The Third Annual Technology Olympics
What: The Technology Olympics will provide an opportunity for students to demonstrate their knowledge and expertise, and improve their skills using adaptive equipment and technology. In addition, it is hoped that this competition will raise students’ motivation level to use their technology and provide opportunities to make new friends and improve self-esteem.

When: October 2012

Where: Edventure in Columbia South Carolina (211 Gervais Street  Columbia, SC 29201)

For more information contact Clay Jeffcoat at cjeffcoat@scsdb.org or 803-896-9714.

As we get more information, we will be updating this post, so be sure to bookmark this page for later reference.

Above is the video from last year’s Technology Olympics. You can also view the Technology Olympics 2011 pictures on our Flickr page.

How would the other children and adults respond to Stevie?

Like Stevie’s family, many families who have a child with a visual impairment and additional disabilities struggle with the challenge of social situations, especially new situations where they don’t know the people well, the environment, or the activities. For many families, it is hard to watch as their child struggles to learn the ins and outs of social situations. Parents wish for the day when their son or daughter will have a friend. They want their child to benefit from time spent with friends, and they struggle with how to help their child learn the many skills needed to develop and maintain a real friendship.

For children who have visual impairments and additional disabilities, making a friend, interacting with others in the community, and learning social skills are challenging. Some children with severe disabilities may not be able to make and keep a friendship, but many children with mild to moderate additional disabilities should be able to do so. Each child is going to be unique when it comes to making friends. As a parent you can help your child by teaching social skills, involving your child in community activities, and working with your child’s educational team to prioritize friendship development and community involvement.

Making Friends

Friendships most often occur between children who are of the same gender and within two years of age of each other. Friends typically have common interests and find ways to reciprocate within the friendship, meaning that there is a give and take and a mutual sharing of ideas and belongings between them. By the time they are in elementary school friends typically share secrets, spend time playing together, and are willing to stick up for each other if one or the other friend is picked on by other children.

In order for your child to be a successful member of a friendship, she has to understand that it all isn’t about her all of the time. She has to recognize that other people have feelings and she has to know that she can’t always have things her way. A friend will be there to help her out at times but she must also be there to help out her friend.

When you observe other children who are friends, comment on what you are observing so that your child is aware of what is going on between the other two children. If your child is with another child and does something “friend like” be sure to give her specific praise about what she did. For example if she shared her dolls with another child you might say, “You let Fiona play with your dolls. Friends share. You were a friend to Fiona.”

Often children who have visual impairment and additional disabilities are socially behind their peers. Your child may have a better chance to develop a friendship with a child who is 1-3 years younger than she is. If you do observe a child who you think may have an interest in getting to know your child better, set up situations where the two children can spend time together. Perhaps a colleague of yours has a daughter 2 years younger than your daughter. Invite them over for dinner or a pool party so the girls can get to know each other. Plan ahead and have one or two activities available that your child knows how to do. When children start out playing near each other there is a higher probability they’ll find common ground. Friendships are based on common ground so helping your child have some interests that appeal to others is important.

Teaching Social Skills

The term social skills is used to cover a large set of skills or behaviors that people use when they interact with others. Some of these behaviors are nonverbal, meaning you don’t talk but rather you observe others and respond by body movements. For example, a sighted person observes a welcoming look on someone’s face and thinks, “Wow, she looks like she wants someone to come play with her.” People know how far to stand from each other by observing the distance others stand from someone they know versus someone they don’t know. A lot of children with visual impairments have trouble developing social skills and often need to be taught these by family members and teachers. When a child has additional disabilities he may not be as aware of social skills others are using and how his behavior affects others. Here are things you can think about and try with your child:

• Describe what others are doing. Help your child understand what others his age are doing in social situations. Describe how they are standing, looks they are exchanging, how they are sharing toys, etc. Since your child has limited ability to see what others are doing, he needs you to be his eyes to help him realize how other people interact.
• Practice social skills. Like other things your child needs to learn such as dressing himself, he needs to practice social skills. He may respond best when you have him go through the actions of sharing a toy, asking if he can join the group to play, or the two of you practice having a conversation where each of you takes a turn talking about a topic that other children his age would talk about (e.g., movies, music).
• Give feedback. Your child needs to know what he is doing well and what he can be doing better when it comes to social skills. If you see that he is standing too close to another child and that child looks uncomfortable, let him know. You need to balance how you do this so as not to embarrass him or interrupt the social interaction. Depending on his level of understanding you can talk with him later and let him know that you could tell by the look on the other child’s face that he was standing too close. Or, while the two are together you can go over and gently touch your child’s shoulder and guide him to step back.
• Learn what is “in” for children his age. Children are naturally curious and are attracted to things that interest them. As a parent learn what is “in” for children your child’s age and gender. If there is a toy that children like or a cartoon character often seen on t-shirts, do your best to have your child have the toy or to wear a t-shirt with the cartoon character. Other children will be more apt to interact with your child if he appears to be “in.” Your child may not understand how to play the video game as far as levels and characters, but he may enjoy pressing the buttons to hear the sounds the video game makes. When he’s playing with the game other children will be attracted to the game, and when they come over to check it out they will be more likely to interact with your child.
• Replace behaviors that “turn off others” with more socially acceptable behaviors. Some children with visual impairments, especially those who have additional disabilities, spin, rock, flick their hands in front of their eyes, or have other behaviors that make them look different. You may hear these behaviors called blindisms, mannerisms, or stereotypical behaviors. Regardless of what name they are called, the end result is the same: when others see your child spinning in circles or flicking his hand in front of his eyes they think, “That’s weird. I’m not going near that kid.” From the time your child is young look for ways to redirect him when he does one of these behaviors. That is, find something more appropriate for him to do. If he is a child who likes to rock then look for toys he can have that involve a movement so he can be active in a different way. If he flicks his hand in front of his eyes give him a toy piano to play with where his hands will be busy pressing the keys. It’s very hard to stop a child from ever doing these behaviors, but redirecting him, that is giving him something more appropriate to do when he is in social situations, will help him learn to not do the behavior all the time.
• Teach conversational skills. Many children with visual impairments and additional disabilities spend a lot of their social time answering questions. At school adults are asking them questions such as “Do you want a drink?” or “What center do you want to play at during free time?” Children may learn to answer questions but they don’t learn how to engage in the back-and-forth of conversation on a topic of shared interest. Spend some time listening to children who are your child’s age as they talk. Pay attention to the way they begin a conversation and the topics they chat about as they spend time together. Help your child by modeling these types of conversations with him. Guide him to learn how to talk about movies, parks, cartoon characters, video games, or other topics children are talking about. Make sure he is not just asking a conversation partner a series of questions, but rather that he has things to share on the topic.

