face to get that one of a kind smile for that picture. He thought it was funny if you blew on his face. 

Lots of people credit me for bringing the world to Kyle. That may be true. I see it differently. I credit Kyle for taking a chance on me. I was a new teacher with decent sign language skills. He was game for anything I put his hands on---and it was a lot of crazy ideas! We have played rugby, roller skated, became jump rope champs, jumped, crawled, climbed on so many things I can't keep count. We have cooked, read books, sang songs, gardened, did a ton of art, science and math lessons, learned break dance moves, talked about girls, went to Church together, shopped at Gap---everything that could be done, we did it!

I learned countless important concepts about educating people who are deafblind from Kyle. I especially came to appreciate the power of language and how it can bring to life anything as long as you can pair it with words, signs, touch, feeling. How grateful am I that some pretty cool Deaf people taught me their language. How grateful am I that I could share the world with my hands holding Kyle's. 

I've not been Kyle's day to day teacher for some time now. I haven't talked with him everyday but the distance never broke our connection. I can't express how special I feel that he never forgot me. His mom could sign my name sign and he would know it was me. Not a bird or a chicken but Robbin. I feel his mischievous, funny, smart, fierce spirit every time I sign 'yes' on a student's shoulder (just like Kyle likes it). I think about him every time I read with my kids (because he loved to read with Darlene and me. I especially think about him more recently when I read The Napping House with Abigail). I think about him every time I watch a student with a walker, every time I talk about keeping students feeling like the cool kids ("What's up dog?" is my favorite Kyle expression), every time I teach I think of Kyle because he was THAT awesome.

I know that everyone who has ever been my friend or sat in my office or asked me why I like to teach kids with vision or sensory impairments knows that I always talk about Kyle first. Everyone I have ever met since I met Kyle Hardy knows Kyle because he was, he is, that big part of my life. Kyle didn't have kids of his own. But my son is Rexten Kyle, named after Kyle Hardy. I see so much of Kyle in my son. Rexten knows that he is named after "my Kyle". He knows he has some big shoes to fill, a model man to look up to because of who Kyle was. 

I know Kyle is in a better place. How could I not be happy for him now that he is at peace? I feel like I'm just gonna have to walk behind his spirit now. Walking behind him the same way I have for years, or next to his walker, or behind him with my hands supporting him at his shoulders or waist. He was at the lead. His hands stretched out, checking things out. 

White Cane Day 2015

Happy White Cane Day 2015!!!

I have been so excited to see all the fun posts on social media sites about White Cane Day!!

Are you curious to know how I celebrated? We had to do our celebrations a little early due to fall break in Utah. We had a big event last Friday night that was SO much fun!

We were honored to have Blessing Offor (most notably from TV's "The Voice" but is also a very accomplished musician and speaker). Check out his The Voice audition below. 

Blessing was a true blessing as he was motivational, real and energetic about his life and experiences as someone with a vision impairment. Our theme for White Cane Day this year was "Sing Your Song of Independence". I chose that theme because independence isn't the same for everyone. There are truly different levels of it. It's time we have fun and celebrate it! Plus, I totally wanted to empower my students to pick up their white canes and walk with pride. 

I decided to turn White Cane Day into a full on short term program for students. We spent almost two full days with Blessing. We co-wrote a song with him and several talented students shared their musical gifts. I also wanted this to be a big opportunity for community service, education and awareness. Our students got busy by making handout cards with information about White Cane Day and their feelings about the white cane. We made white cane key chains to give away. 

I couldn't have done it without my amazing staff that always steps up and helps with these events! They are a talented group of recreational therapists, OTs, special ed majors and adaptive PE teachers from our surrounding universities. 

The t-shirts were one of my highlights! But if you have been reading my blog for awhile now, you know that I love my t-shirts and designing them is always a fave thing for me to do. 

