TVI Tidbits - Volume 2, No. 5
March 8, 2010
Training: Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM)
NFB Jacob Bolotin Award
Assistive Technology (AT) and Specialized
Equipment: A Focus on Funding
Looking for low vision aids at reasonable prices?
CareerConnect Mentor Search
3-D Teaching Models
CNYSEA Spring Conference, March 10-12 at The Desmond Hotel
in Albany, New York
Hadley School for the Blind
What's new in the field of blindness and visual impairments?
Obama Educational Technology Plan
National Braille Press (NBP) Book Club Selection: Hailstones and
Halibut Bones by Mary O'Neill
New York State’s Annual Performance
Report – February 2010
The following information is for your information and not an endorsement of any product or service:
1) Training with regard to the provision of Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM)
AIM Training
Brochure: The brochure details training that will be available
related to the provision of braille, large print, digital
and audio textbooks and other Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM)
for students with disabilities in regions across the State.
Contact information is provided in the brochure. For more
information on AIM, please see
https://www.emsc.nysed.gov/specialed/aim/ . 
2) Nominate the Braille Institute's Braille Challenge for the NFB Jacob Bolotin Award!
We are nominating the Braille Challenge contest for the National Federation of the Blind's Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award and we need your help. This award recognizes individuals and organizations working in the field of blindness that have made outstanding contributions toward achieving the full integration of the blind into society on a basis of equality. It provides direct financial support to people and organizations that are improving the lives of the blind throughout the United States. Several programs are named each year to receive this honor. If selected, this additional funding will help us support more agencies nationally to host preliminary events. To complete our nomination, we need several letters of recommendation. If The Challenge has truly helped your students strive to improve their literacy skills, improve their confidence or take their braille studies more seriously, please consider writing a short note in support. You can do this entirely online. It will take only about 15 minutes for you to follow the link below to the NFB page, submit your name and email address, and write a short letter explaining your participation and how The Challenge has positively impacted your program and/or your students. Please consider also adding how The Challenge facilitates interaction with adults who are blind, who serve as positive role models for their future success.
The deadline is March 31, 2010. The more recommendations
that are written, the better our chances. You might also
spread the word to parents, who are encouraged to submit a letter
of their own on their student's behalf.
http://bolotin.nfb.org/Pages/EditRecommendation.aspx
3) Assistive Technology
(AT) and Specialized Equipment: A Focus on Funding
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Location: Rochester, NY
This one-day conference will
be presented by experts in many of the key AT funding sources,
sponsored by the NYS Assistive Technology Advocacy Project
of Neighborhood Legal Services, Inc. and co-sponsored by
the NY Developmental Disabilities Planning Council NY Makes
Work Pay Project and Region 2 TACE Center at SUNY @ Buffalo.
For more information, go to
www.nls.org/nyatmain.htm
.
This workshop is intended for health professionals, vendors, advocates,
vocational counselors, individuals with disabilities, family members
and others. The conference will be held at the RIT Inn and Conference
Center, 5257 W. Henrietta Road, Rochester, NY 14467 from 8:15 A.M. -
4:00 P.M.
4) Looking for low vision aids at reasonable prices?
Try the Used Low Vision Store:
http://www.usedlowvisionstore.com/
5) CareerConnect Mentor Search
This note is intended to assist anyone trying to find a mentor on AFB's
CareerConnect web site
www.careerconnect.org.
All of the mentors in the database are successfully employed or retired individuals with visual impairments. Most of the approximately 1,000 available CareerConnect mentors have college degrees, use AT and many of them are braille users as well. They are willing and eager to work with youngsters and adults seeking information. The CareerConnect Mentor Search tool is set up to function as a simple Google-type search. Therefore, depending on the keyword(s) you use, you may get a large number of results that you must sort through to find the best match. However, just like Google, you can also do a narrower search to filter out weak matches.
Here's how to ensure your time and effort on CareerConnect pays off:
After searching for a mentor and selecting the one(s) you want, click on the person's Job Title (even if it says "none" or "not specified" - this is simply a data entry anomaly that we have not had a chance to fix.) If you are a Registered User, when you click on the Job Title an email page will instantly appear for you to email the mentor. If you are not registered you will be prompted to do so. Be sure to let the system know whether you want the mentor to reply to your personal email address or the CareerConnect webmail. If you choose the webmail, don't forget to login later to your user profile to check for replies on the personal message board we provide for each registered user. If you are not a Registered User, register for free and you'll be able to access all of the site's interactive components (receive mentor email, use the resume builder and develop a personal data sheet, and access the electronic calendar, for example). Keep your Username and Password handy so that you can easily login to the interactive components and check messages from mentors. Give mentors 72 hours to reply to your email or voice message. If you do not get a response be sure to contact CareerConnect staff for assistance. When contacting staff about a mentor be sure to include the Mentor ID#. Please, alert staff to any technical issues, at: careerconnect@afb.net Try to remember to copy error messages to send with your alert.