Involving Your Child in Community Activities

Think about your own friends for a few minutes. What do you have in common with them? Are you a runner so do you have friends you have met through a running club or races you participate in? Do you read so are you part of a book club or do you have a friend who enjoys the same type of reading material you do and the two of you chat about books you’ve both read? Perhaps some of your friends are parents of other children around one or more of your children’s ages. You might have met them when your children were in the same classroom or after school activity. The point here is that you got involved in things that interest you and as a result you formed friendships. Your child can do the same thing, but she’ll need some help from you.

There are many, many benefits to involving your child in the community. She can increase her social skills in general terms, learn lifelong hobbies, increase her ability to travel unassisted and much more. The earlier you start involving her in community life the more she is going to learn and the more accepting those in your community will be of her. From an early age, take your child with you when you’re out shopping, going to parties, etc. Here are some specific suggestions on how community involvement can lead to opportunities to develop friendships.

• Look to children your child’s age. What are other children your child’s age doing in the community? Talk to parents of children who are around your child’s age to find out what they do for fun and with whom they do it. You’ll need to do your homework so you can guide your child to opportunities that will let her meet others her age who can become friends.
• Find a good match. If you learn that children your child’s age enjoy time at the park in the skateboard area or that taking dance class at a local dance studio is something several children are doing, consider if involving your child in one of these activities would work. If you determine that skateboarding or dancing is something your child would like, begin at home or with a few private lessons. Help your child get some beginner skills so that when she joins a group she has some knowledge on how to do the activity.
• Start small. Look for activities where the time will be short (15-30 minutes) and the number of people involved will be low. The skateboard park on Thursday after school is bound to have fewer children than it will on a Saturday afternoon. Begin taking your child on Thursdays and build up to going when it is busier.
• Look for parallel activities. Skateboarding or dancing with children who don’t have disabilities may not work for your child because of the challenges her own disability present. That’s fine! Look for parallel opportunities such as a dance troupe for people with disabilities, a playground that has accessible swings, Special Olympics (http://www.specialolympics.org/), Challenger Baseball, or activities through The Arc (http://www.thearc.org/). If you don’t know what your community has to offer ask parents of other children, teachers and therapists, or do a search on the internet. You may be surprised to learn what your community has available!
• Meet with teachers/leaders. Before your child begins in a community event meet with the people in charge to explain your child’s abilities and challenges. Help them understand what adaptions your child may use to do activities. Ask about the possibility of having a buddy with your child for the first few times so she can learn more about the activity or event. You may need to provide the buddy (yourself, a sibling, a neighbor child) in the beginning until the leader and other children get to know your daughter and how she does things.
• Initiate to other children and adults. You will need to be a keen observer. If you see that another child at the skateboard park is willing to show your daughter how to do a turn on her skateboard, prompt your child, if needed, to talk with that child. The next time the two of you go to the skateboard park look for that child and let your daughter know she is there and what she is doing. Take your daughter to the area of the park where that other child is so that she will be more apt to see your daughter and interact with her.

Your child isn’t going to make friends with others if she is always with you and your family. She needs to be out in the community doing what other children near her age are doing. The trick for you is to find out what these things are, help her learn some skills so she can participate on her own level, and to watch for other children who seem interested in her. When you find these children encourage interaction, but don’t push it. If your child has good social skills and can maintain an interaction, over time a friendship may develop.

Working with Your Child’s Educational Team

Your child’s educational team, or IEP team, is focused on helping your child to develop his or her abilities. Depending on your child’s needs there can be anywhere from 3 to 15 of you on the team! It’s important that the team work together to support your child’s development in all areas including social and community involvement. Sometimes a team focuses on the school setting without giving any significant consideration to the community. If you find this is the case consider the following:

• When you’re contacted to let you know that team members will be conducting assessments of your child, request that they gather information about your child’s social skills including interactions with classmates.
• If your child is involved in activities in the community ask if assessments can be done in these settings (e.g., the skate park, the mall). If it is not possible for team members to observe your child outside of school, consider taking video or photos of your child to share with them so they can see what he is doing in the other settings.
• Invite people from the community to your child’s IEP meeting to share their input. His Challenger Little League coach or the neighbor whose son he plays with at home may bring valuable ideas to the discussion. As the group selects goals for your child they can give input and potentially they can agree to collect data on your child’s progress.
• Take notes during several weeks leading up the meeting. Share your observations about when your child was most social and appropriate with others. Share what you found was challenging for your child. Make notes about what other children his age are doing and ask that these topics be incorporated into activities at school. For example, if the speech therapist is working with your child to use a switch for communication ask that phrases or sentences be programmed into the switch that he can use as conversation starters with other children.
• Inquire if the school has options for your child to spend time in the community. Is there a therapeutic horseback riding program he can be involved with or a swimming program at the local YMCA? Work with team members to develop goals for your child that will allow him to develop skills he can use when interacting with others.

Each child is unique and what works with one child and family may not work with yours. The important thing is that you look for options to involve your child in meeting others and building relationships with them. The more skills your child has, the fewer stereotypical behaviors he demonstrates, and the better his understanding is of social situations, the more successful he is going to be in his interactions. It is a team effort and just like your child, you’ll have to get out there and get involved. Look for opportunities to teach him new skills and introduce him to new activities and people.

