After a visit to Mrs. Duffy’s grade P/1 class by Sherrie Graham, BVI Itinerant Teacher, and Christa Rodrigues, O & M Specialist, the following story was written by Mrs. Duffy for the students’ families. Mrs. Duffy’s class is at Clark Rutherford School in Clementsport, NS, and Sherrie visits regularly to work with Faith, a student on her caseload.
I wanted to tell you about a unique and interesting experience we shared on November 9. We are visited regularly by Sherrie Graham, an itinerant teacher for APSEA, who works with students with visual impairments. On this visit, she brought her friend Christa Rodrigues, who works with students who have difficulties with mobility. Together, they taught us about what it means to be visually impaired, and about the different tools we can use to help us to see better. The students have seen some of these tools in use within our classroom, and this was a wonderful opportunity to learn a little bit more about them, and try them out for themselves!
Christa brought with her 10 goggles that impair vision in different ways, as well as 10 white canes. We went to the gym to try them out! The students decided the goggles made it really hard to see. They couldn’t see their friend’s faces, or the numbers on the clock, and almost tripped a few times!
The canes were much more fun, and we had fun sweeping them gently across the floor and tapping different surfaces to see what sounds they made. Our friend Faith was a wonderful teacher, and had fun sharing her experiences. She told us when she uses her white cane (for travel around the school) and why she uses it (for safety). We all learned so much about what it means to be visually impaired, and ways we can help our friends and people we might see in our community. Thank you, Sherrie & Christa!