The Bulletin

Statewide Vision Resource Centre

Number 12, Friday 3rd August 2001

The following issue of The Bulletin was prepared by Lea Nagel (Visiting Teacher, Eastern Region), Helen Caldow (Visiting Teacher, Eastern Region), and Deb Lewis (Co-ordinator, Statewide Vision Resource Centre).

Inside This Issue

Professional Development 2001

Visiting Teacher - PD Day  - Monday 13 August
Combined Agencies Day (St Paul's School) - Monday 8 October
Visiting Teacher - VI PD Day - Friday 7 December

Education Options for Senior Students

RVIB is conducting a seminar for students exploring options including VCE or the RVIB Transition Program.
When: Thursday 9th August, 5pm to 8.30pm
Where: RVIB School Centre, 333 Burwood Hwy
Cost: $45
RSVP: Rachel Grealy (03) 9808 6422

Chocolate Drive

Please buy chocolates at the Statewide Vision Resource Centre - even better, take a box to sell!

Final Space Camp Meeting - 17th August

When: Friday 17th August at 2pm
Where: Statewide Vision Resource Centre 360 Springvale Rd Donvale
Why: Last minute planning - what to bring, final decisions about activities etc
Who: Students, parents and Visiting Teachers
Followed by: Bowling and a meal at Knox (details from Deb Lewis or at the meeting)
RSVP: (03) 9841 0242 or deblewis@svrc.vic.edu.au/.

Driving Camp Pics

We have digital pictures of all the driving camp students that can be emailed out to you - just call. For a report (by Driving Camper, Kat) and more pictures, see our website: www.svrc.vic.edu.au/carcamp2001.html/.

GDAV Grampians Camp 2001

Bushwalking and swimming were just two of the activities which ten secondary school students participated in during the recent GDAV camp in the Grampians.  The students were accompanied by five Orientation and Mobility Instructors, a Nurse and the Occupational Therapist from GDAV. We stayed in self contained cabins at the Halls Gap township.  Included in the week were opportunities for the students to complete O&M challenges in the Halls Gap township and daily living tasks including meal preparation. Most of our time during the week was taken up with bushwalking, BBQs, shopping, visiting cultural centres, sampling bush tucker (and cappuccinos), more shopping, more bushwalking, swimming, dancing, playing basketball and eating lollies.
An important aspect of the camp was providing an opportunity for the students to interact with their peers in an informal and recreational setting. Despite some wet weather all students and staff really enjoyed the activities, learning opportunities and social interaction which camps such as this provide.  It was remarkable to see how the kids developed over the week.

GDAV Primary School Holiday Camp "Making Sense"

The next Guide Dog Association of Victoria Primary School Camp will be held during the Term 3 school holidays and is open to Primary School aged students.  The venue for the camp will be the Guide Dog Association of Victoria Training Centre facility in Kew.  The focus of this camp will be to develop a greater understanding of a child's senses.
If you are a student who enjoys having fun, going to new places, being part of a group and wanting to develop, refine or extend your Orientation & Mobility skills, then this may be the camp for you.
The camp will have as its focus learning more about using the senses when undertaking Orientation & Mobility challenges.  After all, Orientation & Mobility need not be restricted to road crossings and finding your way around school or to the local shops.
Activities will include visiting and exploring a range of interesting and stimulating environments such as the beach and bushland which simultaneously provide wonderful learning and recreational opportunities.
For further information about the Guide Dog Association camps program, call Dean Jones or Rachel Morgan on (03) 9854 4444.

Braille Music Translation Software

A new software program that enables scanning sheet music then translating it into Braille is available. TOCCATA from Optek Systems of Australia and the more basic OpusDots Lite can be used to quickly and easily produce Braille music from text books or music scores. TOCCATA also allows you to play back the music, in real time, with instrument voices, enabling users to check the music before translating into Braille. Editing the music is also possible.
A detailed review of these products has appeared in "The Adaptive Technology Review" (Autumn 2001 volume 5 Issue 1). Please contact us at the Statewide Vision Resource Centre for a copy of the article.

