The Bulletin
Statewide Vision Resource Centre
Number 12, Friday 18th July 2003

The following bumper issue of The Bulletin was prepared by Deb Lewis (Co-ordinator, Statewide Vision Resource Centre).

Inside This Issue
Professional Development 
Space Camp 2003 
Professional Development Tapes 
Accessibility and Tips: Windows XP 
Eccentric Viewing Program  
Mimio Review 
Universities: Special Entry 
Tilly Aston Display 
Acrobat Reader V6 
BCA New Address 
Alternative Format Materials 
Assisting Students with Disabilities by former student Fotis Gimian 
Increasing Braille Reading Speed 
Diabetic Retinopathy Support Group 
Software Review: Sherston Naughty Stories 
Decline in Language Skills 
Local Conferences 
Second Hand Computers 
Guide Dogs Victoria Advisory Committee 
DAI & Building Modification Funding 2004 
Closing Date for VCE Exams Special Arrangements 
RVIB College Professional Development 
In the News - some articles featuring the kids! 
SCORE Camp in Canada - Comments from an excited participant 
Driving Camp 
Tactual Books – Materials Required  

Professional Development

VT PD Day – Note Date Change: Now Monday 15th September

We have been fortunate to rebook lawyer Elly Gay who was an engaging and informative presenter at the most recent Parent Support Group. Elly will present the latest information on disability and the law, employment and discrimination in the workplace and provide valuable information on available resources. The legal responsibilities and entitlements available for the vision impaired community will also be explored. Dr Jill Keeffe from the Centre for Eye Research, who recently completed the Analysis into Support for Students with Vision Impairments for DE&T, has squeezed us into her hectic schedule and will discuss her findings!

So it will be another informative and interesting day – please feel free to invite others – your principal may be interested in these sessions!

Space Camp 2003

So! News of Space Camp 2003 has been noticeably absent from The Bulletin of late – I know this because of your phone calls and emails!!!

Space Camp 2003 is going ahead – but only because of the passion and dedication of Visiting Teacher Jeni Blake! So far, there are three students who plan to accompany her:

Nathan – Mordialloc area
Ben – Ballarat area
Matthew – Bentleigh area

Jeni is also looking for another Visiting Teacher to travel with her as chaperone – a large amount of assistance will be provided with fund raising!

As a chaperone of three Space Camp adventures, I’d have to say my participation is one of the highlights of my career in vision impairment! Where else can you rub shoulders with over fifty co-specialists in the field of vision impairment? Where else can you see up to two hundred students with vision impairments living the opportunity of a lifetime? Where else can you see real live space artifacts including rockets, actual space suits, moon rocks etc etc?

If you (student or Visiting Teacher) wish to join Jeni, now is the time to let us know!!! Even if money is an issue, call and we can see what we can do to assist – 0428 134660.

Professional Development Tapes

The following audio tapes are available from the recent Professional Development day for Visiting Teachers:
1. Classroom Application: The Mystery and Magic of Mimio! – Lea Nagel, Visiting Teacher, Eastern Metropolitan Region (a CD-ROM of the PowerPoint presentation is also available)
2. Access to the Secondary Mathematics Curriculum for Students who rely on Braille – Sherry Cunningham, Senior Visiting Teacher, RVIB (Sherry’s handouts are also available)

Please contact us if you would like a copy!

Accessibility: Windows XP

Source: SVRC Website www.svrc.vic.edu.au/accessibility.html

Accessibility Options and Display are still available in the newest incarnation of Windows. Some of the screens are slightly different (eg in Display, you have to go to the Advanced option to customise the desktop).

Windows XP has many useful features including the ability to make the blinking cursor wider, a magnifier, a speech output option called Narrator and an Accessibility Wizard which allows features to be customised.

To locate these options go to:
Start > All Programs > Accessibility and then choose
Accessibility Wizard
Magnifier or
Narrator

Narrator

Narrator is a text-to-speech utility which reads what is displayed on the screen including the contents of the active window, menu options, or text that has been typed.