Contact: Detra Bannister, CareerConnect Program Specialist
American Foundation for the Blind
949 3rd Avenue, Suite 200
Huntington, WV 25701
Phone: 304.523.8651 Email:
dbannister@afb.net Website:
www.careerconnect.org
Expanding Possibilities for People with Vision Loss
Please review this article on three
dimensional teaching models , 
thanks
to Judy Schwartz!
7) CNYSEA Spring Conference, March 10-12 at The Desmond Hotel in Albany, New York
Please join us at the Council of New York Special Education Administrators
Spring Conference to hear the direction being set in New
York and nationally by the New Commissioner of Education, Dr. David Steiner,
Deputy Commissioner Dr. Rebecca Cort, and the Executive Director of the
International Council of Administrators of Special Education, Dr. Luann
Purcell. Also, by reviewing our brochure you will appreciate the efforts
of your colleagues to share their successes as well as their challenges
at they seek to enhance the quality of service to students with disabilities. You
will also learn how to maximize funding available for services you are
currently providing or anticipating providing. Join our parent group
and see how creating partnerships can produce positive results and limit
anxiety. So please join us for a very exciting CNYSEA Spring Conference,
March 10-12 at The Desmond Hotel in Albany, New York. You can go to
http://www.cnysea.org/conference.htm
to review CNYSEA's conference brochure.
8) Hadley School for the Blind
Hadley offers courses for visually impaired students and family members
as well as sighted professionals. Hadley offers more than 100 distance
education courses, one-third of which are now online. Courses fall into
four program areas: Adult Continuing Education, Family Education, High
School and Professional Studies. Most courses are available in a student’s
medium of choice including braille, large print, audio or online. Maybe
you’d like to take a course yourself or encourage others you believe
can benefit from distance education. In that case, check out
www.hadley.edu
or call 800-323-4238 for more information. Reward yourself through lifelong
learning. I encourage you to become a Hadley student and encourage your
students and their family members to do the same!
9) What's new in the field of blindness and visual impairments?
Division on Visual Impairments Quarterly, the flagship publication
of CEC's Division on Visual Impairments, is a benefit of
CEC/DVI membership but can also be ordered separately. Braille versions
are also available. For more information, go to
http://snipurl.com/upoiu
10) Obama Educational Technology Plan
The Obama administration urged educators and policymakers today to embrace
a host of digital-learning approaches it says will make K-12
schools better, including putting a computing device in the hands of
every student. Read this Education Week article at:
http://snipurl.com/upoe1
11) National Braille Press (NBP) Book Club Selection:
Hailstones and Halibut Bones by Mary O'Neill
Print/braille edition, $9.95 In contracted braille for Ages 8-13.
"I was surprised and flattered then, and continue to be, by the large audience - including the blind - who still write to me." - Author Mary O'Neill
"Hailstones and Halibut Bones" is a unique book about colors that can be heard, touched, and smelled. Originally published in 1961, it has become a classic, at twice the length of most children's books. O'Neill explores 12 different colors in 12 poems. Each series of poems relates to a color, "What Is Green," "What Is Gold... Red... Blue," and so forth.
"Blue is a heron, a sapphire ring,
You can smell blue in many a thing:
Gentian and larkspur, Forget-me-nots, too.
And if you listen, you can hear blue
In wind over water"....
"After more than twenty-five years, the poems, like colors, still sing. Kudos to Doubleday for letting Hailstones continue to live." - School Library Journal
To order or read more about this book online, visit
http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/BC1003-HAILSTONE.html
To order any NBP books, send payment to:
NBP, 88 St. Stephen Street, Boston, MA 02115-4302
12) New York State’s Annual Performance Report – February 2010
New York State submitted its Annual Performance Report (APR) for Federal
Fiscal Year 2008 to the U.S. Education Department's Office
of Special Education Programs (OSEP). The full report is posted on the
website at
https://www.emsc.nysed.gov/specialed/spp/apr2010/final210.pdf.
This annual report is required by the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA) to evaluate the State's efforts to implement the
requirements and purposes of Part B of IDEA and describes how the State
will improve such implementation. The report includes the State's progress
toward meeting measurable and rigorous targets for 20 indicators established
under three monitoring priority areas:
1. Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) in the Least
Restrictive Environment (LRE);
2. Disproportionality; and
3. General Supervision Part B, including child find, effective
transition and effective general supervision.
As required under section 616 of IDEA, the State will make
available a public report of each school district’s performance on indicators
one through fourteen against the State’s targets by June 1, 2010. This
report will be available at
http://eservices.nysed.gov/sepubrep/.
Questions regarding the Annual Performance Report may be directed to the Special Education Policy Unit at 518-473-2878.