The following issue of The Bulletin was prepared by Deb Lewis (Co-ordinator, Statewide Vision Resource Centre).
The SVRC PD program for 2005 can be found at: http://www.visiontech.svrc.vic.edu.au/pd.htm
All activities are open to subject teachers, integration teachers and aides,
careers teachers, therapists, parents VTs, students, folk from other agencies
and interested personnel etc. Please remember to register: tel (03) 9841 0242,
fax (03) 9841 0878 or email svrc@svrc.vic.edu.au
Come along and try out enlarging, voice output and lots lots more
Friday 26 November from 10.00am – 3.30pm
The SVRC EXPO will be a day packed with information and hands-on experience and include the following distributors and displays:
A flier with instructions about public transport, parking etc can be found at: http://www.svrc.vic.edu.au/expoflyer.htm a
The 10th November was a busy day for the staff of the SVRC with two outstanding presentations from two companies.
We were lucky enough to have the guidance and expertise of no fewer that FOUR personnel from Quantum Technology and another TWO from US company, Freedom Scientific.
Sharon Spencer – Freedom Scientific’s Vice-President of Sales (US) was keen to find out how we do things “down under” – she was most interested to discuss how Freedom Scientific can further assist with the provision of technology.
Mark Reumann - PAC Mate Product Specialist also from Freedom Scientific ran a hands-on information session on the PAC Mate, a note-taker which includes Pocket PC, JAWS, refreshable braille and lots of other good stuff!
If you want a run down on its fabulous features, talk to participating VTs Rita, Helen Young, Denise, Betty or go to: http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/PACMate.asp
Freedom Scientific also donated a full copy of JAWS to one of Carolyn’s students, Darren. The certificate and copy of JAWS were presented by Sharon Spencer to Carolyn on Darren’s behalf – Darren having been called into his school for some last minute exam tips!
Lee Kumutat - Product Manager, Blindness Hardware and Matthew Cauchi - Purchasing Manager were down from Sydney for the event with Trevor Boyd - Manager of the Southern Office and Brett Scarr - Software Support from the Melbourne Office!
Our afternoon session was hosted by Helen Kilpatrick of Pulse Data Australia with the new myReader. It was another very successful session demonstrating another fabulous product – you can read a product review by Marion Blazé in Bulletin 17, 2004. Go to: http://www.svrc.vic.edu.au/17%2704.html#myreader
RVIB College will be running two final courses for 2004:
For further information and a copy of the fliers please contact RVIB College:
Tel: (03) 9520 5555
Email: college@rvib.org.au
Source: DE&T Circular 272/2004
When: 4-8 July 2005
Who: This conference will be of direct relevance to school
communities involved in implementing the Framework of Essential Learning, exploring
new pedagogies and embedding a performance and development culture in their
school.
For more information go to: http://www.thinkingconference.com
What: Supporting Children with Cerebral (Cortical) Vision
Impairment
With: Dr Lea Hyvarinen, internationally recognised paediatric
ophthalmologist from
Finland
When: 19 November 2004, 8.30am-4.15pm
Where: Conference Room, Floor 12, Education House, 30 Mary
Street BRISBANE
Cost: $65 per person (incl. morning tea & lunch)
For further information and registration details contact: Bronwyn Hein, (07) 3247 3288 or Bronwyn.Hein@qed.qld.gov.au
The SPEVI Conference planning committee is keen to hear from anyone who is willing to help out during the conference. We are looking for volunteers for all those little things:
Please email a conference planner eg deblewis@svrc.vic.edu.au or reeseju@rvib.org.au and thanks in advance!!!
Auslan Signbank is finally up and running. There are 48 signs anyone can see, but if you want to have access to the entire dictionary you will need to register. It is free and only takes a minute.
Go to: http://www.auslan.org.au/
Source: BrailleNote Update, Spring 2004
BrailleNote PK is the world’s smallest PDA with braille output which includes full networking, wireless, built-in Bluetooth, a long battery life and more. Packed with features, it has an 18-cell braille display, joystick for menu navigation and convenient function keys for scrolling through text, plus the clarity and responsiveness of KeyNote Gold speech.
We hope that Ramona will have BrailleNote PK available at the SVRC EXPO so we can all see what the fuss is about!
The price of the BrailleNote PK is $7,880.
The New Vision Camp, formerly held during the term one holiday break, is now held during the summer holidays. Run by VicYouth Summer Camps, an arm of the Seventh-day Adventist church, the camp dates for 2005 are 23-26th January.
New Vision Camp is open to all visually impaired young people aged 10 to 18 years. There is a one-to-one trained carer for each camper to ensure they have a fun and safe camp.
The costs for the camp are $90 and the bus cost from 141 Central Rd Nunawading to Camp Howqua is $45. Places are allocated on a ‘first in’ basis and applications close on 10th December.
