The Bulletin

Statewide Vision Resource Centre

Number 17  Friday 3rd November 2000

Inside This Issue

Professional Development 2000

Texts for 2001

Please start asking your schools for booklists for 2001 and bring in texts for production in alternative format ASAP! We expect it to be another busy production period!

SVRC Mini EXPO – Monday 4th December 2000

The final activity to be conducted by the SVRC for 2000 will be the SVRC Mini Expo. Ordinarily, staff of the SVRC would encourage participation in the TALG EXPO, but this year for a variety of reasons, the TALG EXPO just isn’t happening! So we thought we’d hold our own – focusing on education issues – and invite you all to attend. Please bring your students, their families, school staff and interested people. There is no cost for the Expo and lunch can be purchased from the Heatherwood Canteen.
Displays will be open from 9.30am to 3.30pm.
Brief seminars will also be presented from each of the distributors from 12am to 12.30pm and 1.30pm to 2.30pm.
Lunch will be available from the Heatherwood Canteen. BBQ sausages in bread (or vegetarian option), onions, coleslaw, cake, drinks and the like will be provided at a reasonable cost. Please bring food from home if you would prefer.
Displays will be provided by distributors including: The flier is included with this edition of The Bulletin.

Mountbatten Day Report

Thirty participants crowded around their Mountbatten braillers on 23rd October last week for another fun- and information-filled day with Trevor Boyd from Quantum Technology. Again, folks came from all over the state with staff from Carlton PS, Corryong Consolidated School, Hurstbridge PS, Koonung SC, Nazareth College, Ovens College (Wangaratta), Rutherglen PS, Thomastown West PS and Yarunga PS. Visiting Teachers came from Eastern, Goulburn North-Eastern, Northern and Southern Regions. We also had more parents than ever before and the group also included five students!
The group’s skill level was quite mixed with some participants on brand new Mountbatten braillers and some wanting to refine their techniques for embossing scanned materials. Luckily Trevor was able to offer support to all, though I did see Sam (a student) working patiently with a newcomer to the group! Owen and his parents sent notes to each other in braille – most of these were unprintable in The Bulletin; while the three youngest students, who had never met each other before, had a great time comparing notes!
In the afternoon, Trevor organised groups around the internet and had participants searching for research materials, editing and embossing on the Mountbatten. For some, it was their introduction to the internet as a research tool – and from all accounts, this went very well!
Meanwhile, Shelly Pannier, Orientation and Mobility Instructor from Guide Dogs Association, Victoria, came to work with the five students in the afternoon. We went over to Heatherwood School to experience the MOET Sensor as an aid to mobility. By the end of the session, students were navigating through a hallway and locating each other using the vibrations produced by the MOET Sensor. The second activity is a trade secret, but we all had to wipe shaving cream from our hands, faces and clothes at the end!
Another excellent day – and the skill level of the group continues to improve!

Vision Fatigue Focus Group – Postponed till 2001

Planned for Monday 13th November – 3pm to 5pm, the Vision Fatigue Focus Group has been postponed till next year.

SPEVI Xmas Drinks

What: Come and join your peers for FREE Christmas Drinks!!!
Why: The SPEVI Councillors and Friends of SPEVI think it is a good idea and because it is free!
Where: Statewide Vision Resource Centre, 360 Springvale Rd Donvale
When: Monday 13th November – 5pm on
Who is invited: educators of vision impaired people – teachers, integration staff, therapists, support staff, heads of services etc
RSVP: by Friday 10th November to the SVRC (9841 0242)
Further information: Deb Lewis (9841 0242) or Yvette Higgins (9841 0807)

RVIB Braille Courses

Basic Braille

Date: Tuesday, 14 November 2000
Time: 9.00 am - 2.30 pm
Location: The Boardroom, 201 High Street, Prahran
Designed for: Staff who work directly with clients or administrative staff required to have a basic understanding of braille.
Trainer: Ramona Mandy
Description: This module includes the basics of how to read and write Grade 1 braille. Common uses of braille for independent living will be described and demonstrated. A more extensive course, Introduction to Braille, is offered in the first two school terms of each year.
Learning Outcomes: After completing the module, participants should be able to:
1. identify braille letters of the alphabet;
2. describe common daily uses for braille by people who are blind or vision impaired;
3. identify the key formatting features of braille text.
For further information about the course, contact Ramona on 9520-5521 or email mandyra@rvib2.rvib.org.au/. For information regarding cost and an application form contact Karen McKenzie on 9522-5257 or email: karenm@rvib2.rvib.org.au/.

