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welcome to moving forward i'm diane williamson
earlier this week I had the pleasure of meeting ben receiver
an extraordinary second-grader at georgetown elementary who competed in
the Braille challenge
over the summer this summer he competed in a
national contest in which he was one of sixty
students chosen to compete in Los Angeles California.
"out of over a thousand different kids
who competed in regional contest he and his family
flew to California where he had to
perform a spelling test. he had to spell words just as we would
spell the words.
he also then had to contract from the way you would
if you are blind student because print takes up so much more space
so contractions shorten it so there's less space required.
he also had to read a reading comprehension passage
and then answer questions on that passage. there are five
levels have competition Ian was in the apprentice category which is first and
second graders
and for the state of Indiana he placed first
at the apprentice level and he was the only one of
the first-graders competing at the national level all the other kids - the
other 10 -
were second-graders." Ian has been working with Braille for a few years.
"Probably since I was like 3 or 4 maybe where I started
in preschool. They knew I had one eye but they tested me anyway
with a magnifier.
It didn't work so we had to start up up braille.
It's pretty fun. You actually get to use your fingers
so you don't have to use a
a pencil. It's like
a machine with six keys
and you have to do different combinations for contractions and
letters. Contractions are like shortcuts.
For example for the word from- instead
of going F R O M you would just put in
F so you don't have to like use a thousand papers just for one
little bit of writing." "I learned Braille about the same time as Ian.
I had worked for the system
for 22 years in special ed and then heard
Ian was coming in and they needed someone who was willing to take on a
challenge.
So I started teaching myself braille and then took some courses
online so I now braille most of this work and transcribe what
Ian says so the teacher can read it. I will be staying with him throughout the
rest of his educational, follow him through
high school and I will braille materials that are not
text but materials that we would order through the school for the blind
... extra papers and things of that nature.
I do the Brailling and set it up so he can do the work the same as the class.
He does everything exactly the way they do it but he has to braille his answers.
But the teachers can't read it so I wright above it
what he's written so that they can then grade his papers."
It's quite a commitment. "Yes, it is!
I love it! It's
been a whole new area for me and it just makes me feel like I'm growing again."
Ian won first-place in Indiana last summer and is hoping to return to the Nationals
next year
and bring home that trophy as well! We're always looking for good stories to tell
so if you have one
let us know! And you can stay up to date by checking our website liking us
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I'm diane Williamson and we'll see you next week on moving forward.