Number 7 Friday 19^th May 2000

Inside This Issue

• PD 2000
• Mountbatten Day Report
• Active Learning
• Public Transport Entitlements
• Email Discussion Group for VI Gardeners
• Bardet Beidl Syndrome Website
• Securing That Job - Using the Phone
• New Quantum Website
• Online TV Guide
• Mimic – Mini Screen for the Mountbatten
• Access to 4-Track Tape Recorder
• Accessible Graphing Calculator
• VCE Exams on CD-ROM
• Type Lite from Blazie
• Student Art on the Web
• High Interest/Low Vocab Books
• Moonball
• Talking with Children (Article by Dr Alan Johnston)
• DEET Video: How to Use Edumail and EduLibrary
• World Blind Union
• JVIB articles Feb & March
• Braillers and Reading Stands
• Curriculum 2000 Conference
• Zoo Admission Prices

Staff and Student News

• Jodie Noblet (2½ days) and Jillian Hale (3½ days) are the new Visiting Teachers in the Mildura area. We look forward to meeting them when they get a chance to come down!
• Space Camper (1998 and 1999) Kristen has dyed his hair purple! That would be a look!

Planning on coming? Planning on sending your students? Make sure I know about it! Forms went out with Bulletin 3 or call and I’ll send some more!

Space Camp 2000

It appears that there will not be a Visiting Teacher group going to Space Camp this year, though one of our students may travel with the RVIB contingent. Maybe next year… (I’m keen!)

Other Camps 2000

Jeni Blake and I are looking into a couple of alternatives to Space Camp for this year such as an adventure/environmental camp or a trip to the Paralympics – we’ll keep you posted!

Mountbatten Day Report

Our keen group of participants showed how well they were all getting on with their Mountbattens by setting up all by themselves and working independently through the exercises! Trevor Boyd from Quantum provided useful advice and instruction along the way. Sam from Corryong also came along to further refine his skills prompting us to think about inviting other students to the next Mountbatten day in October.

Active Learning

The following report was prepared by Annette Godfrey-Magee.

Over the term break myself and Julie Robottom attended the Kilparrin, Lilli Nielsen Active Learning Conference in Adelaide. They were four stimulating, thought provoking days. As this was my first opportunity to hear Dr. Nielsen I was an enthusiastic participant and was most impressed with her gentle presentation style and the passion with which she delivered her message. Participants attended from all over Australia, as did senior representatives from the South Australian Education Department.

The details of the content of these four days will be presented at our professional development day on July 9^th where I hope to be able to deliver some of the details of the many interesting perceptual aids and approaches Dr. Neilson discussed.

One of the most exciting developments that came out of this conference was the development of an Active Learning Association of which Julie is the Victorian representative. Included in this Bulletin (for VTs) is its constitution and no doubt Julie will be keeping us informed of the Association’s progress.

Brief Summary of Active Learning Conference:

Active Learning is Self-Initiated Learning. It is a theory that is based on developmental psychology and is resistant to the learning theory of operant conditioning (behaviour modification). It is an approach that encourages and provided opportunities for students with multiple disabilities, including vision impairment, to learn about their environment through their own activity, that is, their own play and exploration. The objective of these self-initiated experiences ensures that the learning that takes place becomes a part of the child’s character and is transferred to other situations.

Active Learning contributes to all developmental areas:

Cognitive-as the basic concept development such as object permanence and cause and effect, discovery and problem-solving.

Emotional-children experience satisfaction through their discoveries and learning, which gives them confidence to take risks in other areas and continue their learning, students become independent learners, in control of their learning and motivated to continue learning.

Vision-Children learn to use what vision they have in a purposeful manner. Blind students learn to use their hands to explore and discover their environment. Mouthing objects provides the visually impaired student with the experience of another aspect of that object to compensate for the lack of vision.

Speech-children are motivated to communicated their discoveries with another person and have opportunities to practise communicating at their level; vocalization and crying is the beginning of speech acquisition.