Introduction to Braille 2001

This 12-week course presents a systematic approach to learning braille. It caters for sighted people who have had little or no experience in using braille as well as those people who want to consolidate their grade II braille skills. The course aims to assist participants to achieve competency in Grade II braille. It does not however, provide training for the teaching of braille. Twelve places are available, the minimum number for the course to run is 8.
Participants on the course previously have included: Topics also covered in the course: There will be at least two hours of follow-up work each week between sessions. At the completion of the course, a certificate will be awarded to those participants who reach a satisfactory standard.
Where: RVIB, 201 High Street, Prahran Vic 3181
Course begins: Wednesdays from 14th February, 2.30pm - 5.00pm
Cost: $150
Further information and registration forms: Ramona Mandy – 9520-5521 or email mandyra@rvib2.rvib.org.au

Games for Low Vision or Blind Users

The following article (abridged) appeared in Issue 8, 2000 of E-Access:
You can run for President of the US, journey to Mars or quest for Excalibur: as our recent series of articles on accessible computer gaming has shown, over the past couple of years a great variety of games have become available for people who are partially sighted or blind.
There is a surprising gap in this diversity, however: very few of these games are designed specifically for children, and even fewer are educational. In the UK, specialists in education for the visually impaired have found there is a wealth of useful software for children with learning difficulties, but almost no choice for children who are blind or have severe sight loss.
While there is no strict definition of an educational game, and many games could be argued to have educational elements, games with a strong focus on teaching are all but non-existent in this country.
"I can't think of one game that is advertised specifically for blind children", says Fiona Balfour, computer teacher at the Royal Blind School in Edinburgh. "Almost all games depend on the user having at least some vision."
Balfour says many attempts to adapt games for children at the school have proved frustrating. While changes to keyboards and screen magnification can improve accessibility, they can also make the game itself too challenging. Since a large proportion of her pupils have learning difficulties and sight loss, some adapted games remain inaccessible even though they are, in theory, playable.
Even so, she has had some success. The 'Thinking Things' series of games from Edmark (http://www.edmark.com) can be adapted for the visually impaired, as can a number of others available from the UK based R-E-M who specialise in educational software (http://www.r-e-m.co.uk) and usefully have a quick reference table on their website which lists different software and games packages according to their suitability for different special needs groups.
The lack of educational software for the visually impaired appears to be a global problem: even in the US, where blind gaming has many devotees, there appear to be very few examples. However, there may be some cause for optimism about the future. In the course of its research for this article, E-Access Bulletin found that although there are very few products currently available, there are signs that some specialist companies in the US are beginning to focus their efforts on younger computer users.
PCSGames (http://www.pcsgames.com) is operated and maintained by blind programmers and their products are fully accessible to blind computer users. The company offers two educational games for children, A2Z Key Finder and Mobius Mountain.
A2Z Key Finder is designed to teach early keyboard skills to toddlers aged between two and four. The game can be set to play a letter, number and a corresponding sound, and it also has a 'Follow the Leader' function which invites children to follow prompts.
Mobius Mountain is a maths adventure game which follows the format of the snakes and ladders board game, but instead of rolling dice for their turn, players must solve mathematical problems. The game has a series of difficulty levels, making it suitable for children from four to eight years old.
Both games are both Windows and DOS compatible, and no special adaptive equipment is necessary to play them.
The American Printing House for the Blind (http://www.aph.org), established in 1858 and claiming to be the world's largest company devoted to the visually impaired, has developed two games for blind or visually impaired children, Math Flash and Talking Typer.
Math Flash is mathematics tutor for schoolchildren which allows users to control the difficulty of the problems set, with the added flexibility for teachers to add problems into the exercises. Talking Typer for Windows is a typing tutor which instructs through lessons, practice and games. The game speaks a series of letters or words and waits for students to type, and can be used in a network. Both these games are for those aged six and over and require no special access software.
In all, though, these few US examples show how far there is to go, particularly in the UK, before blind and visually impaired schoolchildren and their teachers have a decent choice of computerised learning tools. We await developments with interest.