Did you forget about White Cane Day? It's not too late to celebrate! There are so many ideas that you can do to help promote awareness of White Cane Safety Day. You can have a class presentation (and let your child talk about the white cane), invite mobility instructors to come and demonstrate (and then let you try under blindfold). I have done art contests in the past where students draw white cane safety. There's no "right way" to celebrate as long as you are! 

Can't wait til next year to celebrate one of my favorite holidays again!!

I met the X Ambassadors!

I had the best experience yesterday because I met the band X Ambassadors! In case you are not up on reading my blog, meeting the X Ambassadors was AWESOME because they are the band that sings "Renegade". The video "Renegade" features some pretty awesome people with vision impairments (see the video at the bottom of the post). 

They were doing a show here in SLC and had a meet and greet opportunity. I immediately thought about how cool it would be to meet Casey Harris from the band (he's the cool blind guy). It was would be fun to bring him a fan letter in Braille. I'm not exactly hip on my knowledge of UEB these days (but isn't that why Duxbury was invented? ha ha). I wrote him my letter and it transcribed and embossed. 

I was the enthusiastic fan that was shrieking with excitement when they entered. I was SO excited when they came in! It was kind of funny because here was the whole band and I basically beelined for Casey. I had to excuse myself to tell the other guys that I was really just there to meet "the cool blind guy". 

The bandmates were great! They were all wonderful to meet. They signed a poster that I can hang in my school. They thought my shirt was cool and we all read it to Casey. My shirt was from White Cane Day 2013 ("I Heart White Canes). 

It was such a rad experience. I invited him (and the band) to my school anytime they had time to make it. I wanted to share the video again. Check it out below!

At First Sight

    

You have to watch this awesome video of a blind mom and her ultrasound of her baby! It was so special to watch. It got me thinking this Mother's Day weekend of my own mom. I think of her often of course but sometimes I get too clinical because I ponder things from a blind perspective or from a third party, an outsider if you will, insights. But after I watched this video, I simply just thought of her.

For those of you who are new to my blog, my mom is totally blind and has been since before I was born. She has never seen me. I never thought of her as my "blind mom". Blindness was quite noticeable in my life--we didn't have car (she was a single mom), I read a lot of stuff to her, it was hard for her to help me with homework or do my hair. It wasn't that blindness was a bad thing or something that held me back. It was simply just there. A way of life for both of us. She knew she was blind and I knew how to make countermoves to accommodate for it.

I have been in the field of blindness as a professional for over 10 years now. I love it. It is a way of life, a passion, dare I even say a special talent to understand blindness. I learned a tremendous amount from my mom although I didn't truly understand this until much later in my life. As I have said, blindness was just a way of life--nothing out of the ordinary or special to me. I give a lot of presentations on the Expanded Core Curriculum and work with a lot of parents. I like to share stories of my childhood. The stories are true and they are funny. Most of my life was spent just my mom and I and we had to figure things out unlike a lot of mother/daughter teams. We were poor and resources were slim to none. That's where I learned self-determination (an area of the Expanded Core Curriculum). I realized, not too long ago, that I learned my self-determination from my mom. My self-determination is easily my biggest strength. I am motivated, strong, determined, passionate and even a little too demanding. I could have easily gone another direction in my life. I could've skipped school, got into trouble and turned to a lot of unsavory coping skills but I didn't. My mom went down a lot of different roads in life but the one thing she stood strong on was that she could do things. She was wrong a lot--sure, but she was hell bent determined on what she wanted to do.

Then I saw this Huggies video about a blind mom and her first ultra sound. The mom wondered what her baby would look like and his features. It is a beautiful video. I wondered about my mom and her thoughts of me for the first time in my life. My birth story is unlike traditional stories. My mom didn't know she was pregnant until she went into labor. The whole thing was a surprise (although if you knew me, you would know that I can make an entrance...). My mother also has epilepsy as well as my father. This was quite dramatic thing to happen to two of them. She thought she was having stomach cramps and headed for the toilet. I don't think I need to go on further as you can imagine what she thought was actually happening. It wasn't until the paramedics arrived that she learned that I was looking to make my entrance.

