NYS School for the Blind

TVI Tidbits: Volume 2, No. 2

February 25, 2010

1. 19th Annual Calling All TVI's Conference
2. Internet Your Way to a New Job
3. Eye Condition Resources
4. Online language instruction designed for kids
5. Free Screen Reader and Free Access Software for O&M
6. Nemeth Braille Study
7. Increasing Literacy Levels through Assessment: FVLMA & NIMAS/NIMAC
8. Survey on Synthesized Speech and Audio Description
9. Educational Testing Service (ETS)
10. Braille Pals Club

The following information is for your information and not an endorsement of any product or service:

1) The 19th Annual TVI's Conference

CALLING ALL TVI'S:The 19th Annual Calling All TVI's Conference in Syracuse is March 19th

That's just 3 weeks away! Please note that the registration deadline is NEXT FRIDAY March 5. This year, Maria Delgado will be coming to demonstrate technology available from APH. There will also be a hands-on session in the afternoon so you can test out the technology and ask questions. If you have any questions regarding this conference, please contact Trudy Zecher at visiontlz@yahoo.com.

2) Internet Your Way to a New Job ...

A Great Transition Resource from National Braille Press:"Internet Your Way to a New Job: How to Really Find a Job Online" is a new $11.95 two-volume braille or electronic book from National Braille Press http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/JOBONLINE.html

3) Eye condition Resources:

Resources to look up eye conditions:

http://www.nyise.org/eye.htm
http://www.lighthouse.org/resources_main.htm#disorders
http://www.nei.nih.gov
http://www.nei.nih.gov/order/index.htm Free Publications (also available in Spanish)
http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/resourceSearch.asp Eye Health Organizations Database

4) Online language instruction designed for kids

Looking for an affordable, turnkey solution to offer world languages to your students?

powerspeaK¹² is a comprehensive suite of language courses developed specifically for kids. These engaging, comprehensive online courses are provided in an interactive learning environment and come with extensive support, at prices that fit your budget.
Unlike other online language learning programs, powerspeaK¹² courses aren't just adapted from adult language courses. powerspeaK¹² courses were designed from the beginning for the way kids learn, with interactive games, avatar characters, and innovative stories that progressively replace English words with foreign words as students become more advanced. These remarkable courses are based on decades of best practice research into world language instruction, and have won Teacher’s Choice Awards from Learning Magazine.

“We are not textbook-driven; we are kid-driven.powerspeaK¹² enhances learning...by being hands-on. It really makes a foreign language relevant to students, so they learn more. I believe applications such as the powerspeaK¹² method are the future of education." - Superintendent Harold Maready, McKeel School District, Florida

powerspeaK¹² courses are:

Intuitive—with age-appropriate interactive games and activities
Game-based—with a reward system to increase student motivation
Standards-based—with courses aligned to state and ACTFL guidelines
NAAS accredited—to facilitate the transfer of academic credit

powerspeaK¹² coursesoffer:

Eight levels of French and Spanish for grades 3-12, including AP for high school
Six levels of German and five levels of Latin for grades 3-12
Four levels of Chinese for middle and high school students

powerspeaK¹²courses can be implemented in your school one at a time, or you can offer as many as you need. They can be taken in class, in a learning lab, or in students’ homes. We can even provide expert teacher support for districts that need it. Want to learn more? Sign up for a free demo of a variety of powerspeaK¹² courses!
Visit us online today at http://snipurl.com/uihi2 find out how we can work with your school or district to get your students talking to the world

5)Free Screen Reader and Free Access Software for O&M

A link to the zip file with information about these free programs is at: www.Katrich.com/access.zip

A link to the main document in that zip, which gives an overview about free access is: www.Katrich.com/FreeAccess.doc

6) Nemeth Braille Study

Do you prepare tactile materials for braille readers? Or, do you have a colleague who has this responsibility? If so, then we'd like to invite you or your colleague to participate in a research study to help us learn how people prepare tactile materials for students in math classes in grades 1-12. Participation includes completing an on-line survey where respondents will answer questions about their training, materials used in the preparation of math materials, and types of materials they prepare. After the survey is completed participants will select a worksheet we provide. They'll prepare the worksheet for a tactile learner and mail the worksheet to us for analysis. The participants will then complete a short on-line survey about their decision making process as they completed the worksheet. Participants will be entered into a raffle to win one of two $25 Target gift cards.
Please help us recruit a large sample for our study. We ask that you share this email and the attached flyer with others who might qualify for the study. We're happy to answer your questions. Contact either of us off list.

If you would like to participate, you may begin by either reading the attached flyer or just going to the following web address: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WPS5JCD.

Tina Herzberg, therzberg@uscupstate.edu
L. Penny Rosenblum, rosenblu@u.arizona.edu

To see flyer or learn more ... see pdf file

7) Increasing Literacy Levels through Assessment: FVLMA & NIMAS/NIMAC

Date: May 20-21, 2010

North Syracuse Central School District, North Syracuse Education Association, American Printing House for the Blind and Perkins Training Center present a two day literacy workshop on assessment for students with visual impairments in the educational environment. This workshop will present an in-depth review of the Functional Vision Learning Media Assessment for children who are pre-academic or academic and visually impaired in grades K-12.

This workshop is a professional development activity supported by a grant received by Perkins School for the Blind from the Starr Foundation to provide in-service training for educators working with students with visual impairment at NO COST to schools and programs in New York State.