Whenever you are creating content for mass consumption (be it students, co-workers, or the Web), you should consider the accessibility of what you are creating. For example, if your content has audio, have you created a transcript or captions so that deaf people can access it? If your content has important visual information, have you formatted this information in a way that is compatible with the assistive technology used by people who are blind or have low vision?

Microsoft Office files are the predominant document types handled by individuals in both academia and the corporate world. Files with .doc/docx, .ppt/pptx, and .xls/xlsx are a proprietary format, so how can you guarantee the accessibility of these files when sharing with others? As it turns out, the newest versions of Office are accessibility-friendly, allowing you to create accessible content. Furthermore, these versions even have an evaluation feature that will go through your document, checking it for inaccessible elements.

The Microsoft Office Blog recently published a post about creating accessible PowerPoint presentations. This post– which goes over understanding accessibility, creating accessible presentations, and sharing accessible presentations–can get you up to speed on creating accessible presentations in no time. But what about Word or Excel documents?

Microsoft Office 2010 for Windows includes a great feature called the Accessibility Checker that will scan your Office documents for inaccessible items. (Unfortunately, this feature isn’t available in Office 2011 for Mac, but Office 2011 for the Mac does tie in to the accessibility features built into Mac OS X, including VoiceOver.) To use the Accessibility Checker in Office 2010 for Windows, do the following:

1. Click File > Info > Prepare for Sharing
2. Next, click on the Check for Issue button, and then click Check Accessibility
3. The Accessibility Checker task pane will appear in your document, alerting you to any accessibility errors in the document.
4. Clicking on a specific issue in this task pane will show you the reasoning behind the error in the “Additional Information” section

Fixing the errors that appear in the Accessibility Checker will ensure that your document is at least a little more accessible than before.

To learn more about the accessibility features of Microsoft Office, check out the post by the Crabby Office Lady on Creating Documents for All Audiences.

What about you? Do you use Microsoft Office to create documents for sharing, or do you rely on another format like PDF? How do you ensure that your documents are accessible? Tell us in the comments below.

[Post image is by veeliam on Flickr and is licensed under Creative Commons]

This post initially appeared on ProfHacker.

Material needed:

1. A blank photo album or scrap book. A small size is easier for a child to use. These can be purchased at many places such as Michael’s, Wal-Mart, Target, and some drug stores.
2. Decorate and personalize the cover of the book to fit the event.
3. Select objects and/or items that are meaningful to the purpose of the book. When possible, let the child help decide what materials will be used.
4. Use strong glue (Elmer’s or for heavier things even Super Glue) or a glue gun to attach the items.
5. Braille or print text is also usually added.

The most important item to remember about making experience books is to have fun!

Amber’s Christmas Book

Meet Amber. She is an 11 year old young lady with a contagious smile and laugh. She was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and cortical visual impairment.

Meet Susan Blackmon. Susan is married, has 3 daughters and one on the way! She earned an undergraduate degree from Winthrop University and a Master’s degree from Francis Marion University. She has been a Special Education Teacher for 14 years in Lancaster, SC and is currently providing homebound instruction for Amber.

This is Amber and her Mom, Angie. Angie has 2 children, a son, Grant, and Amber. Angie is continuing her education and will graduate with a degree as a Physical Therapy Assistant. She would like to work with children who have special needs and their families.

Amber, Angie, Susan and I collaborated to make this tactile experience book.

Amber is non-ambulatory and does not have independent arm extension. It was difficult to hold her while assisting her in touching the Christmas tree, lights, ornaments and presents. So, this book was a collaboration of thoughts in order to bring “Christmas” to Amber’s lap.

1. The cover of Amber’s book.

2. The garland is to represent the wreath and Christmas tree in Amber’s home.

3. Amber enjoys the sound of bells ringing so bells were a must for the book. She jingled the bells, with assistance, to the song Jingle Bells or just to make all of us smile.

4. During the winter, Amber wears flannel pajamas so we glued a piece of flannel material to the page to remind Amber of being cozy and warm.

5. This page is full of puffy cotton filling to remind Amber of all the snow we had.

6. These are extra light bulbs from a string of lights. Amber enjoyed locating and fixating on a small string of lights bunched up into a small ball and held in front of her. She enjoyed touching them with assistance. When she touched these bulbs the first time, she looked around as if asking “where are the colors”?

7. Amber enjoys the cool smooth feel of ribbon being pulled across her hands.

8. To have Amber experience the different shapes of “snowflakes” we added the foam snowflakes to her book.

9. Amber loves the sound of crinkling paper. We added this page of tissue paper so she can reach out with assistance and “crinkle” anytime.

10. A cardboard “present” and “ribbon” covered in glitter was a tactile treat to Amber’s fingertips. The red “present” and gold “ribbon” attracted her visual attention as those are her preferred colors due to her cortical visual impairment.

11. A cardboard “stocking” with different colored glitter was selected so that Amber can distinguish between the top of the stocking, the heel and the toe of the stocking.

12. Next is a cardboard cross covered in silver glitter. It is in her book to remind Amber about going to church. The silver glitter reflected the multi-colored lights and attracted her visual attention.

13. The final page is a bow with multi colored curly ribbon and small bells in it. As Amber is assisted in feeling it, the little bells ring softly.

The activities were set up in the school gym, and students experienced the ways in which different vision impairments would affect their ability to carry out daily activities. At each activity station, staff provided students with blindfolds or simulators representing different eye conditions.

Activities/Stations

Here’s an overview of the stations and a list of supplies for each activity:

Spread the Word (Simple cooking)

• Description: While wearing a blindfold or simulators, practice spreading peanut butter on crackers.
• Supplies: Blindfolds, simulators, paper plates, small containers of peanut butter, saltine crackers, plastic knives, disinfecting wipes, paper towels, box of Kleenex.

