[Colorado-talk] Fwd: [Chapter-presidents] Article about our continuing struggle for Braille literacy

[Dan Burke]

A must-read.



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Danielsen, Chris via Chapter-presidents" <chapter-presidents at nfbnet.org>
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 2015 17:11:43 +0000
Subject: [Chapter-presidents] Article about our continuing struggle
for Braille literacy
To: "chapter-presidents at nfbnet.org" <chapter-presidents at nfbnet.org>

Dear Fellow Federationists:

Below is an article which appeared today in a New Jersey newspaper. I
thought it would be of interest, this being read Across America Day,
as our struggle for Braille literacy continues. Enjoy.

Chris Danielsen


In N.J., a battle over Braille instruction
Kim Mulford<http://www.courierpostonline.com/staff/11467/kim-mulford/>,
Courier-Post
9:56 a.m. EST March 1, 2015
[cid:image001.jpg at 01D054E1.EFC4A0C0]Buy Photo

(Photo: Chris LaChall/Courier-Post)

Like his fellow first-graders at Springville Elementary School in
Mount Laurel, Henry Norton is learning how to read and write. It's a
skill he'll need to become an independent, working adult.

But his parents, Kim and Philip Norton, had to fight to get literacy
instruction for their son - and they aren't alone.

Born deaf and now nearly blind, Henry is among the few students in New
Jersey who receive formal Braille instruction in school. The bright
7-year-old now spends four hours a week with a teacher of the visually
impaired, as he learns to interpret tiny raised bumps with his
fingertips.

His parents believe that's not enough. If Henry's sighted classmates
spent only that much time a week on literacy skills, Kim Norton said,
"I'm sure there would be a lot of (ticked)-off parents. But, because
we're in such a minority, it's OK."
Indeed, within the state's blind and visually impaired community,
Henry is among the lucky few. Visually impaired children rarely work
with a Braille instructor each week, let alone four times a week.

In New Jersey, families believe, Braille instruction is doled out
according to what state resources are available in a child's
geographic area, not according to a child's educational needs. Like
the Nortons, many spend their savings to hire lawyers and experts to
bolster their cases with school districts, state agencies and judges.

And sometimes, frustrated parents pull their kids out of school altogether.
[cid:image002.jpg at 01D054E1.EFC4A0C0]Buy Photo

7-year-old son Henry Norton, who has limited vision, uses a Brailler
to write as Henry does his Braille homework in his Mount Laurel home.
02.23.15 (Photo: Chris LaChall/Courier-Post)

The problem, parents say, often centers on the NJ Commission for the
Blind and Visually Impaired, a state Department of Human Services
agency with a $27.4 million budget and 48 instructors on staff. The
agency provides services, visual aides, and supportive equipment for
the state's blind and visually impaired residents.

That is, when the commission agrees residents need such services.

Of the 1,904 schoolchildren receiving education services from the
commission, just 24 receive Braille lessons at least four times a
week, according to the state Department of Human Services. The vast
majority - 1,521 - don't get any.

Jeffrey and Holly Miller of Oceanport had to sue their school district
to obtain Braille services for their visually impaired son. In 2012,
nearly four years after first requesting Braille instruction, the
Millers won. A judge found the commission and school district were
biased against Braille, and ordered them to provide 90 minutes of
Braille instruction each day, five days a week. The case won national
attention<https://nfb.org/national-federation-blind-applauds-new-jersey-ruling-braille-instruction-blind-child>.

For decades, the notion of teaching Braille to children who aren't
totally blind was not popular, said Barbara Shalit of Morristown, a
retired commission teacher of the visually impaired, who now works
independently. Today, she believes the pendulum is swinging back the
other way.

"Logistically, I think it's a matter of resources," Shalit said. "I
don't think the commission would begrudge Braille if they had the
resources."

Daniel Frye, executive director of the NJ Commission for the Blind and
Visually Impaired since October 2013, said he believes his agency has
enough Braille instructors to supply the identified need, and that
families should advocate for their children if they want Braille
taught to them in school.
[cid:image003.jpg at 01D054E1.EFC4A0C0]Buy Photo

Michael Corman, a blind attorney who is fluent in Braille, sits next
to his 7-year-old visually impaired son Jon Paul as he reads Braille
in their Barrington home. Jon Paul, who has only one eye and
significantly limited vision, is learning how to read and write using
Braille. (Photo: Chris LaChall/Courier-Post)

He welcomed parents to call his office with concerns about their
children's education and said his commission will work with school
districts and families to "achieve what is appropriate and necessary
for all students."

