The Bulletin

Statewide Vision Resource Centre
Number 5, Friday 2nd April 2004

The following issue of The Bulletin was prepared by Deb Lewis, Co-ordinator, SVRC who wishes those of you with school holidays a very pleasant and restful time.

Inside This Issue

Professional Development for term 2, 2004

All activities are open to subject teachers, integration teachers and aides, careers teachers, therapists, parents VTs, students etc. Please remember to register: tel (03) 9841 0242, fax (03) 9841 0878 or email svrc@svrc.vic.edu.au

Professional Development Event - Term 2

Date
O&M Morning - at Guide Dogs in Kew
Linden Woodruff, Guide Dogs Victoria
Thursday 29 April
ZoomText Workshop - 10am to noon
Trevor Boyd, Quantum Technology
Tuesday 4 May
Educational Support for Vision Impaired Students with Additional Impairments – for class and subject teachers, integration teachers and aides, therapists, parents and VTs
Please email for a copy of the program!
Mon 10 May
BrailleNote and ScannaR Demonstration – from 10am to 12noon
Ramona Mandy, Pulse Data Australia
Thursday 20 May
Mountbatten Workshop (for Beginners) 10.00am to 12.30pm
Trevor Boyd, Quantum Technology
Wednesday 26 May
Visiting Teacher Day - program availale soon!
Friday 4 June

Educational Support for Blind Students PD Day: Just a Little More Feedback

See also issue 4, 2004. Below are several photographs taken during a very well received vision impairment simulation activity conducted on the Braille Day recently.

Several participants under blindfold during a simulation of vision impairment activity.

Annette Godfrey-Magee cooked up a rather diabolical activity involving locating the two blank pages in a braille book and following directions to complete a language/maths activity. Meanwhile she’d arranged several distractions while she attempted to teach the confused participants some facts and figures about vision impairment!

Two participants try to locate the blank pages in a braille book.    Two participants drawing a diagram on tin foil.

Needless to say, though the participants worked very hard at their tasks, none could remember the facts about vision impairment… What does this go to prove? Your blind and vision impaired students are working very hard to:

  1. find a desk in the classroom
  2. locate the page in their text book
  3. follow the verbal instructions from teacher, aide and/or classmates
  4. locate the materials they need to complete the task (eg ruler, drawing kit etc)

… and all that is before they even begin to attempt the activity that the teacher has planned for the class.

How can you help?

Really think about what is being taught. Try to present the materials to the brailling student in a way that means that they can concentrate on the activity at hand.

What did the participants have to say about the day?

Professional Development Program: Educational Support for Vision Impaired Students with Additional Impairments

When: Monday 10th May 2004
Where: SVRC, 370-380 Springvale Rd Donvale
Participants: will include visiting teachers and school community members who support vision impaired students with additional impairments (eg teachers, teacher aides and therapists) from specialist, primary and secondary settings. Parents are also welcome.
Program and registration: please contact us at the SVRC for your copy - registration for this program is essential.
Speakers and topics: will be wide and varied – from paediatric ophthalomolgy (Professor Hector Maclean), classroom strategies and behaviour managements to reporting student progress, tactual books and activities and transition to secondary settings.

“Educational Support for Vision Impaired Students with Additional Impairments” is always a popular event on the SVRC PD calendar – and not to be missed if you are working with a vision impaired student with additional impairments! Last year’s participants had the following to say about the day:

Learning about Low Vision

The World Health Organisation’s Working Group on Low Vision is currently developing a curriculum for national leaders/practitioners in low vision. Their very new website has recently been launched which may be of use for teachers with a child with low vision in their classroom. It is still new and they are looking for feedback. Go to: http://www.lowvisiononline.org

Selecting and Using Low Vision Devices

Article by Anne Corn, Professor of Special Education, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee

Source: Lighthouse International’s EnVision newsletter (Spring 2000 issue) http://www.visionconnection.org

There are literally hundreds of optical devices that a low vision specialist may prescribe. When determining the right devices for children, however, factors beyond the right prescription must be taken into consideration. Below are five such issues to keep in mind:

Motivation Is Key

Optical devices can allow children who are visually impaired to participate in activities requiring detail vision. With a monocular, for example, a child can sit with her classmates while her teacher reads a picture story. Older students can read bulletin board postings that are not available in large print.

Appearance Makes a Difference

Children want to fit in their peer group and may feel self-conscious using “obvious” devices. Hand-held magnifiers and monoculars should be chosen with appearance in mind. Encourage young children to decorate their devices and carrying cases. Children may also need to discuss their feelings about looking different to maximize comfort levels.