Fine Motor Skills- through constantly manipulating objects, hands and finger control develop.

Gross Motor Skills-perceptual aids such as the support bench, hammock, hopsa dress and essef environments help to develop muscles for correct walking techniques, as well as providing the child with a different perspective of objects.

Self-help-students become confident and motivated to complete tasks without needing as many verbal prompts.

Active Learning encourages children to develop their ability to provide constructive recreation for themselves, which is important in reducing stereotypical behaviours - Lilli calls these behaviours "unvaried behaviours".

Active Learning can take place at any time, it may vary in duration. It is important to move children from fine motor activity to gross motor activity and then back to fine motor activity.

Active Learning demands the patience of the adult, teachers need to repress their desire to impose their own agenda on the child. It is important that teachers do not interrupt the child’s thinking by talking. As adults Lilli believes that we will never be thinking at the same level as the child so our comments will be inappropriate and distracting. However, if the child initiates contact then we respond and acknowledged the child’s discoveries briefly so as to allow the child to continue their exploration.

Lilli also believes that children need time on their own to repeat movements and try variations of movements and discoveries. While working and learning without adult interaction students increase their perseverance and levels of concentration.

These and many more issues and concepts were discussed over the four days. Some of the concepts presented were not new but the theories behind the perceptual aids were definitely new to me and worthy of further examination. I came away from the conference determined to learn more about Active Learning and to establish a role for the Visiting Teacher’s within this curriculum. Perhaps one of the most thought provoking comments of the entire four days come from the Grandmother of a totally blind, deaf and intellectually delayed three year old boy. She was asked why she was embracing the Active Learning approach to assist her grandson. Her response was that there was nothing else available, she didn’t want activities that he couldn’t do - she wanted hope in the possibilities of what he might one day initiate himself.

Public Transport Entitlements for Blind and Vision Impaired People Around Australia

Maryanne Diamond’s article from the May 2000 edition of Blind Citizens News comprehensively lists the public transport entitlements for blind and vision impaired people for each state. If you would like a print copy of this article, please phone the SVRC. You can contact Blind Citizens Australia on 9521 3433.

Email Discussion Group for Blind and Vision Impaired Gardeners

The following information was included in the March 2000 edition of Braille Monitor:

Discussion topics include gardening in general, problems unique to blind and vision impaired gardeners and what to do with the produce of the garden. To subscribe to the group, send an email to blind-gardeners-subscribe@egroups.com (include the hyphens). Leave the subject line and body of the message blank.

Bardet Beidl Syndrome Website

A website and world-wide support group, set up by Sue McCoy in Australia, is aimed at ‘people and families touched by Bardet Biedl Syndrome’. It can be found at http://home.talkcity.com/OceanBlvd/iamahawkfan/bardetbeidlsyndrome/.

Securing That Job!

Michael Simpson comments, in the February 2000 edition of Blind Citizens News, that around 70% of people who are blind or vision impaired in Australia, of working age, are unemployed. With that in mind, I thought it would be worthwhile including the following article, ‘Using the Telephone to Get Jobs for People with Visual Impairments’ in this edition of The Bulletin.

This article is reproduced from the February 2000 edition of the Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness and used with the permission of author Charles Young, Director, Oregon Commission for the Blind:

Using the Telephone to Get Jobs for People with Visual Impairments

Years ago, a friend visited me in Oregon on her way to Seattle, where she was seeking employment. I wanted her to move to Oregon, so the visit gave me a brief opportunity to help her find a job here and to convince her to move. We needed to work fast, so we used the telephone. She agreed to brainstorm with me using the city’s telephone book to identify every possible business that might be interested in her skills and favourite field of interest, biology. She then proceeded to make approximately 25 cold telephone calls asking about job openings. It was critical that she ask each person if he or she knew of any other businesses that might have a job opening for someone with her skills and interests. This line of questioning led to another 25 calls. It took her less than two hours to make all 50 calls. She finally received a job lead that paid off in an interview and a job offer that same day. She accepted this job several days later, after visiting Seattle.