Organisation for the Sydney program that runs from December 5 to 7 is now complete. We received many applications and it was a difficult task to select the final seven participants. This will be the third time the program has been run and the CMS staff look forward to the many challenges and exciting times that lay ahead as we travel to and around Sydney CBD.
Rachel Morgan, Danielle Bennett and Dean Johnson will be travelling with the students and in preparation for the week a meeting has been scheduled for mid November where staff, students and parents meet each other and have the opportunity to discuss the program in further detail.
Thanks to all the students who applied.
Applications are now being received for GDV goes CBD program that runs from January 4 to 7 2005. Staff are currently planning the activities for the program that focus on mobility in and around Melbourne CBD. The program is based at the Guide Dog Campus in Kew. Applications are due by November 27 and for further information please contact Rachel Morgan.
On October 14 the Children’s Mobility Service ran another of the Big Night Out program. We met under the clocks at Flinders Street station and then travelled by tram to Docklands. Students had the task of using public transport to travel to a Docklands restaurant where we had dinner. The Big Night Out programs offer students a wonderful opportunity to meet and complete some O&M challenges in the Melbourne CBD. Thanks to all the students who attended and made the night so enjoyable.
Another Big Night Out will be organised for early in 2005 – date TBA.
All O&M instructors in the Children’s Mobility Service will be attending the SPEVI conference in Melbourne in January 2005. Three of the O&M’s will also be presenting papers and Guide Dogs Victoria has also purchased a booth to display information about its services. Staff look forward to being a part of the event.
If you had been at Flinders Street station or around the new Queen Victoria shopping precinct on October 18 you would have spotted the CMS O&M Instructors working under blindfold with long canes and mini-guides. The mini-guide is an electronic mobility aid and the city environment provided an excellent learning and teaching venue.
For further information about any aspect of the Guide Dogs Children’s Mobility Service please contact Rachel Morgan on 9854 4469 or rachel.m@guidedogs.asn.au
Source: DE&T Circular 296/2004
The Gateway is an online resource designed to provide a simple but comprehensive
guide to accessing the growing body of research and education strategies for
working with young refugee learners. The gateway can be found at
http://www.immi.gov.au/settle/publications/resource_gateway_2004.htm
Links are provided to resources under four categories:
The Gateway is intended to serve as a reference point from which education providers can deepen their understanding of the issues facing refugee young people and start to develop specialised teaching and learning strategies. The resource targets older refugee young people but also contains information relevant to the primary sector.
The Gateway was produced by the Victorian Settlement Planning Committee’s Refugee Young People and Transitions working group which has been commissioned to advocate for the education and training needs of young refugee people in Victoria. The Department of Education and Training is a member of the working group.
In addition to the online availability of the resource, one copy of the resource will be distributed to each secondary school for reference. Principals are encouraged to alert staff involved in the professional development of teachers and teachers working directly with refugee young people to the availability of the Resource Gateway.
Article summary from Macworld News by Lyn Robinson
Apple computers working in conjunction with ALVA Access Group (of outSPOKEN and inLARGE fame) have joined together to produce a fully integrated voice and enlargement package on all future versions of the MAC OS X, starting with the MAC OS X 10.4.
The article reports that a potential 37 million computer users with vision impairments or learning disabilities could benefit from such a product. The main advantage will be that the product comes fully integrated into the MAC OS X system and therefore does not have to be “added on” after the computer is bought. As well as the added expense of buying voice or enlarging software there can be compatibility problems as software upgrades are added to the computer.
Apple’s fully integrated control system called the “Spoken Interface” will enable web pages, email messages and word-processing documents to be read. It will also offer audio descriptions of a user’s workspace and easier navigation of the computer and applications. Spoken Interface can also be directed using a new feature called the “Viewfinder”, a powerful tool that lets you control what is spoken, and enables you to interact with items on the screen using the keyboard. eg you can press buttons, drag sliders, enable and disable check boxes, select radio buttons, drag and use the scroll bars. A unique voice can be assigned for different parts of the interface so that it is easier to distinguish between the content, dialogue boxes and menu headings for instance.
Increasingly governments and businesses are legally required to make their information and web sites accessible to people with disabilities. Apple has decided to take the initiative in integrating this capability into its computers and hopefully others will follow.
Article by Frances Gentle & Mike Steer, Vision Impairment Programs, Renwick College
Educators have discovered that there are positive and negative aspects to homework,
and that home assignments are often a major conversational link between teachers
and parents (Armstrong & McPherson, 1991). Almost all Australian state and
territory Education Departments have homework policy statements. For example,
the NSW Department of Education and Training’s comprehensive policy can
be found at website:
http://www.det.nsw.edu.au/policies/student_admin/homework/home_pol/PD20020003.shtml
The Victorian Department’s Homework Habits Guidelines can be found at
website:
http://www.sofweb.vic.edu.au/assess/docs/HWGuidelines6.doc
The basic platform for both these policies is that homework helps students by complementing and reinforcing classroom learning, fostering good lifelong learning and study habits, and providing an opportunity for students to be responsible for their own learning. In Victoria, school councils, in partnership with the local school principal and teachers and after consultation with parents and students, are responsible for developing and publishing a homework policy consistent with the State’s Homework Habits guidelines. Homework, for a variety of reasons, becomes an important program area that can impact positively or negatively upon the education of students who are blind or vision impaired.
