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Southeast Region Transition Institute is designed for deafblind students in their teens preparing to transition from high school to college or employment. This conference gives students the knowledge they need to know how to access their dreams for the future.
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Jenny Lace
Education Consultant, Texas Deafblind Project
Texas School for the Blind & Visually Impaired
Deafblind Outreach
2012 SE Teens and Mentors with Motivational Speaker, Cody Colchado
Purpose
The southeast regional deafblind projects along with The National Consortium on Deafblindness and Helen Keller National Center partner to offer a unique opportunity for tomorrow’s leaders. The annual weekend transition institutes support teens and young adults with deafblindness to plan for the future, develop friendships and community, and become self-advocates. Youth 15 years of age through 22 years of age with both vision and hearing loss and a formal communication system, who are on a career path to work, technical school, or college are invited to apply. Presenters who are positive role models and young adult mentors with deafblindness address topics related to transition, technology, self-determination, social skills and self-advocacy. Separate sessions are offered to the parents featuring transition issues and opportunities to share their experiences.
Youth Outcome Goals
Long-term Outcomes
Many of the mentors with deafblindness started attending the Annual Southeast Family Deaf-Blind Transition Institute as teens. As a result of on-going participation, several have expanded their leadership skills by becoming involved in other projects and programs, including:
Evaluation
The teens develop action plans at the end of the weekends and are interviewed about the skills they learned as a result of their participation. Below are some comments from the teen interviews and evaluations:
Apply
If you are a Texas teen with both a hearing and vision loss or if you know a teen, which meets the requirements and has the desire to learn self-determination and leadership skills, you may self-nominate or nominate someone you know by:
Contacting Jenny Lace or Brian Sobeck at Texas Deafblind Project: jennylace@tsbvi.edu or 512-206-9389
briansobeck@tsbvi.edu or 512-206-9225
A nomination form will be sent to you, which you can submit for review by a committee consisting of the Texas Deafblind Project and deafblind adults. We will let all teens and their families know if we can accept their application. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions.
2012 SE Teens and Mentors with Motivational Speaker, Cody Colchado
Purpose
The southeast regional deafblind projects along with The National Consortium on Deafblindness and Helen Keller National Center partner to offer a unique opportunity for tomorrow’s leaders. The annual weekend transition institutes support teens and young adults with deafblindness to plan for the future, develop friendships and community, and become self-advocates. Youth 15 years of age through 22 years of age with both vision and hearing loss and a formal communication system, who are on a career path to work, technical school, or college are invited to apply. Presenters who are positive role models and young adult mentors with deafblindness address topics related to transition, technology, self-determination, social skills and self-advocacy. Separate sessions are offered to the parents featuring transition issues and opportunities to share their experiences.
Youth Outcome Goals
Long-term Outcomes
Many of the mentors with deafblindness started attending the Annual Southeast Family Deaf-Blind Transition Institute as teens. As a result of on-going participation, several have expanded their leadership skills by becoming involved in other projects and programs, including:
Evaluation
The teens develop action plans at the end of the weekends and are interviewed about the skills they learned as a result of their participation. Below are some comments from the teen interviews and evaluations:
Apply
If you are a Texas teen with both a hearing and vision loss or if you know a teen, which meets the requirements and has the desire to learn self-determination and leadership skills, you may self-nominate or nominate someone you know by:
Jenny Lace
Education Consultant Deafblind Outreach
If you haven’t checked out Perkins new video webcast on CVI, you should. I really thought this webcast did a great job of explaining the basics of CVI and offering strategies. I could see TVIs and COMS using this with other educational staff, parents and administrators who need to understand some of the basics of Cortical Visual Impairments. Another great product from Perkins!
Perkins CVI webcast
The Federal Communications Commission has launched its accessibility
clearinghouse in an effort to connect more consumers (including children
and young adults) to accessible telecommunication options.
Also quickly, this is a great site that is linked on the FCC’s page for
helping consumers and their families find accessible wireless options.
As all children and young adults use mobile technologies as a part of
their daily lives, it is critical that our students with visual
impairments and deafblindness have options. So glad that the FCC is taking
a strong leadership role in helping people with disabilities have access.
Please share!
Amy T. Parker, Ed.D., C.I. & COMS
Research Assistant Professor
Virginia Murray Sowell Center
806-742-1997 X 248 office
Parents and extended families of children with deafblindness often ask where they can go to learn sign language. There are many options, which begin with their school district, regional day school program for the deaf, community colleges and churches. Recently I learned of this on-line resource that can be very helpful with basic sign language.
Challenge Discovery Projects, a Virginia-based 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, provides school-based and community programs for youth that address bullying, violence, substance abuse and emotional health. In addition, Challenge Discovery Projects offers emotional health and substance abuse counseling to the deaf and hard of hearing. The Parent Child Advocate Program (PCA), part of Challenge Discovery Projects, addresses the multiple needs of families with children who are deaf or hard of hearing by offering sign language skill development, providing psychosocial education and facilitating access to community resources. The PCA program advocates early intervention in teaching social and communication skills to children who are deaf and hard of hearing to bridge the gap between them and the hearing population.
