Published Sunday, July 7, 2002
Herald Staff Writer
How much do we take our vision for granted? Without sight, simple tasks like reading this article would not be possible. Loss of sight is a problem many area residents face.
The Keystone Blind Association, 1230 Stambaugh Ave., Sharon, helps children with this impairment every day. The association makes daily tasks more understandable and shows them how to do tasks, despite impairments.
For the past several weeks, Kathie Preece, coordinator of children's events at the KBA, has been running several day camps.
Three recent camps included Creation Station, Career Caravan and Young Explorer's Camp.
Each camp included activities for children of different ages, with varying degrees of visual impairment.
During a visit to the Creation Station Camp, Ms. Preece taught the kids many lessons in creativity, the arts, social interaction and even cooking.
As she showed the children different fruits, Ms. Preece explained differences in things like limes and lemons as she passed them around the table, allowing each child to feel and smell the differences.
Some of them have minor vision loss while others are completely blind. The children range in age from 9 to 18 and there are 12 to 15 per camp.
As Tyrone Lites, a completely blind student at the KBA, feels his way around a pineapple -- the first time he has ever done so -- he learns from aide Jason Diaz what it is.
"It is really heavy. And we don't eat this part," Tyrone said as he showed everyone the leafy top.
During the arts and crafts portion of the camp, Philip Fischer, 9 began building a clay model.
"It is the Alamo," Philip said of his multi-colored creation, complete with red and blue armies and a fortress wall. "Camp here is really fun. I really like drawing the best."
Philip also spoke of the trip the children took to the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in Sharon.
"We pushed these buttons and famous songs from the fifties and sixties played," Philip said. "It was real fun."
After crafts, the students tried creative cooking with house chef Will Gaven.
Gaven lead the students step-by-step through making of bread pudding, a hands-on project that proved quite messy.
"Learning to cook with Will (Gaven) was great," said Jonathan Hearn, a camper with no sight. "I never had cooked before."
At the Career Caravan, the children learned many skills they will need as they move into high school.
One stop along the week of events was at Claudia and Company's Full Service Salon, 106 Mercer Ave. in Sharpsville.
Owner/Stylist Claudia White showed the campers the tools of the trade, including hair dryers, wash sinks, nail files and curling irons.
Some of the campers had never styled their own hair and got to feel for the first time the tools and finished hair styles. Ms. White covered appropriate hair styles for big events like prom and homecoming or college and job interviews.
"I really want to be a nail stylist," said camper Kristen White. "I think I'd like to do the air brushing. I like the artistic stuff we get to do at camp. It's real fun."
Other older students also mentioned the creative, social and professional lessons they had been learning through the camps.
"We don't get so much social interaction at regular (public) school," said Kayla Whithers, a completely blind camper. "Usually teachers and kids at school don't take so much time to teach us all these neat things."
Ms. Preece noted the experience at the KBA is a unique opportunity for students with vision impairment.
"Visually impaired students usually don't get to experience topics like art because teachers don't know what to do with them," Ms. Preece said. "Besides the basic lessons, we really want to teach the kids social skills. All too often they sit still and go into a world of themselves since they can't see the world around them."
Ms. Preece also mentioned this is one of the only times children with such impairments get to be around children with the same impairment.
"It is safe here for them, because they all have some level of loss of sight," Ms. Preece said. "No one teases them or makes fun, except us of course."
"Jonathan," she yelled across the room to a still, quite child in a wheelchair. "You are being a little rowdy over there."
"That is getting really old," Jonathan replied.
"It is a good place, too, for them to learn to roll with the punches and take some jokes as plain humor and fun," Ms. Preece said. "So much of our joking is in body language or facial expression, and that is something these kids don't see."
A younger group of students got to participate in the Young Explorer's Camp, which concentrated on development in the community. The first- through fifth-graders visited many local businesses and spent an afternoon in Buhl Farm park exploring both nature and the playground.
"These students seldom get to get outside and move around since their teachers, and even their parents, are afraid to let them explore," Ms. Preece said. "This is really a great opportunity for them to learn how to do this (explore on their own)."
Julia Seiders, 8, and Tosha Snyder, 4, go to do a lot of exploring during a day trip to the park. "We had so much fun this week," Julia said. "Playing at the park, and cupcakes and pizzas and just lots of fun stuff. Finger painting was the best."
"Yep," said a much quieter Tosha. "It's fun, lots of fun."
"And Friday is Kathie's (Preece) birthday, and we are making her a crown," added Julia.
Both girls said they had met a lot of great friends at camp, both with other campers and with their KBA staff helpers.
"That's Jason," Julia pointed out as Diaz runs towards the playground tower. "He is funny. And, since I have a crown with me today, he says I am the queen."
Ms. Preece said the camps ran smoothly, she said. She was happy to be able to teach the students life-long skills and not just the differences between apples and oranges.
"These are activities that are really interesting and different," said camper Dawn Vakasy. "They are thing we would never get to do otherwise."
One more camp, Technology Week, will run Aug. 5-9 to teach children with visual impairments computer skills and adaptive resources to use with technology.
Interested participants can get more information or sign up by calling the Keystone Blind Association at (724) 347-5501.