What is the Flavor? (Taste test)

• Description: Taste two kinds of cereal and identify if fruit flavor or chocolate flavor when blindfolded or with simulators on.
• Supplies: Blindfolds, simulators, paper plates, 5 Cocoa Puffs and 5 Fruit Loops per plate, box of Kleenex, disinfecting wipes.

Name that Sound

• Description: Identify various sounds in one’s environment by listening to sounds on a CD or cassette player.
• Supplies: A multi-jack CD/cassette player, 3 or 4 headsets, tape of different sounds.

Name that Smell

• Description: Place a small amount of a scent on a cotton ball for each child to smell. Then ask the child to identify scents of different foods from the kitchen.
• Supplies: Blindfolds, simulators, cotton balls, paper plates, box of Kleenex, disinfecting wipes, and medicine bottles with different scents such as peppermint candy, cinnamon, black pepper, taco seasoning, lemon, vanilla, cocoa, parmesan cheese, peanut butter, coffee, chicken bouillon, and coconut.

Creative Caning—Decorate Canes

• Description: Give each student the opportunity to decorate their own cane, dowel rod or a gently used cane provided by the Orientation &Mobility department.
• Supplies: Different size canes, variety of craft items for decorating including: pipe cleaners, stickers, material, colorful cotton, colorful rubber bands, colorful yarn, holiday garland, glue stick, disinfecting wipes, Kleenex.

Let’s Play

Give the students the opportunity to play different tactile games. They can compete with their friends at a table game or a tossing game using blindfolds or simulators. Below is a list of the different games with descriptions as well as a list of needed supplies.

Tic Tac Toe

• Description: Place a wooden Tic Tac Toe box on the table for 2 children to play. Explain how to play the game. Then place a blindfold or simulator on the children, and help them identify the two different shapes they will be using.
• Supplies: Blindfolds, simulators, APH tactile Tic Tac Toe box, Kleenex.

Dominoes

• Description: Place the dominoes on the table for 2 children and explain how to play the game. Don’t forget to demonstrate how to connect a domino to another domino. Then place a blindfold or simulator on the students and help them identify the markings on the dominoes they have.
• Supplies: Blindfolds, simulators, APH tactile blocks for dominoes, Kleenex.

Ring Toss

• Description: Place 2 tall plastic cones approximately 1-2 feet away from each other. Have the student stand on a mark 2-3 feet away from the cones depending on the age of the child. Walk the child towards the cones while counting the steps and explain they will need to toss the ring onto the cone that has a timer ticking beside it. Blindfold or place the simulator on the child and tell them to toss the ring towards the cone that has the timer ticking nearby.
• Supplies: Blindfolds, simulators, 4 colorful rings, tall cones, cooking timer, Kleenex, disinfecting wipes.

Feely Box

• Description: Give the student an opportunity to match real objects while blindfolded using tactile cues. Hand the student an object and tell them to find the same object hidden in the Feely Box full of packing peanuts and other objects with similar shapes. Give each student three trials at the game. Change the size and detail of the objects according to their age. It is helpful to use familiar objects.
• Supplies: Blindfolds, box with one opening, packing peanuts, variety of small toys (2 of each toy) such small cars, McDonald’s Happy Meal toys, dolls, key rings, coins, old cell phones, spoon or fork, different size balls, CD, cassette tape, small cup, disinfectant wipes, Kleenex.

Fun with Braille

• Description: Give the student the opportunity to identify the alphabet in braille and to use a braillewriter to write their name. Have a braille alphabet card on the table for the students to review and with the staff’s assistance, braille their name onto an index card.
• Supplies: Three (3) braillewriters, index cards, pencils, alphabet braille card.

Yes, We Cane—-Basic Sighted Guide, Cane Skills

• Description: Give the students the opportunity to travel through an obstacle course set up by the mobility instructors. Set up cones at the back of the gym, so that they can be spread out. Explain to the student what they will be expected to do blindfolded and how to use a cane to help guide them through the obstacle course. Have an orientation and mobility instructor work with one student at a time.
• Supplies: Blindfolds, different size canes, large cones, box of Kleenex, disinfecting wipes.

Deaf-Blind Project

• Description: Give the students the opportunity to experience what it would be like to be deaf and blind and how a teacher would help them learn. The Deaf-Blind Project staff members first show the student a picture of a common object. Then they blindfold the students and then sign the name of the picture into their hand. They may give the student a real object to feel if they are blind and sign the name of the object into their hand.
• Supplies: A variety of pictures of household items, variety of real objects, blindfolds, box of Kleenex.

Information Table

• Description: At this station provide a variety of materials and handouts for the students and staff to take. There could be posters of individuals who are visually impaired working in a variety of jobs or enjoying a variety of recreation/leisure activities. You might also include posters of famous blind musicians, artists, politicians, athletes, people in history, etc. You could also have items to give the students such as pencils or items donated by companies and organizations that serve individuals who are visually impaired.
• Supplies: 2 easels for posters, handouts with tips of what to do when you a person who is blind, bookmarks, pencils, pamphlets from organizations that serve individuals who are visually impaired, alphabet braille cards from the National Federation of the Blind or American Printing House for the Blind.

Set Up

• Have a podium set up for the speaker(s)
• Set up tables and chairs around the gym so there is enough space for each table to have groups of 4 to 6 students actively involved.
• Each table gets a tablecloth. It is helpful to alternate contrasting colors. For White Cane Day, we used red and white tablecloths.
• Each table has a sign with the name of the activity either on an easel, taped to the bleacher behind the table or on a pole next to the table.
• Have red and white balloons (or other brightly colored balloons) at each station.
• Have at least 2 staff members or volunteers at each station.
• Have a crate or box with the supplies needed for each station set up by its table, so the persons in charge of the activity will have everything they need including the directions.
• Have trash cans set up by the food station and others strategically placed between tables using disinfecting wipes and glue.
• Keep a box of extra supplies on hand. Suggested supplies include: scissors, tape, glue, blindfolds, simulators, Kleenex, disinfecting wipes, paper towels, a first aid kit and a list of important phone numbers.