And now I think of her sitting on a hospital bed alone with her newborn baby. It takes me a minute to connect to this as this if often 'just a story' about my birth that is retold to me. What an emotional mess my mom had to be?! She couldn't have dreamt a story like this if she wanted to. And yet there she was, sitting on a hospital bed with a baby girl, her baby girl in her arms. I wonder what it must have looked like for her to touch my face, my head, nose and ears. I was a full size baby of 6lbs. I was strong enough for her to hold without machines or tubes. Did she count my toes and fingers? I wonder if she pleaded with God to give her back her sight so she could see me or did she already know me by her touch? Blindness was all around her. Her physical blindness was obviously there but what about all the other blindness that would quickly approach her? The blindness of those around her that would tell her that she would't be able to do this as a blind mom. The blindness from her own lack of self confidence to raise a child that she couldn't see. The blindness of not being prepared to do this--no crib ready, no car seat, no list of potential names to give.

Well, it's definitely been an adventure over the last 35 years of my life! A lot of people could easily look at me and think I am the miracle. They even called me a 'miracle baby' when I was in the hospital. The definition of the word 'miracle' includes that it is a: "surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency." or "a highly improbable or extraordinary event, development, or accomplishment that brings very welcome consequences." Motherhood for my mother the past 35 years has been a miracle. She has done an amazing job. She hasn't done it all alone. No mother has. My mother was humble enough to let others step in when she could not do it. She might not have been the one to teach me a lot of things but she was always the first one who was the proudest. I've always known that. She's doing the best that she can. Just like I am sure she swore she would do the first time they put me in her arms.

Our Girl Just Got a White Cane!

I am SO excited about this announcement: there is a white cane for the American Girl doll!! AG the company didn't add this hot little accessory themselves but an etsy store did! Woot! Woot! I am not a fan that the description on the seller's site says "disabled vision impaired therapy" (but that can be changed--we just have to keep working on changing the language of our community...). Thank you wonderbaby.org for posting this. I was perusing my usual rounds on my fave sites and saw this post.

The white cane is only $10 and it is just all that and a bag of chips! 

It looks so real and I am just over the moon excited about this!

Here's where you can buy the new must-have accessory:

The etsy store is CuteAsADaisy

 (https://www.etsy.com/listing/184993108/blind-cane-for-american-girl-18-doll). 

Here's her seller description: This listing is for one cane for the blind or visually impaired that fits an American Girl type 18" doll.This blind cane is inspired by my daughter who is learning to use one and loves to play with her dolls and has enjoyed being able to teach her dolls to use one too. It's great therapy for a girl or friend of someone going through a life style change. It has a simple ribbon to go around the doll's wrist, is made of plastic and sculpey. This item is for the blind cane only.

I'm even going to buy my daughter's a white cane just to support this store and my own personal charge to eliminate the stigma of the white cane. 

I am so proud to say that our girl has a white cane!

From the East to the West

Hi friends,
I have big news! my family and I moved to Utah this past August. It was a difficult decision but exciting decision. I loved Connecticut. I LOVE my students!! It nearly broke my heart to tell my students that I wouldn't be there at the next program. For six years and a half years I have worked next to brilliant, talented teachers who have been more than supportive for me personally and professionally. I have developed tremendously as a professional while in Connecticut. I met amazing people who became my partners in creating amazing programs. It has been nothing short of awesome to watch my students mature, grow up and take on the world. I know that new students will always come but these students in Connecticut are my students. They have a special place in my heart. 

So onto my new adventure in Utah! I am so excited to be with the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind. I am the Expanded Core Curriculum Coordinator with USDB. It's great to be in a school, out with teachers and still running programs. I am finally starting to get settled so back to blogging  it is! I have several new posts to share so see you soon!!

