Letting Your Child’ Literate Side Out: Raising A Child Who Loves to Learn

Birth to Age 12, dual-sensory impairments

MAER conference, May 2014

Graciela Tiscareño-Sato, Milagro’s Mom and CEO, Publisher of Gracefully Global Group LLC [email protected]; Tel. (510) 542-9449 Overview

• Who Is My Child? • Acceptance, Hope before Action • Early Activities to Become 1st Teacher • High Expectations • Current Activities • The Result • Key Messages My Daughter Milagro

• Fragile start, 10.5” long, 1 pound, 25 weeks • Dual-sensory impairment • Who She Is Today – 5th Grade Speaker – Cochlear implant success story in the making – Bee Competitor In The Beginning…

• We had EXCELLENT and early services – Castro Valley School District (Carol Martin) – Blind Babies Foundation (Elizabeth Bates)

• Combined our own creativity with that of providers Empower Parents to Act by First Accepting the Situation Empower Parents to Act

ARTICLE for parents: “What I Did Before my Daughter’s First Birthday” – Adopted: "Don' lose your child to the disability."

http://www.familyconnect.org/parentsperspectives.aspx?D ocumentID=4108 Empower Parents to Act – FUTURE view, Philosophy – BBF counselor gift: Small Victories: Conversations about Prematurity, Disability, Vision Loss and Success by Mary Lou Dickerson

“Let your kids fall flat on their faces. Let them decide their own limitations.”

Roger Gordon Jones in Small Victories Empower Parents to Act – (a..a Go Ahead, Meet Blind People)

• Attended NFB state conference-confront blindness head on – Tears/fear became real – Product managers – Engineers – Tech experts, my kind of people – **First glimpse of hope and possibility for daughter’s future Meet an Independent Blind Adult for Lunch • Strategic thinking. I asked 2 things: • "What did your parents do really well as you were growing up?"

and • "What do you wish your parents had done differently?“

• Get Real, Glimpse the Future

Andrea and Chip It’s Not About You – It’s About the Child

• Coaching other parents – NFB chat: mom & dad, no acceptance at age 8, no cane – ELBOW ATTACHMENT: chat /17 year-old at Camp Bloomfield • Results • Message received best as parent-to-parent Power of Inspirational Parents: Meb Phillips

• Elizabeth’s story; Meb Phillips, Mom’s resolve • Advice to me, my advice for parents: – Get on Seedlings (print/Braille books) mailing list – Meet parents of older kids who are blind in district – Seek adaptive tech to make world accessible – Learn the laws, ensure compliance for your child’s sake

– “Never let them have low expectations of your child.” Acceptance: United Front for Long-Term Advocacy • As a couple – Shared vision of child’s potential and future – At age 2 –Special Ed Law Workshop, Wrightslaw newsletter • BOOK: From Emotions to Advocacy ("my spED how-to manual”) • BOOK: Special Education Law Acceptance: United Front for Long-Term Advocacy

CRITICAL for both commit to: 1) KNOW our rights 2) EXERCISE our rights/child’s rights 3) EXPOSE our IEP team to legal framework “sing off same sheet of music” Section Summary: Acceptance Motivates Parents to Act • Acceptance of disability must come first • Action trumps grief • The long-term view MATTERS • “Add to your knowledge to benefit your child” • Connect w/awesome parents, kids who are blind Acceptance – Future View, Hope… Knowledge Thirst ….NOW Mom and Dad Are Ready to Learn Braille Primer book from The National Braille Press

• A MUST-HAVE • Large pull-out sheet of Braille and contractions • Taped to bathroom door • Study code five-minutes at a time is great way to start • GET THIS! www.nbp.org or (800) 548-7323 Weird date nights with Braille and wine • One-page reference sheet • Inside The Braille Trail: An Activity Book by Anna Swenson and Frances Mary ’Andrea at AFB Press: www.afb.org/store/product.asp – 1951, War Veterans • Appropriate for Adults’ Fingers, Not Preschoolers’ ACTION! Gaining Knowledge, To Become First Teachers For Parents: Give Power, Specifics to Act Provide article: “Braille for My Baby: Six Things You Can Do at Home for Your Young Blind Child” Future Reflections Special Issue: A Celebration of Braille

Infancy: get Attend NFB Learn Braille Adopt touch-and- Convention code Mom & Perkins feel, w/child Dad; toddler: Panda Seedlings FREE! produce labels and his Books. for household books and objects. music. Source: https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/fr/fr28/fr280113.htm Baby’s First Books, Before I Found Braille Label the Home – “Bumps have meaning”

APH in-home labels, provided by TVI: + Sink, window, bed, toilet, drum, door, doll, book, cup, plate… We added more: closet, dryer, washer, dishwasher….

Speak the word aloud every time she touched labels. Other Resources Used • Au Pair – Self study - Hadley School for the Blind, see www.hadley-school.org

• Braille Book Bag from National Braille Press that contains Braille magnet letters, books, a booklet, and many other items. Informed, Forceful Parental Advocacy Critical to Literacy – Record all IEP meetings – Attend ALL IEP meetings together, no exceptions • "You Gotta Know The Rules If You're Gonna Play The Game" • Nurture the parent/school district(s) relationship (“a marriage without possibility of divorce” https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/fr/fr28/3/fr280312.htm United Front – IEP Vision Slides United Front – IEP Vision Slides United Front – IEP Vision Slides United Front – IEP Vision Slides United Front – IEP Vision Slides United Front – IEP Vision Slides Early Shopping Lists

• Slate and stylus – at home or in the car • Three items in store • She checked off each as we shopped Learning Words –APH Word Playhouse Bite – sized Pieces 365 Days of Experiences