Duration of Activity Affects Skills

Begin with activities of short duration, such as reading a wristwatch or an item on a menu, to help children get started using near vision devices. Learning to use a device well before it’s needed in the classroom is helpful.

Quick Retrieval of Devices and Coordination Are Important

Children should be taught good mechanical skills, including one-hand focusing of monoculars, as well as how to change the angle of a hand-held magnifier to accommodate light and comfort.

Note: To receive a free subscription to EnVision please send an e-mail to: envisionsubscribe@webletter.lighthouse.org

Website: Aniridia Network International

Hannah James, based in the UK, is the Aniridia Network International Co-ordinator. She maintains an interesting website for those with aniridia (absence of iris) and for parents of children with aniridia. Go to: http://www.aniridia.org

You can also mail Hannah:
PO Box 6444
Colchester, Essex, CO4 3WU, UK

JVIB: February 2004

The following articles appear in the February edition of JVIB:

On Purchasing a Computer…

Adapted from: Braille Monitor, Dec 2003 (for full article see: http://www.nfb.org/bralmons.htm)

Visiting teachers and others often ask us to nominate a ‘good computer for people with vision impairments’. Our attitude is that as each person with impaired vision operates uniquely so we are loath to make a broad recommendation … but someone has! Curtis Chong and Steven Booth, Technology Department of the National Federation of the Blind have the following to say on the subject:

If you cannot read your computer screen because of your vision, in addition to the basic computer you will need to add software called screen-access technology. You should start by purchasing a computer that runs the Windows operating system. The following specifications can be used as a guide to determine which built-in features you should get for your new system:

Why do you need the Sound Blaster Live or Turtlebeach Montego sound cards? Without a multi-channel sound card, sounds generated by Windows or other programs often conflict with your screen-access program’s ability to talk to you through your computer’s speakers, and one or the other will generate an error message. While almost any video card will work with screen-access technology for the blind, the blind person using speech output may not need the more sophisticated, three-dimensional card used for video games. However, you can acquire another multi-channel sound card if you wish.

As for software, computers (as of this writing) are sold with the Windows XP operating system. Two versions are available, XP Home or XP Professional. If you plan to use your computer at home and do not plan to connect to many other devices, XP Home is sufficient. Otherwise consider buying XP Professional since it offers better networking capability. Email and web browsing software (Outlook Express and Internet Explorer, respectively) come free with the Windows operating system, but you get only a fairly simplified free word processor (WordPad for Windows). While you can use WordPad to write letters and other simple documents, you may want to consider buying Microsoft Office if you are interested in spell-checking your material.

The next software item that must be given serious consideration is a screen-access program. Most blind people would prefer to acquire one which converts the information on the screen into speech. Others will want screen-magnification software, and many will want a combination of speech output and screen magnification. If you want your computer to be able to read and speak printed material, you will need to buy a piece of hardware called a scanner.

At present the average cost for a full system can be broken down like this:

Total best estimate (October 2003) – $5,280
(US dollar amounts converted to Australian dollars 22 March 2004)

Computer Tip #1: Are pop-ups driving you crazy??

Written by the lovely Lea Nagel, visiting teacher, Eastern Metropolitan Region

A very helpful IT guy from one of my schools put me onto this one: Ad-aware by Lavasoft.

It is a downloadable program that cleans pop-up, advertising material, datamining and tracking programs off your hard drive. This has the effect of making all those recurring advertising pop-ups disappear! Your computer may also run a little faster!

Adaware is supported by staff who update and test the reference database regularly. You need to remember to update your copy and run the cleaning program occasionally. I do it regularly.

To download this program onto your computer, search for Lavasoft. It’s easy to find. Read the information it gives, and decide if you’d like to download. It’s free for non-commercial use only. For use in a commercial/educational/governmental environment, follow the directions for purchase. Ad-aware is compatible with Windows 98/Me/NT/2000 and XP Home and Professional.

Computer Tip #2: Screen Modification Tutorials

From the lovely Trevor Boyd, Quantum Technology

Here’s a goodie: Do you want to customise the computer screen to suit your visual needs? We have the site for you. It explains how to do a lot of the modifications to the screen that we often talk about.

These step by step tutorials introduce you to some of the most commonly used accessibility features of Windows 98/Millennium/2000/XP. The instructions show you how to use the mouse or keyboard to navigate, select options, and change settings. This information is presented in a side by side format so that you can see at a glance how to use the mouse, the keyboard, or a combination of both.

