From December 5, 2015: We loved having @juniorleague_oc out last night to put the Center in holiday overload. Thank you! 🎄🎄🎄🎄

From October 2015: One of the many great things about our after school Youth Mentoring Program: reunions. Audrey and her Kindergarten teacher Chris embrace for the first time since graduation. We hear Audrey is applying all the tools she learned here to excel in her mainstream first grade class. How's that for#DestinationIndependence?

From August 2015: OC Kickboxing and Martial Arts was absolutely incredible teaching the kids about mixed martial arts and respect during summer camp!! 💪

From August 2015: Thank you so much to The Rinks of Anaheim Ice for providing our children a thrilling sensory experience!! It was a truly special day.

Jack's Story

Destination - Independence Walk Founder - Jaimie Haver Shares From Her Heart

What did you first feel when you learned Jack was visually impaired? Jack was three months old when we learned he was going to be visually impaired; we were still numb from watching him struggle to stay alive that the visual impairment diagnosis didn't strike us as a challenge until he was closer to a year old and wasn't hitting his developmental milestones.  We then started to experience a grocery list of unproductive feelings, mostly sadness for the struggles that we thought Jack would have to experience for the rest of his life. As parents we concerned how people would treat him as special vs. just a normal kid that was visually impaired and really the crux of emotions was the uncertainty of what this diagnosis meant for his future happiness and productivity. 

How did you learn about Blind Children’s Learning Center?  We learned about Blind Children's Learning Center from the Orange County Regional Center.  When they referred us to the Center, we did think they were nuts, because Jack was legally blind but he wasn't totally blind. We did not put much weight or value on the services offered and did not reach out to the Center until Jack was nearly one.

The frustrating thing is my husband, Darren, grew up just a few miles away from the Center.  We've lived in Orange County our whole lives and we had never heard of this place.  Albeit we did not have a prior need, but nonetheless, you would have thought that an organization that had been around 50 years would have been known by at least one of our friends, or parents' friends or even the doctors or ophthalmologists that work in Orange County.  This still gets me a little heated...maybe I shouldn't have started this topic! 

Can you tell me what your first feeling was when he began receiving services in-home or in the Early Childhood Center program? 

When Jack started receiving services in-home, we still did not grasp the value of what was being provided.   It wasn't until after the first several visits that I realized the therapy was as much for Jack as it was for me.  They taught me how to engage Jack through sound and touch vs. visual cues that I observed from other moms.  Christine (in-home infant specialist) kept encouraging us to visit the Center – she described all the services we were taking Jack to outside the home could be done at the Center by trained (Visual Impairment) VI specialists.  Being the ridiculous parents we are, we thought she was nuts – Jack was not blind, therefore, he would not be going.  When we finally went for a tour of the Center, watched kids like Jack tear through the playground and have fun doing therapy, we made the transition.  Jack’s world opened up and our lives changed forever.  He started attending classes when he was nearly three. At that time he was not talking, eating solid foods or socializing with other toddlers.  Within three months, he said Mama, ate a banana and cried when it was time to leave to come home.  It was AWESOME.  Our first real life parenting experiences with a child that cried leaving when it was time to leave a party – that is what his day was like – playing in the Occupational Therapy (OT) room, taking walks in the community, playing with paint or pudding – life was a party!

 What are Jack’s goals/ambitions now?  Jack’s goals and ambitions are probably similar to every 15-year-old boy – play as much basketball as possible; have fun with friends and then…apply as little effort as possible to get good enough grades for his parents to not ground him forever!  Our expectations for Jack are the same as every parent – earn a great education, build a career that he is proud of and pay as many taxes as possible! Additionally, we want Jack to always remember, that if not for the skills he learned and the friends he made at Blind Children’s Learning Center, his life may have been dramatically different.  We hope that he will be as grateful for Blind Children’s Learning Center as we are.

OneOC's "Day of Service" Project Benefits Blind Children's Learning Center

"If you could taste, touch, hear and see freedom, what would it taste, feel, sound and look like?"

This is the question AmeriCorps Member Chanel Bradley asked the Center teachers. Using their responses, she worked with Cox Communications and California Conservation Corps to create "Senses of Freedom," one of OneOC's Day of Service projects honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Sensory-enriched installations were created on campus for our children to learn about their surroundings and empower their sense of freedom and independence.

During the Civil Rights Movement, uplifting music was used to inspire and encourage participants to persevere through the struggle for freedom. During "Sense of Sound," our children listened and danced to songs from the Movement.

"Sense of Sight" showed our children the contrast between the dimming and brightening lights in the room. It also gave them the opportunity to color a picture of Dr. King on light boxes.

At "Sense of Touch," our children dipped their little hands into gooey paint to make hand prints for the wall display. Meanwhile, the volunteers had to avoid being canvasses for their artwork!



Rodger Pitts, a Cox Communications volunteer, displays the children's hand prints around Dr. King's quote, "We will be able to join hands and sing... free at last, free at last!"

Our students also enjoyed the sweet taste of freedom with sugary goodies during "Sense of Taste".

Child Care Safari

Teacher Miss Jenny wanted to give the kids in afternoon Child Care a hands on experience learning about animals in the wild.

She invited staff to join her in creating a
multi-sensory adventure.

Armed with binoculars and their imaginations, Miss Jenny led our little ones on a safari in search of lions, tigers, elephants and any other wild animals they could find on the playground.

To hear the jungle noise staff carried recorded sounds as the children ventured out on their exploration.

Their first encounter was with a friendly lion. 

After a walk to the playground the adventurers piled into their safari jeep in search of more animals.

Their next discovery was a mommy monkey and her baby.

Safari's can make you hungry. So it was nice to have a banana handy during the adventure.

Bright Visions Early Childhood Center provides morning and afternoon child care for children ages six weeks to six years old.

Hours
Monday - Friday
7:30am - 9:00am
3:00pm - 6:00pm

Call  714.573.8888 for more information.