Camp Abilities CT Ice Bucket Challenge

Do you remember what week it is? It's my favorite week of the year: Camp Abilities CT!! Woot! Woot! Among the many awesome things we did was taking on the ALS ice bucket challenge. I'll have more on what we did at Camp Abilities CT next week. But for now, here's us taking on the ice bucket challenge! 

My handsome husband, Todd, and me after taking the ice! Watch the video closely as you will see that our track specialist, Joey, dumps another bucket over me (making that TWO ice cold buckets!).

White Cane + Flash Mob = A super awesome idea!!

I don't know about you, but I am still excited over flash mobs (and still secretly wish I could be part of one...). I was perusing youtube looking for some fun videos on disability awareness when I was lucky to find a suggestion for a White Cane Day flash mob. White canes and a flash mob? YES!! So I decided to keep watching. I thought they were so fun that I had to share them!! Here are two of my favorites: 

Has anyone else seen or done a flash mob with our kids? If so, please share! It's totally something that is on my bucket list for teaching so keep an eye out for me and my students. 

I have done a few fun adventures involving music and dancing with students. Here's a link to a talent show performance I did with one of my deaf blind students, https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=1571614289221&l=3895627073786509208.

Let's Get This Girl a White Cane!!

Hello friends, I hope everyone had a good holiday season so far. My family has. We took our kids to the American Girl store in NYC this past week. My two girls were, of course, amazed with all the AG accessories, clothes and dolls. The store was alive with lots of little girls (and maybe a few big girls) lovingly carrying their dolls around. It is rather exciting to be there. There's the salon, the big display cases with these beautiful dolls of all ethnicities and ALL the accessories that can go with them.  We passed by the display of the AG dolls with disabilities and much to the credit of AG, they were just as beautiful as their "non-disabled" counterparts. They have lovely dolls with no hair, dolls that use a wheelchair, girls with hearing aids (one ear or bilateral--the owner's choice) and lastly the doll with the service dog. I smiled at the lovely dolls and at the environment they were in. There are big girl empowering quotes on the walls---encouraging girls to be their best selves, be true to who they are, be kind. I loved it. Except for one thing---where's the doll for the blind girl? 

Like I mentioned, they have a doll with a service dog. I am making sure that I am calling it a service dog because it can't be a guide dog for the blind. I am sure someone, who is well-meaning, thinks this is for a blind girl. But it is not. Guide dogs are not given to eight year old girls. White canes are. 

Side note story: I was commenting on this to my husband (okay, I was a little loud as I voiced my opinion of the missing white cane doll…) when the well-meaning manager came up to me, as helpful as ever, and indicated to me that they had AG dolls with hearing aids. Hearing aids. Now to any vision professional that comment is no surprise. It's the first question we are asked when we say we teach kids who are BLIND ("Oh, you must know sign language!" followed by the next comment, "That must be VERY rewarding."). Telling me that they had an AG doll with hearing aids is like me asking for chocolate chip ice cream and getting a duck. It is not the same thing. 

Back to my post---why the fuss over the white cane? Why can't we just give our girls a service dog? Is this even a big deal? Well, it is not a big deal but it can be significant. How many of us know the AG age group girls who have significant vision impairments and struggle with feeling "apart of the mainstream crowd"? The girls who are not fans of the mobility lessons or sticking out from their friends? The white cane means something. It is not just a white cane. It is a tool of independence. Many of our kids struggle with accepting it. BUT how great would it be if there was more positive love to the white cane? ….say maybe an extremely popular line of dolls like the American Girl line? AG's site and store is filled with tackling issues of self-discovery, acceptance, empowerment, etc. They need to know that having a white cane doll would help a lot of girls be part of something that is "cool". That the white cane doll could help with acceptance and removing the stigma that the white cane is to be dreaded. Besides, they make snow shoes, braces, earrings, and every other imaginable accessory for the AG dolls, how hard would it be to make a white cane? Wouldn't it be cool if there was a story? Maybe one of the other girls (like Saige--I know them by name now) had a friend who read Braille? 

