East Ridge Elementary School special education teacher Heather Modrow and her colleagues noticed a student with a rare vision disorder needed some extra support in the classroom. So, Modrow took to DonorsChoose, a fundraising website for teachers, and asked the community for help.
"It was funded in less than 24 hours," Modrow said in an interview.
With more than $400 raised, Modrow purchased a Braille keyboard for the student's Chromebook, fluorescent light filters to cover the ceiling lights in all of his classrooms, and yellow-tinted gel sheets to reduce the glare of white worksheets.
Two years ago, the student was diagnosed with cone-rod dystrophy, a disorder that causes vision to deteriorate over time. Individuals with this disorder are sensitive to light, have trouble seeing details and have reduced overall vision. Because the disease is degenerative, the student will likely go completely blind, but his teachers are hoping that with the extra resources, he will be able to participate more in his classes and adapt to a future of total darkness.
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East Ridge Elementary teachers go above, beyond to support student with rare vision disorder
And while the new supplies have only been in use for a few days, his teachers said they've already seen improvement.
"I noticed in the beginning that he was just more shy, more in his shell, when it came to answering questions, when it came to talking about different things in class," fourth-grade English teacher Tamela Cooley said in an interview. "But now that he has some things that he's familiar with, like the Braille keyboard -- you should have seen his face, it lit up -- I've definitely noticed a change definitely in his grades."
When other students saw the Braille keyboard they were impressed, Cooley said.
"It's his favorite thing," she said. "It was to the point where we were doing instructional work and we didn't have to use the computer, and I saw him sneak over there just to touch the Braille on his keyboard."
Modrow said the fluorescent light filters benefit all students because they provide a more calming atmosphere, but the filters also help maximize the student's time spent in general education classrooms without having to pull him into a separate, special education classroom.
Modrow said the student is getting necessary accommodations from the district, but his teachers wanted something a bit more special.
"It's not that the district isn't taking care of his needs, these are just little extras that we thought of," Modrow said.
The district provides a magnification tool as well as an iPad for the student. If a teacher is presenting a lesson, that lesson can be transmitted directly to the iPad and he can zoom in or out as necessary.
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"He can see it at whatever height he needs to, so he doesn't have to always sit right at the front of class," Modrow said.
It is not known to what extent the disease will affect the student's future, but for now, his teachers are doing what they can.
"We're learning right alongside the family exactly how it impacts him, and what we can do to make sure that no matter what his eyesight is, he will still be able to learn," Modrow said.
Contact Carmen Nesbitt at cnesbitt@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327. Follow her on Twitter @carmen_nesbitt.