Note: Narrator is designed to work with Notepad, WordPad, Control Panel programs, Internet Explorer, the Windows desktop, and some parts of Windows Setup. Narrator may not read words aloud correctly in other programs.

Mouse actions

Go to: Start menu > All Programs > Accessories > Accessibility > Narrator
A message box with a link to more information about Narrator may appear. To close the box, select OK.
To use Narrator but hide the Narrator dialog box, select the Minimize button.To turn off Narrator, in the Narrator dialog box, select the Exit button.

Keyboard actions

Display the Start menu by pressing CTRL+ESC (or the Windows logo key).
Press R
Type narrator
Press ENTER.
A message box with a link to more information about Narrator may appear.
To close the box, press ENTER.To use Narrator but hide the Narrator dialog box, select Minimize by pressing ALT+SPACEBAR, N.
To turn off Narrator, in the Narrator dialog box, press ALT+X, Y.

See also the Microsoft XP Web Page: www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/accessibility/narratorturnon.asp

More Computer Tips: Windows XP

You might want to change some of the characteristics of your mouse! Perhaps you want your mouse to travel further around the screen with a smaller movement of your hand. What about if the mouse magically snapped to the default button on a dialog box??? Perhaps it would be handy if you could locate the cursor with a circle, just by pushing the Control button, or even if the pointer had a pointer trail…

Go to: Start > Control Panel > Mouse > Pointer Options and then select the options that you find most appealing!!!

Eccentric Viewing Program

We now have the Eccentric Viewing Program available at the Resource Centre. Kerry Fitzmaurice PhD, Dean of the School of Orthoptics at LaTrobe, has agreed to assess the children’s preferred retinal locus (PRL) as this will identify the best eccentric viewing point. All children who have an absolute and bilateral loss of central vision should be given the opportunity to try this program. Please give the names of the children you believe would benefit from this program to the SVRC staff and an assessment afternoon will be organized.

The program was discussed in term one at a PD day and if any further information is required contact Annette 9841 0807.

Need to Download Software?

Check out the Download page on the SVRC website: www.svrc.vic.edu.au/softwaredemo.html

You can find links to large cursors, voice output, magnification and maths software. Happy downloading!

The Mimio Xi: Whiteboard to Computer Screen Technology

The following article, by Visiting Teacher Lea Nagel, appeared in the recent and most interesting edition of SPEVI News, June 2003:

The mimio Xi has been designed with boardrooms, lectures and internet meetings in mind, but it has excellent applications for our students with vision impairments. The teacher places a capture bar at the top left of the whiteboard, then writes with a stylus, which is a holder that fits whiteboard markers. When the marker is pressed onto the whiteboard the stylus emits a signal. A cable connects the capture bar to the notebook computer, and writing or diagrams appear on the student’s computer screen at the same time as they appear on the board!

The captured screen can be saved, and the end picture can be viewed, or the session can be viewed in order of appearance on the screen.

An excellent feature of the mimio Xi software is that the background and line colours can be changed. Lines can be made thicker or thinner, and changes can be applied to all lines in the document, before, during or after saving. You can zoom in or out on any part of the screen.

But that’s not all!!! You can buy Optical Character Recognition software that can convert hand writing from the whiteboard into editable text, to be sent to a word processing document!!! (Unfortunately, it does not come with steak knives.)

I trialed this technology with a year 10 student with extremely low vision, who is studying year 11 Mathematics Methods. Previously, she was only able to gain access to diagrams through an aide or fellow student scribing from the board, or by asking the teacher to redraw diagrams at her desk. The mimio Xi has allowed this student to view on her computer screen, exactly what is being drawn or written on the whiteboard, in real time. Her preferred screen set-up is black background, and bold, white lines. This is easy to set up on the computer.