There are also tutorials for Word 2000 and 2002, Outlook 2000 and 2002, and Internet Explorer 5 and 6. If you are a school or learning institution (non-profit or for profit), a school board member, a non-profit association, a member of a non-profit organization, you may use the Step by Step Tutorials for Microsoft Accessibility Features for educational purposes only. If you or your organization do not fall within one of the above categories, you may submit a request to and obtain written permission from Microsoft. Requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Go to: http://www.microsoft.com/enable/training/default.aspx

Alternative Cursors

Source: OnLine Newsletter, Volume 2, Issue 6, 2003

Customising the cursor can be achieved quite easily via the Control Panel. Many of us select our preferred size, colour (black or white) with or without a tail, to assist in locating the arrow on the screen, tracking the movement or to help with accurate selection of items. However, some individuals require more support options than what is already available on their computer – such as a specific coloured cursor could greatly improve the user’s access and operations. Others may require the visual image to be a little more motivating and stimulating to assist in attending to the movement of the cursor whether developing their mouse skills, eye-hand co-ordination, or activities such as crossing midline.

There are many alternative cursors available for you to download, trial and share. The following is a list of some of the many cursors available:

Windows

Mouse Cursors – simple large arrows in green, red, yellow or white: http://www.thomaswolsey.com/outreach/technical/downloads.htm

Big Bold Cursors – brightly coloured large cursors, 4 different styles, 5 different colours: http://www.billybear4kids.com/desktop/cursors/misc.htm

ACE Centre Cursors: http://www.ace-centre.org.uk

ToggleMouse: http://www.togglemouse.com/

Biggy: brightly coloured large cursors, 16 styles: http://rjcooper.com/biggy/

Macintosh

3D Cursors (for Mac Classic): http://allmacintosh.xs4all.nl/preview/204202.html

Fat Cursors (for Mac Classic): http://allmacintosh.xs4all.nl/cursormac.html

Mighty Mouse (for Mac Classic): http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/mightymouse.html

Biggy (supports Classic and OS X) – can double the size of the normal cursor: http://www.rjcooper.com/biggy/

Pocket Viewer for Sale

The SVRC has a practically new Pocket Viewer for sale for $1,200 (marked down from the sale price of $1,285). It is a groovy hand bag sized video magnifier with built in screen and rechargeable battery that is great for reading labels, prices etc. Please call if you’d like to own this piece of adaptive technology and please make cheque payable to “Pulse Data Australia”.

Quote for Mimio

For a copy of a quote for the Mimio xi dated 20th February 2004, please contact the SVRC.

Space Camp 2004

The number of interested Space Campers is climbing – but we need definite numbers soon – so that we can get the best air fares and begin to plan the exciting program that not only includes six days at Space Camp – but may also include Disneyland, Universal Studios, Knotts Berry Farm, San Diego Zoo etc…

In the past, the cost to each participant has been around $4,600 – some parents have been able to save this amount – some students (with assistance from their visiting teacher, family and community) have raised the money. If you would like assistance with a list of fund raising ideas, please contact us. If you’d like more information, please follow the links from the SVRC Camps and Activities page: http://www.visiontech.svrc.vic.edu.au/camps.htm

If you are interested in joining the group, please call or email ASAP. We’ll call a meeting for those interested early in term 2.

Invitation to Participate in the Auskick Program

The co-ordinators and coaches of the Malvern District Auskick Clinic would like to invite all vision impaired primary age children (boys and girls) to participate in a specially modified Auskick program catering for their specific needs.

The program will operate from the 27 March 2004 and will conclude in early September.

Malvern District Auskick is the largest program run in Australia. It is completely operated by parent volunteers. The aim of the program is to encourage safe fun sporting activity and the development of community. At Malvern there are currently more than 400 children registered for the 2004 season and more than 20 parents participate as coaches.

Andrew Lockwood is the coach co-ordinating the program for the children with vision impairments. Andrew wants every child to have the opportunity to play a game of footy on the MCG at half time of an AFL game and with your help, your child may be running out in front of 50,000 screaming fans. To find out more about Malvern District Auskick you can visit their website at http://www.auskickmalvern.com and you can contact Andrew on 0417 600 777.

Short Term Care/Holiday Camps for Children of Families in Need

Source: EMR 074/2004, 22 March 2004

Cottage by the Sea, Queenscliff Inc. is a charity organisation that provides year round short term holiday camps at Queenscliff for primary school aged children of families in need throughout the state. The Cottage runs approximately 35 (5 to 11 day) camps throughout the year with the majority of referrals through the Education Department Principals/Student Welfare Coordinators/School Nurses, however, DHS, agencies and Catholic schools also refer.

