VIDBE-Q Volume 67 Issue 3
impairment, let alone someone with complete blindness. I immediately felt like a
first-year teacher all over again and the panic set in.
Before she started school, two lovely ladies came to visit us from the vision
department; a Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments (TSVI) and a Certified
Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS). Two new acronyms I had never
heard before. These ladies were absolutely great! They did their best to give us
basic beginner knowledge to know what to expect and how to better prepare for
that first day. They also planned to be there on her first day to help transition her
off the bus and into our classroom. Ahh, I was relieved, a little.
I had a fairly self-sufficient and easy going group of students. Since they
were already settled in with the structure and routines of our classroom, I told my
paraprofessional that I wanted her to take the lead with our class and I would work
with our new student for the first week as she gets situated and we determine how
to best support her. My nerves got the best of me that night and I of course could
not sleep in anticipation of the first day with her. Then I met her, spent about 10
minutes with her and realized she is one of the coolest people I have ever met!
Her name is Brooklynn and she is the sole reason that I joined the TSVI
program. I was immediately fascinated with her ability to read and type braille so
efficiently. She would write sentences and hand her finished papers to me. I
chuckled to myself as I looked at this foreign document that was presented to