My student finds it difficult to use the mouse in this application, because as the I-beam travels over her black screen, it turns into a black crosshair and disappears. The zoom feature is mouse driven; there are no key commands available for it, so she leaves the size original, and uses her hand held magnifier to see small detail. The “change background” and “change pen colour/thickness” functions are mouse driven as well, but the mouse is easier to find in these boxes. It is not possible to set the default up with preferred colours.

Even with these drawbacks, my student loves it. At first, the mathematics teacher was the only teacher to use it, but it is finding its way into all of the other subjects, as teachers find out how easy it is to use. The maths teacher loves it, and is happy to be quoted saying: “If I can use it, anyone can!”

For more information and photos, go to: http://www.mimio.com/index.shtml

Below: Screen capture of a maths lesson - appearance on the computer screen for a student who prefers white printing on a black background.

University of Melbourne Targeted Access Program

The University of Melbourne has a special entry program to assist disadvantaged students The University of Melbourne uses Targeted Access Program (TAP). This program lets the student explain ongoing difficulties that have affected their changes of gaining a place at the University. All faculties participate (except Vet. Science). In 2003 the University enrolled 320 students who would not have got a place but for the information provided on their TAP applications. Categories include students who have had ongoing difficulties during secondary schooling eg long term disability or illness, socio economic hardship, family circumstances for learning English at secondary school, completing Year 12 at a school under-represented into the tertiary sector, living in a rural/isolated area, a female wanting to study a course not traditionally studied by women.

Applications for admission must be made to the university through VTAC by 30th September (as usual) and send a TAP application form in by 13th October 2003.

Further information www.services.unimelb.edu.au/admissions/programs/tap.html

National Museum of Australia to Feature Tilly Aston

Source: TAC News, Winter 2003

In May the story of Tilly Aston, founder of Vision Australia Foundation, was included in the Eternity Gallery at the highly popular National Museum of Australia in Canberra. The Eternity Gallery tells the stories of a broad range of Australians, mostly from the first person and arranged under emotional themes such as passion, chance and joy.

Vision Australia has contributed to the display by loaning a glass beaded evening bag created by Tilly and providing copies of photographs and an audio recording. The display will be at the museum until 2005 giving thousands of visitors the opportunity to find out more about Tilly’s life and amazing achievements.

Further details are available from Anna Fairclough on 9864 9649.

Acrobat Reader Version 6

Source: OnLine Newsletter, Volume 2, Issue 3, 2003

Adobe’s Acrobat Reader Version 6 has just been released and the full version provides the latest accessibility features so that users of JAWS 4.51 or Window-Eyes 4.211 no longer have the often encountered and annoying problem of opening a pdf file just to hear that this documents security settings prevent access - and it won't read anything. This new release can be downloaded from: http://ardownload.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/6.x/6.0/enu/AdbeRdr60_enu_full.exe

New National Offices for Blind Citizens Australia

You will now find the BCA at:
13 Barrett Street
Kensington 3031
PO Box 24
Sunshine Vic 3020
Tel: (03) 9372 6400
Fax: (03) 9372 6466
Freecall: 1800 033 660
TTY: 9376 9275

BCA: Alternative Format Materials

BCA has an interesting webpage entitled ‘Getting the Message’: www.bca.org.au/getmsg.htm

The page contains the following links:
- What are accessible formats?
- Choosing appropriate accessible formats
- Guidelines for accessible formats (a list of documents developed by the Round Table)
- Producers of accessible formats (list of producers and their contact details)

For example:

‘What are accessible formats?’

In an information-rich society such as ours, people are greatly disadvantaged when they cannot get access to the same information as the general population. In Australia there are many people who are blind or vision impaired, or who have other disabilities which restrict their access to standard printed materials. Increasing recognition of the principles of equity and access is bringing about a change in the quantity and quality of information available in accessible formats.