"There is nothing inherent in state policy that limits Braille," said
Frye, who himself was visually impaired as a child and learned Braille
when he lost more vision at age 12.

"As we develop our strategic plan at our commission, I have made it
clear to my staff that we will provide Braille to any student who asks
for it and whose parents believe that it's necessary - that we will
provide Braille instruction without regard to a child's existing
residual vision, because we believe that Braille complements and
strengthens a child's ability to function, whether he or she has some
vision or not."

But families say that's not happening yet. Documents provided to the
Courier-Post reveal a pattern repeated from one school district to
another.

Federal and state law protects children with disabilities and entitles
them to "free and appropriate" educational services tailored to their
needs. Those services and goals are laid out in a child's IEP, or
Individualized Education Program. Once school administrators, teachers
and parents agree to the plan, a district is required to provide the
necessary services.

The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act protects a
blind or visually impaired student's right to learn Braille, unless
the child doesn't need it, either now or in the future. New Jersey's
own special education code
<http://www.nj.gov/education/code/current/title6a/chap14.pdf> requires
Braille instruction for blind and visually impaired children, unless
the IEP team finds it's not appropriate after an evaluation of the
child's reading and writing skills.
[cid:image004.jpg at 01D054E1.EFC4A0C0]Buy Photo

Faye Corman, assists her 7-year-old visually impaired son Jon Paul to
read Braille in their Barrington home. 02.23.15 (Photo: Chris
LaChall/Courier-Post)

Parents interviewed for this story said school districts view the
commission as the expert, and said it is difficult to get the
commission's teachers of the visually impaired to attend their
children's IEP meetings. When they did, they refused to provide
specific goals for their children's educational progress. Some parents
reported they had a hard time even getting an evaluation.

Pam Ronan, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services,
said in an emailed response that commission teachers regularly attend
IEP meetings and "often provide written goals for their students and
the commission is working to make this a more consistent practice."

If that's the case, it hasn't been that way for long. In 1993, the
Edison School District
sued<http://law.justia.com/cases/new-jersey/appellate-division-published/1993/265-n-j-super-266-1.html>
the commission for refusing to pay for educational services for one of
its blind students. A judge ruled the federal disabilities law applied
only to local school districts, not to the state agency, since it does
not receive IDEA funds.

The commission has a long history in the state and that history has
become part of its culture, explained Carol Castellano, former
president of the national Parents of Blind Children, and a member of
the commission's strategic planning committee. With a new leader at
the commission, she expects things will improve.

"It's not so much that (teachers of the visually impaired) don't have
goals," the Madison, Morris County, resident said. "It's that the
goals have not been shared with the school system and put into the
(IEP). I think that's about to change. ... I think that's probably a
good thing."

A bigger concern, Castellano believes, is a long-held philosophy among
teachers of the visually impaired that Braille should only be taught
<https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/fr/fr33/2/fr330203.htm> to
those who are completely blind.

"This is what teachers across the country have been taught,"
Castellano said. "It's not a 'New Jersey' problem."

Indeed, instead of offering Braille to visually impaired youngsters,
the commissions' teachers and supervisors often recommend using
devices to magnify print, families said.

That's what happened to Jon Paul Corman, a 7-year-old in Barrington.
The first-grader needed one eye removed, and has one remaining eye
with low vision, thanks to corrective surgery and thick glasses.

He can read very large print if he pushes his face up close to the
material, but it's tiring, said his mother, Faye Corman.

"They seem to have this kind of unwritten policy that, unless you're
totally blind ... you don't qualify to be a Braille user," Corman
said. "What happens down the road, when the print is tiny, and he's
required to read pages and pages of it?"

It's especially infuriating to Jon Paul's father, Mike Corman.
Completely blind and a Braille user since kindergarten, the lawyer
said using the tactile language is critical to his ability to
communicate. He learned it as a young child, when it's easier to pick
up the complex system.

