Kaylah’s world opening up
ONCE upon a time, little Kaylah Fawcett would have spent her school years in relative isolation.
Kaylah’s mummy is over the moon that times have changed.
“In life she’s not always going to be around people with needs so why isolate her in childhood?” says Jeanette Fawcett, whose six-year-old daughter is benefiting from Labrador State School’s specialist care for students with visual impairments.
“As much as I want to be there with her every step of the way, it’s not going to happen. No one’s going to tiptoe around her in life so it’s so important for her to be around other children and vice versa.”
As a VI-coded school, Labrador State School has long been an oasis for anxious parents as they send their children with visual impairments into the big wide world.
This year the school is home to two such students – Preppie Kaylah and Year 1 pupil Sunny Centima – as well as a unit staffed by teachers not only proficient in braille but guiding children with VI on their educational journey.
“It’s all about inclusion,” explains visual impairment eduand cator Melinda Tomlinson. “They want to be the same as everyone else and we make modifications to ensure that happens.
“We have a transition program where future students come here a few hours a week while at kindy so they get to know the school.
“Then, once here, they’re in the classroom as much as possible and come out for specialist braille lessons, usually in the mornings because they’re fresh and their bodies are ready to go. We also teach them ‘Orientation and Mobility’, which is learning to navigate the school environment. It’s so great when you eventually see them making their way around the schoolyard.”
Then there’s the mentoring the teachers provide Sunny and Kaylah’s classmates.
“The other kids are really intrigued by them,” Melinda says. “They look at them and think ‘You have eyes so you must be able to see’. It’s hard for little kids to understand
we visit the classrooms to talk about how to support them. It’s little things like not leaving bags in the doorway.
“All the kids in the school know Sunny and Kaylah.”
For Kaylah’s mum, seeing her little girl thriving in her new world is remarkable.
“How far she’s come in six months is amazing,” Jeanette said of Kaylah, who was diagnosed with Leber’s congenital amaurosis as a baby. “She’s writing words. She’s reading. She knows her braille. It freaks me out.”