The production of material in accessible formats can involve additional time, so it is necessary to allocate sufficient time for the accessible-format versions to be available at the same time as the standard print version. It is not sufficient that these formats are produced: their availability needs to be made known to people with print disabilities who will, in most instances, be unable to access standard printed promotional material such as newspaper advertisements and flyers.

There are a number of ways to present information to people with print disabilities, including:

Large Print

Print which is enlarged (usually 14pt or larger), uses plain fonts, and has good contrast

Braille

Writing which is read by touch; letters and symbols are represented by raised dots on the page

Audio Tape

Recorded voice presentation of text, often using tone or voice indexing to assist in the location of contents

Computer Disk

Material on computer disk can be transformed by the reader into accessible formats such as large print, braille, and synthetic speech

Internet and Email

Used by an increasing number of vision impaired readers; web pages should be designed using published guidelines for universal access

Telephone

The telephone system can be used for the delivery of information using either recorded voice or synthetic speech; interactive voice response (IVR) systems; are increasingly used for purposes such as bill payment, banking, obtaining timetable information

Tactual Maps and Diagrams

Maps and diagrams using raised lines and symbols and braille text

Assisting Students With Disabilities

The following article, ‘A summary of the main ways teachers and everybody can help visually impaired students’ was written by Fotis Gimian (former DE&T VT student) who hopes you find his insight helpful.

(1) Watch out for bullying

In primary school and high school I had to go through a large amount of bullying which not too many people knew about. This is because at a young age, it's quite hard to tell a teacher or even your parents that you're being bullied. It should be the teacher's responsibility and anyone monitoring the yard at recess or lunch time to keep an eye on disabled students to simply make sure that no one is hassling them. If a student is caught bullying a disabled student, a detention won't do the trick, nor will a suspension. I believe that a good long talk and explanation of the disabled student’s problem is most appropriate. Try to put the bully in their shoes and make them feel that the disabled student is just as normal as them but only more unfortunate and that the bully's perfection shouldn't be taken for granted.

(2) Put the disabled student in the most obedient class

If the student is to be put in one of the subdivisions of their year, make sure that the class chosen are good, obedient and friendly students. When I went to high school, my principal did a very good job of selecting one of the best classes for me to be in and during all of high school, I was never once abused by any of my fellow class mates. Most of the bullying came from my year level but from the more troublesome subdivisions. So please don't find the smallest class and just throw the disabled student in, think carefully about your choice, it is in the students’ and your best interest.

(3) Encourage the student to use any services available to them but don't push it

There is an upside and downside to the services available. Some services offered may assist students with disabilities and others may make them feel abnormal.

Funding: The main service that students should take advantage of is funding. I always was worried about seeking too much funding for equipment because I didn't want any other visually impaired student with greater needs than me to miss out. It turned out that I ended up with no funding whatsoever and a friend of mine who had the same need as me for a laptop got funded about a very large amount of money. That money would easily be enough for both of us to have a pretty great laptop each, but I missed out and she got more than she bargained for. The moral here is don't let any opportunity to obtain funding slip through your fingers because you’re sure to regret it when you see someone with less need than you getting double of what they deserve.
Please look into and make sure you understand the ‘Future For Young Adults’ program. Make sure that the student's name is put down for the program when they are in year 12 regardless of whether or not they are 18 because if their name is not put down in their last year of schooling, the student will miss out on the program!

Mobility Training: This is a great service provided and should be taken up if the student wishes. I was pushed into doing this and found it quite helpful. The only point here is don’t push the student to do it (like I was), convince them that it is worth doing and give them time to consider it.

Other Services: The sort of services that should be offered but not pushed are things like getting involved in activities that are organised just for the blind or visually impaired. For me, I was almost offended at this concept because it puts a big fat label on you saying ‘Disabled’. These events are a lot of fun and can be great, but only if the student wants to get involved.