Braille Games Night

Ramona Mandy, ABA Victorian Subcommittee Convenor and Adult Braille Instructor, RVIB asked me to include this information with The Bulletin:
The Victorian Subcommittee of the Australian Braille Authority would like to invite you to a braille games night. Join us for nibblies, a drink and a game of braille Scrabble, a card game or perhaps braille monopoly. Most braille games also have print, so you do not need to be a braille user to play. This is also a chance to meet and converse with ABA members and find out more about the committee.
When: 6.00 PM on 14 December 2000.
Where: BCA Meeting Room, 87 High Street, Prahran.
What to bring: a plate of food to share and, if you wish, a braille game.
Why: good company, fun and a chance to brush up on your braille skills, and besides, Christmas won't be far off by then.
Who: please contact Sarah Galbraith or Leona Holloway on 9521-3400 to express your intent to attend as well as to notify them of what games you can bring.
You may also contact the organisers at the following email addresses:
Sarah Galbraith galbrsa@tblrvib.rvib.org.au or
Leona Holloway hollole@tblrvib.rvib.org.au
Hope to see you there.

Dot-Tags (Braille dog tags)

Apparently Dot Tags were all the rage at Space Camp this year! According to the website: ‘all jewellery in the braille collection is fashioned from sterling silver. Most designs are also available in 18kt. Vermeil. This is the most durable and elegant gold electroplate process available and consists of 18kt gold electroplated over sterling silver. 14 kt Gold can be quoted upon request. All prices given are in US funds.’ The collection includes rings, bracelets, pendants, ear rings etc Further details can be found at www.braillejewelry.com or write to:
Christiansen Designs
P.O. Box 583
Hanover, NH 03755

Class Activities: Braille Stamps

This email was received from: Isabell Florence on Monday, August 28, 2000 via the AERNET discussion group in response to the question ‘Is there such a thing as a braille stamp’?:

What I did was make a braille ‘stamp’ by taping two legos together then using an ink pad. The kids can colour in the dots to make words/contractions etc. They had fun making them. I also used egg cartons and ping pong balls. Each child brought in an eg carton and we cut the carton in half. The kids who didn’t bring in a carton got half of someone else’s so everyone had a ‘six hole’ braille cell. I asked them to bring in their own ping pong balls, you can get them pretty cheap, but I also bought some in case someone didn't get theirs. Then I’d teach the kids the letters, they had to put the balls in the right ‘hole’, then I'd quiz them. After they were doing pretty well I put the kids in small groups and each child was responsible for a letter. They had to line up the ‘cells’ to spell words. Then another group had to tell the group what the word was.

Here is another response from Sheila Amato on August 27, 2000

Yes there are Braille Stamps. The following information appeared in the Summer 1997 Dots for Braille Literacy "Braille in a Bag" is a set of rubber stamps of the braille alphabet letters and a few punctuation marks. It's a great idea for decorating items for sighted children to promote braille literacy. The set is available for US$13.50 plus US$1.50 for postage/handling. To order write to:
Lynn Goeden-Hough
N21 W24305 Cumberland Dr.
Pewaukee, WI 53072, USA.
My students used them to make cards for their parents. Placing a braille label on the handle makes it easier to identify the stamps. If puff paint is used, the dots can be raised. Instructions are included.

Open Day at Guide Dogs

Parents, Students, Visiting Teachers, Integration Aides and Teachers.
You're invited to OPEN DAY AT GUIDE DOGS. Celebrate our 50th Anniversary. 11am - 4pm Sunday 12 November 2000 Chandler Hwy Kew. Take the opportunity to meet Shelley Pannier & Kaye Jones, the Orientation and Mobility Instructors working in the Children's Mobility Service, learn more about the Children's service, tour our facilities and view the residential Training Centre where many of our camps are held. Open Day will also include Guide Dog demonstrations, puppies at play, sled dog races, sheepdog trials, celebrities, musicians and heaps more.
For more information phone 9854 4444.

Events Calendar

Vision Information Line (Vision Australia) in conjunction with Disability Information Line (DIV) provides a wonderful tool known as the Events Database for groups and organisations to advertise freely their upcoming events from AGM’s to World Blind Unions. You can find this information at www.disabilityinfo.org.au/.
For further information or for help accessing the site please call Katrina Newman, Customer Service Officer, Disability Information Victoria on 1300 650 865 Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 9:30am - 6:00pm.