Here's what I did today: I called AG and gave them my feedback for the white cane accessory. I also emailed them. It took 5 minutes. I don't know how many AG developers are going to read (or care) about my feedback but it's worth a shot. I made sure that I explained the fact that the AG demographic age receives white canes not service dogs. Most of our girls will never get a guide dog. I further stated that the white cane has significance to a girl with a significant vision impairment especially when paired with the AG line. It would mean something to them. I don't exactly know if I am changing the world by suggesting the white cane accessory or if any of you agree with me. But if you do, would you please email and call American Girl? Let's see if we can help change the perception of blind people and make it so that the white cane is the accessory that most blind girls can't live without? Wink, wink!

White Cane Day Highlights

 Holy cow did we have a BLAST at White Cane Day 2013!!! Major thanks to Old Navy West Hartford for providing us the space and the love to host our bash. They were a great staff led by Emrah and totally supported our cause. They kept our fliers out on their registers for a month. Our events included simulators, assistive tech demos (with our very own tech guru John--from my post about the tech whiz), mobility activities, Braille fun and our first ever White Cane Day CT art contest. It just doesn't get better than that (well, there is always next year and who knows what we will do next year....). I hope wherever you live you were able to celebrate White Cane Day. I am so excited for next year!!

          Our assistive tech table led by John                   Frank Rosetta, art contest winner                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

              

 We also had an awesome fashion show put on by our students!! That was SO fun!! We were also lucky to have our friends from Fidelco Guide Dogs come out with their dogs-in-training. Freedom Guide Dogs and Fidelco also had some families come that were raising guide dog puppies come out as well. I loved watching my students proudly wearing their "I Heart White Cane" t-shirts stand outside of Old Navy and talk to complete strangers about White Cane Day. 

Above: I love my supportive family. We all heart white canes :)



Fidelco trainer, Jamie, with our students at White Cane Day 2013 

My husband, Todd, loved his time with the guide dog puppies. 

 Brother and sister Jimmy and Celeny modeling their fashion right before the fashion show.

Winning White Cane Day 2013 submission by Frank Rosetta

White Cane Day is Coming!

Hey friends, have you heard of White Cane Day? It's a national holiday celebrated on October 15th every year! It's a day that celebrates the achievements of people with vision impairments and promotes safety and independence. President Obama made a declaration about it last year. Why am I telling you about it? Because I challenge you to celebrate it this year!! White Cane Day is a great day to rock some blind pride out in the community. You are pretty psyched right now, aren't you? I am blogging now because you still have time to organize a sweet little soiree for your community or school. Are you stumped on how to get started? Have no fear! First, save the date--October 15th! Second, check out if there's already a White Cane Day bash going on your city. Third, hit the internet and check out some resources. Here's a good one: http://www.whitecaneday.org/. Last, get organizing! 

Here's some fun ideas: plan a community party! It can be as easy as having a table in front of grocery store and handing out flyers. We are throwing a fun community event at Old Navy in West Hartford here in Connecticut. We are even having a fashion show starring our students! Talk to your local Lions Clubs as they are usually big supporter of White Cane Day. In addition, think about coloring sheets (Google images: guide dog has some good ones!), food!! (candy canes as "rigid canes") or just hit up high school driver's ed classes and have your student/child talk about white cane safety. 

Lots of businesses have a community day where you can also share information. Eastern Mountain Sports has a day in October (well they do in Connecticut...) where I will be at my own little booth handing out flyers about white cane safety. Call your local businesses and see what you can do. It's amazing how just asking businesses to support  you can turn into something amazing! A big thank you to Old Navy in West Hartford for stepping up to let us have our White Cane Day bash there. 

It truly doesn't matter if your White Cane Day is a big or small. It could just be free treats during lunch periods at your school. The point is to just get out there! Let's show the community how awesome the blind community is!

Here's the word art I made for our t-shirt and posters for 2013 White Cane Day. Our theme is I Heart White Cane. You can make one too! I went to taxgedo.com and created this in 5 minutes. You can save it as a jpeg. Happy White Cane Day 2013!!

