Gardening Therapy Helps Visually Impaired
Program Lets Patients Develop Other Senses
UPDATED: 9:50 am EDT October 17,
2003
BOSTON -- Ask anyone with a green thumb, and they'll tell you that gardening feeds the soul.
For the visually impaired, horticulture therapy is even more -- it's a learning tool that helps people who have difficulty seeing grow.Most 17-year-olds would hardly find gardening exciting, but for Mary Westgate, who is legally blind, it's a growing fascination."You learn how to pick fruits and vegetables and learn about plants and really dig your hands in the dirt," Mary said.The new $2 million greenhouse at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Mass., is allowing the visually impaired to develop their other senses."Plants are nondiscriminatory, nonthreatening will not talk to the students, so inherently a comfort level becomes available and then learning is enhanced," horticulture coordinator Deborah Krause said.Students obtain vocational skills, making and selling fragrant sachets and teas, from the bounty the greenhouse offers.For the elderly, who may be losing their eyesight, horticulture therapy can be a mood-enhancer."It makes me happy. It's beautiful. It's stimulating. I love being around flowers and plants," patient Bernadine Sellers said.Teachers say that for a population that's used to being cared for, the plants provide an opportunity to be the caretaker for a change."There's a wonderful opportunity to reverse the care and then develop a sense of self-esteem from that," Krause said.Horticulture therapy is offered daily at the new Pappas Horticulture Center. More than 100 Perkins students participate, and there are outreach programs for visually impaired elderly people as well as infants and toddlers.
| Video |
Patients Turn To Plant Therapy
More About ProgramDistributed by Internet Broadcasting. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The two Disney monorail pilots involved in a fatal crash were friends, according to the survivor's wife.
A clerk at a pizzeria cut himself and falsely reported an armed robbery to cover up his drug habit, sheriff's deputies say.
U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, known on Capitol Hill for aggressively questioning key players in the nation's financial crisis, suffers a "financial disaster" of his own.
Officials investigate the first fatal accident in the 38-year history of Walt Disney World's monorail.
A former Central Florida middle school teacher who pleaded guilty to having sex with a student is sentenced to five years in jail.
Police in western Michigan say a man fell asleep at the wheel of his parked vehicle and accidentally ran over a tent containing his wife and two young children. (July 9)
A Connecticut family recently spent time with Austin Wuennenberg, the Disney monorail pilot that died in an accident on Sunday.
Thousands flock to a small church in Limerick, Ireland, to pray at the stump of a recently cut tree that many believe looks like the Virgin Mary.
Since Michael Jackson died June 25, fans from around the world have expressed their grief in flowers, balloons, teddy bears, candles, pictures and handwritten notes left throughout the city.
Email Alerts
RSS News Feeds
Mobile
Live Streams
Slideshows
Video
Search