A student with an educationally significant vision impairment who is enrolled in his or her local community school will have a support team which is convened periodically to first formulate, then monitor an on-going Individualised Educational Plan (IEP) or Individualised Transition Plan (ITP). As part of this process, the school’s Principal must ensure that the student’s education is the responsibility of the whole school and not just of the class teacher(s) to whom the student is assigned. However, it is the class or subject teacher who is responsible for assigning and correcting homework. With regard to homework, the Vision Support Teacher (VST), in some jurisdictions also called an Itinerant Support Teacher Vision (ISTV), provides support for the class teacher. The role of the VST is not that of an academic tutor, it is to ensure the provision of modifications, adaptations and training, to meet the unique needs of the student with a vision impairment, so that s/he acquires the essential skills to complete school and homework assignments. Modifications and adaptations with regard to homework can take the form, for example, of assistance with learning strategies, low vision equipment and technology.
Parent support with the development of literacy can be of great importance for the child with vision impairment. Communication between vision support teacher, classroom teacher and parents about how braille literacy develops and the ways parents can support literacy and learning in the home would be valuable.
Establish a home reading program for the child learning braille (Swenson, 1999; Wormsley, 1997; 2000).
Provide parents and siblings with the knowledge and skills required to support the child’s learning in the home. Encourage parents and siblings to learn braille, and support the learning process (Kochar & West, 1996; Wormsley, 2000).
For students developing braille fluency, recommend homework tasks which focus on such braille reading fluency skills as tracking, tactile discrimination and recognition of braille letters and contractions (Swenson, 1999).
Consider the best learning media for the student and the types of homework that could be undertaken effectively by the student. For example, suggest braille-related activities such as bookmaking and tactile representations as alternatives to highly visual homework tasks that involve cutting, pasting and colouring (Swenson, 1999).
Investigate whether or not the student has access to assistive technology in the home environment. This includes optical and non-optical aids. Where technology is severely limited, discuss alternative homework options with the class teacher.
For students with low vision, ensure that issues of visual fatigue are taken into consideration through adjustments to the quantity and quality of homework that is set. Audio options could be considered for both the setting of homework by the teacher and as an alternative to writing answers by the student.
Homework could be an effective way of addressing the expanded core curriculum areas identified as areas of need in the student’s IEP. For example, homework tasks could include outings to local shops to practice mobility and money handling skills (SPEVI, 2004).
For students with poor organisational skills, encourage the structuring of study skills through the establishment of a homework book or daily/weekly homework list (Gartner & Lipsky, 2002).
Initiate a record keeping system for homework assignments. Provide feedback to parents about their child’s progress with homework set.
Make sure that all homework assignments are at the student’s academic functional level and can be completed at home within a two-hour period. In some jurisdictions there is a graduating scale of time for homework, with less time expectations for younger children.
Tell students and parents in advance whenever special materials are needed to complete a particular home assignment.
Assign a grade and a comment to all completed homework assignments. This will encourage the student to complete the assignment.
Use homework as a method of reviewing the skills currently being taught in class.
Try not to assign homework tasks that require skills not previously taught in class.
Allow some time at the end of each class to discuss homework and answer questions about it.
Consider the student’s attention span and functional level when assigning the homework.
Never, ever use homework as a punishment.
Establish and schedule a regular time and place for homework assignments to be completed. (Mims, Harper, Armstrong & Savage, 1991).
Decide who is going to supervise the completion of the homework.
Provide a workspace that is conducive to successful homework completion. For students with low vision, spend some time ensuring that there is good lighting. For all students, try to ensure ample workspace.
Pay particular attention to noise levels. If noise inhibits progress, insist on silence while homework assignments are being completed.
Many youngsters require periodic checks on their progress. Tailor your monitoring to suit the need.
Provide a tutor for subject areas with which you might be unfamiliar. The tutors can be siblings or other family members (Frith, 1991).
As routines and roles become established, homework might become as individualised as are the learners themselves. It has the potential to become an even more effective means of enhancing the student’s achievements.
Effective use of homework as a supplement to classroom learning requires communication between teachers, parents and students. School policy guidelines for homework and individual teacher expectations should be communicated to parents through parent meetings and parent information booklets. The establishment of good homework habits in the junior years sets the groundwork for effective study skills in the senior years.