(4) Encourage students to use visual aids

I have been using a magnifier and binoculars for about 8 years now to help me at school and university. It is wise to encourage students to learn to use these because otherwise they will not be able to follow the material presented. I know a visually impaired student at uni who is too ‘embarrassed’ to use these aids and therefore she totally relies on a note taker. At least I have piece of mind and know that I could cope on my own if need be.

Increasing Braille Reading Speed

Source: The Braille Monitor, May 2003

Most Braille readers would love to increase our reading speed. We know of those who have mastered the techniques well enough to achieve braille reading speeds of several hundred words a minute. Unfortunately, many of us have reached a plateau in increasing our braille reading speed. Many of us have struggled to overcome a speed limit of about sixty words a minute. The truth is that surpassing the sixty-wpm barrier takes work and the honing of specific skills. By using the proven techniques outlined below in combination with daily practice, the sixty-wpm barrier can be broken

Technique One:

Use two hands. You can identify a braille-reading pro by the way he or she uses two hands to move across the page. By using the index fingers of both the left and right hands simultaneously, a braille reader can reduce the time it takes to read a passage of braille text. The trick here is to have at least one of the fingers of each hand moving across the dots at all times. While one finger finishes a line, the other index finger begins reading the next line; this means no pause between lines. The problem with the one-handed method of reading is that a pause takes place between lines because the reader has to slide the hand back across the page to the start of the next line. The two-handed method of reading eliminates this delay.

Technique Two:

Make the hand movement across the page automatic. If you don't need to focus on the way your hands are moving, you can concentrate better on the text. To make the movement of your hands across the page as fluid as possible, try this exercise: Starting at the top of a page, move your hands from left to right as quickly as you can while retaining good two-handed braille reading form. Remember to touch every character and line. It’s not necessary to understand the symbols you touch. The goal is to execute your movements as unconsciously as possible. Do this exercise for a few minutes several times each day. After a while your hands will know where to go without your having to think about it.

Technique Three:

Push your reading speed envelope. All readers tend to read at the speed at which they are most comfortable. Simply reading on cruise control isn't enough to improve your speed markedly. You need to move beyond your comfort zone. Don’t stop to decode the words you missed. Again, as in technique two, you should do this a few times a day for a few minutes at a time. In just a few days, you will notice that you can move faster while understanding more.

Technique Four:

Make braille a part of everyday activities. The axiom ‘use it or lose it’ applies to any new skill you acquire. It is particularly true for learning braille. Make the commitment to include braille in your daily activities. Make opportunities for reading braille. Use brailled labels. Take braille notes. Take a braille magazine along with you so you have something to read when you are waiting at a doctor’s office.

If you would like a copy of the whole article, please contact us.

Diabetic Retinopathy Support Group

A new diabetic retinopathy support group for adults is forming, facilitated by Cynthia Gregory.

Where: Lucy Jones Hall, Royal Victorian Eye & Ear Hospital, 32 Gisborne Street East
(Entrance Via Albert Street)
When: Saturday 2nd August, 2003 from 3pm to 4pm
RSVP: Tracy Orr 9929 8680

Software Review: Sherston Naughty Stories

Source: OnLine Newsletter Volume 1, Issue 6

Sherston Naughty Stories is a series of short stories aimed at children of five to seven years. The main menu offers 12 stories to choose from with titles such as Tasmin’s Terrible Tantrums and Billy the Bothersome Bully.

Once a story is selected it can be read out loud by the computer by simply clicking on the listen button. Any word can also be read just by clicking on it. As the story is read the words are highlighted in a contrasting colour giving a good one to one correspondence between the spoken and written word. The onscreen controls are simple and uncluttered and allow students to read the previous or next page as often as they like.

Animations are activated by selecting the see button or by clicking on the actual picture. All stories have a meaningful narrative structure and some also have repetitive text eg “Oh no!” said Gordon.

A customisation menu is available through pressing the space bar, return or F10.