Over the past twelve months the Cottage has provided 648 primary school children with a wonderful carefree holiday experience in a relaxed seaside environment where the children are provided with many opportunities to develop their self-esteem, learn new skills, discover life’s simple pleasures and make new friends. This time also provides families (carers, grandparents, sole parents) with the opportunity to cope with personal difficulties, crises or just relief, secure in the knowledge that their children are being well cared for and enjoying themselves.

For further information please visit the web site http://www.cottagebythesea.com.au or contact Anne Catchpole on (03) 9813 0646 or mobile 0412 431 233.

ANSWD Discussion List

Source: Australian Blindness Forum (ABF), Braille Update, December 2003

The ANSWD (Australasian Network of Students with Disabilities) discussion list has moved from the Deakin University server to the Australian Clearing House on Education and Training (ADCET – http://www.adcet.edu.au).

The list’s new email address is answd-list@postoffice.utas.edu.au and new instructions for the list can be found at http://www.answd.com/Discussion-List

Out There in VT Land: A Low Vision Session in a School

Recently visiting teacher Lee Clarke gave a lesson about vision impairment to the children of Grade 5 at a school in Southern Metropolitan Region. To her delight the students wrote letters expressing their new understanding of vision impairment as a result of her talk. Here are some of the letters:

Thank you so much for visiting our class and teaching us about vision impaired people. I learnt so much in one hour, these are a couple of things I learnt:

When I was wearing the goggles it felt very different. I could write but I couldn’t read. I could colour in but it was hard to colour. I could cut out but because I got double vision I cut off both legs and part of his head. To make it easy for me to see I had to find a part of the goggles that were not foggy and wasn’t spotty that was very hard to find. I think moving around and other simple things in life would be really touch for Tim and other visually impaired people. I would really like to know why did you choose this job and how many visually impaired people do you see each day. Yours sincerely, Meg

I am so grateful that you came and taught us about vision impaired people like Tim. I learned a lot such as:

When I was wearing the goggles I felt dizzy, I got a headache, it felt different to normal, it was very difficult reading, seeing little writing and drawing.

When we got our jotter pads out I did not know if there was writing on the page and when I wrote what you said it went all over the page, so it was really hard to see and write.

When we did the reading activity it was hard because I had two holes in my goggles which were purple and blurry and the lines were going diagonal on me and I kept skipping lines. It was really difficult for me.

When we did the cutting out I cut off the scarecrows hand and when I stopped and looked at it again I thought that I had not finished cutting out so I cut off his leg by mistake. It was really hard because I kept seeing seven of everything and I did not know which one to cut out.

To make it easier to see I had to lift up my page so I could see it better. I also had to colour in darkly so I would know where I had coloured in and where I had not coloured in. I thought it must be really difficult for Tim and other vision impaired people. I think it must be hard for Tim but I am glad he has you to help him.

I forgot to ask you, what other schools do you go to? Do you help any other people besides Tim? Yours sincerely, Jordyn

Thank you so much for visiting our classroom and teaching us about vision impaired people. I learnt that it’s harder for vision impaired people and the glare can make seeing things difficult. And it’s hard to do simple activities. When I was wearing the goggles it looked foggy. I definitely could not write my best. And cutting out was a bit easy. Now I know how Tim and other children feel with that problem. Yours sincerely, Cameron

Thank you very much for coming into our grade and teaching us about vision impaired people. When wearing the goggles at the start I thought it was easy. But after a while when we were writing I could see what I was writing but could not read it. Cutting out was easy but I did make some mistakes. When we started to write out what you dictated I started to get a headache. To make it easier to write, read and cut out I held my work close to my face. I think that it must be very hard to be vision impaired and I think that I’m very lucky not to be. Yours sincerely, Nathan

Parent Organisations

VizHelp & friends

I wrote about Vizhelp in issue 3 this year and have since discovered that this Western Australian group is really quite a busy little organisation. In addition to their email group (see below to join), they also have a website which states:

Vizhelp is a support group in Western Australia for parents of the blind or vision impaired, run by parents of the blind or vision impaired. We hope to build a strong community spirit amongst families, empowering them to make a difference to their lives, and the lives of others. Vizhelp hopes to achieve this by:

Vizhelp has a network of families who are willing to talk to other parents about any concerns they may have, and to share their experiences.

To join their email group, send a blank email to: vizhelpfriends-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or send an email to: penny@vizhelp.org and an invitation will be sent to your inbox directly.

