First day and last day

Looking at the photos above makes me want to smile a little and cry a little. Both kids had SO MUCH growth this year... they did well and I am proud. It's the last time Camille will wear the St. Rose uniform. Next year she will join her brother at the public school. He will be in kindergarten and she will be in fourth grade... amongst the youngest and oldest kids. They Camille will move on to middle school, then be finished high school before JP enters.

Adaptive Sports

We LOVE adaptive sports! JP played TOP (Total Outreach Program) soccer this Spring as well as Challenger League t-ball. He also had the opportunity to participate in the Special Olympics Summer Games for our state through the Young Athlete's Program.

Adaptive sports are so important for kids with disabilities. We're so thankful to the organizers, coaches, buddies and volunteers who make these adaptive programs available for our kids!

The Smart Braille - a sister's chance...

 

Marty's 2 weeks has come and gone in the blink of an eye! Although JP, and occasionally Mike, have been the focus of our time with the SMART Brailler, even Camille had a chance to spend a little time with Marty. See? ANYONE can learn Braille! Camille, age 8, especially enjoyed the APH learning module. She enjoyed the games that challenged her to learn the braille letters!

 

Marty will leave us this week, heading to Arlington Virginia for his next stop on his backpacking Brailler voyage. Thanks Wonderbaby and Perkins products for the opportunity to participate in this event! The entire Corman Family enjoyed Marty's visit and we all learned a whole lot too!

Please click on the photo above to learn more about Marty and the Backpacking SMART Brailler event!

Preschool Grad!

JP (center green chair) patiently waits for the preschool graduation ceremony to commence!

JP next to his best friend, Jackson. They'll be going to Kindergarten together next year.

JP & Mrs. Beach. She's been an incredible teacher for him these past 2 years and we're going to miss her a lot!

Mrs. Beach's class of 5 graduated from preschool yesterday. It was a bitter-sweet day as I am so thrilled about the growth JP has made and his opportunity to go to kindergarten with some friends. But he's my baby, and he's growing up. This was our last preschool graduation.

Congrats JP! Look out world... here he comes!

Wills Eye Institute

Doctors appointments are never very fun. Eye doctors appointments are even less so, especially when you have very little vision and your experience with eye doctors has included major trauma.

But JP goes... every 6 months. His exams include checking his prosthetic for fit and that everything looks healthy. He is checked for glaucoma and his overall eye health is assessed.

The visits are difficult. But, with time, it does get better. Today JP handled his eye appointment like a boss! He bravely faced the appointment, bribed by Mommy with a promise to take an extra ride on the elevator (one of his current loves) and, of course, the ever popular trip on the train.

In the "hot seat" at the eye doctor.

We also use trips into the city as an opportunity to practice O&M... Particularly cane travel. Some day, JP will rely on public transportation to get around. He loves to ride the high speed line, our local commuter train into the city. At just 5 years old, he's already pretty good at navigating the train station, finding the turnstile, tapping the card to open the turnstile, finding the stairs and locating the warning bumps on the platform, so he doesn't get too close to the tracks. He's made so much progress this year.  Today JP was extra "grown up" about his visit. He was a big boy, and Mommy is really proud!

At the speed line station in Philly, heading down to the platform and counting steps.

"Marty" the SMART Brailler... making homework fun!

The 2012-13 school year is winding down, but the homework continues.... And so it remains for Jon Paul, homework is a constant! Tonight we decided to do his Braille exercises on the SMART Brailler... WHAT A SUCCESS! JP was happy, engaged and actually ejoyed completing his homework! I hope his TVI (teacher of the visually impaired) can appreciate that, tonight, homework was engaging and FUN, with the help of the SMART Brailler! 

 

Please click on the photo above to learn more about Marty and the Backpacking SMART Brailler event!

Marty goes to the mall!

Marty goes to the mall??? Say what???

Jon Paul really wanted to share Marty with his friend Lily... but due to packed schedules (end of sports, dance recitals, end of the school year, ect...) We only had a tiny window... Saturday night. Unfortunately the local library closes early, so we decided to meet, of all places, at the mall food court. That's were Marty and Lily fell in love...