Tentative Schedule

8:00-9:00

• Set up gym

9:00-10:00

• The first group arrives.
• Describe the different tables and activities
• The students rotate around the gym to the different tables.

10:00-11:00

• The second group arrives.
• Describe the different tables and activities
• The students rotate around the gym to the different tables.

11:00-12:00

• The third group arrives.
• Describe the different tables and activities
• The students rotate around the gym to the different tables.

12:00

• Clean up the Gym

Presenting yourself positively includes selecting the right clothing for the occasion and wearing it well, how you groom yourself, and your social interactions. Few of us are drop-dead gorgeous, most of us are just average people in average bodies, but the way we choose to dress, groom and interact with others can be the difference between being perceived as a capable, competent person who is sought out by others and being perceived as someone who is not effective and is to be avoided.

If you are a parent, it’s never too early to start thinking about the image your child with a visual impairment is sharing with the world. If you’re the one with a visual impairment it may be easy for you to think, “Well I don’t see them so what does it matter?” It does matter how you present yourself. We’ve got some ideas for you about the three essential elements to presenting a positive you:

• Dressing,
• Grooming, and
• Social interaction.

A note to parents

Regardless of your child’s age and abilities the image he or she presents to the world can impact not only today but her future. Many people have never met a visually impaired person before and so your child presents the image of what visual impairment is to them. When your child has multiple disabilities, this can present further challenges because of your child’s physical appearance, social interaction (or lack of) skills, mannerisms (behaviors such as rocking, hand flapping, eye poking, etc.) or verbalizations.

Candice, the mother of 15-year-old Stephen, has some strong feelings about the importance of Stephen’s appearance. She shares, “By the time Stephen was four years old it was obvious that other children were unsure of how to interact with him. He looked different with his eyes often closed and his hands often flapping by his face as he rocked from foot to foot, he didn’t talk, and he hadn’t yet learned to play with toys. As the social gap widened I realized the importance of making sure he was dressed the same way boys his age were dressed and that even if he didn’t know how to play with a toy like the other boys, he needed to have the ‘right’ toys so to speak.”

Candice went on to share about a time when Stephen was 8 and they were at a park. Stephen had on a t-shirt with an action figure on it that was popular at the time and an action figure toy that made sounds. A boy came up to her and commented, “Wow he has a toy I really want but my mom says I can’t have it.” Candice encouraged the boy to ask Stephen to share the toy and then prompted Stephen to let the boy have a turn. As the boy rambled on about the action figures special powers Stephen periodically would say “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Though he wasn’t responding to what the boy was saying the boy didn’t realize this so he continued the interaction. It was at this time that Candice truly recognized the boy never would have started the interaction if Stephen hadn’t been “appealing” to him because of how he dressed and the toy he had.

As a 15-year-old, Stephen prefers the toys of preschoolers and has no concept of the latest musical groups or pro sports teams. Candice has become a keen observer of teenage boys in her community. She often buys him clothes that have the logos of various musical groups and sports teams she sees other boys wearing. Stephen has an Ipod with music on it that he likes (typical of that listened to by a younger child) but she has also loaded music onto it that teens enjoy and she has added some games favored by boys Stephen’s age. She’s taught Stephen to say “Check out my iPod” and to offer it to others as a way to begin a social interaction.

We’re not saying you need to go out and buy your child a new wardrobe or make sure she has the most expensive toys or gadgets. Rather the message Candice is sharing with you is the need for your child to not stand out more because of the way he or she dresses, the things she has with her or her social interaction skills. Start when your child is young by laying the foundation. Here are a few ideas to get you going.

Even if your child can’t see who she is talking to, she needs to look in the direction of the person speaking so that person is comfortable interacting with her. Beginning when your child is a toddler praise her when she looks at people and encourage her to do so when she doesn’t.

Like Candice, take time to observe what other children who are your child’s age and gender are doing, wearing, and saying. Learn about the television shows they watch, movies they go see, games they play, and music they like. Incorporate this information into your child’s life in the same way Candice did for Stephen.

Give your child realistic feedback about how she looks and acts. Share the positives you observe with her such as how she smiled when she introduced herself to the new family who moved into the neighborhood, how the color green goes well with her hair, or that her fingernails are trimmed evenly. At the same time let your child know if her hair isn’t brushed nicely, her shirt is stained, or her head was down as she talked with a classmate. Your child isn’t necessarily going to get this feedback from anyone else so it’s important you give it to her.

Consider enrolling your child in an acting, dance, or modeling class. Classes such as these help young people gain a better understanding of their own body and body image. In addition they are a great venue to meet others. Some communities have programs for children with disabilities so speak with your child’s teacher or other team members about programs that might be available in your community.

Describe to your child what you are observing when it comes to the impressions you have of others. Let your child know that the hostess at the restaurant was dressed in a flattering outfit, looked you in the eye when you entered the restaurant and smiled at you. By hearing about your observations your child will become more aware of the need to put her best foot forward because people really are paying attention.

At school speak with your child’s educational team about including goals on her Individual Education Plan (IEP) that focus on skills she’ll need to present herself positively. There’s more to school than just academics.

Be sure to read our suggestions below about dressing, grooming and social interactions. Though written for a person who is visually impaired, the ideas within these pages are ones you can consider and implement with your own child as appropriate.

Clothing selection and organization

Hang out in the mall and listen to conversations and you’re bound to hear two young women talking about how a sweater or pair of shoes looks and how they perceive it will look on them. Presenting the “right” look for a specific situation takes some thought and planning. Rarely do you wear a dress to a friend’s house for a sleepover nor do you wear sweatpants to a job interview. Even when you pick out the “right” type of clothing matching the colors, getting a style that looks good on you and making sure the clothes are clean takes time and effort.

How do I know what to wear? You may not see what other people are wearing but they can see what you’re wearing so you’ll want to pick clothes that are “in” and don’t make you look out of place. You can ask your family or friends for input on what to wear. You can look at magazines or on the internet. If you can’t see the pictures ask others to describe them for you. At the mall you can visit stores that people your age shop in and talk to salespeople about what others are buying.