Parent Organizations

The following report was prepared by Annette Godfrey-Magee:
Susan La Venture, Executive Director of the National Association for Parents of Children with Visual Impairment, was sponsored by Quantum Technology to address two meetings one for parents and one for professionals working with Low Vision Children.  She was a most entertaining and engaging speaker. Her mission was to develop interest in establishing a national association for parents of children with visual impairment. This self help body, that originated from America in 1979, has proven to be most effective in creating change to Legislature and Educational institutions. Its charter is to empower parent to work towards effective medical intervention and appropriate educational outcomes for their children. To this end they were instrumental in developing a national toll-free phone line designed to serve families whose children are blind or vision impaired and had effective input into the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) which meant that children's Individual Education Plan (IEP) were legal documents.
Susan was an inspirational speaker whose gentle manner and keen sense of humour kept all interested. Susan is keen to establish a national association of parents for both Australia and New Zealand. John Bowen, a founding member of the SCRV support group, has generously offered to start the ball rolling and get moving to establish this group. Unfortunately, I was tardy in getting this information into the last Bulletin and as a consequence this group has had their first meeting. Please think about your parents and encourage them to be involved. John can be contacted on 9842 5103 or give me  (Annette 9841 0807) a list of parents who wish to be involved and I'll organize for John to contact them. This will be a wonderful opportunity for parents to network and offer mutual support and direction.

QANTAS 'Carer Concession Card'

A carer concession card is available through NICAN, who provides information on recreation, tourism, sport and the arts for people with disabilities.
Qantas advises us that cardholders receive a 50% discount on the standard full price economy and business class domestic travel, in addition to 50% off the carer's fare (conditions apply). To be eligible, the applicant must be a person with significant support requirements who, through a physical, sensory, intellectual, psychiatric disability or head injury is unable to travel without the full time assistance of a carer. Administration fee is $27.50.
For information and an application form, contact NICAN, PO Box 407, Curtin, ACT 2605
Phone: (02) 62853713  Fax: (02) 6285 3713  E-mail NICAN@spirit.com.au Application forms are also available at the Statewide Vision Resource Centre.

ICEVI Conference July 2002 Netherlands

Theme: Moving Towards an Inclusive Community.
ICEVI has been proactive in stimulating international exchanges aimed at developing equal access to educational opportunity for people with visual impairment.
Conference information available at SVRC.

Braille Labelling on Pharmaceutical Packaging

The following information was included in the minutes of the Victorian Subcommittee of the Australian Braille Authority on 21st May 2001:
The Royal Society for the Blind of SA has worked with a South Australian pharmaceutical company in producing packaging and usage instructions in braille and large print. The range of generic drugs marketed under the name of GenRx, currently 25 drugs, has braille labelling on the packaging and the size of the print is as large as possible. All usage and general data sheets are available in braille and large print. All these drugs are prescription only so ask your pharmacist about them.

Guidelines for Working with One to One Aides

Article from "Teaching Exceptional Children". This article discusses philosophy, planning, roles and skill areas and supervision. Copies available from SVRC.

YouthEmployment Link

Lynne Kosky, Minister for Post Compulsory Education, Training and Employment sent the following information via DEET Mail on 19th July 2001. YouthEmployment Link is also being advertised on the radio:
Today I am delighted to unveil an exciting education initiative that will help Victoria's young people make better-informed decisions about their careers
I use the plural "careers", rather than "career" because life for today's young people is about multiple choices. No longer do young people make a career choice for life.
With that in mind the Government has developed the Youth Employment Link (YEL), a web-based referral service for young people seeking career advice and employment information.
In the past, information on vocational guidance, career counselling, apprenticeships and traineeships, wages and conditions, and training courses have been spread throughout different organisations and government departments. For the first time YEL brings together all that information in a format that is fun, interactive and easy to use. An 1800 number (1800 15 20 25) is available for those who do not have Internet access or who require additional assistance with the site.
We are encouraging young people who visit the site to provide us with feedback so that we can continually improve the site to meet the needs and interests of young Victorian's. Please take this opportunity to visit the YEL site; we would be interested in hearing your feedback also.
The address for YEL is www.yel.vic.gov.au/.

VoiceNote

Pulse Data has sent SVRC a kit explaining the use of its notetaker (VoiceNote BT) and braille keyboard (VoiceNote QT.0) The kit has information in braille, audio tape and print.
 

"I'm Posting the Pebbles" Active learning through play for children who are blind or VI.

This is a new book published by RVIB and written by Liz Haughton and Sandie Mackevicius. The cost is $25.00. Order forms available from SVRC.