As is shown in the vignette just described, the telephone can be a critical tool for obtaining a job. However, rarely is anyone hired without a face-to-face interview. Like resumes, the purpose of the telephone in the job search is merely to get you a job interview. The following is a list of tips and techniques for using the telephone to solicit a job interview and eventually receive a job offer. Vocational counselors, teachers, and employment specialists can share these techniques with their clients who are visually impaired.

These tips can be useful to job seekers with or without disabilities. They have been tested with people with visual impairments and have had some remarkable success.

Tips For Calls That Lead To Interviews

• Do your homework. Research the company on the internet or through your library before making a call.
• Be proactive. The initiative to make cold calls shows employers that you are proactive.
• Remember that a good professional telephone call is brief and businesslike and has a clearly defined purpose.
• Write down your objectives and your side of the conversation before you call so you can remain focused and succinct. You can then modify this script based on how it is received on each successive telephone contact.
• Ask everyone with whom you talk if there are other employers that you might contact. This is an incredibly powerful form of networking because employers know each other and the industries’ and professions’ overall employment needs. This kind of networking also gives the impression that you are being referred by one employer to other employers.
• Keep good notes and maintain a file for each employer contact. Write down, record, or braille every telephone number, name, title, extension, and referral to a new employer. You may need to retrieve this information later when a call is returned or for your future contacts.
• Position the telephone in your non-dominant hand so you can record, braille, or write notes.
• Position your body while making telephone calls so you will be able to project your voice well (often this position is standing up or while looking in the mirror).
• Have your calculator ready.
• Smile. Enthusiasm and a smile is conveyed over the telephone.
• State your first name then your last name (spell out difficult names rather than repeating your name).
• Speak slowly and clearly. This is a business call, and you want to be direct and understood immediately.
• If your conversation has turned to interview-type questions, politely suggest that you schedule a face-to-face interview. Do not ask whether or not the person would like to have an interview. Rather, offer the choice of two possible times you could come in for an interview. The first time should be very specific, giving a particular day and time, and the second time should be general, suggesting an afternoon appointment at the end of the week, for example.
• Summarise the discussion at the end of the telephone call.
• Again, if you do not obtain an interview, always inquire if there are other employers that you might contact.
• Ask for an informational interview to learn more about the business.
• Always thank your contact for his or her time.

After the initial phone call, it is important to be careful to project a professional image for the follow-up contact. The following are some tips to help secure a job after a cold call has been successful:

• Put a professional, adult-sounding outgoing message on your voice mail or answering machine. (Take those silly answering machine messages off for the time being!)
• Let the answering machine or voice mail or another adult answer all incoming calls. You do not want to be caught unprepared or off guard when answering your own telephone by a potential employer who is unexpectedly returning your call. Answering your own telephone can set you up for an ambush when an employer calls if you are ill prepared to discuss business.
• Keep the recording of the entire message from a potential employer for your review.
• When you are fully prepared (after reviewing the entire message and your file or notes for the contact), return the call.
• Arrange interviews with the potential employer’s secretary or assistant, if possible. This may give you the opportunity to acquire additional information of value, such as the dress custom of the organisation, the schedule for the day’s interviews (you want to be last), or anything you could bring to an interview that will demonstrate your skills.
• Always send a thankyou note to everyone involved, even if you are not offered a job.

Keep in mind that the biggest reason people fail to get a job is because they get discouraged and give up far too soon. They fail to make enough telephone calls to line up a job interview. My friend, who had never used this technique before, used it successfully in Oregon: She made 50 cold calls in under two hours, resulting in only one job interview but also a job offer in less than one business day. Cold calling is not for everyone, but for professionals who work with people who are visually impaired, adding job-seeking by telephone to your professional arsenal could mean the difference between getting or not getting a job for clients who are willing to persevere with this method.

