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LMS students learn about blindness

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As the old saying goes, sometimes you have to “walk a mile in another's shoes” to really understand. Sixth-graders at Leander Middle School learned a little bit about what it was like to be blind this week, with a day of role-playing activities on Tuesday and visits to the Texas School for the Blind and Criss Cole Rehabilitation Center on Wednesday.

Each year, LMS sixth-graders study heroes. This year, their hero was blind and deaf author and lecturer Helen Keller (1880-1968). They watched a biographical movie, “The Miracle Worker,” about how Keller learned to communicate.

“We're trying to put the sixth-graders in these people's shoes, so they'll know what it's like,” said Lynette Sinders, Title I facilitator for the campus. “We also want to promote cultural awareness, to make them more aware of people who are heroes, but aren't celebrities.” Sinders is responsible for helping struggling readers on campus, including those with visual impairment.

LMS sixth-graders learned some of the tricks and techniques visually impaired people use in their everyday lives, such as the system for folding money so they can tell $5, $10, and $20 bills apart.

When the blindfolds went on, teachers and fellow students were still the same people. They weren't less intelligent. They just had to rely on other senses to accomplish common tasks.

Classes rotated through different stations throughout the day, learning a variety of lessons about blindness. Betty Huffman-Schrauer answered questions about being blind and introduced her guide dog, Star. Students and teachers tried their luck at making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while blindfolded.

Students got to see common tools used by blind people, including a cane and a Braille book. They wore goggles made to simulate low vision, and then tried to copy notes from the blackboard. They also conducted blindfolded exercises on the playground, arranging a rope into a square.

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