<< Previous   of   Next >> Niki Desautels / The Herald  (click to enlarge) Joel Christensen, 7, and his grandfather Harold Christensen (left) celebrate after their ball hits the pins as Martin George, 9, and Beckie Postlewait (right) listen closely to hear the sound of their ball rolling down the lane during a trip to Robinhood Lanes with the Louis Braille field trip in Edmonds.

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Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com

A Touch of Sight

Edmonds school teaches how to see with fingers and ears

By Tieh-Pai Chen / Herald Writer

EDMONDS - Joel Christensen, 7, walked up to a rack of bowling balls. He tried picking up a 6-pound orange ball.

It was heavy. He leaned back, holding the ball with both hands against his tummy.

With his grandfather's help, Joel pushed the ball forward.

"It's going. It's going. Joel, can you hear that?" asked Harold Christensen of Everett, Joel's grandfather. "Boom."

"Bye-bye, ball," Joel giggled, holding his grandpa's hand.

Joel couldn't tell what color the bowling ball was or how many pins he knocked down. However, he learned what bowling was about July 14.

Joining the two-week Louis Braille camp allowed Joel to do things he has never experienced. Bowling was one of them.

Like many others who joined the camp at Louis Braille School in Edmonds, Joel was born blind. The camp is designed for blind and visually impaired children from kindergarten to eighth grade.

The camp is all about trying new things, school director Carolyn Meyer said.

"The reason we want to do it is to give parents another choice of education for blind children," she said.

This was the fifth year for the camp.

"I think the bowling was a great success," Meyer said. "We want to give them a time when they can get together and have new experiences. It's about companionship."

Each day begins with giggling children.

Last week, participants started off by wiggling their bodies, stomping their feet and pretending to be elephant.

They all joined in a song:

"Two elephant went out to play ... they had such enormous fun that they called for another elephant to come."

The elephant song is a favorite. The children sang with their arms in the air like elephant trunks.

The campers experience the world through senses other than sight.

"They need to feel the whole picture," Meyer said. "Like the ceiling, it doesn't exist if they don't feel it."

Many exercises focused on using fingers to learn the texture and shape of the world.

The school uses professionally stuffed and mounted animals - pigeons, bobcats and quail - to help blind children come to know the creatures as more than just names in stories.

"I think the biggest problem is people's mindset," said Hy Cohen, administrative assistant at the school. "They don't think you can do something so they don't give you a chance to do it."

Cohen, 29, can barely make out large print five inches in front of his face. He makes his home in Everett, with his guide dog, Greta.

"My parents didn't allow me to say 'I can't do something' as an excuse," he said. "I'm limitless. It's a matter of being creative."

The Louis Braille School was originally called Louis Braille Center and was located in Seattle's Northgate neighborhood. It initially focused on transcribing standard texts into the raised dots of Braille, print that can be read with fingertips.

Although the camp and other programs have been under way for some time, the school will officially open in September. It has been located in Edmonds for nine years.

It has long been Meyer's dream to open a school for visually impaired children.

"They'll be learning in an environment where everything is adapted to each individual's need," Meyer said. "We teach them how to count money, how to cross the street ... We need to teach them how to get along in a sighted world."

Doyle Wilhoit, 69, said the program has helped his grandson, Christopher Dokken, 14, become more self-confident.

This is the second year Christopher has participated in the camp.

"The Louis Braille School has taught him a lot of things that I don't think he would pick up in a public school," Wilhoit said. "I want him to be independent. I don't want people in the future to say, 'Oh, jeez, we need to help him.'"

Reporter Tieh-Pai Chen: 425-339-3432 or pchen@heraldnet.com.