Dryer Lint! NFB – Learn From 5000 Blind Adults

• “Andre is blind and has a cane.” • “I am blind and have a cane.” • “There are many, many canes in the elevator.” Mountbatten, BrailleNote, APH Draftsman ASAP in home

Due to age-appropriate expectations, we NEVER bought into the opinion of “readiness” for these literacy tools; wrote goals EARLY to require them to get them in her hands ASAP. Math Literacy Tools from APH Met Stanford Univ. student who’s Blind – Helped Move • Profound impact on me • Guide dog • Clothing organization • Orientation process • WOW – again, the power of older students/parents Demanding High Expectations Power of Inspirational Parents: Eric Vasiloukas, .D. • Keynote speaker CTEVH “Equal Expectations: A Belief Paradigm or a Politically Correct, Feel- Good Phrase?” • Two sons blind with LCA (Vejas, Petras) • Lithuanian Braille

ARTICLE SOURCE: NFB Future Reflections, Winter/Spring 2008 Familiar? Using these Reading Rates ?

Reading Rate (wpm)

Grade Level Texas School for the Blind and Visually Michigan Scale* Impaired (TSBVI) Assessment Kit 3 51 30 4 58 --- 5 66 --- 6 67 60 9 --- 90 High School --- 120 Graduate College 115 ---

*Source: AERBVI list serve-http://lists.aerbvi.org/pipermail/aernet_lists.aerbvi.org/2012-October/020133.html Familiar? Using these?

Reading Rate (wpm)

Grade Level Texas School for the Blind and Visually Michigan Scale* Impaired (TSBVI) Assessment Kit 3 51 30 4 58 --- 5 66 --- 6 67 60 9 --- 90 High School --- 120 Graduate College 115 ---

*Source: AERBVI list serve-http://lists.aerbvi.org/pipermail/aernet_lists.aerbvi.org/2012-October/020133.html Dept of Ed and District- level Fluency Rates District Grade Benchmark Grade Level (wpm with 95% Words per Minute (wpm) Level accuracy) Silent Oral 1 60 2 70-100 66-104 2 115 3 95-130 86-124 3 130 4 120-170 95-130 4 135 5 160-210 108-140 5 150 6 180-230 112-145 7 180-240 122-155 Equal Expectations? Let’s Raise Expectations

Reading Rate (wpm)

Grade Grade Level Texas School for the Words per Minute (wpm) DOE Blind and Visually Level Michigan Scale* Impaired (TSBVI) Silent Oral Assessment Kit 2 70-100 66-104 3 51 30 3 95-130 86-124 4 58 --- 5 66 --- 4 120-170 95-130 6 67 60 5 160-210 108-140 9 --- 90 6 180-230 112-145 High School --- 120 Graduate 7 180-240 122-155 College 115 ---

“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.” Michelangelo

*Source: AERBVI list serve-http://lists.aerbvi.org/pipermail/aernet_lists.aerbvi.org/2012-October/020133.html Eric Vasiloukas, M.D.; Demanding High Expectations

• Data proving institutional low expectations • Provocative message, many audience members squirming • Encouraged parents to have this discussion w/IEP team • Encouraged educators to assess beliefs on expectations • Power of parents to teach my daughter’s team • LIFE-CHANGING moment for me • My presentation partner 1 hour later – “Wild Side Out” • **Read transcript of his speech of March 2, 2007

ARTICLE SOURCE: NFB Future Reflections, Winter/Spring 2008 Current Literacy Activities Early Bilingual Braille Books Journaling about Outdoor Adventures/Objects • FOR child, as she listened • With child, helping with spelling • Independently • In car, with BrailleNote… Negative Tide,Blue Agave, California Mission History Child Becomes Author

• Bop It Garden original story • “Happy New Ear! a book by Milagro Sato, copyright 2014” Child As Advancement Ceremony Speaker

Milagro reads “Vannoy is a Rose” TOO MANY Braille Books in the House!! • Braille Institute - Monthly • Spider Magazine – Monthly • Library in Sacramento • Local library • CSB Bookshare.org

• An Accessible Online Library for people with print disabilities • We put digital Braille books on her BrailleNote Adapted Games for Fun, Socializing • Slumber party • Girl Scout Camp Adapted Games for Science -I---

• Chips stay in squares • Can play at home/church Bilingual Braille Discovering German and The Results Results: JOY and Eagerness!

Captain Underpants & the Attack of the Talking Toilets Results: VIDEO JOY Braille Quesadilla Contest

• How many contractions can she read in 3 minutes? Braille Bee – Top 8 Finalists, CA School for Blind

Dot 5 = right

Willpower Recent epiphany – my daughter inspiring me

“If she can achieve all that without eyesight and with a severe hearing impairment, imagine what little Latinos without those impairments can accomplish, if only all educators, administrators and parents have high expectations of them.” – Graciela Tiscareno- Sato, Milagro’s mom in a blog post at the White House site Blogging: Compelled to Share Our Journey

Blog.gracetiscareno- sato.com DVD Letting Your Child’s Literate Side Out: Raising A Child Who Loves to Learn, will ship fall 2014

Pre-order and buy at www.GracefullyGlobal.com/commerce.

Please email [email protected] for status, pricing. Key Messages

• Acceptance before action • Acceptance powers knowledge thirst • Parents: It’s not about YOU, it’s about your child’s life • Own the vision of your child – SPREAD vision to IEP team • It’s all about HIGH expectations (parents’, educators’ AND administrators’) – no excuses • Parents must meet parents with high expectations & awesome kids • Results (independent, literate, always-learning child) matter Click to edit Master title style • Click to edit Master text styles – Second level • Third level – Fourth level » Fifth level

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