What colors and styles look good on me? Experimentation is something we all do to find out what colors and styles look good with our own body type. Input from others is going to be essential to finding out what works well for you. If someone gives you a compliment on your clothes pay attention to what you have on so you know what outfit has been noticed. Neutral colors, blacks, whites, grays, browns can be a cornerstone of your wardrobe. Almost every color such as blue, green, yellow, red will work with a neutral color.

How do I know what colors go together? If you can’t see colors how do you know if the green striped shirt goes with the flowered pants? This is where a trusted person can really help you organize your outfit choices. You might want to take notes about what goes with what so you’ll not need to remember it all. Some people will pin outfits together in the closet or fold them together in the drawer so everything is in one place and they know it matches. When you put your outfit in the laundry you can use safety pins or other fasteners to keep it together.

How do I tell my clothing apart? There are lots of ways to tell your clothing apart so find a method that works for you. Some people sew tags into the collars or waistbands of clothing. You can buy clothing tags from companies such as MaxiAids and Independent Living Aids. Companies such as these sell a variety of tags that have different shapes, colors and/or tactual markings on them. If you put all the triangles in the colors of your blue shirts and all the squares in the collars of your white shirts you’ll be well on your way to having a system to tell like items apart. You develop a system that works for you.

Other people have a system where they cut notches clothing tags. For example anything red may have a notch cut out of the right side of the tag and anything blue may have a triangle shape cut into the bottom of the tag. Yet others divide clothes by color within the closet or drawer so that all blue things are together, all white things are together etc.

Another option is to add braille tags to items. You might pin cards on the hangers of clothing items and then when they come out of the laundry put them back on the same hangers. The important thing is that you come up with a system that is functional for you. Be sure to take notes on your system so you can refer back to them if you forget.

What about stains? Sighted people have stains on their clothing from time-to-time, it’s human nature. They can look down and see the splash of spaghetti sauce on their shirt. There are a lot of products on the market to remove stains. If you think you might have spilled something and can’t tell assume you have and treat the garment for stains. You can also enlist the help of someone sighted to let you know if there is a stain on your clothing. Another option is to take your clothes to a laundry service or dry cleaner and have them professionally cleaned. You won’t want to do this for the sweatshirt and jeans you wear around the house, but this might be a viable option for your work clothes or going out on a date clothes.

We’ve given you a few pointers to getting started on having your clothes in order.

Grooming

We’re sure you know how to take a bath or shower, brush your teeth and all that personal hygiene stuff, so what we’re going to focus on here is the importance of having a presentable appearance, tools to assist you with getting your grooming done efficiently, shaving and for the ladies putting on makeup.

Why does it matter how my hair looks or if my nails are trimmed? Since you more than likely can’t tell if someone else has neatly trimmed nails or if they have lint on their pants, why does it matter if you do? Well it does, and it more than likely matters more for you than it does for the other person. Why? The truth is because you have a disability, and people tend to look at you more and scrutinize everything you do. We’re not saying all people in all situations, but especially when meeting new people, dating, or working at a job, people do look and they do judge.

You want people to judge you on your strengths, your great personality, your ability to get the job done, or your knowledge of a subject. Your personal appearance can detract from this and ultimately could impact your ability to make friends, get a job, or keep a job. So, how you present yourself DOES matter!

What tools can assist me when it comes to grooming? If you have some usable vision lighting is a must. You have to be able to see how you look and the better the light the more you’ll see in most cases. Consider changing the light bulb in your bathroom or bedroom to one that will allow you to yourself as clearly as possible. Think about using a full spectrum light or a light bulb that mimics natural light.

Also think about the use of magnification be it a stand magnifier or a magnifying mirror. Some people will polish or trim their nails under a closed circuit television. Combining looking at and feeling the smoothness of each nail will help you get them looking even.

A lint brush is a must, especially if you own a pet, so get in the habit of using this tool to get excess lint, pet hair, etc. off of your clothing. Use a systematic method where you overlap strokes so that you don’t miss a spot. Also consider using the lint brush before you put on the clothing and then again once you have it on.

Wrinkles can take away from your appearance. Learn to iron and do so systematically. If you’re not a fan of ironing, then buy clothes that don’t wrinkle easily, hang clothes up in the bathroom nearby the shower so that the steam from the shower takes the wrinkles out, or put the clothing item in the dryer on fluff right before you plan to wear it.

When do I seek out a professional? If your finances allow, consider visiting a professional for assistance with grooming. As part of getting your hair cut and styled, ask for an extended appointment (and be prepared to pay for the time) so that the hair technician can show you how care for your hair, use the products he or she recommends, and allow you to practice styling your hair with their input. Men can ask a barber to trim their mustache or beard and help them determine the best length for them to keep these. Woman can schedule time with makeup technicians and nail technicians to get one-on-one instruction in how to apply products. There are many fully sighted people who take advantage of getting input from these professionals, so why shouldn’t you? Be sure the individual understands what you can and cannot see. Ask him or her to let you apply the makeup, hair product, or use the beard trimmer so you can make sure you really have the directions down and can carry things out at home.

What are my options when it comes to shaving? An electric razor is a great option when it comes to shaving. You’re not going to draw blood when you use an electric razor! Regardless of what type of razor you use be systematic and overlap your strokes. Use your hand to feel the area you have shaved to make sure it is clean and smooth.

How do I know what colors of makeup to use and if I’ve put them on correctly? Makeup is very individualized. What works for one woman won’t work for another. To select your makeup you’re going to need to enlist the help of someone sighted, a friend, family member, or makeup technician in the store. Show the person some samples of clothing you wear so they can help you in selecting makeup that will go with your color pallet. You may want to get two sets of makeup, one for every day and one for “going out” or special occasions. You can keep each set in a separate bag or box so you don’t mix things up. Consider labeling the containers with braille, large print or tactile markings so you know which eye shadow is which color.

