By: Linda Coccovizzo

Linda Coccovizzo — Wed, 28 May 2014 14:41:32 +0000

I wanted to speak to the comments about Aids in the classrooms, or it seems the word has changed to paraprofessionals these days. Both of my girls are completely blind, as am I. For most of the time I spent in public schools, and I did attend several, we had what they called a resource room. This meant all the blind and visually impaired kids went to one school in the area, and at that time, it was rarely even in the town in which I lived. We never had a shadow with in our classes. I never saw that until I started working as the “paraprofessional” in a school district, and then had kids of my own. I fought for years to get that shadow removed from my girls’ rooms, unless it was completely necessary. I noticed that my girls, especially my oldest, were depending on these connections for everything from orientation to classroom work to even friendships. I finally won the battle by getting my kids into a district where never is a paraprofessional shadow used. The girls attend their neighborhood school, ride the regular school bus, and attend class as their peers do. They each have a teacher for the visually impaired (TVI) who comes and works with them for the hours specified by their IEP teams. They also each have a brailest who spends some of that time with them so that they get to know them and what their needs are. This way, they can taylor their brailing to their individual needs. They do some pull-out time, where braille skills and such are worked on in a room the school has set aside for them, called the “braille room.” They have also incorporated push-in time, where if one of them is lagging behind in a subject for some reason, the TVI or brailest can come in and see where the problem is, and they can hoan in on those specifics if need be. As Josh mentioned, sometimes having someone to help out with things like dictation for pop quizzes, especially in subjects such as math, is necessary. If the problem is behavioral, then it is dealt with as with any other student. Sometimes a teacher may just need a refresher on how to handle certain situations, or maybe needs a reminder that the VI team is there. While this is an ideal setup for my girls, unfortunately a lot of districts aren’t willing to put the money toward a vision program such as this, or they don’t have the money to do so. Some districts still have the magnet school where the BVI kids all attend, while others have contracted their TVI’s out to several other districts. I believe it is extremely important to continue as blind people and as organizations to work together to educate parents as to what their expectations of their districts should be. Also, any time we get a chance to mentor a young BVI person, we should take it.

By: Steven Whiteker

Steven Whiteker — Thu, 22 May 2014 17:53:45 +0000

Thanks for all of the great content that you guys and gals provide every week. Also, can’t wait for the next EOL show!

Comments on: SeroTalk Podcast 200: I’m Doing, Peace Out

By: Linda Coccovizzo

By: Steven Whiteker