"I want you to read what I have written. I want you to see" is what my seven year old son insisted as I sat him on my lap completing his Hindi assignment.
As a visually challenged single parent, one of the hitches I face while taking up my son's studies is figuring out how to establish written communication between parent & child: A visually challenged parent would leave a messege or Braille or audio note for a child who returns from school to read... "Hope you had a Terrific Tuesday, Sweetheart. When Mommy returns we shall pick up reading the Science lesson on Light and Shadows. Till then...take care and be good! (And draw a smiley face at the end)" My residual vision allows me to scribble a line or two with a chalk on a blackboard or using a marker on a white board, but what adaptations would help him write to me? At school, he is doing very well with oral, elocutions and recitations....however, when it comes to written work whether it is at home or at school, he does it with lack of interest and the only area where he requires improvement is his handwriting. Technology and accessibility has been a boon in enabling me scan his text books, type out and save his class work and set tests and practice papers thus doing my bit in complimenting the effort of my friend who takes up his studies volentarily as a tuition teacher. When a subject is covered in class, and after we have read through the text and note books, we Google "our solar system" or long "division" or watch a you tube of the subject together. This activity helps me gauge his understanding of the subject and answer any questions which may pop up. It is my strong belief that visual limitations must not be allowed to come in the way of a parent taking up a child's studies or motivating him academically. The only gap is in the different tools my son and I use to read and write. His lack of interest in writing may or may not be linked to my visual impairment or inability to help with his written work. It could be a mere phase of childishness, however, the question of establishing written communication with him still remains he and I being on different wavelengths and me not wanting him to use a phone or computer as a tool to write to me? Friends, your thoughts and ideas on how to bridge if not eliminate this gap in written communication between a visually challenged Mon and a young child & rekindle his desire and love for writing would be appreciated. Regards, Payal Celebrating Louis Braille birthday Jan4th Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