Presenters: LaRhea Sanford, Ed. D., American Printing House for the Blind, Louisville, KY

Erin Meehan Fairben, SuperintendentNew York State School for the Blind, Batavia, NY

When: Thursday, May 20, 2010

Where: NSEA Office,210 South Main Street, N. Syracuse, NY 13212

Audience: Teachers of the Visually Impaired

8:30-9:00 – Registration

9:00-3:30 – Functional Vision and Learning Media Assessment (FVLMA)

Friday, May 21, 2010

8:30-9:00 – Registration

9:00-3:30 – Functional Vision and Learning Media Assessment (Continued)

AIM for Access: NIMAS & NIMAC

Lunch will be provided both days

Outcomes - After completing this workshop, participants will:

Increase knowledge of assessment and instructional strategies to promote student literacy
Increase knowledge of the essential components of learning media assessment, functional vision assessment, and assessment of assistive technology in optimizing literacy for students with VI
Be familiar with specific federal and state legislation supporting literacy through the provision of accessible instructional materials (AIM) for students with print disabilities and the roles and process to provide both instructional and technical support for AIM for all students.

Please return one of the following registration form by May 3, 2010 to:
registration or PDF registration
Theresa Brousseau, email: tbrousse@nscsd.org
or fax: (617) 972-7209

Hotel Accommodations can be made at the Holiday Inn Express, Syracuse Airport, (315) 454-0999, www.hiexpress.com.

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8) Survey on Synthesized Speech and Audio Description

NCAM is seeking participants with a range of familiarity with synthesized speech (from little or none to regular users) and as well as familiarity with audio description (from little or none to regular users).
Interested in sharing your opinion? Please send an email to access@wgbh.org ] access@wgbh.org with "participate" in the subject line. Once the online survey is posted on or about March 1, you will be sent an email with the survey's Web site address and asked to complete the survey by Friday, March 12. The survey, which will be accessible via screen-reading software, should take no longer than one half hour. NCAM will summarize and share the results of the survey once user opinions are analyzed.
NOTE: This is an early investigation into a subject many people who are blind or have low-vision have asked about for many years. Though we are conducting this study, WGBH does not intend to substitute synthesized speech for human voices on the programs and movies we currently describe. Following this narrow and limited initial study, further research will be required to expand the scope of investigation into larger populations, other types of media and other parameters. Thank you!
Mary Watkins, Director of Communications and Outreach
Media Access Group at WGBH
One Guest Street
Boston, MA 02135
617 300-3700
mary_watkins@wgbh.org
access.wgbh.org

9) Educational Testing Service (ETS)

Educational Testing Service (ETS) is looking for 20 test administrators for the Technology Assisted Reading Assessment (TARA) Field Test:
* Administrators need to be computer literate and have experience with the assistive technologies that are commonly used by students with blindness or visual impairments. The ideal candidate will be a TVI or AT specialist working with students in grades 7-11.
* Administrators must attend an all-day training session in Minneapolis on May 15th
* Administrators will be responsible for recruiting 10 students in grades 7-11 of various ability levels and degrees of visual impairment to participate in the study

Payment:
* $5,000 for recruiting and testing 10 students
* $500 honorarium plus travel costs for May 15th training
* Students will be given a thank you gift ($15 value)

More about the test:
ETS, working with the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) and the Center for Applied Special Technologies (CAST), developed a prototype assessment of technology assisted reading for blind and visually impaired students. This work is part of a research grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education?s National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER). This assessment is designed to be administered to students who use or are learning to use Assistive Technology (AT). The purpose is to measure the student's skills in using this technology to access text independently. The assessment includes 4 sets of on-demand performance tasks and 10 open ended test questions that will be administered one-on-one by a trained test administrator. Test administration takes between 45 minutes and 2 hours depending on the experience of the test administrator and the proficiency level of the student.

If you are interested in becoming a TARA Test Administrator Contact Cara Laitusis, claitusis@ETS.org for additional information Visit the TARA website to learn more about the project www.naraptara.info

For printable flyer see: http://naraptara.info/research/TARAtestAdminInvite.pdf

10) New York State BraillePals Club

In addition to the New York State BraillePals Club information attached, please share the following information with your students and their parents about the National Federation of the Blind Braille Reading Pals Club

Registration is now open for the New Year beginning April 1, 2010.

The NFB Braille Reading Pals Club is an early literacy program that encourages parents to read daily with their blind or low-vision child (ages infant to seven).
Participating club members will receive:
    * A print-Braille book and a plush reading pal
    * Monthly parent e-newsletter promoting tips for early Braille literacy
    * Quarterly Braille activity sheets for young children
    * Braille birthday cards for child participants
    * Access to a network of resources devoted to serving parents of blind children
Mission of the Program
    * Introduce young children and their families to Braille
    * Provide parents literacy strategies to use with their children
    * Direct parents to essential resources for promoting success for their young blind children
    * Help parents promote early literacy skills, a love of reading, and a positive attitude about Braille through daily reading with their blind children

To learn more about this exciting program, or to register, please visit http://www.nfb.org/readingpals>www.nfb.org/readingpals, or call (410) 659-9314, ext. 2295.

Cosponsored by the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC) www.nfb.org/nopbc

Do you know someone who might like to become a Braille Pal? ... See details!
Braille Pals Permission Form