New Quantum Website

Quantum Technology has a ‘new and improved’ website at www.quantech.com.au/. Their site is full of information, pictures, and free downloads. It has stacks of stuff including information on products that Quantum manufactures and distributes and their most recent newsletters. There are also a truly astonishing number of links to sites that cater for people who are blind or vision impaired including:

• educational resources for teachers
• general resources
• technology
• mobility
• parents of children with impaired vision
• tactile graphics resources
• general disability
• deafblind resources
• Paralympic information
• and even a link for kids looking for an ‘e-pal’

Found on the Quantum website, this guide can help you plan your television viewing time. You can search by day of the week, time (eg morning, evening), and select the type of program you’d like to view eg sport, soaps, documentary etc. Go to http://www.sofcom.com.au/TV/.

Mimic – Mini-screen for the Mountbatten

From the April edition of QT News (slightly edited):

‘A frequent question we have heard from people over the years is: ‘Can you connect a screen to the Mountbatten Brailler (MB)’. This request has mostly come from parents of children who use Braille, their teachers and teacher aides. We think we've come up with the perfect answer; it’s called ‘The Mimic’. The Mimic is an LCD display that attaches to the MB, and will display four lines by twenty characters at a time. This means that information entered on the MB in Braille, is now displayed on a screen. It will also mean that no longer will students’ desks be cluttered with bulky and noisy printers.

But wait, there's more.... If the teacher's attention is required elsewhere, and the student continues to beaver away (as students ALWAYS do when the teacher is absent) the teacher can come back, and scroll through the information that has previously been sent to the Mimic. Yes that's right, the Mimic has a memory. It will retain 1500 lines or about 30 pages of Braille. You can also set bookmarks so that you can quickly jump to a position, and read from that point onwards.

And there's still more.... you can also send information in the Mimic back to your MB. This can be useful if you would like a student to revise work and the student has "misplaced" their copy. Simply send back to the MB the work that has already been stored in the Mimic, and the MB will be your Braille printer.

You can also send information to the Mimic from a computer. If you prepare some work at home, transfer it to the Mimic and then take it to school and produce the Braille copy on your MB.

The Mimic is compatible with a number of other note-taking devices including Braille & Speak, Braille Lite, Type & Speak in addition to the Mountbatten Brailler.’

Access to Telex-4-track Tape Recorder

We understand that if students become a member of the RVIB Talking Book Library, they are able to borrow a Telex-4-track tape recorder. To maintain membership, students must borrow at least one book every three months.

Accessible Graphing Calculator

Steven Sahyun from the Physics Department, Oregon State University posted the following information on the AERNET discussion group recently. Maybe we’ll finally have a solution to accessing graphing calculators!!!

‘The Science Access Project at Oregon State University is announcing a beta-test for the Accessible Graphing Calculator. We are looking for subjects willing to participate in a review of the Accessible Graphing Calculator (AGC). The AGC is a self-voicing scientific graphing calculator for Windows 95/98. The program is designed to aid people with visual difficulties and contains the ability to represent graphs with sound as well as sight. The AGC Web site contains a wealth of information about the calculator and its main page is located at http://dots.physics.orst.edu/calculator/. Beta-testers may obtain the AGC by first responding to a request questionnaire (available from SVRC) and then by downloading the setup program from our Web site or by requesting a disk to be sent to you. In order to download the Accessible Graphing Calculator from our site, you will need a password. To get the password, please fill out the request questionnaire below and send it via e-mail to triangle@dots.physics.orst.edu/. Eligibility for beta-testing will be chosen according to the responses to the questionnaire. If you are chosen to participate in the beta-test process, the download password will be e-mailed to you.

If you would like to participate in this study, please read the Statement of Informed Consent (also available from SVRC) and respond to the questionnaire. A Web based copy of this questionnaire can also be found at: http://dots.physics.orst.edu/calculator/calc_questionnaire/.’

VCE Examinations Papers and GAT on CD-ROM

VCE examinations Papers and GAT CD-ROMs are now available. Copies of the 1998 and 1999 editions can be purchased from Information Victoria. Copies of the 1997, 1998 and 1999 editions can also be purchased from the Board of Studies counter sales. All copies are priced at $30.

