The Bulletin
Statewide Vision Resource Centre
Number 11, Friday 20th June 2003

The following issue of The Bulletin was prepared by Deb Lewis (Co-ordinator, Statewide Vision Resource Centre)and comes to you a week early because of the school holidays!

Inside This Issue

Professional Development Calendar and Upcoming Workshops 
VT PD Day Review from Participant - Special Provision, Secondary Maths for Brailling Students, Windows XP, O&M - the 6-Step Method 
Competitions for Student Inventors 
BCA Awards 
Teaching Vision to Kids Website 
Recipes for Fun! 
DE&T Insurance Policy and Guidelines 
Vision Impairment Websites 
Touch: Another Way of Seeing 
Age Appropriate Activities for Students with Additional Impairments 
ICEVI & WBU Joint Position Paper: Inclusive Education 
Virtual Pencil: Review 
SPEVI News 

Professional Development

Upcoming Professional Development Activities: Workshops!

Term two and three see the continuation of the Technology Workshops which are always popular and generally well-attended! Though we don’t usually seek written feedback from these sessions, verbal praise is always high and one participant at a recent Mountbatten Day felt compelled to drop the following note on my desk:

“Great day! The ever patient Trevor (Boyd from Quantum Technology) taught us tricks of the trade and we appreciate sorting out the problems that really bug us!”

As you can see from the PD timetable above, we have a Magic afternoon workshop with Trevor Boyd coming up this term, and next term Trevor will reveal the mysteries of ZoomText in another afternoon workshop. If you need the demo version of the software loaded on to your computer, please arrive at 12.30pm. As always, we welcome Visiting Teachers, integration staff, parents and students from DE&T Visiting Teacher Service and from other organisations – please call and register your intention to join us!

In addition to these sessions, Guide Dogs Victoria will also run their most interesting O&M morning workshop, whereby participants move about the community under vision impairment simulators – a most enlightening experience!!!

Attached to the print copy of The Bulletin fliers of these activities (on white paper) for your copying pleasure – or call for more information! Please note start times!!!

Professional Development – Review from Participant

The following reviews were kindly provided by participant, Lea Nagel:

VCAA Changes to Special Provision

Gwen Cornelius, Manager Student Records and Resource Unit, Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, explained changes that have been made to VCE Special Provision.

A student who suffers an ‘event’ that will adversely affect his or her performance in the VCE exams can now apply to have a derived exam score.

- Apply through the school
- Principal signs off
- Supply evidence from supporting professional
- The event must have had some effect on the student’s ability to perform during the exams
- The event could involve severe problems with preparation
- Written evidence must be provided to show how the event would affect the student’s performance in the exams
- The event could be: medical, welfare, for example homelessness (welfare officer may write) or psychiatric (psychiatrist would write)
- If the incident happens within the exam room, evidence must be provided by the chief supervisor

Calculating the derived score

(This is done by VCAA staff)

All assessments done throughout the year, including the GAT and the exam, are combined and calculated in four different ways to determine the student’s standard during the year. The student is given the best score, which may turn out to be the exam result if this proves to be a better score. VCAA don’t tell the student whether their score is the achieved or derived score. There will be no symbol on the results as to where their score came from.

Consideration of Disadvantage:

Students with vision impairments used to be able to apply, but are no longer able to with the new system. It may be possible for a student to apply for special consideration if there is a specific visual component in the exam.

Special Exam Arrangements:

Extra time, rest breaks and equipment requirements special arrangements still exist, although equity is currently being investigated at VCAA.

Visiting Teachers shouldn’t bear the burden of arrangements for ‘in house’ assessment. There should be a VCE Support Group in the school, which should include parents, school staff, a significant teacher etc.

Whatever is put in place for exams, the student should practise well before the exam period. If in doubt about what is possible, ask VCAA staff Andy Murphy 9811 6225 or Chris Byrt (project manager for special provision) 9811 6238.

Gwen kindly left the following for Visiting Teachers:

- Powerpoint notes of the briefing to principals.
- Pamphlets – Getting your VCE; GAT 2003; and Special Provision in 2003: What? When? Who? How? (some copies available at SVRC)
- Copies of 2002 exams and GAT on CD-ROM

Access to the Secondary Mathematics Curriculum for Students who Rely on Braille

Sherry Cunningham, head Visiting Teacher for RVIB, presented this paper at the SPEVI conference earlier this year. She was kind enough to come and share it with the DE&T Visiting Teachers, focusing on students in upper secondary school who have the following attributes:

- Academically able
- Proficient in the use of braille
- No specific learning or sensory impairment
- Have chosen Maths as an elective

These students are expected to:

- Complete all tasks
- Be fairly assessed
- Pass on their own merits

Sherry quoted Dr Phil Hatlen as saying that the three subjects most difficult for students with vision impairments are Maths, Geography and Science. These subjects rely heavily on diagrams, graphs and/or maps. Students who rely on braille need exposure to a wide range of concepts represented in tactile graphics.

