Tom’s New School, Part 2
Tommy started Orientation and Mobility (O&M) training very young. It began with “bumpers up” or walking with his hands raised in front of him for protection and exploration. Push toys were among his first O&M tools (pre-cane) and he loved them. He was a little terror rolling around our home. It was so cool to see him explore his environment and have full run of the house. He had our cats running for their lives! Okay, maybe they just shifted out of his way at the last second, once they realized he was coming straight for them. That’s what actually happened.
Tom was up and playing just hours after surgery. Kids are resilient! He loved this VTech push toy.
He began official O&M training when he turned two and got a new TVI (Teacher of the Visually Impaired) who was certified in O&M. We did two visits with him a week: one of pre-braille at home and one of O&M at the mall. Tom loved being out at the mall but he didn’t always love the O&M training. It was hard work! But it has really paid off and today Tom is quite good with his cane. He takes it everywhere now. One very useful thing about the cane is that it lets other people know that Tommy is blind. This keeps people from stepping on him. Without a cane they can’t understand why he didn’t get out of their way!
Practicing some cane skills at the mall at age two.
More practice at the mall with his little cane.
Here’s Tommy at the mall with us last week. He’s walking down the same halls he used to with his old O&M! And all he wants to do is go to Macy’s so he can ride the escalator. He LOVES elevators and escalators. It keeps him happy at the mall and it’s great fun to be able to enjoy the mall with him. He is a shopper!
Here’s Tommy on a recent trip to the mall. He loves to ride the elevators and escalators.
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Tommy is unstoppable!!
I admire you as parents. My little girl was born symmetrical IUGR and at 3 months her peadiatrician wrote microcephaly as her head is 0.4 centile on chart and weight and height are on 2 and 9th. She can see but only short distance (30 cms away). I am so worried about her and Tomas’ story has been my only source of inspiration. She has a small heart defect (VSD) and isolated hypoplasia of vermis as per MRI. Microarray genetics, kidneys etc are all normal. No one can tell me why this happened to her as I did not have any infections , never took drugs and always ate healthy. I am feeling so sad sometimes and it is hard but Maggie is so adorable -she laughs and smiles, plays with her toys and rolls over to one side at 5 months. I am hoping for the best. She is not a great eater but has about 150ml every 4-5 hours now and she is still so small-like a three months old. I started physio at 2 months as I could not wait for the state referral (they take ageas) so I read some books on the web and now we finally had our tone assessment. Maggie is on the 5th centile for her development and like Tommy has increased tone in her legs so we are stretching. Your son is adorable and he is such a smart little man! I am hopeful Maggie will be too.
Zoya
Hi Zoya,
Congratulations on you new baby Maggie! I know what it’s like to feel sad and afraid, and yet be so hopeful and in love with your child. It’s great that you are starting physical therapy (stretching) and looking into helping her on your own. There are many great places you can find ways to work with your daughter. I find tons on Pinterest. SOS therapies has great boards. https://www.pinterest.com/sostherapy/tips-for-parents/
And I have a pinterest board called Blind Kids Are Awesome! https://www.pinterest.com/jesstada/blind-kids-are-awesome/
You will find lots of great info there. But just remember, whatever diagnosis your daughter has, she is an individual and no one really knows what she is capable of. You can help her be the best she can be!
Best,
Jessica
Thank you for the kind words Jessica. And for the link to the site:)
That’s a major accomplishment towards independence Tommy–very impressive.
Thanks Nicole!!