Archive for the “questions kids ask” Category

A visit with Tootsie

April 27, 201812 CommentsPosted in blindness, guide dogs, questions kids ask, Seeing Eye dogs, travel, visiting schools

Hello from the Amodt Inn, the lovely Orlando home of my sister Marilee and her husband Rick Amodt — just got back from giving a short presentation at their granddaughter’s preschool. Experience has taught me that preschoolers have a hard time grasping what blindness is (much less formulating questions about it), but who could resist […]

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More questions from school kids, this time with a Long Island accent

March 28, 201811 CommentsPosted in blindness, book tour, guide dogs, questions kids ask, Seeing Eye dogs, travel, visiting schools

Mike, Whitney and I flew into La Guardia last Tuesday evening. The next day, New York City schools were closed due to snow. The next day, schools on Long Island were closed, too, so our Thursday visit to Rall Elementary School was cancelled. Eyebrows up! Whitney and I finally outlasted Mother Nature on Friday. We spent […]

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Is that a rude question, or a curious question?

February 17, 201816 CommentsPosted in blindness, parenting a child with special needs, questions kids ask, Seeing Eye dogs, visiting schools, Writing for Children

It never fails. Every time my Seeing Eye dog Whitney and I visit a school, one of the kids comes up with a question I’ve never been asked before. Here’s my favorite from a trip we took to suburban Glenview earlier this month. “If you were never blinded, which would you rather be: a cat […]

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Not your average elementary school visit

February 4, 201818 CommentsPosted in parenting a child with special needs, questions kids ask, visiting schools, writing

My Seeing Eye dogs and I have visited dozens of elementary schools over the years that pair average kids with students who have disabilities in “buddy” programs. The school Whitney and I are visiting this Wednesday takes that idea one step further. At Glen Grove Elementary in Glenview, Illinois. students are paired with a fellow […]

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How this sixth-grader discovered his spirit animal

November 22, 201717 CommentsPosted in blindness, careers/jobs for people who are blind, memoir writing, questions kids ask, Seeing Eye dogs, visiting schools

This just in! The Hinsdalean newspaper did a great article on our visit. You can read it here if you want to get another point of view on our class visit.   Whitney and I spent an entire day last week with sixth-graders at Clarendon Hills Middle School (CHMS). I’ve visited students at hundreds of […]

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