Strategies that Visiting Teachers can employ to support students and teachers:

- Positive attitude, support, and reassurance
- Teaching additional skills and resources to the students
- Equal access and equal opportunity
- Time allocation for students doing ‘difficult’ subjects (maths, science) – sighted people summarise visual information quickly, whereas tactual information takes time
- Immediate access to appropriately prepared tactile graphics
- Orientation to the graphic – labelling may be difficult
- Enough time to explore and interpret graph/material
- Pace the instruction to suit the student
- Build extra private study time in to the timetable, possibly by limiting subjects, or spreading the VCE course over 3 years.

What’s New on Windows XP?

Lyn Robinson’s presentation entitled ‘What’s New on Windows XP?’ was packed with up-to-date tid-bits, including:

When upgrading to Windows XP, check compatibility with your voice or other software.

XP has a new Wizard for users with low vision. To find it, click:

Start > All programs > Accessories > Accessibility > (choose from Magnifier or Narrator, Cursor Locator or) Accessibility Wizard. This wizard will guide you to change the size of print, scroll bars, magnifier (up to 9 times) and even to set up Windows Narrator, a basic voice program.

Lyn also mentioned a new maths program called Virtual Pencil which has been designed for ‘people who can’t use a pencil’.

See below for a review of Virtual Pencil or see: www.HenterMath.com

The 6-Step Method of Teaching Orientation and Mobility

Rachel Morgan, O&M instructor from the Children’s Mobility Service of Guide Dogs Victoria, explained the 6-Step Method of teaching O&M, originally written by Grant Brannock and Leo Golding. In short, the method focuses on:

- Attention directing tools to focus on important environmental tools
- Gathering useful environmental information (self gathered, use students’ own language)

It is a structured approach, teaching children to pay attention to their surroundings. The method assumes that the learner can only focus on one thing at a time. At first, looking and listening are too tricky to master at once. As a skill becomes automatic, the student can focus on adding a new skill.

Ways of gathering information to describe objects or surfaces are listed: Objects are explored using these terms, and it becomes easy to make references from one object to another, once you’ve properly explored one.

W.E.S.S.S.T.

Weight
Ends/Edges
Size
Sound
Shape
Texture

When learning a new route, the student is encouraged to concentrate individually on the collection of information from:

Near By Considerations (NBC)

Toes
Fingers
Nose
Ears
Face/eyes

Teach one thing at a time. Then you can tell your student to ‘go and do an NBC’ (You may like to use a different word for NBC, and let the student choose the word.)

Once all of above is learned, you are ready for the 6-Step Method:

1. EYP: Establish Your Position
2. EYT: Establish Your Target
3. DDT: Distance, Direction and Time
4. NBC: Near By Considerations
5. UUI: Useless, Useful, Interesting
6. STR: Say the Route

Victorian O&M instructors are beginning to use parts of this program with students. Visiting Teachers need not know the full details, but it will be helpful for us to understand the structure of the program and possibly some of the language used.

The Magic and Mystery of Mimio XI

Lea Nagel also shared her student’s experience with the Mimio XI in a secondary school. Copies of her PowerPoint presentation will be available soon at the SVRC. Please call Deb Lewis for your copy.

Competition for (Student) Inventors!

Source: Herald Sun, Tuesday 10th June 2003

Students are being invited to design and construct a machine that can help their community in two competitions described below:

Mechanical Masterminds:

The competition is free and open to all year 3 – 6 students in Australian primary schools. It challenges young Australians to become inventors of marvellous machines to help the community! There are three categories you can enter, with National prizes in each for winning schools and students, and additional State prizes for Categories One and Two. Entries close at 9am on 22 August 2003.

For more information, go to: www.actf.com.au/comp/competition.htm

The RAVE (Real Aids that are Vision Empowering) Challenge:

The challenge is to design an aid to empower people who are blind or vision impaired. Sponsored by RVIB and the Monash Science Centre MSC, The RAVE is open to all Victorian school students. Entries can be made by an individual student or as a group, class or school.

Students may commence work on this project immediately. Submissions must be received by 5:00pm on 14 November 2003. Submissions together with an official entry form are to be sent to:

Fiona Smyth, The RAVE Challenge, RVIB, 557 St. Kilda Rd, Melbourne 3004.