• Information Victoria

356 Collins St Melbourne 3000
Tel 1300 366356
• Board of Studies Counter Sales

15 Pelham Street Carlton 3053
Tel 9651 4300

This note-taker offers a combination of speech access, 40 character refreshable braille and a QWERTY keyboard and will store more than 12,000 pages of braille. It will connect to your PC and provide a contracted braille display and many mouse functions such as ‘dragging and dropping’ can be carried out from the braille display. It retails for around US$6000. For more details see the Blazie website at www.blazie.com/.

Student Art on the Web

Lyn has found yet another lovely site on the web of photographs taken by students who are enrolled full time at Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Denise Elliot teaches a class called Vision Quest, photography for low vision students. The students are about 14 -16 years old. Some of them are learning disabled along with being vision impaired. See their work at the Little Walnut Creek Library Photo Exhibit at www.tsbvi.edu/school/student/pictures and
www.tsbvi.edu/education/wow/.

Another site with art from vision impaired artists can be found at the American Printing House for the Blind at www.aph.org/.

High Interest/Low Vocab Books

Kay has located a series of three short science fiction novels produced by Era Publications in South Australia. Published in 1998, the collection includes ‘The Cave’, ‘The Windmill’ and ‘The Survivors’. The N14 print is clear and the book includes black and white illustrations on many pages. We have the series in braille or you can order your print copy through the Era website at www.era-publications.com.au/.

Betty has brought in information on a large number of high interest/low vocab books with reading age of year 3-4 and 5-6 and an interest level of year 6-12 published. The Passages collection deals with current issues and includes titles such as:

• ‘The Ghost Boy’: The ghostly appearance of an elusive runaway increases a teenage girl’s distrust of her new stepfather.
• ‘Summer of Shame’: Mark fights to save his friends from the ignorance and fear of his neighbours.
• ‘The Vandal’: A popular teenage girl is faced with the unwelcome and potentially dangerous attentions of an unbalanced loner.
• ‘The Shining Mark’: Tony faces tragedy when his friend is hit by a passing car.

Moonball

Helen brought in information about the Moonball a while ago… The Moonball is secured around the waist with a belt and then can be kicked, punched or thrown and it will return. The harder it is propelled, the faster it returns. It comes in red, blue or green at $15 for Soccer quality and $20 for Pro Ball quality. Contact Moonball on 1800 443433.

‘Talking with Children’

Director of Research at Vision Australia Foundation, Alan Johnston, who demonstrated several innovative optical aids and explored advances in cataract surgery at the term 1 SPEVI evening also spoke briefly of the need to consider students’ self-esteem. Alan kindly sent a teaching document that he prepared some years ago for optometry students entitled, ‘Talking with Children’. It is a summary of several sources and gives an interesting insight into the role of the optometrist with our students. You can request a print copy of this article from the Statewide Vision Resource Centre on 9841 0242.

DEET Video: ‘How to Use Edumail and EduLibrary’

If you are baffled by EduMail and EduLibrary, you can view The Video: ‘How to Use Edumail and EduLibrary’ here at the Statewide Vision Resource Centre – pull up a chair and a cuppa and get answers to your most confounding questions!

World Blind Union – Melbourne – 16-24 November 2000

Information for Australian attendees of the World Blind Union Fifth General Assembly is now available. The Statewide Vision Resource Centre has a copy or you can contact Assembly Organiser, John Simpson at wbuga@bca.org.au or 9889 7144 to request your copy.

