Take Charge with Confidence and Self-Reliance

  • Challenging the Rock with Denver Climbing Co. #ChallengeRec

    by

    Dan Burke

    Challenging the Rock with Denver Climbing Co. #ChallengeRec

    Late this spring we determined to bring challenge recreation back for our students. We set it aside for over a year for reasons of social distancing, etc. First, We arranged to go whitewater rafting in Idaho Springs, where we’d gone for almost ten years, and it was great to be back on Clear Creek with some old friends!

    Meanwhile, martin Becerrra-Miranda was tasked with finding a new company to guide our Independence Training Program students on rock climbing excursions.

    “I think these guys might be the ones,” Martin said after talking with Dan Krug of Denver Climbing Co. “They just get it.”… Read the rest “Challenging the Rock with Denver Climbing Co. #ChallengeRec”

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  • It’s Colorado Giving Season – Schedule a Donation for Dec. 7!

    by

    Dan Burke

    It’s Colorado Giving Season – Schedule a Donation for Dec. 7!

    Nothing tempers the desire of our students to find the tools and the belief in themselves that will sustain them in their quest to live lives of independence and success!

    And so, still cautious, still wearing masks indoors all day, the Colorado Center for the Blind carries on with the training and the programs that will give our blind students those tools – in the kitchen, at the (computer) keyboard, reading electronic Braille displays and traveling the Denver Metro area on RTD. Indeed, these are the tools upon which to build for a lifetime!

    From our Senior Staff working both in person and virtually with older Coloradans experiencing blindness for the first time, to our collaborations providing innovative educational support and just fun activities for blind youth, The Colorado Center for the Blind continues to make a difference in the lives of blind people!… Read the rest “It’s Colorado Giving Season – Schedule a Donation for Dec. 7!”

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  • First Prize in Parade!

    by

    Dan Burke

    First Prize in Parade!

    The certificate has arrived! Of course, the winners of the 2021 Littleton Western Welcome Week Grand Parade were announced back in August, but now that we have that piece of paper we can’t help but crow a little!

    And so we won first prize in the Group/School category! Hooray!

    Was it the noisemakers? Was it the matching T-shirts? Was it the goofy object Gene wore on his head? Those probably all helped, but it was more likely the excitement and the sense of release as we shook our tamborines and maracas and chanted, “Who are we? CCB!” as we marched the parade route.… Read the rest “First Prize in Parade!”

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  • Parents’ Seminar Coming UP: FOLLOW THE IEP ROAD! Are you ready?

    by

    Dan Burke

    Parents’ Seminar Coming UP: FOLLOW THE IEP ROAD! Are you ready?

    NFBCO Logo
    When:
    October 30th, 2:30 to 4:30 PM
    Where :
    Denver Marriott South at Park Meadows and everywhere
    10345 Park Meadows Drive, Lone Tree, CO 80124

    Dear Families and TVIs,

    Please join us for a discussion about the journeys you are taking with your children. This event will take place during the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado State Convention. We are excited to host a panel of professionals discussing the items to be considered on the journey, beginning with birth and continuing through adulthood.

    Panelists:

    Tanni Anthony, Ph.D.
    Director, Access, Learning and Literacy, Exceptional Student Services, Colorado Department of Education Consultant on Blindness/Visual Impairment
    Carlton Anne Cook Walker
    Attorney at Law; Educational Consultant and Advocate, Blindness Education and Advocacy Resources (BEAR), Teacher of Students with Blindness/Low Vision; President, National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC)
    Michele Reed, MS
    COMS Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist, Blind and Low Vision Unit, Colorado Department of Labor and Employment
    Michelle Chacon
    Certified Teacher of the Visually Impaired, Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist
    Amira Lucas
    Parent of a blind child, Licensed Professional Counselor , Adams
    12 Board of Education candidate elect

    Moderator:

    Anahit LaBarre
    Certified Teacher of Visually Impaired, Director of Youth Services at the Colorado Center for the Blind

    Please join us in person or virtually, as our panelists discuss and answer your questions about the following topics of importance to parents of blind kids:

    • Early childhood and transitioning from pre-school into a public school setting
    • Accommodations versus modifications; Specially-designed instruction
    • IEP goals and what should they look like
    • Transitioning into middle and high school
    • Post-secondary planning and outcomes
    • Parent input and parent roles
    • What happens if the IEP team does not agree as to what the child needs on his/her IEP
    • What is WIOA, and what does it mean for my teenager?… Read the rest “Parents’ Seminar Coming UP: FOLLOW THE IEP ROAD! Are you ready?”

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  • Etiquette Day at CCB

    by

    Dan Burke

    Etiquette Day at CCB

    Dan H gives a tip of his brown felt hat on Etiquette Day, the height of good manners

    It’s Etiquette Day in Home Management, and one of our newest students decided to dress up for the occasion. Sure, his attire is not strictly “black-tie” but definitely a cut or two above our normal business casual.