But I digress... This is Lily... She's a 5 year old preschooler who is visually impaired due to ROP... (aren't they cute?!)... Lily's mom, Lisa, would really like Lily to have the benefit of Braille. She was thrilled to have the opportunity to spend a little time with "Marty"...

Lily checks out Marty, with a little hand-over-hand help from mom...

Lily gets a closer look at Marty.



After a quick lesson, Lily, with the help of mom, Lisa went to town! Lisa did remark that she's never seen Lily so engaged with a Brailler before! Lily has little interest in her standard Perkins Brailler and she did well with the SMART Brailler's instant feedback.  We talked about the applications while Lily explored the SMART Brailler. After a bit, I brailled her name, L-I-L-Y... and when Marty ready it back, Lily squealed in delight! 

A fun evening out... another win for Marty!

Please click on the photo above to learn more about Marty and the Backpacking SMART Brailler event!

"Marty's" Q&A

Since finding out Marty has arrived at our house, I've gotten some comments and questions about the SMART Brailler. I've asked my darling husband, Mike, to help address these questions via video demo. The 2 most popular question have been around Marty's ability to support contracted Braille and math.

Jody, mother of Kyle, age 7, asks, "Can Marty do both uncontracted and contracted Braille? And if so, is the feature easy to use?"

Jody, yes! Marty can do both uncontracted and contracted Braille. And to switch between the two is merely the click of a button! Button number 3 to be exact... This button can be used to toggle between uncontracted and contract Braille.

Michele, mother of Brian, age 15, wrote "My son is having trouble with Braille math. I am wondering if the SMART Brailler would be a useful tool, so I can help confirm that he is producing the correct Braille characters for Math equations."

Michele, unfortunately, no. Mike tried to produce simple math equations (as an example, 1 + 2 = 3) and the SMART Brailler was unable to recognize the input as a math equation.

So as you can see, while Marty is amazing and CAN do a lot of fun things, Math is not his strong suite!

Please feel free to submit your questions below! We plan to address everything and anything we can!

Please click on the photo above to learn more about Marty and the Backpacking SMART Brailler event!

Jon Paul in action!

 

"Marty" the SMART Brailler has been with us for a few days now. Until now, Jon Paul has only had the 'luxury' of a classic Perkins Brailler... the same tool his father grew up with... (infact, the one in the video belongs to his dad!) So, I asked Jon Paul what he thought... of course, being a technology driven guy, he said he liked the SMART Brailler (who doesn't love technology!)

 

 

Below, Jon Paul demonstrates some of the alphabet on the SMART Brailler. I think he was a bit embarrassed about his mistake on the letter "e"... (he turned the brailler off as a result and the restart takes a bit of time!)

 No matter... we're happy to see what the upcoming days hold. We've got plenty planned for Marty! Stay tuned!

Please click on the photo above to learn more about Marty and the Backpacking SMART Brailler event!

"Marty" the SMART Brailler has arrived!

"Marty", the traveling SMART Brailler arrived at our house this afternoon.We were all very anxious to take the SMART Brailler out of the box and get going!

I must say, I thought it would be "easy". I thought, since we're familiar with the standard Perkins Brailler we'd have no trouble... Just plug it in and GO!...

Not so fast...

JP enjoys his first look at "Marty" the SMART Brailler. He was excited by the sounds as he brailled different letters.

The SMART Brailler is a little different. It's built on the footprint of the Next Generation Perkins Brailler which is nice, because it's much lighter than the standard Perkins Brailler. However, it does make it a bit different when you're trying to use it versus the standard Perkins. Not impossible, just different.

Upon start up, users have the option to take an audio tour of the features of the SMART Brailler. I found the audio tour helpful with the exception that you could not rewind or advance the audio tour to revisit feature information. That was a bit frustrating. There was also no reference manual for guidance. Fortunately, there was a print out of the audio tour in the backpack from Wonderbaby. I am sure it will prove to be useful!

We are excited about the concept and JP certainly enjoyed the auditory output.We are looking forward to spending some time exploring the features and sharing our adventures with you. Check back for more updates!

Click on the photo for the great news!

Thank you!