To see their website, go to: http://www.vizhelp.org/index.html

NAPVI

The National Association for Parents of Children with Visual Impairments is a USA-based parent organisation which enables parents to find information and resources for their children who are blind or visually impaired, including those with additional disabilities. NAPVI provides leadership, support, and training to assist parents in helping children reach their potential.
NAPVI is dedicated to:

For more information, see their website: http://www.spedex.com/napvi/

VAPVI

Established in 2001, the Victorian Association of Parents of Vision Impaired Children (VAPVI) can be contacted via Gayle Skinner. Email: skinners@alphalink.com.au

Siblings: The Invisible Child

Source: NoticeBoard, January 2004

Attached to the print edition of The Bulletin is quite a thought-provoking little article from an adult child in a family where the mother, father and brother had a disability. It is written in the third person, which gives it an interesting quality and flavour to the article. She writes: “She would move around inside this body, pleasing everyone, making small talk and wearing a smile, as she thought it was the right thing to do when you were visible. But alas, the invisible young adult was very lonely.” If you’d like the article in another format, please contact us.

Another resource for siblings is the ‘Your Shout’ website: http://www.yourshout.org.au

Requests for Text Books on CD-ROM for Students

I reckon at this stage that we have received most of the books that we are going to get out of the publishers. So if you are waiting on a title and you haven’t received it, you may need to consider another format eg audio tape or large print…

For the record, the statistics for 2004 to date have been as follows:

Requests
No.
Total requests for books on CD-ROM
45
Still awaiting responses/files from publishers
17

Unsuccessful requests:

  • Not available in digital format - 3
  • Wanted £50 (order cancelled) - 1
  • Novels are generally not available in e-text - 2
  • The CD-ROM is available for purchase so it can’t be supplied directly from publisher - 2
8
Successful requests – students now happily reading their texts on
CD-ROM
20
Number of publishing companies approached
13
Number of publishers who have responded
7
Number of publishers who are still to respond
7
Number of titles requested from publishing companies
1 to 10
Number of students requesting books in e-text
13
Number of students still awaiting responses to their requests
8
Number of visiting teachers who made requests
7

We are still hoping to hear from the seven publishers who have yet to respond – particularly the one with ten titles that students are awaiting eagerly!

Student Writings

Kyle from Wangaratta’s ‘dreams for the future’ appeared in issue 2, 2004 of The Bulletin. Here some more excerpts from his autobiography:

In the first year of prep, I remember thinking, “why do I have an aide?” and “why was I using braille when the other kids were using pencils?” I don’t remember thinking of myself as blind as I knew no other way, and I didn’t realise other kids could see.

I started to learn braille by playing with the Perkins brailler. When the other kids learnt letters, I did mine on the brailler, and when I was learning to read Sandra (integration aide) made me a book of tactile lines, made out of different textures so I could learn to track from left to right, and also to be able to learn the difference between different surfaces…

I started (at a Victorian country) secondary school in 2001. I don’t remember feeling nervous, but I was excited about coming. I had visited the school on several occasions the previous year, to learn the layout of the school and for Pam and I to meet again, (she worked with me occasionally in primary school). Pam is my aide now and I have Faye Squires, who is a visiting teacher for the blind. Faye has been coming to see me since I started school.

I found it hard to get around at first, but I get around okay now. Pam and I practiced a lot under Anna’s supervision (O&M instructor) until I had a mind map of the school and the buildings. A mind map is a picture I build up in my mind of the place I am exploring, directions, how many steps, echoes, sounds etc.

I have lots of aids besides the brailler to help me with my work. I have a talking scientific calculator, a talking dictionary and a JAWS program on the computer. This is a talking program that allows me to do some of my work on the computer. Pam can also get the information off the computer and print it in braille, which is useful…

The work is harder than it was in primary school, and so is growing up. I have been occasionally chasing girls, but I haven’t been worrying about chasing them lately as I get into too much trouble. My feelings are the same as everyone else but I miss out on so much visually. I am interested in girls, but I don’t quite know how to go about it.

And Thanks…

Special thanks to Kay McQualter (actually on Long Service Leave!), Lee Clarke, Di Bennett, Lea Nagel, Helen Caldow and Carolyn Mentiplay who have come in and assisted with the workload at the SVRC! Ladies – we REALLY appreciate it!

Thanks also to the staff at the SVRC for all taking on a bit (or a lot – thanks Dianne) to fill the gaps for staff who have been absent this term.

Finally

Thanks to Mike Steer for contributing to this edition of The Bulletin. Thanks also to my fabulous proof-readers Dianne Skillern and Lea Nagel.

If you have something you would like included in 'The Bulletin', please contact:

Deb Lewis (who can be emailed at deblewis@svrc.vic.edu.au).

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Web editor Lyn Robinson. Last updated April 2004
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