    For Etiquette Day our Home Management teachers, Delfina and Stefanie walk students through everything from proper place settings to the techniques of maintaining polite manners when you can’t see your food.

    Dan H took this as an opportunity to set himself apart. Every item from the brown felt hat, to the suit coat from Korea, to the tiny tie and the rings and beads, have some significance related to important people in his life – his mother and father, his sisters and his fiancée.

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  • CCB graduate wins blind division in Boston Marathon! @blackkidrunning

    by

    Dan Burke

    CCB graduate wins blind division in Boston Marathon! @blackkidrunning

    Chaz throwing elbow jabs at the pad in Martial Arts Class

    They love Chaz Davis in his hometown of Grafton, Mass. But we are just as proud of him here in Littleton, Colo. at the Colorado Center for the Blind!

    Chaz, a 2016 Paralympian in Rio and a 2017 graduate of CCB, won the Boston Marathon’s visually impaired division on October 11. It was the 125th Boston Marathon, but the first year that this division was available for blind runners to register in. Previous blind marathoners in Boston just … well, ran.

    Blind runners run with a guide to whom they are tethered, meaning that the guide and blind runner must be carefully matched as far as speed and endurance, and marathon runners may change guides during a race.… Read the rest “CCB graduate wins blind division in Boston Marathon! @blackkidrunning”

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  • Seniors Are in Charge and In-person This Week at CCB!

    by

    Dan Burke

    Seniors Are in Charge and In-person This Week at CCB!

    a blind instructor talks with his student, a senior woman as they walk with white canes along a residential street
    Dishon and Olive on the return leg of a travel lesson near the center. Seniors in Charge this year was blessed with lovely fall days.

    For the first time in two years, our week-long Seniors in Charge is live and in-person at the Colorado Center for the Blind! These four dynamic and intrepid older blind folks have been waiting since spring of 2020 to get five full days of blindness training in Braille, technology, cane travel and kitchen skills, and they are determined to get the most out of this opportunity to spend quality time with our Senior staff! Duncan, Chris, Stephanie and Dishon are not disappointing them with long, and at times, intensive training every day.… Read the rest “Seniors Are in Charge and In-person This Week at CCB!”

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  • 3, 2, 1! BLAST OFF for a Combined Learning Box and FAST Rocket Day!

    by

    Dan Burke

    3, 2, 1! BLAST OFF for a Combined Learning Box and FAST Rocket Day!

    Join us in-person for a combined Learning Box and FAST rocket-building activity!

    When:
    October 16th, 2021
    1:00 to 3:00 p.m.
    Where:
    Colorado Center for the Blind
    2233 W. Shepperd Ave.
    Littleton, CO 80120
    Register by:

     

    October 12, 2021
    a high school student pumps air into a soda bottle rocket while the instructor kneels to steady the rocket for launch

    The National Federation of the Blind of Colorado, the Colorado Center for the Blind, and the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults are pleased to sponsor a rocket-building activity this month! K-12 students who are blind/low vision are invited to learn about Building and launching rockets made from 2-liter soda bottles while focusing on physics concepts. We will begin the activity with a scavenger hunt to find all the materials we will need for the fun experiment.… Read the rest “3, 2, 1! BLAST OFF for a Combined Learning Box and FAST Rocket Day!”

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  • Happy 89th Birthday to Our Founder, Diane McGeorge!

    by

    Dan Burke

    Happy 89th Birthday to Our Founder, Diane McGeorge!

    a small well-dressed woman in her 70s stands at a podium, microphone near her face
    Diane mcGeorge stands at a podium, circa 2006. Not only did she found the Colorado Center for the Blind in 1988 and direct it for the next ten years, but she also served in numerous leadership roles in the National Federation of the Blind for nearly four decades.


    We send out a loving and hearty “Happy Birthday” to our founder, Diane McGeorge who is 89 today!

    Diane Served as the President of the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado from 1977 to 2005 and, as such had been exploring the means to start a training center for blind people that would be based on high expectations and the belief that blind people have the capacity to achieve lives of value and independence.… Read the rest “Happy 89th Birthday to Our Founder, Diane McGeorge!”

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  • Announcing Homework Club!

    by

    Dan Burke

    Announcing Homework Club!

    After School Program

    Editor’s Note: This announcement went out via email this week, but constitutes months of dreaming, planning and recruitment and coordination. Suddenly, our familiarity with virtual platforms creates an opportunity to reach out to blind kids in new and innovative ways!

    Anahit and Nate Making a Sandwitch

    Dear Parents/Guardians:

    Thank you for being strong and supportive partners in your blind/low vision child’s educational journey! We know that homework, some new concepts and various skills can be overwhelming to tackle. Perhaps at times, your child might just need to check in to refresh their knowledge about a particular topic. Our new program, Homework Club, is here to assist!… Read the rest “Announcing Homework Club!”

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