Special Teacher For Special Kids

She’s been chosen as the national classroom teacher of the year for visually impaired students, but Kathy Holcombe credits her colleagues with the award.

Holcombe, a kindergarten through 2nd-grade teacher at the Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped in Janesville, received the award from the Council of Schools for the Blind.

“We are, of course, very proud of Kathy and her selection as the award winner, but we’ve all known for a long time how great she is,” said Tom Hanson, a former teacher and superintendent at the Janesville facility. Hanson now serves as the Individual Education Program coordinator.

“Kathy stands out because she cares so much,” Hanson said. “She performs above and beyond what’s required to individualize the curriculum to each student, if necessary.”

The school’s psychologist, Jim Wilhelm, nominated Holcombe. That’s another indication of the respect she receives from her colleagues, Hanson said.

Holcombe is not afraid to call upon her 29 years of experience teaching visually impaired students.

“She simply has a wealth of knowledge and experience, and she uses it to get through to her students,” said Hanson, a longtime colleague of Holcombe’s at the Janesville school. “If she’s not getting through one way, she’ll keep trying with other methods until something works.”

Holcombe said her methods are the result of necessity.

“I often have kids in my class who have profound multiple handicaps beyond being visually impaired,” she said. “Sometimes, the traditional methods just don’t work. That’s when you have to switch gears and look for other solutions.”

Braille, for example, could work with one student learning to read, but not for another, Holcombe said.

“It might be necessary to use audio lessons or other means to introduce a student to reading at that age,” she said. “I’ve been fortunate that my class sizes have been small enough to allow me to tailor instruction to the individual student, if necessary.”

Holcombe’s challenges are not limited to teaching reading skills. “Kathy is teaching reading skills in addition to science, math, social studies and language arts,” Hanson said. “She teachers all academic areas, and that’s a very difficult assignment given the grades she has and the level of handicaps her students have.”

Holcombe is one of 720 WEAC members employed by the state. Her award reflects on those employees, especially those working with children with handicaps, Hanson said.

“I think this shows the quality of the people we have in Wisconsin working in these areas,” Hanson said. “People like Kathy work as long as it takes to get the job done. There’s not an attitude that you punch out when the bell rings.”

Holcombe’s award also is recognition of her innovative approaches, Hanson said.

“She’s very popular with the students because she respects them,” Hanson said. “She gives them some choices and some control over their education.”

Holcombe said she has found over the years that children respond to opportunities to make decisions.

“I’ve tried to find out over the years what’s out there in terms of approaches,” she said. “There are many programs for learning disabled children that apply to what we need to accomplish.”

Getting students involved is important, Holcombe said.

“As much as possible, I try to give kids some choices,” she said. “If they feel more comfortable with one approach, and it’s possible to use that approach over something else, then I’ll give it a try.

“It’s amazing how good the kids feel when they know they’ve had a part in decisions that affect their education,” Holcombe said.
Holcombe has worked with visually impaired students her entire career.

She received a bachelor’s degree in special education for the visually impaired from Illinois State University at Normal where she also received a master’s degree in special education for the learning disabled. She taught at the Illinois School for the Blind before coming to Janesville in 1972.

Holcombe has served in several capacities at Janesville. She started out teaching 5th and 6th graders and taught vocational skills.

“I’m very pleased to receive this award, but I accept it for my colleagues,” Holcombe said. “I work with a great group of people who have given me opportunities to do some different things. They should get the credit for this.”

Posted April 12, 2002