the light of the
world is jesus
By: Sherry Gurney, LLH Low Vision Therapist,
Perkins- Roman Endorsed CVI Specialist
A favorite time of the year for
our family is Christmas. When
my husband and I lived in
Kenya, we had Christmas in
July, because it was winter
there! Christmas in our home
has always been filled with
smells of cooking, candles
and Christmas lights. Now you
may understand why it comes
naturally to me to use lights
in my work with the little ones
with compromised vision.
Lights bring life to their world
too! When lights (vision), plus
sound, touch, smell and taste
are paired in an experience, it
is retained in visual memory.
To meet the need of lighted
sensory tables, we asked two
wonderful Scouts, looking for
projects, to build them for us.
A light-sensory table is a
lighted box, set into a child-
sized table, which back-lights
the items in the bin. The
children’s attention is focused
for lengthier periods of time
and the flow of the lights adds
a new element to toys, shapes,
and details in nature.
and educational
concept building are
enhanced by the addition of
“back-lighting.” A soothing
calm in this quiet play setting
also has the benefit of settling
the children down, much like
sitting in front of a warm fire in
the fireplace at Christmas.
When a sturdy frosted piece of
plastic is placed over the top
of the lighted bin, a whole new
experience unfolds! Arts, crafts,
Pictures: (L to R)
Student working at the light-sensory table that Daniel and Kara designed. Middle: Daniel Bryce,
Life Scout and Kara Hollingsworth, Sr. Girl Scout.
**Scouts: Daniel Bryce, Life Scout and Kara Hollingsworth, Sr. Girl Scout, invested their time and ingenuity to build original ‘Light-Sensory
tables’ for the LLH children! They took our old computer caves, drew up plans, used community resources and their leadership gifts to
establish a team and built these amazing tables! Kara completed her work in loving memory of Judy Murdock who devoted many years
to children with visual impairments at the Little Light House. **
THE
BEACON
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