Braille Music Camp, Mittagong 7-14 July, 2001

At very short notice, SVRC Braille Transcriber, Emilie Butcher, attended the Braille Music Camp in Mittagong. She prepared the following report.
The benefits to music students were many and could be listed as follows:
  • obvious social interaction with other vision impaired students as well as older adults. At mealtimes there was a lot of mixing of groups as there were no set places. Meals were served in the boarders' diningroom and everyone was expected to get their own meal and help by putting their dishes on a trolley when they had finished. Often there was spontaneous singing or mimicking sessions of the organisers which was a lot of fun.
  • interaction with people from all over Australia and NZ (approx. 55 blind people and 15 sighted) Similar aged students were placed in boarders' hostels. These buildings were self-contained with a kitchen,bathroom and comfortable common-room. Sighted adults were billeted in different hostels so help was available if necessary. These common-rooms were a great place to catch up with new and old friends.
  • linking up with other students who may do same instrument/choir part and sharing ideas.
  • use of wonderful facilities at the Frensham Music Deptartment. Special music rooms with pianos were available and there were many keyboards.
  • daily lessons lasting 1 ˝ hours with braille music tutors (older students, music teachers and also formal theory exam practice with Senior Braille Transcriber - Dorothy Hamilton). This process often could pick up any braille music bad patterns, particularly necessary for those doing theory exams. Queries re. learning or braille music could be addressed.  Perkins were provided by RNIB and each student and teacher could work through a 'Read, Sing and Play' manual (designed to teach blind people music braille). Towards the end of the week many tutors used this time to go over their student's braille music choral part.
  • Exposure to students who are composing and performing own pieces - inspiration to do same!
  • Exposure to other musical instruments/bands - new ideas for students.
  • contacts from all over Australia and NZ with address list of all attending the camp given at the end thus enabling future contact via email etc.
  • role models with the presence of older vision-impaired successful students (many doing University courses) and  adults who had/have careers. Quite a few older students had produced their own CD's.
  • obvious advantage of experience travelling interstate on public transport and being away from home (some students had never been away from home before).
  • wonderful introduction to choir singing and being a member of a part in that choir culminating in a big choir concert on the final night for 200 locals and friends and family of the people on camp. This was held in the hall of the school. This also gave practice in reading vocal braille music. Hopefully the experience would be positive and those involved would return home and perhaps seek out a local choir with more confidence. The choir was properly conducted by Ian Cooper who has had much experience in this field as well as being Music Master at the Frensham school for 40 years! A professional pianist accompanied the choir.
  • possibility for anyone to give performance after dinner each night. These concerts were held in a large singing room and were casual with the audience being fellow-campers. It gave an opportunity to show/share any musical talent whether vocal or instrumental. There was a huge range of music performed. These evenings were lots of fun and gave a chance for people to form a group/compose something or just show off talent with their respective instrument. The best items of these casual shows were chosen for the grand final concert.
  • students with instrumental talent could be chosen to be part of an orchestra to perform at the final concert. Others could be part of the jazz band for the same concert. These various groups would practise each afternoon thus giving them more experience. They certainly sounded very professional. Jann Rutherford, a blind woman who is one of the leading jazz pianists in Australia, performed in the jazz band.
  • areas were roped to assist mobility although there was a fair degree of movement required as the living quarters were some distance downhill from the dining area and music rooms. There were also a lot of stairs and uneven surfaces. Many of the campers who had been there other years (this was the 16th braille music camp) assisted as well as the sighted people where necessary. However, the policy of standing back was encouraged by the Co-ordinator, Roma Dix, to force a degree of independence.
  • students could have music brailled for their own purposes if enough notice was given. Transcribers present were able to produce braille music if necessary.
    • In summary, a very busy rewarding camp for anyone who learns and loves music. The majority of the students were definitely keen to come back the following year - a true sign of how successful the experience was!

    Guide Pony!

    Whilst in England recently, Helen Caldow came across an interesting article in the Daily Mail of June the 1st. Dan Shaw explained how he has a miniature pony instead of a traditional guide dog. His pony, Cuddles understands 23 commands has 360 degree vision and yes he is housetrained!! Miniature ponies have a lifespan of 30 years instead of 8-10 for a guide dog. See the full article at SVRC.

    Staff News

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

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

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    Web editor Lyn Robinson. Last updated July 2001
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