Pinterest Finds

I have to admit it....I am hooked on Pinterest! I know, I know so are you but I was slow to get on board but now that I am, I am totally addicted!! I peruse the infinite boards and posts for ideas on everything including ideas for our kids and let me tell you, there's a ton of ideas out there!! I have decided to create a new board, This works for Blind kids, too!, because I am always finding ideas that work for children with vision impairments. I think it's good that we find the "regular stuff" and learn how to make quick modifications and develop the "eye for the vision stuff" (meaning that you can see something that was designed for a typical kiddo and see how you can modify for our kids in a quick second). I do that all the time. 

So to kick off my new board and my new label, I Got it From Pinterest!, here's some great ideas that I loved for our kids that I found today.

This is just brilliant. The idea is for teaching preschoolers sweeping skills but are you totally seeing the bright blue box (that you could also do in RED for CVI--painters tape baby!)?? What a great way to kick off independent living skills for kiddos with a vision impairment!! 

Vision tip: first allow your kiddo to sweep by themselves. Just let them have fun getting the "dirt" into the square. Feel free to put things like bells, stones, etc. in the mix for sweeping. It's not the sound that we are after here, it's the weight. We want our kids to feel that they are sweeping something. After they have got the hang of it, help them improve their technique by purposely and accurately moving the broom (use two hands!). Lastly, as they are becoming pros at finding objects, tighten up their technique by encouraging them to use systematic search patterns (using a grid pattern) for sweeping. Viola, now you have the skill!

I also pinned this fab idea today. It's a giant Candyland game! Go to my board to get the web address so you can get all the information as the pin has free print outs (yay!!). This one is obvious fun for budding mobility and movement for early childhood but I also thought with a bit of  tweaking for kids who have multiple impairments, this could be a fun cooperative game that really does include all of our kids (be sure to laminate). Always remember that you could also neon yellow background paper to help with highlighting or if this is too much visual clutter, take a large black paper and cut out a square (that fits over the paper) so your child knows which one they are on (I hope that made sense). Watch for glare (as you can see in the picture).

If you are following my board and think "what was she thinking with this one?" or "I don't quite get how this could be good for blind kids", email me and I will share more vision modifications. I will do my best to type notes as I repin ideas. 

Please share your ideas too!! 

I would love see your pins, pictures and hear your ideas!

 We are all in this together!!

Housekeeping

Hi friends,
I've been noticing that the last few times I have pulled up my blog something else takes over and I am redirected to another site. Has this happened to you too? I just wanted to let you know that I am working on it. Have patience and just refresh your page if my blog doesn't come up. I am definitely still here!! I am working on figuring out how to solve this problem. 

Life has gotten a bit crazy so keeping up with my usual once a week posts have gotten away from me the last few weeks. I am definitely still blogging on a regular basis. It might be every 10 days now (especially with summer programs coming up).  Just wanted to keep you in the loop friends!! 

Finding Nemo, Finding an Unlikey Mentor

I bet you might be wondering why I am blogging about the movie Finding Nemo. Have you seen it? I LOVE it! Not just because it is super cute but because it is the perfect movie for parents of kids with vision impairments. I bet you didn't know that! 

Most of our parents start out like Marlin does in the beginning of the movie. Marlin is happy, excited about the babies and life is good. Suddenly his world is turned upside down when unexpected events change the course of his parenthood (sound familiar?). He loves his precious Nemo as any parent naturally does. However, pay attention to his parenting style. He goes from carefree and fun new parent to the hover craft---totally over protective and anxious about keeping Nemo completely safe. 

He finally takes Nemo to school and it is a bit awkward. The part I want you to pay attention to is when Marlin tells Nemo "he can't do it." Sometimes it is easy to lose track of the importance of empowering independence. There's a lot on your plate concerning school, IEPs, paraprofessionals, etc but you can't lose sight of empowering independence. 

