Hello Ashley. Thanks so much for your message to me earlier today. I wanted to welcome you. What unique experiences you have working with our community with the various tools and certifications you have. I look forward to hearing ore about your work and the unique ways in which you address the needs of your students.
Perhaps the most unique student I am working with just now is a deafblind woman to whom I am teaching Braille. To further make things interesting, English is not her first language. I have learned that there are some words that simply don’t exist in ASL and so interpretation is not always word-for-word. So, we are working with a wonderful interpreter who tells me these tidbits so that I understand that when I teach her Braille, some of the sentences and words are not always literally one-for-one. Have you worked with any deafblind students to whom you, or someone else is adding Braille to their toolkit?
Yes! This is mostly the type of community I work with. I was an ASL/English interpreter first, so that is where my heart is! I have a current client that has learned UEB Uncontracted and it’s been difficult to find reading material that is not high register English words but not children topics! It’s a conundrum for sure. He loves politics (gag!!!) so he always wants to talk politics. I’ve been making him reading material on my own related to his topics of interest.
Use touch as often as possible to stay connected. When the interpreter is interpreting to the client tactily, you can still rest your hand either on the clients shoulder, arm, outer thigh area or even just touch knees or feet in a way to stay physically connected.
Many clients that are hearing/hard of hearing blind that I have worked with find that touch is something very underutilized in the blind/LV/VI Community. That’s what made this class SO intriguing to me!! Touch is where I live all the time!
Hello everyone. I am getting a really late start because this summer has been crazy.
Kelly Wakefield
TVI and soon to be CATIS in Northern IL
I work with kids pre-K through transition.
I am excited to learn from everyone who has been doing this a lot longer then me and from the people overseas!
Hello! I’m an SLP looking to use STACS for children with ASD.
Hi! I’m Kristen and am a TVI in Cincinnati, Ohio. I am looking forward to learning a lot about the Monarch - particularly graphing with math and using tactile graphics.