For more information, go to www.rvib.org.au/eventscal/rave.html

BCA Awards

Source: Blind Citizens News, June 2003

It’s time for individuals, Branches and Organisational Members to think about whether there is someone they would like to nominate to receive the BCA David Blyth Award or a BCA Certificate of Appreciation. The BCA David Blyth Award is presented to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to improving the quality of life for blind people in Australia. Certificates of Appreciation are awarded to individuals in recognition of outstanding and long-lasting work of direct benefit to BCA. Often this work has been at a branch or local level. Nominees do not have to be members of BCA.

Nomination forms and a list of selection criteria are available from the National Office on 1800 033 660. These awards are not presented as a matter of course. Nominees should be deserving and their work for BCA to improve the quality of life for blind and vision impaired people must be outstanding.

Please forward your nominations for these awards to the National Office, addressed to Maryanne Diamond as Convenor of the Awards Committee, no later than Friday 29 August, 2003.

Teaching Vision to Kids

Source: www.nei.nih.gov/education/visionschool/index.htm

The National Eye Institute has compiled a 16-page teaching guide aimed to assist in the teaching of eyes and vision to students in years 4 to 8. The lesson plans and handouts include information on how the eye works, eye problems, and eye safety. The Program is intended for use in the classroom by teachers and/or guest speakers. The lesson plans are designed to be flexible – choose a few activities for one classroom session, or use the entire supplement for several classes on vision. Download the PDF file from: www.nei.nih.gov/education/visionschool/schintro/VISIONSchoolProgram.pdf

Recipes for Fun

Source: Future Reflections, Volume 22, Number 1, 2002 and Helen Caldow, Visiting Teacher, Eastern Metropolitan Region

If you are the sort of person who likes to ‘make your own’ then you’ll find recipes for bubbles, poker chip bank, sidewalk chalk, play dough, home made fingerpaint, scratch and sniff paints, puff paints and more at: www.svrc.vic.edu.au/recipes.html

Student Laptops: DE&T Insurance Policy and Guidelines

Source of the excerpts below: DE&T @ Work website (for DE&T Employees)

Go to: www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/edulibrary/Schools/Facilities/ > General Guidelines and Procedures > SEIS Policy and Guidelines

The School Equipment Insurance Scheme (SEIS) is a self-insured scheme administered by the Emergency and Security Management Branch of the Department of Education & Training. The scheme provides free and automatic insurance cover for the major risks faced by the school community. Equipment covered by the SEIS includes:

- personal computers, network computer, printers, other computer hardware and software
- TVs, VCRs, audiovisual equipment, satellite dishes and decoders
- video camera, cameras, radio cassette recorders, musical equipment
- photocopiers, fax machines, typewriters and other office equipment
- books, class sets, reference books, games etc
- gardening equipment

School equipment is covered for loss or damage arising from: fire or explosion, burglary (through forced entry), storm and tempest, lightning or thunderbolt, equipment damaged by vandalism, electrical power surge, flooding and water damage, action of insects or vermin in plague proportions, any other disasters. The following risks are not covered by the SEIS: theft (no sign of forced entry), accidental breakage or damage, accidental loss, misuse, wear and tear, mechanical breakdown, fusion.

The Department retains the ultimate discretion in approving claims under this policy taking into account all circumstances surrounding the claim. The test of reasonable care will be stringently applied when assessing claims.

The SEIS covers the equipment while:

- on school grounds
- outside school premises anywhere in Australia, provided the equipment is used for educational purposes and the principal’s and/or school council’s permission is obtained and details recorded in a borrower’s register. It does not cover equipment when taken overseas

The primary condition of cover is that reasonable care is taken to safeguard equipment at school and during approved activities outside school. Schools must maintain records (CASES and SAMS) of assets in excess of $500 or an inventory of equipment purchased if valued at less than $500.

An excess of $200 (secondary colleges) or $100 (primary and other schools) per claim applies.

For a copy of the print document, please call Deb Lewis. For an etext version, please see the website above.

Teaching Blind Students or Students with Low Vision

The following webpage has great links to lots of useful information for Visiting Teachers and others interested in blind students or those with low vision: www.provincial-cec.on.ca/Resources/Webresources/BSLVWR.htm

Call if you would like a print copy!

Touch: Another Way of Seeing

Excerpt from: Future Reflections Volume 22, Number 1, 2002 – article by Deborah Kent Stein

Deborah Kent Stein is an author and was speaking about her experiences growing up as a blind child.

