HELP!

I have known B a long time. He started his education with me in kindergarten. For 6 years he learned braille and technology and was one of the kids near the top of his class. Then he moved away to a place where everyone was put on CCTV's (closed circuit TV) which enlarges all his work. He slowly went down that ladder of academic success. The school started cutting his work in half because he could not finish it and worse, he started failing. He lost all his braille, technology, and cane skills...really all blind skills...and now was a failing low vision student.

After a couple of years, his parents asked if he could come back to live with us. His behavior was a major issue when he came. He had developed the skill of just getting into trouble all time, picking fights with kids and ignoring everyone. Suspension was a norm in his life. I was guessing this was his way of getting back at the world for his loss of sight. He was disruptive because he knows he is smart but had no way to do the work.

Two years is a long time to be away from blind skills and we had to start over at square one. He quickly caught up with the technology and that became his main tool. The braille came slower and he hid his cane when he got to school. In two years he had significantly increased in skills and went back to live with his family. We emailed & phoned and kept in contact. His blind skills were going away quickly once again due to the lack of blind services where he lived.

Today we had a long chat over SKYPE. He is in college now and REALLY struggling. Help! Help! was loud and clear. He can't do college. Everything is enlarged and he uses a magnifier to see the print. It is too slow. He can't get through the work. We discussed many options, but he knows he must relearn JAWS and his blind skills if he is going to succeed in life. The next conversation will be about the training center for the blind....but that is to come.