Grab screen takes a screen shot of the page and automatically saves it. This could be used to print out and make a hard copy of the page for re-reading away from the computer or even to use as a story starter or ending for a text innovation. Similarly the entire book could be printed out for re-reading.

Save wordlog gives a record of all the words that users have clicked on.

Autoplay enables the whole story to be read without the student needing to activate any of the onscreen controls. With this facility activated students could choose a story and then listen to it independently with animations, words highlighted and pages turned automatically.

Options permits highlighting to be turned on or off, a choice of colour in highlighted words and allows the read (speech) feature to be on or off.

Using these options the stories can be read or re-read with varying levels of support to match individual student needs.

Supplier: New Horizons web: www.nh.com.au email: sales@nh.com.au
Cost: Single user approx $76; License 5 approx $125
Computer: hybrid CD-ROM for Mac or Win

Decline in Language Skills

Source: EducationTelegraph.co.uk, 5th June 2003

An alarming decline in the language skills of young children about to start school has prompted ministers (in the UK) to order extra tuition in speaking and listening, reports Julie Henry

Youngsters aged from three to five will be given lessons on how to speak and listen properly under government plans to tackle a decline in children's language skills.

Serious concern was expressed at a recent ministerial meeting about the growing numbers of pupils starting school unable to talk clearly or pay attention to the teacher. A decision was made to introduce special tuition.

Education researchers, who blame increased television viewing and the decline of family conversation for the trend, say that teaching such children the 3Rs is a waste of time because they have not yet grasped the basics of language.

Liz Attenborough, the co-ordinator of the Talk to Your Baby campaign, run by the National Literacy Trust, said: “Unbelievable as it seems, some children starting nursery do not seem to have ever had a one-to-one conversation with anyone.”

Contact us for a copy of the whole article.

Life Activities International Conference on Disability

When: 21-24 September 2003
Where: Newcastle, NSW
Further information: (02) 4973 6573 or laicod@willorganise.com.au

Colloquim: Changes in Ophthalmology

When: 24 and 25 July 2003
Where: Lucy Jones Hall, Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Ground Floor, Cnr Albert St and Morrison Place, East Melbourne
Lectures include: What has changed in 40 years?; What do they need to know about eye disease?; Best Clinical Practice: What we know, what we need to know; and more.
For further details: Judy Carrigan (03) 9929 8415 or judithc@unimelb.edu.au

Cheap Second Hand Laptops

Source: Email with subject ‘Macquarie Bank's Offer of Purchase for Rollout 5 Notebooks’ sent Thursday, 10 July 2003

Recipients of the Acer or Apple Rollout 5 notebook are due for replacement in mid July 2003. Macquarie Bank, the Lessor, is offering to sell them to teachers, schools and other interested parties. Macquarie Bank has offered to sell the Acer notebooks for $635 plus GST, total $698.50, including a 6 month return-to-base limited warranty from ACER. Apple iBook 300 notebooks can be purchased from Macquarie Bank for $720 plus GST, total $792.00. Apple notebooks do not have an extended warranty.

For further details, contact: Tony Potas, Manager Notebook Program on (03) 9613 5146 or check the website: www.usedlaptops.com.au/laptops/index.html

Vacancy on Consumer Advisory Committee at GDV

From: Ramona Mandy

If you are a parent of a student who accesses the Children's Mobility Service and/or camps offered by Guide Dogs Victoria (GDV), would you be interested in serving on the Association's Consumer Advisory Council?

We currently have a vacancy on the Council and would like to fill it preferably with someone who has had experience with the Children's Service in order to maintain our spread of representation from our various consumer groups.

The Consumer Advisory Council (CAC) acts as a consultative forum in identifying needs and priorities in the organisation's service delivery.

The Council aims to develop and deliver comprehensive mobility service programs, which will enrich the quality of life of our clients. As a parent, we would value your input to provide advice and recommendations concerning the training of blind and vision impaired children. By contributing to the Council you will be undertaking rewarding and interesting work, which is not at all taxing on your time or effort.

