APSEA Parents Association
"; Parent Newsletter
APSEA forms:b>
Links of Interest:b>
- New Brunswick Premier's Coucil on the Status of Disabled Persons http://gnb.ca/0048/
- PEI Paralympic Webhttp://www.paralympicspei.pe.ca
- Boston Children's Hospital Low Vision site http://www.childrenshospital.org/clinicalservices/Site1340/mainpageS1340P4.html
- National Braille Press http://www.nbp.org/
- Canadian Special Education
- Centre of Excellence for Children's Well-Being: Children and Adolescents with Special Needs http://www.coespecialneeds.ca
- Special Needs Information Service Online (an information & resource service for children with special needs in the Atlantic Provinces) at http://www.snis.ca
APSEA staff may be contacted by email by writing to: first name_lastname @apsea.ca
Executive 2008/2009
Ms. Wendy Pickrem, President (NS)
Ms. Allison Savoury, Vice President (NS)
Mr. Jeff Dowe, Vice President (NS)
Michelle Grant, Treasurer (NS)
Jo-Ann McInnis, Secretary (PE)
Urban Cannon (Advisor)
Spotlight
The following article was written by Danica Ketch, a grade twelve APSEA student with optic atrophy. It was for her younger brother, Dakota that she did what she did, because she realized she should be a support for him as he faced the same challenges that she had. Here is her story:
On February 19, I found myself in a place I had never dreamt I would be. For years I had tried to hide something I thought set me apart from others. But on that day, I stood in front of 500 people with the spotlight on me as I shared my long time hidden secret. This was the talent portion of the Miss. Woodstock Pageant, and I was one of the 11 young women in the running.
I have no real reason why I decided to run in the pageant. I thought it would be fun; a night at the Beast Western Hotel, a spa day at the local hair salon, taking part in a tea hosted by the committee and a fashion fitting. My only hesitation was the talent portion. What would my talent be? My mother had suggested a speech on my vision impairment and how I over came it. My first reaction was NO! I scrambled for two weeks trying to find something else to do. In the end I could not find anything and decided to just do the speech, even though I had no experience in public speaking.
My mother and I sat down at the kitchen table and began to write the story that began with a little girl falling over the garden hose one too many times. For a week and a half I practiced my speech to myself, but could never seem to bring myself to voice it in front of my parents.
The day of dress rehearsal was the first time I had ever delivered my speech in front of an audience, if you can call 20 people an audience. I was nervous, shaking, I almost cried and I forgot half of my speech.
The following day was talent day. The audience had grown to about 100, and the judges were watching. I had watched several of the girls perform from back stage and then came my turn. Walking to the podium I had many feelings but when I turned the corner and faced the audience I felt relaxed. To my surprise, I could not see anyone’s face, due to my vision impairment. This actually made delivering my speech easier. While other girls could see their family and friends staring at them I only saw faceless shapes in the crowd. If I had been able to see the emotional expressions of my family, I would never have gotten through my speech.
Being in the pageant was an experience I will never forget. It pushed me out of my comfort zone in a good way. Even though I had already accepted my vision impairment, the positive comments from people about my speech has made me more open about discussing it. Today I do not feel so shy about letting others know who I really am. This summer I am going on a senior class trip to Europe, and this fall I am attending university, which are two more things I never dreamed I would do.
For those who know Danica, such an accomplishment shows just how much she has grown over the years. Both Marjorie Rector ( Danica’s first itinerant teacher) and I had the privilege of watching this beautiful young woman compete in the Miss Woodstock 2008 Pageant.
Submitted by Lesley Anthony, APSEA Itinerant
The following is a review ofthe CNIB Children’s Discovery Portal, written by Dakota Ketch, a grade seven APSEA student with optic atrophy.
The CNIB Children's Discovery Portal is a great website for CNIB children who are 6 to 14 years of age. The website is good for kids who have low vision, because you can change the text size. If you are blind you can use your screen reader. There are a lot of things you can do on the site. For example you can chat, answer questions about yourself, play games, read online magazines, get help with your homework, or go on the library and borrow books.
The games are good. There are three games on the site. They are called dreadnought, doctor wacky, and crazy concerto. Dreadnought is pretty much like Battle ship, doctor wacky is a memory game, and crazy concerto is about matching and remembering.
There is a speak out column in which you answer questions related to the website. The CNIB kids portal has an event column. It shows you the event of that month. There is another column called favorites where you answer questions about yourself. There is a section called e-magazines. It has a variety of magazines for all ages of girls and boys. There are at least 40 magazines. Homework helper is another section where you can e-mail the librarian a question or you can search a database for information on your topic. The last section is the library. In this section you can borrow books in print, in braille, or on cd and they come straight to your mail box. You can also download electronic books.
I would recommend this to kids in APSEA as a fun website. The best part about it is the games. My favorite game is dreadnought. I also like the homework helper. It is useful if you are stuck on a question. This is one thing I don't like about the website. You can only chat for one hour on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and its really hard to remember when to go on to chat. I rate this website at 4 stars.