Preschool for the Blind: The Dream

Nikki and I typically go through phases where we get really excited and motivated about one aspect of therapy with our kids, do tons of research on it, and focus on that area for a while until it is established.  Then we keep that going and move on to something else.

First it was PT, then education, followed by communication, then cochlear implants/auditory therapy, and then up till recently was just a whole lot of everything!

In recent months though, doing research and really making a good plan for our blind kids has been our main focus - especially for our two new babies, Charlotte and Brianna, who seem to be typically developing (minus some natural delays due to being institutionalized).  We think they will grow up to be braille readers and fully verbal.  This stage in their development is crucial so we've been doing tons of research and took an online course on braille and working with babies and toddlers to develop the skills they will need to read braille as they get older.  It has been so interesting to learn about and we've been getting excited as we implement those concepts into our home and time with all of our blind children.

Some of the older SCH children from a different home go to a school for the blind here in the city and while our girls are much too young now, we went to go see what it was like and if they could point us to some early intervention programs for blind toddlers.  We were hoping to maybe find someone trained who could come work in our home a few hours every day with our blind children as we just don't have the time we wish we had to pour into them.

As we sat down and spoke with the director of the leading school for the blind in Hyderabad, it became clear that our hopes had been too high.  That school starts at 5 years old and he assured us we would not find anything for blind children younger than that, even a home tutor.  His suggestion was to, "Maintain them at where they are now and then send them here when they are 5.  They can't learn until they are older anyway."

I'm sorry, what?  This is a crucial point in their development and you are telling me they are unable to even learn at this point so it's useless trying to teach them?

The one person we thought would understand everything we had been learning about working with young blind children thought we were crazy.

We left frustrated and discouraged, all our hopes of finding a good program dashed.

Nikki posted on Facebook, venting about her frustrations and wish that we could just start a preschool for the blind of our own.  The response was incredible - everyone loved the idea and offered their help and support if that ever became a reality.  Sarah messaged us and said, "Why not?  Go for it!"

After kind of laughing about it, Nikki and I looked at each other and went, "Well, why not?"

We thought we'd entertain the thought so wrote up a quick proposal and sent it to James, Sarah's husband and the head of ICM, our parent ministry.  That same night, James emailed us back with all the forms we would need to fill out to take to the ICM board - he loved the idea!

Within a few days we were in full planning mode, dreaming of what our preschool was going to look like and how we were going to make it work.

And as you may already know, it is now official - Nikki and I are starting a preschool for the blind!

The dream is to have our own building with well-trained staff and open it to the families in the community.  We want to have 3 classrooms to start: one for babies ages 1-2, one for toddlers ages 3-5, and one for children with additional challenges, such as our kids with autism, up to around age 8.  Each classroom will have a teacher and a few aides, all trained in working with the blind.  We would love for the school to eventually be at the point where we can be involved, but where it can also keep running without us.  While our children will attend, we are also excited to have our school open to the public where we can provide a much needed service to the community - and something that will stay even if we go.

These past two weeks, with the help of some current short-term volunteers and our first Indian aide, we have started the preschool out of our home.  The students are currently just the blind children from our home and two other little blind girls from Rescue Home, Eden and Katherine.  We plan to do this a while longer to experiment on what works and doesn't work, what kind of format we like best, what type of supplies and staff we need, etc. while we work on the logistics side of things to actually open the school.

We still have a lot to do to get this off the ground and that will take time and a lot of fundraising and planning.  We are on the way though and I am so excited to see where God is going to take this!

Oh!  And we finally have a name:

Anjali School for the Blind

Anjali was Nikki's first love at SCH and while she passed away a few years ago, has still been the inspiration and reason most of our blind kids are a part of our family.  We thought it would be really special to dedicate this school to her memory.

We are in need of people to join our team as we get this school up and running!  Here are some ways you can get involved:

If you would like to receive email updates on our school but didn't check the box for that when signing up for my email list, let me know and I'll make sure you get added to that.

We are currently collecting supplies and resources so if you would like to make a donation and want a list of our needs, send me a message and I'd love to get you involved in that way.

And as always, we need prayer warriors.  Please be keeping us, this school, and our students - present and future - in your prayers.

Thank you for your support!