Oakes Public School to make playground more inclusive for visually impaired students

The Oakes Public School playground is about to become more accommodating for visually impaired students thanks to a donation from the Larson family and Starion Bank. The Larson family owns the bank.

The $2,500 donation will go toward providing “wants” as opposed to “needs,” said elementary special education teacher Megan Quandt. Oakes already has everything that visually impaired students need, such as braille signs and access to audio books.

The nearest school for the blind in North Dakota is in Grand Forks, said Quandt, which is about three hours from Oakes. For many children with visual impairments, commuting to school that far away is simply not an option.

Having several blind students enrolled within the district led the school to want to focus on making the playground more inclusive. While children are accommodated in school, it might be difficult for them to do things like using the playground.

Many of the students have some usable vision, meaning they are not completely blind. For example, some may have light perception.

“Blindness is a spectrum,” said Quandt. “Everybody’s different.”

The donation will go toward giving students as much independence as possible. The playground is currently painted black and orange, which are the colors of the school district. Because black can be a difficult color for many visually impaired students to perceive, the school will focus on creating more of a contrast on the playground.

For example, there is a fence at the end of the playground that may be difficult to see. A bright color, such as yellow or orange, will be painted on the top of the fence so visually impaired students can perceive the color.

There might also be reflective tape or paint placed on the black poles throughout the playground. The playground also has black edges in order to keep the wood chips in. Highlighting the edge would also help visually impaired students, said Quandt.

While Oakes has everything it needs, the changes made to playground will help visually impaired students feel more included, said Quandt.

Superintendent David Goetz said the project is currently expected to be completed over the summer.

This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: Oakes playground to be more inclusive for visually impaired students