When it comes to putting on the makeup, you need someone who is going to be honest with you and let you know if you have the right “look”. You don’t want lots of blush on your left cheek and hardly any on your right cheek. Be prepared to practice applying makeup as it takes practice to get the feel for how it is done. If you have some usable vision, consider having a magnifying mirror to look at yourself in as you apply the makeup.

Using a systematic approach to makeup application is a must if you have a visual impairment. For example, when putting on your foundation always start at your forehead, then left cheek, then right cheek, then chin. If you go in the same order each time you won’t end up with two applications on your left cheek. Try counting, for example 3 strokes of blush on each cheek. Use landmarks on your face to help you orient. Feel for your cheekbone and use this as the starting place for applying the blush. Be gentle, if you feel you’ve put on too much lipstick take a damp washcloth or cotton ball and gently wipe at the edges of your lips. You want to be careful not to smear the foundation.

Keep in mind that as you get older the amount of makeup and the color pallet you use is going to change.  Fashion also changes over time. Hence it is a good idea each year on your birthday to review your makeup choices with someone you trust who is sighted and can give you honest observations about what they are seeing you do in comparison to what other women your age are doing.

Social interaction skills

As you think about the way you are presenting yourself to others, it’s impossible to not consider your social interaction skills. Do you hold your head up? Do you look in the direction of the person speaking? Do you stay on the topic of the conversation? Do you have a firm handshake? Do you smile at the right time? Things such as these impact how others perceive you and your overall appearance.

When you interact with others there is your verbal interaction, what you say and the tone of your voice, pitch, loudness etc. and there is what is called nonverbal behaviors. Nonverbal behaviors are your physical actions and how these are “read” by others. For example your smile or frown is a nonverbal behavior, nodding your head to signify “yes” or “no” is considered nonverbal behavior as is crossing your arms across your chest to let someone know you are bored or impatient. Sighted people get a lot of information from observing the nonverbal behavior of others.  When you can’t see this behavior it can make it a challenge for you to read the signals others are giving. At the same time you may be giving out the wrong information about yourself through your nonverbal behavior. You might smile when someone is telling you sad news and you may not even realize you have a smile on your face. Or the way you are slouching in your chair may give the message that you are not interested in anyone talking to you when in reality you would love to be included in the conversation.

You need to get honest feedback from those you trust about your social presence in different situations. This is how Carmen approached getting some feedback from his friend Doug.

Carmen and Doug were in Doug’s car headed to the food court at the mall where they were meeting their friend Marco. Marco had texted them that he was at the pizza place with Greg, a new guy at school. Carmen had never met Greg before. Before they arrived he told Doug that he always hated meeting new people because they got freaked out when they saw his cane. Doug pointed out that sometimes people freaked out because Carmen didn’t look at them and his voice sometimes sounds funny when he is nervous. Rather than getting offended Carmen told Doug that he’d try to look at Marco and pay attention to how he sounded. After the guys had pizza and Carmen and Doug were headed home, Carmen asked Doug to give him some honest feedback about if he was looking at Marco and if his voice sounded ok.

Like Carmen you can get feedback from others…let them know you really want to hear their honest impressions. If you don’t feel comfortable doing what Carmen did consider audio taping and/or video taping yourself as you interact with someone and then reviewing it later to judge what you did well and what you can improve on. Of course you want to be respectful of the other people so ask if it is ok for you to tape the interaction or if you don’t ask be sure only you listen/view the audio/video and then delete it.

Taking a drama or public speaking class or joining a club with this type of focus is another way you can work on your social interaction skills. In these types of classes or clubs people talk about how to present themselves or their character. You’ll pick up some good pointers on how both verbal and nonverbal language is read by others.

[Creative Commons-licensed flickr photo by Richard.]

Books for Early Readers

Books for Intermediate Readers

[Creative Commons-licensed flickr photo by Karoly Czifra]

The time to teach a specific letter is when those letters are used in conversation to reference ideas or concepts such U shaped curve, S shaped curve, T intersection, Y intersection, or L shaped route. These letters don’t need to be taught specifically, but just as the concept is introduced so that the child understands what you’re talking about.

Materials needed

• Signature guide
• Letter writing guide
• Raised line drawing kit available from Maxi-Aids

Teaching Technique

There are many ways to teach a student’s signature, but this one example of how a teacher may teach handwriting to a student for the first time.

1. Decide what the child is going to write as their signature — you may wish to have this discussion with the child’s parents. Remember, not everyone writes every single letter of their name when they sign their signature. Some people only write their first initial and last name. Others write their first and last name with their middle initial. Still others write their signature with a letter followed by a line. Their signature doesn’t need to be perfect, just consistent.
2. At first, practice writing the student’s signature without using a signature guide. The space within a signature guide is very limited and many children need to make exaggerated movements to understand the concept of “short line to the right.”
3. Have the students write square or rounded letters. For example the letter J might be line down, and to the left or short line to the left then a line going straight up.
4. Begin by having the student trace their name from start to finish. Say the letters and the directions for writing each letter as you write the letter. To teach you can go hand under hand or square the letters such as go up, then right, then down.
5. Talk about connectors so that the child does not put their letters on top of one another.
6. Have the student practice using the Raised Line Drawing Kit as lines that are drawn become raised and easily traced. The child’s signature becomes easily followed by touch.
7. Once the child understands the directions for writing his or her signature, use a letter writing guide over the raised line drawing kit. This will begin to confine the student’s signature from top to bottom but still give the student room to spread out to the right or left. This will also provide the student with a firm beginning and ending point as they begin to refine their signature. The letter writing guide also allows them to use the entire page to practice their signature without having to move the signature guide to a new location.
8. Once you feel that the student is ready, move them to a signature guide.
9. In order to develop consistency, it is important to provide extra practice. So have the student use the signature guide on a daily basis. By carrying around the signature guide, the student will be able to sign their name at any time.

Commercially Available Products

There are commercially available products that can aid with teaching handwriting to students with visual impairments. Below are just a few of these products.

