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PEF Article 2

Parent: NYS School for the Blind Sees Son’s Abilities

By Sherry Halbrook

"We are very, very, very appreciative and grateful for this unique option for our kids," said Michelle Stone, whose son Tim, 14, has been at the State School for the Blind since he was seven.

"The main strength of the school is that it focuses on our children’s strengths and abilities, rather than their disabilities," she said.

Stone, a former president of the school’s Parent Advisory Committee, added that the school has benefited her entire family.

In the local school district, Stone said, "they focused on his disabilities and what he couldn’t do. They spent a year trying to teach him the color red (he is legally blind but has some vision). Then they wondered why he just put his head down. He was bored to tears."

Stone said she has found the opposite approach at the state school.

"Every single staff person at this school focuses on things the child can do, even if it’s just one tiny thing. They praise it and build on it. They build him up. They reward him and he does work very hard. He’s so proud of his accomplishments, as well he should be," Stone said.

"It’s really helped to build his self esteem and it’s changed my perspective as his parent. it’s made me much more positive about seeing the possibilities.

"He’s learned to read. We never though he would do that," she said.

Now, Tim – who is legally blind and multiply disabled – is learning to use an electric wheelchair and a new communications tool called a Dynavox.

"I have to say, they’ve stuck with it – trying to help him find a way to communicate. I’d really like to know more about what’s going on in his mind," Stone said.

Tim lives five days a week at the school, coming home on weekends and holidays.

"It takes a lot of people to give him the environment and support and expertise he needs every day and night. One or even two parents in a family are just not enough," Stone said.

"He has a happy and enjoyable life at school during the week," she continued. "He has made friends there, which he never did here. And while he is there it gives me more time with my husband and our other three children. Then, when he comes home on the weekend, we can focus on him. But by the time the weekend is over, he is getting bored and can’t wait to get back to school."

"It isn’t just one or two people who make the difference at this school. It’s the whole environment – everyone who works there. You know they have to love it, or they’re just not going to cut it."

Stone works for a voluntary agency in Syracuse that operates programs for families with mentally retarded and developmentally disabled children.

"Hundreds of people are on the waiting list for those services," she said."We know that if our child weren’t visually impaired, he wouldn’t be able to go to the School for the Blind. Many of these other parents wish it were an option for their children, too."