New Website for Tertiary Students

The following information was forwarded by Margaret Verick Policy Officer (Blindness and Vision Impairment) ACROD:
Dr David Kemp, Minister for Education, Training and Youth Affairs, has announced the launch of a new web site. You can view this at www.deakin.edu.au/tedca/ncet. The site is part of the of the National Clearinghouse on Education and Training (NCET) for people with disabilities project, funded by the Commonwealth Government through the auspices of Deakin University and developed by the Tertiary Education Disability Council of Australia.
The web site aims to act as a centralised information exchange service to gather, evaluate, store and disseminate Australian and international research and information materials. The goal is to assist people with disabilities to get access to and succeed at tertiary education and training.
The site has areas that focus on Information, Interaction, Participation and the NCET Project. Under Information there is a link to Disability. This lists hearing impairment; learning/neurological impairments; physical impairments; speech/communication; intellectual impairment; medical conditions; psychological disorders and vision impairment. The vision impairment section provides links to the major blindness, Government and other agencies.
 The NCET Project will include:

Spectronics and Zygo Australia Assistive Technology Summit 2000

Featuring international guest presenters: Dr. Caroline Musselwhite & Pati King-DeBaun

Assistive technology specialists and Speech-Language Pathologists, renowned for their practical applications of assistive technology and their publications including "Emergent Literacy Success: Merging Literacy and Whole Language for Students with Disabilities"
Focussing on: With a Registration Fee of $295 + GST please book early to ensure your place.
Contact ZYGO Australia  (03 9696 2944) or SPECTRONICS (03 9894 4826) to obtain registration information and preliminary program details.

SVRC EXPO: Supporting students with vision impairments

When: Monday 4th December 2000 – 9.30am to 3.30pm

Venue: Statewide Vision Resource Centre which can be found to the right of the Main Gate at 360 Springvale Rd Donvale. Melway Ref 48 F4.
Displays: will be provided by distributors including Participants: will include Visiting Teachers, students and school community members who support students with vision impairments (eg Teachers, Teacher Aides and Therapists) from Specialist, Primary and Secondary settings.
Parking: there will be no parking available at the Statewide Vision Resource Centre. Please park at the Donvale Sports Centre - the building beside (to the north) of 360 Springvale Rd Donvale. You can then walk through the double gates and the Statewide Vision Resource Centre is to the left.
Public Transport:
(i) Catch the 307 bus from Lonsdale Street in the city which will deposit you on the corner of Mitcham and Springvale Roads. Walk south down Springvale Road to the SVRC
OR
(ii) Catch the train to Nunawading Station and then the 273 bus from the station to the door.
Cost: There is no cost for the Expo.
Lunch: will be available from the Heatherwood Canteen from 12.30 to 1.30pm. BBQ sausages in bread (or vegetarian option), onions, coleslaw, cake, drinks and the like will be provided at a reasonable cost.
Program: Brief seminars will also be presented from each of the distributors.
RSVP: Please phone (9841 0242) or fax (9841 0878) or email (deblewis@svrc.vic.edu.au) your intention to join us on the day by 27th November 2000.

SVRC Writing Competition 2000 – ‘I Wish…’

Details of the SVRC Writing Competition 2000 appeared in The Bulletin, Issue 16. The closing date for entries is Friday 24th November 2000. Call Deb Lewis on 9841 0242 if you would like further details.

Staff News

We were all very saddened to learn of the recent and sudden death of Alva Probert. Alva was a valued member of the unpaid staff of the Statewide Vision Resource Centre in her capacity as volunteer audio tape reader. We extend our sympathies to her family and in particular to her daughter Denise Probert (Visiting Teacher).

And Finally

I’ll be performing in the Women’s Circus show: ‘The Island’ from 9-25 November Wednesday to Saturday 8.30pm at Shed 14, Melbourne Docklands. Phone 9685 5111 for bookings ($24/$16). Signing Interpreter from VicDeaf on Thursday 16 November. Disability enquiries 9687 3665.
Regards from Deb Lewis
deblewis@svrc.vic.edu.au

Top of Page
Home Page


Web page editor Lyn Robinson. Last updated November 2000
Copyright/disclaimer