Your participation would only require attendance at two meetings a year, usually on a Saturday at the Guide Dogs Victoria premises in Kew. The meetings run for approximately four hours and morning tea and lunch are provided.

If you are interested in taking up a position on the Council, and thereby helping Guide Dogs Victoria to deliver Guide Dog and specialist mobility services of exceptional quality to vision impaired people in the Victorian community, please contact Angela Weber at GDV by 31 July for an application form. Contact Angela on (03) 9854 4444 or angela.w@guidedogs.asn.au

Program for Students with Disabilities Funding for 2004

Source: Circular 197/2003 Application process for the 2004 Program for Students with Disabilities

Applications for the Program for Students with Disabilities 2004 are being invited for additional resources to support new students with disabilities who will be attending Department of Education and Training regular and specialist schools in 2004. For further information, see Circular 197/2003 or contact us for a copy.

Requests for Building Modifications for Students with Disabilities for the Year 2004 (EMR)

Source: Eastern Metropolitan Region Communication Number 150/2003

Requests for building modifications (eg ramps, handrails, toilet alterations) which are believed to be essential for a known disabled student to access a school in the year 2004 should be forwarded to Eastern Metropolitan Regional Office by Thursday 21 August, 2003.

See your schools (this probably applies to schools in other regions too) for further information and application forms. In Eastern Region, for further information, please contact Ian White on (03) 9881 0210.

Important Date: Closing Date for Special Exam Arrangements

If your VCE student requires Special Examination Arrangements for the ‘end of year’ examination period, your application needs to be in to the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority by 25th July. The relevant form appears on page 188 of the VCE Administrative Handbook 2003.

RVIB College: Professional Development

RVIB College offers workshops and courses including the following for 2003:
July 9 - 6 hours Understanding the basics of braille $140
July 23 - 3.5 hours Delivering powerful presentations $100
July 23, 24 & 25 - 14 hours Orientating a person who is vision impaired to a new environment $170
August 14 - 6 hours Avoiding difficulties by understanding disability legislation $100
August 15, 20, 22 - 15 hours Understanding the eye and common vision conditions $250
September 3 - 3 hours Understanding Adaptive Technology $65
September 17 or Nov 19 - 4 hours Improving your services to a client who is vision impaired $100
September 17 - 3 hours Improving customer service over the telephone $100
Begins October 9, ends December 18 - 24 hours Becoming a proficient, sighted braille user $300
December 4 - 3 hours Maximising your time, minimizing your stress $100

Prices include GST. For further information contact Natasha Brake on 9520 5555 or toll free 1300 559 987 or email college@rvib.org.au

In The News

Chad’s New BrailleNote

Source: Tech-Style, May 2003

Article ‘Perseverance Pays Off’ describes the funding efforts of Visiting Teacher Lynne Murdoch and her student Chad in their quest to purchase a BrailleNote.

“Chad … is 17 years of age and is planning to study media at University … To ensure his career goals become a reality, he desperately needed a portable high tech computer with braille input and output which could access Microsoft Word documents, transfer text files to a desktop, research projects on the internet and send and receive email… The Colac RSL Club helped and the Colac High School organized a ‘Chad Day’ to raise funds. A bequest from a former RVIB Auxiliary member further helped the cause.” Other supporters were the Colac ANZ Bank staff and Freemasonry Victoria, while the Colac Herald newspaper assisted with a public awareness campaign!

Contact us if you’d like a print copy of the article.

The 2002 Great Victorian Bike Ride

Source: Live Wire, June 2003

This article describes the adventures of two visiting teachers and two students up hill and down dale in the sun, the rain and the wind that was the Great Victorian Bike Ride 2002.

