Jeannie Casson- Teacher of VI

Testimonial: Review of Positive Looking 1, Positive Eye’s flagship product

Jeannie Casson – Teacher of Vision Impairments

Jeannie works with babies and children with visual impairment and complex needs in homes, special schools and Early Years settings. She first encountered Positive Eye when the service she works for booked Gwyneth McCormack for a training day, and she has since attended additional courses as well as interacting with the company online and using Positive Looking, a comprehensive framework of ideas and activities to support practitioners, on an almost daily basis.

Jeannie says, “I use a wide range of Positive Eye resources including the social skills programme ‘Thumbs Up’ and the ‘Easy / Easier’ posting box which really puts the child at the heart of the process and encourages them to self-assess, set themselves achievable targets and work to attain them.”
“All the resources are excellent, but the one I use all the time is Positive Looking. It is absolutely brilliant, and provides an amazing resource for both professionals and parents. When you start to work with children with a visual impairment it can be difficult to have confidence – you have done the training, but it is daunting when you start off, and Positive Looking provides a comprehensive format which explains what you are doing, why you are doing it and how to move the children on and measure their progress. It also provides you with electronic lesson plans and photographs of resources to use, for each development area.”
“Gwyneth has a wealth of knowledge and experience, and Positive Looking provides everything you need in a simple, straightforward system that would take years to develop yourself from textbooks. The pack is a very practical resource which tells you what to do, what to observe, what to look for in a child’s responses and how to record it. It helps you to see the children’s progress and to really believe in what you do.

Another nice thing is that it is adaptable – I can use the ideas in Positive Looking and vary them to the child’s own interests and favourite toys and activities. I have had some lovely successes using Positive Looking, and have used it with babies with a new diagnosis and with children in special schools with additional complex needs and CVI. I am very happy to recommend this resource to others and believe it has been really beneficial to the children I have worked with and my own professional practice.”