Armstrong, S. W. & McPherson, A. (1991). Homework as a critical component
in skills instruction, Teaching Exceptional Children, 24(1), 43-47.
Frith, G. (1991). Facilitating homework through effective support systems. Teaching
Exceptional Children, 24(1), 48-49.
Garter, A. & Lipsky, D.K. (2002). Inclusion: A service, not a place, A whole
school approach. Port Chester, NY: Dude Publishing.
Kochar, C.A. & West, L.L. (1996). Handbook for successful inclusion. Gaithersburg,
Maryland: Aspen Publishers Inc.
Mims, A., Harper, C., Armstrong, S. W., & Savage S. (1991). Effective instruction
in homework for students with disabilities. Teaching Exceptional Children, 24(1),
42-44.
Swenson, A. (1999). Beginning with braille: Firsthand experiences with a balanced
approach to literacy. New York: AFB Press.
Wormsley, D.P. (2000). Braille literacy curriculum. Philadelphia, PA: Towers
Press.
Wormsley, D.P. & D’Andrea, F.M. (1997). Instructional strategies for
braille literacy. New York: AFB Press.
Source: Round Table
A committee established by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) that included representatives from government, the publishing industry, and copyright administrators has compiled a list of Frequently Asked Questions regarding copyright legislation.
The purpose of the FAQ is to assemble basic information about how the copyright legislative and administrative regime affects producers and users of accessible-format material (audio, braille, e-text and large-print) in Australia. It is important to stress that, in some cases, definitive answers are not possible, mainly because of rapidly-changing technologies. Copyright regimes attempt to balance the rights of authors against the rights of end-users. In the case of end-users who have a print disability, there is the added responsibility to ensure that the aims and objects of the Disability Discrimination act (DDA) are promoted as far as possible.
FAQ can be found at: http://www.hreoc.gov.au/disability_rights/education/copyfaq.htm
Rae Litzow who works as a researcher with TAFE Queensland is currently looking at Universal Design of Learning Materials. She is working on a resource that will be available online next year. A draft of the document is available at: http://www.members.optusnet.com.au
The aim of this draft website is to get feedback on the content and overall structure of the resource. The web pages themselves will be redesigned by professionals.
There is also a good site newly developed in the US. It is aimed at educating academics on preparing learning materials using universal design principles. FAME – Faculty and Administrator Modules in Higher Education can be found at: http://www.telr.osu.edu/fame
Students with disabilities who are eligible for Futures for Young Adults funding could find that Future Flex is a post school option worth considering. These programs offered by DEAC are specifically targeted toward students with a disability who wish to move on to a further education setting. FutureFlex is also suitable for students who are not leaving school, but who may be better suited to an adult learning environment.
FutureFlex is designed around nationally accredited training with core areas being the development of functional literacy and numeracy skills.
DEAC is a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) and as such, is able to issue nationally accredited qualifications, much the same as a TAFE. So, whilst students are learning new skills, they are also building a collection of qualifications which will help them in the future to gain employment or to go on to further study. Furthermore DEAC is a registered Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) provider. If your students have started their VCAL or VCE, they have the possibility of completing that qualification through DEAC’s FutureFlex program.
DEAC is located centrally in the CBD of Melbourne, only a block away from Flinders Street station.
I couldn’t open their website today, but the program appears to include life skills, travel training, literacy & numeracy, pre-employment training and employment assistance.
For information go to http://deac.org.au/futures/ or email mark.robinson@deac.org.au
We need your booklists for 2005 NOW!!! Production staff hit the beginning of a very big demand bulge next year so the earlier you get your requests in to us the better able to keep up with production we will be…
Remember there are copies of all the request forms available on the SVRC website: see the “forms” section of: http://www.svrc.vic.edu.au/homeVT.html and start bothering your schools!!!
Here’s one from Faye’s brailling student Emma-Mae who is in grade 2:
Red
Red is the colour of your face when you are angry, embarest or blushing.
Even red is a colour of the trafic lights.
Did you know that red is the first colour of the rainbow in the right order.Bronze
Bronze is a colour of the meddles in the olimpix.
Read about the girl wearing a bronze costume.
On bronze it is shiny.
Nobody thinks bronze is beautiful as gold and silver.
Zilions of people think bronze is a quite preety colour.
Everybody thinks that bronze is a kind of mettle.
Thanks to all the Visiting Teachers who supervised exams this year – we think it was the most supervisions that the SVRC has had to arrange (congratulations Lyn)!!! Apart from the usual hiccoughs everything went quite smoothly – all credit to the calm and efficient supervisors!!! And THANKS!
Thanks to Mike Steer and Helen Caldow for contributing to this edition of The Bulletin. Thanks also to my fabulous proof-reader Lea Nagel.
Deb Lewis (who can be emailed at deblewis@svrc.vic.edu.au).