THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 10, 1995 TAG: 9505090113
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA MCNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
WHAT'S IT LIKE to be blind?
Youngsters all over the county who have never experienced being without sight are having that question answered for them.
Nancy Jackson, Isle of Wight's instructor for the visually impaired, is traveling the county with the message.
``If a child can't see, color is associated with smell,'' Jackson explained. ``They know what strawberries smell like. We tell them that strawberries are red.''
In a classroom demonstration Jackson plans eventually to present to students at every school in the county, sighted students are introduced to the Braille alphabet. They are shown examples of materials the visually handicapped students work with: They touch and feel the materials to explain how important the sense of touch becomes when a child can't see.
``I try to explain to them that a blind child is just like everybody else,'' Jackson said. ``He just has a different way of seeing.''
And she usually takes a piece of waxed paper to the classroom demonstrations. When children with sight hold the paper in front of their eyes, they can get some concept of what it's like to have severe vision problems.
``So many of the kids think that glasses will take care of everything,'' she said. ``If somebody can't see, they think all that person needs to do is to put glasses on.''
Jackson joined the local school system last fall as the county's first teacher of the visually impaired. Before that, she said, six students in Isle of Wight probably weren't getting the services they needed to cope with their disability.
Today, she travels to five schools to work with seven students, from preschool to high school age.
Jackson is a Detroit native. She attended Eastern Michigan University and graduated with a teaching degree. But from the beginning, she said, she intended to go further.
``I used to baby-sit a lot of handicapped children. I knew I wanted to work in special education.
``But I got my real inspiration from Mary Ingalls on `Little House on the Prairie.' ''
In the popular television series of a decade ago, Mary, the eldest daughter in a pioneer family, becomes blind - but goes on to teach in a school for the blind.
Jackson laughs about the source of her inspiration now, but she has never regretted the decision that led her to get a certificate for teaching the visually handicapped.
And every day, she said, is a new challenge.
``Since I started the program in this county, I walked into a classroom with a desk, a chair and a table. It's been up to me to find the right materials and equipment I need to help these kids. In a way, I work as a consultant because I help the regular classroom teacher to work with my students when they are with those teachers.''
Whenever possible, children with disabilities, including vision problems, are placed into regular classrooms - this is called mainstreaming. That's one of the reasons Jackson is taking her traveling demonstration around to the county's schools: She wants sighted youngsters to understand what it's like for some of their classmates who do not see as well, or at all.
Jackson has just a handful of students she works with directly. All of them are different. Only one is totally blind. Another has glaucoma. Another, who had jaundice at birth, may have suffered vision problems from the bright lights used to cure that condition. One child, who has multiple handicaps, can't speak, so it's often difficult to determine exactly how much the student is learning.
Even teaching Braille to a child with vision problems is a challenge, Jackson said.
``Learning Braille means learning contractions. The contraction for blind is `bl,' for example. It's like a kind of shorthand. And it makes it that much harder, that much more difficult, for them to translate Braille into the written word.''
Jackson said her greatest challenge has been trying to teach regular classroom teachers to work with her students because it is a specialty that requires patience and determination.
She's also still learning herself, working with the Virginia Department of the Visually Handicapped to learn orientation and mobility to help the children with visual impairments get around in their world.
``Down the road, my goal is to Braille the lessons and the tests. I have two students I'm teaching Braille to now, and it's amazing how quickly they're picking it up.''
The greatest satisfaction in her job so far, she said, came when another teacher asked one of the visually handicapped students, ``What is your favorite thing about school?''
The answer: ``When my vision teacher comes to see me.''
``That's really neat,'' Jackson said, smiling. ``I know I'm making a difference.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
Nancy Jackson works with Carrollton Elementary School student John
Pastorius, who is visually impaired.
by CNB