The WBU represents 150 million blind and vision impaired people. Delegates from 160 member countries come together as a world forum each four years. Meetings will be conducted in and near the Melbourne Town Hall. The theme for the Fifth General Assembly is ‘Changing What It Means To Be Blind’. Topics of discussion and activities will centre around:

• ‘New Technology – New Opportunities’
• ‘Addressing the Onset of Blindness’
• ‘Literacy and Culture’
• ‘Human Rights and Beyond, the Quest for Self-Esteem’
• Ageing and Blindness
• The Status of Blind Women
• Establishment of Self-Help programs in Developing Countries

Proceedings from the WBU General Assembly and World Blind Women’s Forum will be available via the Internet. Translations in English, French and Spanish will be available as a series of Real Audio streams via the Blind Citizens Australia website at www.bca.org.au. Further details will be provided as they come to hand.

JVIB Febrauary 2000

The following articles appear in the February edition of JVIB:

• Perspectives of Adolescents with Visual Impairments on Social Support from their Parents
• Current Depression, Lifetime History of Depression, and Visual Acuity in Hispanic Adults
• Sensorial Afferents and Center of Foot Pressure in Blind and Sighted Adults

The following articles appear in the March edition of JVIB:

• Rehabilitation of Visually Impaired Persons in Separate and General Agencies
• A Comparison of Print and Braille Reading Rates on Three Reading Tasks
• The Relationship Between Visual Impairment and Gestures
• Social Skills Assessment of Indian Children with Visual Impairments

We have a waiting list for students needing braillers and reading stands – please return those in schools that are gathering dust. Thanks!

Curriculum 2000 Conference

The Curriculum Initiatives Branch will be conducting a curriculum conference for teachers in Victorian schools which aims to:

• Develop a renewed understanding of the principles and philosophy that underpin the CSF
• Explore major issues and challenges associated with the era of knowledge explosion
• Receive practical renewal of KLA-based skills and understanding
• Discuss and develop new teaching and learning strategies

When: Thursday 13^th and Friday 14^th July

Further information: Ground Floor 2 Treasury Place East Melbourne or Fax 9637 2900

Zoo Admission Prices

According to the January 2000 edition of NoticeBoard:

Children under 16 can visit the Melbourne Zoo and Healsville Sanctuary for the concession price of $3.50 and one carer/parent is admitted free of charge. For children over 16, the cost for the child is $10.80 and one carer/parent is admitted free of charge.

And finally…

I found a copy of the 11 May 1990 edition of The Bulletin – the SVRC was just beginning to use the barcode system for borrowings; Annette had just taken up a part time position as Education Officer; borrowing lists were going out; VTs were winning prizes for getting their student lists up to date; and the teacher references on loan were being recalled. Well 10 years later, much has changed … but some things remain the same!

Regards from Deb Lewis who can be contacted at deblewis@svrc.vic.edu.au

*******

The Children’s Mobility Service at the Guide Dog Association would like to thank everyone who referred a child to the April Camp. We feel that each child would have been bursting with stories by the time they returned home, as for many of the children the activities were a first time experience. Between mobility sessions in the mornings, touching a snake at the zoo, not falling overboard while sailing and knocking those pins down at ten pin bowling, there was a tired bunch of children and Instructors at the end of the week. Some new friendships have evolved as a result of the week and we would like to think there are some red hot cane skills happening out there too. Once again thank you for your support.

The number of children we can accept for each camp is limited; so we apologise to those children who missed out, but encourage VT’s and families to consider the July, September and January school holiday camps. Details for September and January will be available shortly.

******

The Guide Dog Association of Victoria is inviting Secondary Students with a vision impairment to attend the Grampians Adventure Camp.

The camp will be based at the Halls Gap Caravan Park situated in the heart of the Grampians. The Halls Gap township offers an opportunity to develop and extend the students mobility skills in unfamiliar environments.

The mornings will be structured one to one learning focusing on mobility and daily living skills, with the afternoons and evenings focusing on a wide range of recreational activities with an outdoor, indigenous Australian focus. This program will involve quite a bit of hiking, so boots, rain gear and a warm sleeping bag are essential.

This program, inclusive of accommodation and meals, is free of charge. Referrals close on the 16^th June 2000. Further information and referral packages can be obtained through Shelley Pannier, Children’s Mobility Services, 9854 4439.

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