Student Stories

At the heart of Overbrook School for the Blind, is our stories. Stories of accomplishment, achievement, growth, heart-ache, grit, determination and real, stories that demonstrate why we do what we do. We hope 

Elaina P.

When three-year-old Elaina P. first entered the Early Childhood program, she couldn't walk independently. She wore diapers. She didn't feed herself. She couldn't communicate her wants and needs and easily became frustrated. She needed adult assistance with self-help activities such as putting her jacket on, taking it off, and opening containers. She didn't know Braille.

“One of the first things we did was to show Elaina that she was in a safe environment,” says OSB Early Childhood Teacher Nicole Campbell. “We then focused on improving her communication skills and mobility. With Elaina, sometimes a skill would emerge and another would regress, but we kept moving forward.”

In time, Elaina’s self-help skills began to emerge and soon she was toilet training and zipping up her jacket independently. “She loved to sing,” says Campbell. “During the first few months of school, we sang with her about a skill, and it encouraged her. Sometimes, we sang so much it seemed like our class was practicing for a musical!”

By the time Elaina completed the Early Childhood program, she was toilet trained, walking using a cane, and almost completely independently in the area of self-help when using buttons and zippers. She could read and write the entire Braille alphabet, braille the numbers 1-30, and use words for numbers, colors and other 3-5 letter words. She was communicating her wants and needs and having full conversations with friends and staff members. “She totally exceeded our expectations,” says Campbell. “There were a lot of smiles and a lot of happy tears when she moved on to Kindergarten.”

Nate B.

“One of the most memorable student success stories I have occurred about 17 years ago when I first started teaching at OSB,” says OSB Early Childhood Teacher Nicole Campbell. “We were struggling to find the best communication system for a student who was visually and hearing impaired.”

When Nate B. entered the OSB Early Childhood Program, he knew a few signs from American Sign Language, but not enough to express his wants and needs. He would grow frustrated being unable to communicate and had behavioral issues that stemmed from his inability to express himself.

One of the communication systems that the OSB staff set-up for Nate was a symbol board which contained pictures of his potential wants and needs. When Nate started crying and yelling in the classroom one day, the teacher and paraeducator encouraged him to tell them what was wrong. For the first time, Nate went to his symbol board on the office door in the classroom, grabbed a spoon, and sat down at the kitchen table.

“We immediately gave him something to eat, and that is all he wanted,” says Campbell. “After that day, he grabbed his spoon whenever he was hungry.”

“It may sound like a small step, but it was a huge accomplishment for us all.”