• Teaching Signature Writing to Those who are Visually Impaired available from Exceptional Teaching Aids. Dr. Sally Mangold demonstrates a creative teaching method that helps young students as well as adults make a legal signature. Practical teaching tips are interspersed throughout this 35-minute DVD. The book includes exercises, a sample lesson plan, and sample signatures.
• Freund Longhand Writing Kit available from American Printing House for the Blind. This kit helps students learn cursive writing. It includes an embossed workbook, a Tactile Marking Mat (also available separately), a pad of 100 sheets of embossed-line paper for use with the Marking Mat, and a manual in both regular print and braille.

Dyslexia is a series of neurological issues that exist strictly within the brain of the individual who has it. What exactly causes dyslexia is unknown, but there are many theories at work that describe possible causes for the disorder. Part of what makes dyslexia so hard to understand is that the human brain is not designed to read in the first place.

A Little Understanding of Dyslexia

If dyslexia is not backwards reading, then what is it? Current theories claim that dyslexia actually affects the phonological language centers of the brain. “Phonological” means the sound based part of language. This is where the letter “b” makes the “buh” sound. Language is based on phonological constructs that we call phonemes. These are the building blocks of words, which make up our sentences and conversations. The brain of a person with dyslexia has a timing issue with connecting sounds to meanings. This does not cause a major impact on normal daily activities, like conversation, unless really fast speeds are needed. A person with dyslexia may respond just a little slower to their name being called or may speak a little slower, but it is not something dramatic, we would just brush it off as a personality quirk. Reading requires much faster connections to be made. Sometimes this means that the connection isn’t made, sort of like a web page timing out, or the connection comes, but it is really slow.

Reading is accomplished by taking in a phonemic “image,” whether by sight or by touch, and sending it to the brain for decoding and meaning retrieval. Very early in life we are taught to connect sounds to physical objects, remember the See ‘N Say? The brain then pairs the visual or tactual image with a phonological, or sound, tag then moves on to pulling out the meaning as it normally would for the sound. Our brains are set up for language and generally connect sounds to meaning. Dyslexia is a problem with connecting this phonological tag to the meaning and when a word image is added, it causes greater slowdown in the retrieval. There is often even a misconnect with the image and its sound. This is why classic images of dyslexics transpose “b” and “d” or “p” and “q” when reading and writing.

While dyslexia is also not one of those things that can be nailed down to a single cause, all current theories of dyslexia agree on the phonological issues. The reason that dyslexia is so hard to pin down and so difficult to understand is that there is no “reading center” in our brains. We were never designed to read.

The Brain that Reads

In another article on this very site, we discuss the changes that reading braille makes within the human brain, especially within those who are blind. Well, it’s not just the blind that restructure their brains by learning to read, we all do it. In two very good books, Stanlislas Dehaene and Maryanne Wolf discuss just what learning to read does to our brains. In these books, which give similar messages in different levels of detail, it’s talked about extensively how simply learning to read alters the pathways within our brains. Wolf says that we’ve altered our brains to accept reading and Dehaene believes that we’ve created a system of reading and writing that follows the path of least resistance to minimize the changes. Over the course of centuries, reading and writing systems have changed to an alphabetic system in the western cultures that require phonemes and such, as we covered earlier.

Some Differences in Reading in Eastern Cultures

Not only is there not a centralized “reading center” in our brains, but symbol oriented writing styles, such as Chinese or Japanese, use a different part of the brain. That’s right, Japanese kanji uses different pieces of the brain for the sound/image connections to meaning. The symbols of those writing systems often contain the meaning of entire words or phrases in a phonetic system. That means that one symbol could mean “way of the warrior.” These Asian writing systems are read with a different part of the brain, but they are still susceptible to many of the reading disorders that affect our phonetic alphabet, including dyslexia. Forms of dyslexia can affect the regions of the brain that make the lexical connection between symbol and meaning, causing the same types of slowdowns and misreads that occur with words and letters.

Dyslexia and Braille

Now that we have a pretty grasp on what dyslexia is and isn’t let’s talk about how it affects braille readers. Braille is reading. That’s a fact. Many sighted teachers of braille read it visually, and individuals who are blind read braille with their fingers. “But wait,” you say, “doesn’t the touch take a different path in the brain than the eyes?” Yes, but that’s like taking the interstate to your mother’s house. Follow this example:  You and a friend are meeting in a town that is halfway between where you both live. You both take different highways to get there and approach your destination from different directions, but the last road is the same. Now, it turns out the city is doing roadwork at the intersection of the street that you both turn on to, slowing down all the traffic. It doesn’t matter how you got there, the construction still slows you both down. That roadwork is dyslexia.

Braille travels the neural network from the fingertips up to the brain and registers there for the word image to meaning connection that takes place in all reading. In the case of a braille reader with dyslexia, that image information could lag, get misconnected, or get turned around, just like with a sighted reader. The brain doesn’t really differentiate between a printed word that is seen and a braille word that is touched.

How Do We Know if it is Dyslexia?

If a student has, and by student I mean anyone learning to read either print or braille, a good, intellectually supportive home environment or no other obvious signs of mental impairment, dyslexia may be the cause of reading difficulties. According to Veispak, students learning braille have more work in learning to read than sighted students. Generally, they forge better phonological connections than sighted students do. Studies have also shown that braille readers are often slightly behind their sighted counterparts in reading tests. If you suspect your student is having trouble reading, the school has tests they can administer to see if dyslexia may be the problem.

If you or your student is diagnosed with dyslexia work closely with the special education team within your school or school district and emphasize the new work being done to bridge the gap between teaching students with dyslexia and teaching braille. The most important thing for our parents, teachers, and independent adults to remember is that this is a brand new frontier. Let’s all work together to find new and innovative ways to teach and learn.

For an annotated bibliography of the work cited, click here.

“A wise old owl sat in an oak.
The more he [listened], the less he spoke;
The less he spoke, the more he heard.
Why aren’t we like that wise old bird.”
–Bromley