"The fact that the commission is balking at teaching him Braille is, I
would dare say, criminal. The fact that it seems to be an unwritten
policy is horrible," Corman said.
[cid:image005.jpg at 01D054E1.EFC4A0C0]Buy Photo

Faye Corman assists her 7-year-old visually impaired son Jon Paul in
reading Braille, as Faye's husband and Jon Paul's father Mike Corman,
a blind attorney who is fluent in Braille, sits close-by in their
Barrington home. Jon Paul, who has only one eye, and significantly
limited vision, is learning how to read and write using Braille.
02.23.15 (Photo: Chris LaChall/Courier-Post)

To make up for what Jon Paul isn't getting at school, Corman tries to
teach him at home during the weekends.

"But that's not where he should be getting it," Corman said. "He needs
to be getting it at school."

Tired of watching her daughter struggle in school without Braille, Amy
Darlington of Moorestown pulled her out of the system about a year and
a half ago to teach the little girl herself. Born with significant
visual impairments, 7-year-old Chloe has trouble focusing on print and
needs assistive technology just to make out the words. Though she is
smart and excels at math, reading even enlarged print quickly exhausts
her.

"When we asked about Braille ... we were told it was not an option,"
Darlington said. "We kept pressing the issue."

Darlington said a commission teacher of the visually impaired and her
commission supervisor told her Braille was not appropriate for Chloe,
without conducting an evaluation. Over an 18-month period, the
Darlington family sought several independent assessments, all of which
recommended Braille instruction.

The commission rejected them.

"The school, along the line, told us to look to the commission as the
experts," Darlington said.

By October 2013, Chloe was falling behind her peers in school, and her
parents decided to teach her at home. That means they no longer
receive any commission services or equipment, or assistance from the
school district.

They still receive a few hundred dollars a year from the federal
government for Chloe's special educational needs, but it's "a drop in
the bucket," Darlington said.

Still, she believes pulling out was worth the cost to their family.

"We were just exhausted," Darlington said. "I felt like we were
putting a tremendous amount of energy just to get her evaluated. We
felt they were a gatekeeper. We were just pounding and pounding on
them ... so we withdrew our daughter."

Darlington bought their own assistive equipment and Braille
curriculum, and took a course on teaching Braille. Last summer, Chloe
enrolled in a Braille summer camp offered in Philadelphia. She loved
it. Today, Chloe and her mother are learning Braille together.

"We're getting there, day by day," Darlington said. "In a way, it's a
gift I've been given, and there are no barriers."

The Norton family continues to battle with the commission and the
Mount Laurel school district. At an IEP meeting last week, after
requesting a full-time teacher of the visually impaired for Henry,
they were told the district cannot accommodate his needs. Instead, he
can be bused to a parochial school for the blind in Philadelphia.

Mount Laurel Superintendent Antoinette Rath was unavailable for comment.

Kim Norton, 42, estimates she and her husband have spent around
$50,000 of their retirement funds on their fight with the district,
which included a state investigation into their complaint about
Braille instruction.

Now, to keep Henry in his school, she said, they will need to hire
another lawyer.

"My husband and I have seen our life savings hatcheted," Norton said.

"There's no end in sight. That's the scary part. This is why parents
whose children have special needs can't fight. They just don't have a
bucket full of money to fight the Goliath in the room. They have to
take whatever they're given, because fighting costs money."

Reach Kim Mulford at (856) 486-2448 or
kmulford at courierpostonline.com<mailto:kmulford at courierpostonline.com>.
Follow her on Twitter @CP_KimMulford





Christopher S. Danielsen, J.D.
Director of Public Relations
National Federation of the Blind
200 East Wells Street
Baltimore, MD 21230
Office: (410) 659-9314, extension 2330
Mobile: (410) 262-1281
Email: cdanielsen at nfb.org<mailto:cdanielsen at nfb.org>
Twitter: @NFB_Voice

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create
obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life
you want; blindness is not what holds you back.

Make a gift<https://nfb.org/make-gift> to the National Federation of
the Blind and help ensure all blind Americans live the lives they
want.




-- 
Dan Burke
My Cell:  406.546.8546
Twitter:  @DallDonal