parenting Archives

APH FamilyConnect Parent Advisory Board: When Personal and Professional Roles Merge

Posted on January 9, 2024 - 10:59 am by Amy Lynn Smith

For Amy Shepherd, M.Ed., transitioning her career from teaching in elementary school to being a resource for students who are blind or low vision. Most recently joined the APH FamilyConnect Parent Advisory Board – was the direct result of her son Austin’s vision. Now 23 years old, Austin was shaken as a baby by a […]

Letters to Parents: What a School for the Blind’s Principal Wants Parents to Know

Posted on November 6, 2023 - 10:53 am by Peggy Sinclair-Morris

A teacher leaning over to help a student sitting at a table.

As I enter my fourth year as principal at the Kentucky School for the Blind, I find myself reflecting on my time as a Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI) and Orientation and Mobility Specialist working with students and families in public school. There were times when I was a child’s first TVI, and […]

Finding His Focus: Brysen’s Vision, Voice, and Victory

Posted on August 7, 2023 - 8:03 pm by Amy Lynn Smith

Born with autosomal dominant optic atrophy – a progressive, rare eye disease resulting in fraying optic nerves – Brysen has difficulty seeing things at a distance. Even with his glasses on, he needs to sit in the front of the classroom at school, and he’s had to ask the teacher to use only black pens […]

National Center on Deaf-Blindness: Family Leadership & Engagement

Posted on May 9, 2023 - 4:02 am by Melisa Matthews

Child with hearing aids playfully gives eyeglasses to an adult

Families are the experts in knowing their child, which should positively impact the decisions made for a child who is deafblind. Children who are deafblind have specific needs and considerations that are “compoundingly complex.” Families with a child who is deafblind will go through many stages of emotions and have different needs as they support […]

Meet the APH FamilyConnect Parent Advisory Board Members!

Posted on April 19, 2023 - 2:48 pm by Melisa Matthews

Several members of the APH FamilyConnect Parent Advisory Board

Our mission as the APH FamilyConnect Parent Advisory Board is to make a difference by empowering families with love, compassion, wisdom, and authenticity. – APH ConnectCenter FamilyConnect Parent Advisory Board In October, APH FamilyConnect established the first-ever Parent Advisory Board. This group represents nine different states, various diagnoses, ages of children, many life experiences, and […]

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