Something new and exciting hit Grenada's shores on June 5th, 2011...professors Dr. Dixie Mercer and Mr. Barry Stafford from Stephen F. Austin State University arrived and over the next two weeks to follow, from June 6-16th, we conducted a workshop with the itinerant staff of teachers of the visually impaired from Resource Centre for the Blind. Many of whom did not receive the formal training in visual impairment education that and yet still were doing what they could for the students they were responsible for. It takes a lot of courage, adaptability and patience to do what they do with the limited resources available to work with.
The aim of the workshop was to provide materials to construct "Functional Vision Evaluation Kits" from local sources and train the teachers in how to administer the evals on their students to better "see how they see". When a teacher knows the acuity and scope of a student's vision, they can better program for them and assess their individual needs.
Other areas that were discussed included: Orientation and Mobility, Early Childhood Intervention, Parent-teacher relationships, Activity-based routines, and Sex Ed. for blind students with emphasis on HIV/AIDS.
We had a special opening ceremony or "meet n greet" with the professors, the workshop participants and Ministry of Education officials who all came to Resource Centre on our first day of the workshop. Mrs. Raeburn did an incredible job as MC and we even had MTV news come out and provide coverage for the event.
Dr. Mercer, Sherry and Mrs. Hyacinth were interviewed for the news story.
"ABCDE: Assessing Blind Children, Doing the Essentials to make their lives better" workshop featuring the teachers of the Resource Centre for the Blind in Grenada in conjunction with Peace Corps and Stephen F. Austin State University.
Disclaimer: The anchor called it a one-day workshop, but it actually took two weeks!
Enjoy!
Thanks to A.Gaalema for her contribution to this post.
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