There really are a ton of wonderful parallels and I want  you to stop and really ponder this journey that Marlin embarks on. He has to go on a journey and learn from unlikely sources about how to empower and believe in his son. 

Now I know you are thinking, "Robbin, I believe in my child..." I am sure you do BUT I see too many parents forget to empower their kids and accept their vision impairment. Remember from my most recent posts: Everything I learned, I learned because my parents made me do it!! Nemo also had to go on his journey and notice that there are definite parts without Marlin. Nemo had to learn that he can do it. He had to struggle and problem solve. It's okay for your kids to have struggle. Our kids learn by experience. That only comes when they can actually do something. I repeat, it's OKAY for our kids to struggle and problem solve. The last critical part is the 'aha' moment at the end when Marlin not only reconnects with his son but truly lets Nemo be independent. The result of that is that Nemo does something amazing! 

I am going to post some of my favorite scenes that I want you to pay close attention to. 

Finding Nemo Drop Off (This is where Marlin isn't empowering. He's acting out of panic protection. Notice how Nemo feels.)

Meeting Crush and learning about how to let your child struggle. (I LOVE this scene! Remember parents, "kill the motor". Let your kids struggle!!).

Last step: Empowerment in real life!!

Watch the movie. Take notes. Ponder. Think about one thing you can STOP doing for your kids and one thing they can START doing for themselves today. It's okay to make your child do chores (in fact, 20 minutes daily is what I recommend for all my students!). Thank you Marlin for being our unlikely mentor! Pop some popcorn and have a movie date :)

Babies of Blind Moms

I had to do another post today. I was reading the yahoo newsfeed and came across this interesting article. Its title, Babies of Blind Moms Excel in Vision Tests, caught my attention in a nano second.

The article finds that "Babies born to blind mothers have better visual attention and memory than their counterparts with seeing parents, new research suggests.". Now I find this article truly interesting for a few personal reasons. If you have been following me over the years you will know that I was raised by a single mom who is totally blind (and was blind before I was born). I have said for years that her blindness really didn't affect me the way most sighted people would suspect. In fact, I can't remember more than a handful of times that her blindness truly did impact me in a negative way. Sure, we didn't have a car so I didn't learn how to really drive until I was in my 20s. But I grew up in a city and took a city bus. So did all my friends so that didn't really matter.

My mom and I had our own intimate communication. We understood each other very well. We laughed at a lot of things along the way. Thankfully my mom has a pretty good sense of humor. There are fond memories I have of her "blindness moments"...like the time she tried to cut her own hair or yelled at me so long that she didn't hear me actually do the chore she was initially yelling at me to do. My favorite moment was when I was a kid and we were walking down the street. I had been laughing and teasing her about never being able to "catch me" with her cane. She hadn't been quite able to really get me with her cane and I was quite proud of it. Well one day my mom had her day in the sun. She patiently waited for her cocky little girl to get caught up in her own joke and then WHAM! She got me! Right in the calf!! I fell down, pride wounded, wailing about the injustice that had befallen me. And my mom just kept on walking.....with a proud grin across her face. Ha ha, I am laughing out loud right now as I type these fun memories.

My point is that I know there are some parents out there that wonder how their child with a vision impairment is going to make it especially if their child is totally blind. Well, I can tell you one thing. My mom and I were totally broke and on our own on the southside of Chicago. We had good friends, a sense of humor, independence and an intimate bond that went well beyond what vision allows a person to see. Your child will make it. The key to success is simple. It's quality of life. Our kids gain a great quality of life by having developed independent living skills, mobility (YES, USE THE CANE), social skills then the academics. Our kids learn by experience so we have to let them "fall down and learn how to pick themselves up". They can't have you slaying their dragons forever. And when I say independent living skills, I mean real independent living skills. You have to have the same kind of expectations for your kiddo with the vision impairment that you would for any other child. Adjust your expectations were it is necessary (for kids with multiple impairments) but empower them to get to their highest potential.  You ask any successful person with any kind of disability why they are so independent and they will tell you the same kind of answer: "My parents didn't treat me any different. My parents had the same expectations for me as they did my typical siblings. My parents made me do it." Yes, teachers do help, more services, grand IEPs are all tools but I will tell you over and over the key to a great life for a child with a vision impairment is parental support (not parental enabling). Think empowerment! Just say "Yes I can". Fake it 'til you make it! The white cane is your friend! I can keep the sayings going all day long....