“The boys quickly got into the swing of the days – up at 5.15am to begin packing. Breakfast at 6.15am. Tents down and bags loaded into one of the five luggage trucks so we could hit the road (figuratively speaking) by 8.30 or 9.00am. We might have been a bit slower than some – but it meant that we didn’t lose things … that we were all wearing sun screen and/or wet weather gear, and that we set off together.”

Contact us if you’d like a print copy of the article.

‘In The News’ Scrapbook

We now have an ‘In the News’ Scrapbook – so if you find your students ‘in the news’, please bring or post (not fax) us a copy!

Horns, Tassels and Cones!!!

For those of you who receive the AEU News Victoria Branch (volume 9, issue 5), check out the picture on page 12 – there may be someone you recognise looking much like a devilish cheerleader!!! You can also see this pic on the window of my office!!!

SCORE: Some Reflections (Abridged & Spelling Corrected)

From SCORE Camper 2003, Bry:

“Yesterday we went to Niagara Falls which is the coolest thing I’ve done all trip. We went on the Maid of the Mist cruise which is basically a fifteen minute ride where you go up right next to the falls and get drenched in mist and spray and stuff. I took stacks of photos including one that resulted in one of the stupidest moments that has occurred on SCORE yet! There was a funky flying saucer looking water tower and I got my camera out really quickly and took a snap ... little did I realise that the camera was turned to my face not the window and the flash wet off right in my eye so apart from having a dodgy looking picture of my nose in the role of film I had a bad headache!! On Wednesday we're going on job shadow and I got an ace assignment with the stage manager of the Canadian Ballet Company!!!! I’m soooo pumped about that.”

Can’t wait for further stories from Bry when she returns!!! What a large adventure!!!

Driving Camp (Briefly)

Seven excited students – six boys and a girl – joined three teachers on the most recent odyssey to Charlton, half way to Mildura. We are again indebted to the staff of the Charlton Traffic Safety Education Centre – Graeme, Brian and Bernadette – for their expertise, patience and humour. All students achieved a level of independent driving, managing braking, gears, traffic lights and reversing with surprising skill.

Below left: Andrew M in the driver’s seat with instructor Bernadette and Andrew S in the car
Below right: View of the intersection controlled by traffic lights and the little building for teachers to shelter from the elements! And that’s one of the kids approaching the red light!!!

I am looking forward to reading some adventures from the students who attended the camp – so if Adam, Andrew M, Andrew S, Kyle, Chad, Nathan or Sarah have something to share, please send it to me via email – deblewis@svrc.vic.edu.au - and get your thoughts in print!!!

SVRC Workshop: Tactual Books

There is always a project or two going on in here!

We are collecting materials that could be used in the production of tactual books. Any suitable donations will be gratefully received.

For example:

wallpaper, leather strips, beads, raffia, different ply wools, shells, cellophane, string, small bells, fake fur, cord, squeakers, felt , balsa wood, icy pole sticks, lambswool, hologram paper/contact paper, bark, feathers, old greetings cards, overhead transparencies, buttons, pipe cleaners, puff paint, ribbons, foam, essential oils, lace, sponge, tap washers, screws, bolts, nails, flat magnetic strips (old fridge magnets), different textured fabrics (silk, velvet etc), textured/heavy paper, crepe paper.

Staff News

Odette Budge has accepted the CEO Visiting Teacher position which was recently vacated by the recently retired Pam Smedley – all the best to Pam and we hope to see her from time to time! Odette’s shuffle sideways is a great loss to the Department, but fortunately no loss to the field of vision impairment. Odette will be replaced by newcomer to the field, Marion James who we look forward to welcoming into the fold some time soon!
Braille transcriber Sue Sharp will be sunning herself in Noosa for a week, starting 14th July.
Maria’s exchange student from Thailand, Boat, has been accepted into the National University of Singapore to study engineering. Congratulations to him!!!
Marlene Burrows is overseas for the first couple of weeks of term 3.

Finally

Thanks to Toni Chilton and Annette godfrey-Magee 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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