[misc.handicap] blind or deaf prescho

Julie.Aman@f120.n226.z1.fidonet.org (Julie Aman) (11/02/90)

Index Number: 11444

AP>Hi Julie,

AP>As a teacher of the Visually Impaired, I have several questions. First
  >of all, does your son's vision allow him to see small moving objects on
  >a screen? In other words, can he "track" them? Secondly, what does his
  >Mision teacher say? Is he/she concerned about the way in which he sees
  >and what are they doing to increase his ability to use his vision? Then,
  >have you talked to the local teacher of The Deaf in the school? What
  >does he/she say? Is your son getting speech therapy? This should be done
  >to increase his language skills.

I don't know about on a screen, but he tracks airplanes in the sky just 
fine.  At VIP, Kiyoshi is learning to use both his vision and his hearing. 
He has an aide from the hearing-impaired program who makes sure that his 
deafness is being adequately addressed.  He also is receiving speech 
therapy.

  >I realize that you've probably got answers to all these, and you need to
  >sort out all the info you have. If I can help, please let me know. If
  >you are concerned about your son's deafness and how to best cope,

I'm most concerned that he may be missing something.  And I'm not really 
sure who is the best person to ask.  Mostly I just need to talk to 
someone to sort out what I'm thinking/feeling.

  >I guess I would go on the principal that the best preschool would be the
  >one which address your son's "worst" disability. Now, all this may be

The trouble is distinguishing which is his *worst*.  To me, it seems it 
might be his hearing, but as a visually impaired person myself, I may be 
biased.  With almost-normal vision and almost-normal hearing with glasses 
and hearing aids, it's hard to really know.

TCOY, 
- Julie
 * SLMR 1.0 * Intelligence is the ultimate aphrodisiac.

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