 Getting back to my point.....The article goes on to say that "One of the most striking and endearing findings in this paper is that the babies of blind mothers significantly increased their attention-getting vocalizations to the mother over and above that shown by babies of sighted parents," Metlzoff said. "They crave maternal social attention and switch modalities and produce auditory events that will get the mom’s attention. Brilliant!" Can I get an amen to that!?

Read the article. Here's the link: http://news.yahoo.com/babies-blind-moms-excel-vision-tests-232057017.html.

PS-One of these days I will post some pics of my mom and me from back in the day :) Keep reading!

News & A little break for this Bee

Hi friends,

I am sorry that I haven't posted this past week. My big news is that I am getting married (tomorrow actually)! Yay me!! That means that this Bee is on vacation for a few days. I couldn't just leave you hanging though. A colleague, Matt, at work sent around information about the Braille Touch app. It has been released and is available in the app store.  The free version is very limited but gives you a good idea of how it feels to use the app. The upgraded version ($14.99) allows you to email, text, tweet or copy and paste what you type. Matt has found the app to be very intuitive and faster than the QUERTY Keyboard. Also, when using the app with Voiceover, you don’t need to double tap the keys. 

One of his Braille reading students tried it out today and loved it. The student even figured out how to type on it almost instantaneously (before hehad even finished explaining it to her). Pretty cool, huh? Thanks Matt for the tip!!

A New Level of Service

 Wow, on November 10, 2012 my students took service to a whole new level! As many of you know I am part of a group of teachers that are advisers for a group of my students called Student Advisory Council (aka SAC). We did a community service project for over 70 youth and welcomed them into the vision impairment community. In addition to my stellar students rocking the house, we also had Fidelco guide dog school and Silver Lining Technology come and round out the cast. We spent almost 6 hours welcoming our new friends into our community and the results were awesome! The morning was spent dividing up the youth into three groups: orientation & mobility, assistive technology and Braille. We shuttled our youth into these groups and had them do sighted guide technique, make some edible Braille and have some hands-on time with AT devices.

My super awesome students!!

I am blogging about this because not only am I super proud of my students but this was an amazing experience for the community. I also want to empower other students to do the same thing! This was great for the community. What I loved the most was watching the youth "get it" about our kids. They saw our students for who they really are. Each group was led by one of our fab teacher advisers. We have two mobility instructors, two TVIs and me! We all split up and headed a group. 

My family and our friend learning about guide dogs with Fidelco.

My tech loving students presenting with Stephen Deltatto of Silver Lining Technology

  The other treat to our community outreach project was that we all worked together and made tactual books for our preschool and special services division. We made three different types of books. You can also do this too!The directions and pictures are in a separate post.

Service project work!!

Michelle and other SACker Gannon instructing goalball

My students, Jose and Michelle, teaching goalball

Youth Mackenzie doing edible Braille

Jimmy also came out as a junior SAC member and taught about Braille

Our teacher advisers leading the discussion on Braille

 It truly was a great community outreach event. The youth leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints supplied the materials for our tactual books and worked with me on setting up the dates and other details.  I still get positive feedback from the youth about this outreach service project. I had a handful of my super stellar students work this. They worked their butts off and changed the way over 70 youth view students with vision impairments. I call that a success! Yeah, another great day for me as a teacher. I look forward to a million more with my students for sure!

My student Kacper and his new friends :)

Everyone took home their name in Braille

Fabric and table set up for the service project