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Visually impaired preschoolers graduate from Foundation for Blind Children

Kim Kilgore said her daughter wasn't walking or talking at age 3. Two years later, she's walking independently and just graduated from preschool.

PHOENIX — More than a dozen preschool students graduated at the Foundation for Blind Children on Thursday.

Joy Calles, director of school-based services at the school, started off the ceremony by inviting the audience to withhold their applause to respect children who could be impacted by bright light and sound.

Kim Kilgore and her five-year-old daughter Rhyanne were the first to cross the stage to receive her diploma.

Kilgore said she was proud of her daughter and reflected on the skills her daughter has gained in the past two years at the school.

“[Rhyanne] wasn't walking, she wasn't talking, she wasn't tactilely aware of anything,” Kilgore said. “Since coming here in preschool, starting at age three, she's now walking independently.”

Kilgore said in addition to her daughter learning new skills, her daughter has also taught her important lessons.

“She's taught me just to look at the world in a different way, with a different perspective," Kilgore said. “She's made me understand that you don't have to have vision to, or sight to have a beautiful life.”

Calles said all the children walking the stage have made progress and emphasized their goal at the school is to make children as independent as possible.

“We work on the whole child, and it's just phenomenal to stand up there and see them the growth they've made over the last two years,” Calles said.

Kilgore said she’s met some of her closest friends through the services and noted that parents who have children with special needs or visual impairments should "trust the process".

“Don't focus on what they cannot do, but focus on what they can do,” Kilgore said. “Understand that they are exactly who they're supposed to be.”

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