[tri-med] Re: opthamologist/Penny

Hi Laurie :o)
School has been very proactive since we had a word of prayer with them his
first year there. And then this summer when he started losing what little
vision he had, I went in before school started and spoke to them about his
increased needs. Again...he has a very attentive teacher and aids in his
class with just 5 students. They have gone out of there way to arrange class
furniture in the best way they can so he does not get hurt and it's working
well ;o) While he's in his class room he needs little guidance and can even
find the CD pile when his music is over during their free time :O) He knows
where his Tech Talk is and anything else really :o) However...Devon has no
sense of personal safety. Combine that with no vision in his right eye, no
lower field of vision and no depth perception along with the cataract making
things worse than before in his "good eye" and you have a recipe for
disaster :o( Devon does not like people to hold his hand...he likes to be
the one in control. So...they're using a sort of variation of "sighted
guide"...or rather teaching him. Devon holds the forearm or hand of the
person walking with him and he walks next to them with them a little more in
front of him then level. They/we also prompt him ahead of time about steps,
curbs, a person, a wall...anything that he can run into which is pretty much
everything. When we finally got our tree up last week, we spent the whole
first 2 days hollering "TREE!!!" because he kept running into it. It helps
to have the lights on and then he can see it a little better :o) 
The only other way Devon does ok is to have the person guiding him right
behind him with both hands on his shoulders prompting him the whole
time...and then he does ok. He can also walk in from the bus or the car
without being held onto (at home anyway) and he has very little trouble
navigating the house unless something gets changed. We stay as uncluttered
as we can....no coffee tables or anything except the sofa, loveseat and
corner table. The TV is on a table against the wall and anchored to the wall
with steel brackets. Devon does not tolerate any toys or anything out from
where it belongs that he does not think belongs in the living area of our
house. And ever since Devon was born, Nicholas has kept everything he owns
in his room to lessen Devon's risk of tripping over things or breaking
things, etc :o) He can go let himself in the bathroom and open drawers for
the toothpaste and he can find his own toothbrush as well as find the toilet
to sit down on (only occasionally missing his target and having to catch
himself before he lands next to the toilet :O)

Love,
Penny...loving & devoted wife to Joe, the best husband in the world...mom to
Nick (17 yrs old...lover of Fishing, Dragons, Turtles, WofWC,
RollerCoasters, Chocolate Icecream w/ Ovaltine sprinkles, Devon (12
yrs...lover of Barney, Blue, Nappy ol' Bear w/dreadlocks, Elmo, & food in
general. Full trisomy 13 w/balanced translocation 5 and 13) , and Trooper
the Wonder Dog...our 10? year old yellow lab adopted from FL Lab Rescue
12/13/02 :o) Please visit the webpage my wonderful friend Karen made for me
on our trisomy listserv at:
http://www.trisomyonline.org/victor.html      
AND...see our Trooper on FL Lab Rescue's website at:
http://www.labradorrescue.net/success/index.html (Look for the name
Trooper...page 4 or 5 right now) AND :o)
http://livingwithtrisomy13.org/album9.htm
AND http://web.coehs.siu.edu/Grants/TRIS/
AND my new slideshow at: 
http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=3e291611cb644c422ff6bb&skin_id=402&utm_
source=otm&utm_medium=text_url
"Faith sees the invisible, believes  the incredible & receives the
impossible"
 


                  Building ___ooOOoo__ Rainbows
                       www.trisomyonline.org
                  Families Helping Families On-line

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