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Dave MontrealCan - Hello anthony and msdteacher welcome to my session
Dave MontrealCan - Msd teacher what grade do you teach?
Dave MontrealCan - anthony what grade do you teach
Dave MontrealCan - welcome Bluette
anthony - I teach 6th grade Math.
Bluette - how are you doing?
Msdteacher - I teach middle scho
Dave MontrealCan - Bluette very well thank you for attending
Bluette - I wanted to ask about a 4th grader
anthony - I have some students with mild visual impairments, but none who are considered legally blind.
Dave MontrealCan - Bluette ask away
Dave MontrealCan - anthony i have just under 10% vision in my left eye and am totally blind in the right eye
Bluette - he is doing well in elem, but I am concerned about what life will be like for him in MS, a big school grades7-12
Bluette - I have your book Dave and it is on loan to a sped teacher at the HS
Dave MontrealCan - Bluette that is always a problem often students once they reach 7th grade and onward are not as interested in helping a psychically challenged student because they are too busy thinking about dating and other things unfortunately these years are sometimnes the toughest for psychically challenged students
Bluette - right now he is totally integrated but later will he be in sped?
Dave MontrealCan - Bluette does he have a lot of friends in his class
anthony - I see some of this in my classroom too. While some students are eager to help those with special needs, others are so concerned about their own acceptance that they don't put forth the time to help others.
Bluette - I think so, they are always very helpful in the class he is in now
Dave MontrealCan - bluette but unfortunately as he moves up in grade he will fidn he may be iscolated more i know i was and at the time it hurt me a lot
Dave MontrealCan - anthony do you try and encourage the students to help their collegues
anthony - Yes, I do, however, I don't seem to have as much influence over the students in middle school noew that I only see my students for a small part of the day. When I taught elementary, I found it was much easier to influence them .
Dave MontrealCan - Bluette is he a happy student and is he sociable ?
Bluette - MS is tough but I think HS is worse
Dave MontrealCan - Bluette i agree highschool was a lonely time for me
anthony - What kinds of things can I do to encourage other students to help without embarrssing the student with the disability?
Bluette - I think so, he knows who i am by my voice, and calls me by name
Dave MontrealCan - anthony is there any time when he is not in the room and you have the other students there
Bluette - I have taught him several times now, mostly he is with his special teacher, sometimes just with me
anthony - Only on days when he is absent. He comes in at the same time as other students and stays for the entire class.
Bluette - my young man goes to lunch first, so no one cashed into him in the halls
Bluette - crashes
Dave MontrealCan - anthony that is a tough one i guess you need ot wait till he is not present and talk about it it is not an easy task i know and you od not want to embarrass the sight impaired student
anthony - Thanks, I'll give that a try and see what happens.
Bluette - it is good to talk to you dave, any special advice for me
Dave MontrealCan - I know following 6th grade it was very difficult for me to make friends in 7th and onward i had a few friends but that was it
Bluette - I would like to help make this transition easier for him
anthony - Since I teach Math, we use the board often. Although he can see the board, are there things I can do to improve his understanding. More auditory and tactile?
Bluette - I am sure he will tour the school with his teacher before he starts school there
Dave MontrealCan - Bluette the best way is for you to be there and tell him you care and you are there to talk to him if he is hurting or angry
Dave MontrealCan - anthony maybe if you write a little larger on the board and ensure that the board is clean and possibly a yellow chalk may help
Bluette - thanks Dave and g'night
Dave MontrealCan - Bluette ((((((((((((((((((Night))))))))))))))))))))))
meeha/ece/tx - Hi!
Dave MontrealCan - Hello Meeha welcome
anthony - Color chalk is a good idea. The board is green. Is there a particular color that would be more visible? Is yellow the best?
meeha/ece/tx - Hi Dave! How goes the meeting?
Dave MontrealCan - anthony yes yellow is one of the better ones
Dave MontrealCan - Meeha the meetign is going well here and welcome
meeha/ece/tx - A strong, bright yellow -- right, Dave?
meeha/ece/tx - Just got in ...
anthony - Thanks for the advice. I need to get going now because I still have work to do for tomorrow.
Dave MontrealCan - Meeha yes strong bright yellow is best
Dave MontrealCan - anthony read my articles in the tnet gazette
meeha/ece/tx - Dave -- I need you to write one on parent compliance with vision therapy and vision support (like glasses) ..... and an article on modifying behavior toward ongoing wearing of glasses!