“…my earliest memories all have to do with touch. For me as a blind child, touch meant seeing—seeing in the widest sense of perceiving and understanding. When I was free to touch things I was in my glory. I was fully connected and involved with my environment, exploring, making discoveries about the world around me. In one of my very early memories I am about two-years-old. My father is lifting me in his arms so I can reach over the edge of a large cardboard box. Inside the box my hands find a pile of warm, wriggling bodies—soft fur, bony heads, wet noses, and curious, lapping tongues. “See?” Dad says. “Fluffy’s puppies! Look!” …

Not all my early recollections are such happy ones. In another memory, my cousin holds a crayfish captive in a jar. I beg to touch it, but the grown-ups say no. They insist that its claws will pinch my fingers and hurt me. Someone gives me a stick and says I can touch the crayfish with that. But I can’t learn anything about this mysterious creature by probing it with the tip of a stick…

Sight allows for distance learning, and touch is “up close and personal.” But both sight and touch are spatial senses, conveying information about the shape, size, and placement of objects. Touch and sight both show us objects in relation to one another, and convey the principles of cause and effect. Hearing is much more abstract… Sound only becomes meaningful when it is understood within a context, when it is connected to events in the spatial world. Verbal explanations of sounds are wonderful and necessary, but they don’t help much unless the child already has a solid grasp of the basics…

Touch makes people uncomfortable; it’s a little beyond the sphere of polite society. Touch is associated with breaking things, or even stealing. Children grow up to a steady, relentless drumbeat of “Look, don’t touch! Keep your hands off!” …

Ask yourself some questions. How you feel when your child explores an object with his hands? Are you eager to show him new things? Are you excited by his sense of discovery? Do you sometimes feel frustrated because he takes so long to look at an object tactilely, while a sighted child would take it in at a glance? Are you embarrassed when people stare at your child as he touches a plant, a lamp, a stack of magazines on the table? When he examines a figurine are you on edge, worrying that he might drop it? Do you let him know that you want him to have as many opportunities to touch things as he possibly can? Or do you convey the message that it slows you down to let him stop and look at things, it’s awkward and a bother? One mother of a blind son told me proudly, “We’ve always let him touch things as much as he wants to. Even though it makes us cringe and we want to snatch his hands away, we never stop him.”

The truth is that some people will stare at your child with her exploring hands. Some may frown with disapproval. Sometimes when you ask permission for your child to touch something, that permission will be coldly and unreasonably denied. You will have to be your child’s advocate, working to remove literal barriers so that she can see the things others are looking at…

All children want to learn, want to reach out and explore on their own. Blind children explore by touch, and file away memories in tactile images. It’s a different way of seeing, but it is seeing in the widest sense.”

If you want a copy of the whole article, please call 9841 0242.

Age Appropriate Activities for Vision Impaired Students with Additional Impairments

Source: Helen Caldow, Visiting Teacher, Eastern Metropolitan Region

Card games. Use large print cards and ‘card holders’.
Personalised board games. Use a computer made grid, add comments and enlarge onto A3, laminate.
Modified sporting activities such as balls attached to elastic, mini basketball rings
with bells attached. Check out sporting catalogues.
Jigsaws of pop stars, TV personalities and sporting icons. Add magnets, laminate
and cut up.
Jigsaws of all shapes and sizes put together using the mouse - www.jiqzone.com
Audio stories and magazines. Available through your VT or via Vision Australia.
Footy Tips. Use the internet to access colour club logos. Set up an AFL ladder and tipping system,
Modified games and puzzles. See below for stockists. Make your own or modify
existing games.
Modified or talking watches.
Modified cooking utensils. See below for stockists.
Word search program in many sizes - www.schoolhousetech.com
Silly game! - www.ebaumsworld.com/spankmonkev.shtmi
To download another silly game based on ‘Hang the Butcher!’ Very American and you cannot use your own clues but its free! www.miniclip.com/hanqaroo.htm
Sparklers. Check out safety issues first.
Bubble mix. Strong Opalescent bubble mix recipe: 1 cup water, 1 tab glycerine, 2 tabs good quality washing up liquid, ½ teas sugar.
Balloons. These can be suspended from the ceiling then lowered and raised as needed. Add a source of sound. Check out party shops for large, decorated hanging displays using disco balls, old CD's, photos of celebrities.
Make address, phone and email directories.

Resources can also be purchased through:

The Adapt Centre
454 Glenferrie Rd Kooyong
9864 9247
or
VisEquip
201 High St Prahran
95205588

ICEVI & WBU Joint Position Paper: Inclusive Education

The International Council For Education Of People With Visual Impairment and The World Blind Union has recently developed the Joint Position Paper On Inclusive Education Of Children With Visual Impairment.

