The things that help him see

Since my son began receiving accommodations in the classroom, he is able to use a variety of things that help him get through his school day easier. 

Here is his CCTV. With this, he is able to aim the camera anywhere in the classroom and have the image appear on the screen right in front of him. The cost of this is astronomical. Luckily, it is covered under his Individual Education Plan. He has two of these. Unfortunately, they are not easily mobile. So, he has one in his math class and one in his English class. For the rest of the classes, he must use magnifiers and have the teachers prepare assignments in large print.

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These are his large print books for the year. Some classes have as many as of four books. In regular size text, each class only has one book. How would you like to carry these around? Luckily, my son has two sets, one for school and one for home. Even still, with one of these books on his desk, there's not room for much else. Plus, he almost has to stand up and lean over the book just to get close enough to the top of the page to read it.

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Here is what his best magnifier looks like. It's a globe magnifier and seems to work better than the regular kind with handles.

The Florida State University Low Vision Initiative has accepted him in their program this year. In that program, he will be tested to see what other magnifiers will work well for him. We are hoping they will find something that will eliminate the need for the giant large print books.

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While all of these aids are wonderful and help him see better, we are still looking for the next best thing. At the Foundation Fighting Blindness annual conference, VISIONS, we saw all kinds of great devices that are smaller, lightweight and VERY expensive. I'm not sure why all of these things are so expensive. For instance, the school is trying to order him a large print scientific calculator that he will need for Algebra II, Trigonometry, and Calculus. The problem is, the calculator is over $300. How can a calculator cost so much? 

It's wonderful that these tools exist and that they are provided for my son without cost to us. For all of the crazy things our taxes sometimes seem to go to, I see how sometimes they go to great causes, including helping those with disabilities learn.