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:
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!
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!!
I have done a lot of super fun things with my students but this past August at Camp Abilities 2014 was hands down one of the best things I have done at camp. It started with the custom Carolina blue sunglasses that read Camp Abilities CT on the side. Next was the 75lbs of colored corn starch that I ordered. Then it was matter of planning with my team--what would be our route? All of this was in preparation for the first ever Color Happy Camp Abilities CT run!!
Holy cow, this was a BLAST!!! We lined up our guide runners for our cane users. We manned our color bomb stations. My student interns proudly took the last color bomb station. All of camp put on their white shirts and our run was on!
The colors were bright and fun to see for our low vision students. Our Braille readers got to touch, throw and bomb each other and got into the fun, too. Everyone at Camp Abilities CT was getting color happy :)
My interns and me. What a great time!
All of our kids wore protective sunglasses. We did want to make sure that protective measures were taken. We did monitor to ensure eye safety. Our students that wear glasses wore these over their glasses. And you have to admit, the glasses are just plain out cool! How fun were these for our students to take back after camp to wear with their friends?!
Here's Gissell (from last post) and me (with baby Abigail) at the run.
I am SO proud of this girl!
Our fearless Camp Abilities CT leadership team--what would I ever do without these guys?
Why a Color Happy Run at a camp for children with vision impairments? Because it's a RAD thing to do! This was a great opportunity for our kids to get involved with something popular that their friends and family are doing. Running is a terrific lifelong activity for our kids to be involved with.
We also gave each person their own color bomb packet for our big party at the end of the race. We had a gauntlet that everyone ran through as we finished the race.
This was just a total blast! I can't wait to do it again!!
You can do this, too! We ordered the color cornstarch from Hippie Powder and the glasses were custom made from 4Imprints. We planned a clear trail and assigned guide runners and supervisors throughout the course. All of our color bomb stations colored our kids as they ran past. Then we just had fun and bombed each other at the end. Let me know if you do one. I would love to see pics!
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!).
I love the summer time. It's not just about beach trips, summer nights and camp fires that make the summer awesome. It's two of my favorite programs, LIFE and Camp Abilities CT, that make the summer a total blast!
I learn a lot during these two programs. My students spend time with me and together we teach each other concepts from the Expanded Core Curriculum. The LIFE program is held at a college campus. Students come for about 5 days. We do work experience (thanks to our friends at Old Navy), have direct mobility instruction, TONS of ILS with me, an adventure to NYC and pizza. We always eat pizza at least once.
This year I thought it would be interesting if my students helped me write about LIFE. I asked a student that has attended several times and one that attended for the first time. I hope parents are reading this post. I have several parents who are nervous about sending their students to programs or worse, they send them to these expensive, intensive programs but when their children return home, they don't carry it on. That's the real problem: our kids get motivated but a major factor why they don't see success is because parental interference. Meet two of my students who attended LIFE and successfully implemented the skills they have acquired.
This is Gissel. She's been my student for years and has attended LIFE several times. She's a print reader whose central field is fading. I am so proud of her. I have watched her develop from a some-what shy, anxious girl into this confidant young woman. We've taken on challenges together (she learned how to do something she's always wanted to do with me), we have learned together and I have watched her take every lesson I have ever taught her to heart.
Emrah, from Old Navy, Dionna and Gissel at our our work experience day at Old Navy.
Here's her thoughts:
LIFE as I Know It
Once upon a time, at a college two hours from where I live, I attended a week-long college prep program for students with vision impairments called LIFE. I was nervous, since I didn't know what to expect, and was new to the program, but I had a lot of fun and learned a lot of new, helpful skills that I was able to apply to my daily life. Now, four years later, after coming to this program four times, I still find myself learning new skills, refining previously learned skills, and overall benefitting from the program.
This year, our week at LIFE was packed with educational and fun activities that covered areas from job experience to public transportation. We learned how to plan a trip for a day in New York City and about disclosing our vision impairments to sighted people in a conversational manner.
Despite the fact that I have been coming to the LIFE program for years, there are always new techniques to pick up. I've always been afraid of traveling in the city because the layout seemed so confusing and the streets are very crowded. After working with our stellar mobility instructors, however, I was able to see the organized grid system of the streets of New York City, and when we stepped off that subway, I felt ready to take on the world and own those avenues!
LIFE is such a unique, diverse, and educational program that there is always something new to learn every time you go. We tackle new challenges and get exposure to new situations.
Aside from the changing program, new students always come along. The most beneficial part about coming to LIFE, and the reason it is so successful (aside from our amazing staff members who know how to teach us important skills in engaging ways) are the students. New students always come along, and even though I have come to LIFE many times, it's always those new students who can really teach an old timer like me new abilities from their personal experiences that really work. They aren't typical, out-of-the-book, run-of-the-mill, heard-it-a-million-times skills, but fresh new plans of action that I love being able to apply to my life.
LIFE is an amazing program with so much support and education, paired with a heavy dose of fun and ESP (energy, smiles, and personality), and no matter how many times you've been, there is always something new to learn. As a legally blind student, I will never know everything there is to know, but I can continuously improve and build on my skills. Even though I have been to the LIFE program many times, I keep coming back because I can't get enough of the supportive, positive, atmosphere and fresh, new feeling I get every single time.
Dionna at The Met in NYC during our LIFE program
And now meet Dionna, my newest student. Dionna is top-notch talent. She's successful in school, sports and with friends. The only thing missing was how to keep doing it all with her vision impairment. She decided to come to LIFE for the first time and basically entered ECC bootcamp with me. After the first five minutes of meeting her, I knew I had to recruit her for my intern program. She accepted and the rest is happily ever after! Here's a little from Dionna:
My first year with LIFE
I started LIFE for the first time this summer. I absolutely loved it, Since i am legally blind i thought i wouldn't be able to go away to college or do my desired profession. I basically felt as if i had limited options compared to sighted people. But let me tell you, this program has completely changed my outlook on things. I have a lot more confidence in myself now, i also feel more comfortable in my decisions, especially when it comes to going away for college, getting a job, and taking on whatever profession i wish. I gained life long tools that will help me throughout the rest of my life.
These residential intensive programs are the starting point to getting our kids closer to the quality of life parents want them to have. They are based on the Expanded Core Curriculum. The learning cannot stop at the conclusion of these programs. Parents, you must get familiar with what the programs really teach and how you can keep it going at home.