Dave MontrealCan - Meeha ok I willi am glad you gave me that input
Dave MontrealCan - Meeha do you find that most children in your classroom include a psychically challenged student??
meeha/ece/tx - more of my kiddos are speech and language impaired ... just a few with other issues.
meeha/ece/tx - Not so much physically challenged.
Dave MontrealCan - Meeha the hardest thing for these children is socializing with others
meeha/ece/tx - For this child it IS tough!
Dave MontrealCan - welcome back msd teacher
Dave MontrealCan - Meeha i know i have been there and it hurts i know
msdteacher - meeha what do you mean by vision therapy?
meeha/ece/tx - glasses ... eye exams ...
msdteacher - you need to clarify that. I used to be a vision teacher and I and my colleagues were often offened by the term vision therapy we are not like OT, PT and SLP, we do modifications and help kids use their remaining vision, not providing therapy.
meeha/ece/tx - I've read and heard about "vision therapy" where kiddos track dots and lines and similar -- I just know that glasses and monitoring vision are very therapeutic for some kiddos!
Dave MontrealCan - msdteacher were you an itinerant teacher?
msdteacher - yes, and resource and self contained
msdteacher - that is not really effective
Dave MontrealCan - Msdteacher nice to meet you
msdteacher - tracking lines and dots are splinter skills. I always taught my students to use their vision in functional capacities
msdteacher - even my student with å cortical visual impairment, we work with him to use his remaining vision
Dave MontrealCan - Msdteacher i always used my vision as much as i could actually
meeha/ece/tx - It was skills I saw an Optometrist (in Michigan) talk about doing as a kind of vision therapy (his term!) to increase what ... visual accuity.
msdteacher - through using objects, positioning and pairing vision with auditory
msdteacher - but that is not done in the schools. There are certified vision therapists
Dave MontrealCan - msdteacher where are you located
msdteacher - in the United States
Dave MontrealCan - Meeha do you have any visually impaired student s this year
meeha/ece/tx - Dave -- just the little ones we talked about last year. Only one who refuses glasses (but the glasses she has are SOOOOOO small -- it is more parent complinace!)
Dave MontrealCan - Meeha are the parents in denial of their child's impairment
meeha/ece/tx - Dave == no, just overwhelmed and not really knowing what to do.
Dave MontrealCan - Meeha maybe they need to be referred to some assistance let me give you a phone number are you ready to take it down
meeha/ece/tx - I'm talking with her mom right now ... insurance ... excuses ... schedules ...
meeha/ece/tx - ready ...
edu-ward - Hello there ...is this the seesion about helping the stundents with sight impair?
Dave MontrealCan - Meeha they can call the American Council of the Blind in Washington Dc it is toll free 1 800 424 8666
Dave MontrealCan - Hi Eduard it sure is welcome
edu-ward - There is a school here where the sight impaired students are using computer for their lesson ...how does that help the students?
Dave MontrealCan - Hello Katie welcome
Dave MontrealCan - uward the visually impaired and blind students benefit from using computers for example if a teacher wanted to increase the font size of a dociment for a sight impaired student it is now possible with computer technology there are programs such as jaws for windows and window eyes that help
edu-ward - It sounds helpful to the students who are sight impaired
edu-ward - I guess the blind students will have computers that can read for them, right?
Dave MontrealCan - eduward it sure is technology has come a long way in recent years
Dave MontrealCan - eduward they already do my friend who is totally blind is online and is doing all kinds of things
Dave MontrealCan - Katie what grade do you teach
edu-ward - unbelieveable! The modern technologies sure helping the special need students nowadays!
Dave MontrealCan - Eduward I agree and this will help these students to lead full lives and make a descent living in the future
Dave MontrealCan - I would like ot take this point to thank teachers net for allowing me ot use the meetign room for this session
edu-ward - However, these machines are quite costly at the moment, is that true in the States?
Dave MontrealCan - Have a wonderful evening everyone thanks everyone for stopping by
edu-ward - Thanks Dave
Dave MontrealCan - eduward yes but grants are available from the Lions club and many othe rresources to help
Dave MontrealCan - here in Canada these devices are provided on loan ot a student from th egovernment
Dave MontrealCan - Good night everyonesee ypou again soon
edu-ward - Good bye and thanks for the information