Preamble

The International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment (ICEVI) is a voluntary, non-governmental, non-sectarian global association of individuals and organisations that represents educators of blind and low vision (partially sighted) children and youth throughout the world. ICEVI promotes equal access to appropriate quality education for all visually impaired children and youth so that they can achieve their full potential.

The World Blind Union (WBU) is the only organisation entitled to speak on behalf of blind and low vision (partially sighted) persons of the world, representing 180 million blind and visually impaired persons from about 600 different organisations in 158 countries. WBU promotes appropriate quality education in either integrated/inclusive education programmes or at special schools for all visually impaired children and youth so that they can achieve the best education possible and reach their full potential in life. The parents' informed choice, access to trained teachers, and the availability of essential equipment and materials are the guiding principles which will ensure high-quality education.

ICEVI and WBU,

Conscious of the gross inequalities in educational opportunities for blind and low vision (partially sighted) children and youth, especially in the developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America, where 90% of all children with visual impairment live and where less than 10% of these children currently have access to any type of formal or non-formal education:

Affirm the human right of all children who are blind or have low vision to equal access to appropriate quality education as provided for in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), the World Declaration on Education for All (1990), the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disability (1993), the UNESCO Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action (1994), and the Dakar Framework for Action (2000);

Urge all governments, which have not yet done so, to include the special educational needs of children with visual impairment in their respective National Education Plans for achieving Education for All by 2015 which were to be submitted to UNESCO by the end of 2002, as agreed and committed to at the World Education Forum, April 2000;

Request all governments to also ensure adequate financial provisions for the successful implementation of the above plans for children who are blind or have low vision;

Endorse the concept of child-centred pedagogy, as enunciated in the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education, 1994;

Support inclusive education as one of the alternative models of service delivery, on condition that all necessary steps are taken to first put in place the required number of teachers trained in the special needs of blind and low vision children and the essential support systems, the necessary equipment, Braille books, and low vision devices to guarantee true inclusion;

Promote a high-quality education in special schools as an alternative to inclusive or mainstream education;

Recommend and advocate the continued support for valued alternative forms of education, both formal and non-formal, for those who cannot benefit from an inclusive, integrated or special education programme;

Encourage the provision of early detection, early intervention, and pre-school services which include the parents, other family members, and the community in general;

Assure governments of their joint and separate fullest support, especially in terms of advocacy, professional advice, and technical assistance.

Virtual Pencil

Review by Phill McKenna:

Virtual Pencil is a computer software program that is worth having a look at. It is a program designed for interactive access to maths and it is designed for those who are vision impaired, motor impaired or learning disabled. It could be a handy teaching tool for any group of children. The advantages for children who are vision impaired are that the program will work with a screen reader, the print size can be increased or decreased, it easily moves to the ‘correct position on the paper’ also the background colour can be changed as can the text colour. It will explain how to solve a problem and it can be saved to disk and printed or embossed in braille. The current program handles the four processes including decimals. There are plans for programs with higher level maths. A free demo can be downloaded from www.HenterMath.com

Some tips to get you started are:

On the opening page fill in a fictional student name, teacher name and due date. The ‘view menu’ controls what you see on the screen – get rid of display tree and you will have a full screen. Go to ‘insert menu’ in the toolbar to insert a problem. You insert your problem in the window titled ‘problem’. In the window entitled ‘instructions’ you can write a simple plan on how the student can approach the problem. Click ‘begin’, and the problem will appear ready to be worked on. Use the ‘actions menu’ to include things like carrying and borrowing, extended tutor and to check if the final answer is correct. When you select carrying & borrowing make sure that you move the vacant text box slightly above the number you have placed it beside otherwise it won’t allow you to insert a digit. The ‘view menu’ options will allow you to adjust the font size and colour as well as the background colour.

SPEVI News

The editorial team for the SPEVI News, Carolyn Mentiplay, Helen Caldow and Lea Nagel would like to warmly invite you, or your fellow educators of students with vision impairments, to submit articles to the SPEVI newsletter. This is not the yearly journal, but the less formal, quarterly newsletter. It is important that the newsletter reflects the whole South Pacific region, (though at present there is a very strong bias towards Victoria, Australia).

Potential contributors will know that having your name in print can look excellent on one’s CV. Articles can be short, informal, enjoyable, interviews etc...

Email: van.der.nagel.leanne.n@edumail.vic.gov.au or caldow@alphalink.com.au

They look forward to hearing from you soon!

Staff News

Please call us on 9841 0242 if you would like to join us at a bit of a luncheon to farewell Pam Smedley – Tuesday 24th June.

Finally

Thanks to Mike Steer and Betty Edelstein for contributions to this edition of The Bulletin. Thanks to Dianne Skillern and Lea Nagel for their thorough proof-reading.

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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