Part of the Challenge Discovery Projects website includes “Sign with Your Child” a video series. This series of instructional and informational videos was created to provide a resource for parents and caregivers with children who are deaf or hard of hearing. They are designed to facilitate and encourage communication and language development within the family. The video series contains lessons on various topics with language that can be easily incorporated into daily life, for example, “Getting Dressed.” Check it out!
Kate Hurst, Statewide Staff Development Coordinator
Texas School for the Blind & Visually Impaired
Outreach Programs
The AIM Navigator is an accessible, web-based tool designed to help local educational teams think through decisions about accessible instructional materials for students. It has sections to address assessing student need, determining appropriate instructional formats, decisions on purchase/acquisition of appropriate formats, and related training/supports to support student progress. There are many helpful sections with in depth information available to help with each step in the process, and the Navigator generates a student summary that can follow a student across their years of schooling as well as a To Do list documenting next steps for the team. This FREE tool is found on the National Center on Accessible Instructional Materials website at AIM Navigator.
Outreach Director
Texas School for the Blind and
Visually Impaired
At the recent SWOMA Conference a teacher shared a great app from the Braille Institute that show vision simulations. Vision simulations are nothing new, but this one let you point your camera on your phone or IPad and see a vision simulation of a real-time scene. Using touch-screen controls, the user can select one of the four simulators to replicate the symptoms of that particular disease. The application uses the device camera to allow the user to see the world through digital filters simulating the symptoms and experience of the disease. Using sliding touch-screen controls, the user can manipulate the severity of the symptoms.
The real-time still images can be saved by the camera and stored for later review in the image gallery, or to be shared. Check out this free app at the Braille Institute.
Kate Hurst
Statewide Staff Development Coordinator
Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired
In a conversation I had with Jay Gense, director of the National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB), he estimated the incidence of deafblindness for children and youth birth to 22 years old in the United States is around .01%.
The incidence in Texas is slightly higher at about .017%. This means that out of the 4 million plus students in public education in Texas, around 750 are identified as having both hearing and vision problems. Here is a different perspective: 4 million miles will take you around the Earth at the equator 161 times. It is almost exactly a 750 mile drive from Houston to El Paso. Quite a difference (And you thought Texas was so big!).
One of the lessons I have learned from looking at the Deafblind Census is that no two of the students are alike. There may be 79 students who are considered deafblind as the result of CHARGE Association but beyond that etiology, they are all different. Some spend most of their time in general education settings, some in special education settings. Some have a cochlear implant, some have little or no residual hearing. Some have no vision, some read print. Some need an intervener, some don’t. Some are under the age of 3 years, some are 21 years old. All are different. All have their unique educational and personal needs and circumstances.
Yet, maybe all students with deafblindness do have something in common: a need for information given in a way they can understand and use and a need for partners who can communicate with them.
This brings me to the idea of “high touch”. High touch was a concept coined in the 1980’s to contrast with “high tech”. The idea was that there are some jobs where it was better to have human contact rather than use technology. It strikes me that working students who are deafblind is a high touch profession. There is no technology that can replace human contact when it comes to education for students who are deafblind. I believe that only another human can quickly “read” a student with deafblindness, assess the situation, and make adaptations that will result in the student getting quality information and communication opportunities. This doesn’t necessarily mean that every student with deafblindness needs full -time one-on-one support. But it does mean that each student with deafblindness needs consistent support for her or his unique needs in any given situation.
The Annual Deafblind Census will be filled out by districts in Texas in the month of January. As districts fill out this information, it may be a good time to be thinking about the unique needs of each student and how they are getting met. How is a given student’s communication needs met? How is a given student’s need in the area of visual, auditory, and/or tactual access to information met? Who is providing the high touch to this low incidence group of learners? Want more information about the census? Visit the Deafblind Census.
Jim Durkel
APH Materials Coordinator
There is a movement afoot in the world of deafblind education…..
Movement afoot you say?!?!? That’s A Big Yes Pardner…. TSBVI Outreach is currently partnering with the Region 4 Education Service Center on a Teacher of the Deafblind (TDB) Pilot program. The Pilot program is just starting on it’s first year of a two year cycle. Select teachers and administrators from the Cy-Fair Regional Day School for the Deaf, Katy ISD, and TSBVI’s Comprehensive Programs are participating. Our goal is to start small with this group, define the role of a TDB, establish a great program for technical assistance, and grow it into a sustainable model that is recognized on a state and national level.
Another really great aspect of this program is that we are able to work with Texas Tech, who has online, graduate level, coursework in deafblindness. We are encouraging our Pilot TDB’s to enroll and reap the benefits from both our hands-on technical assistance, and the academic coursework being offered.
While I’m on the subject – anyone with an undergrad degree can take these deafblind specific classes (assuming that you apply, and are accepted, into the TX Tech graduate school) who is interested in furthering their professional journey into the world of deafblind education. The next class offered starts during the spring semester.
It’s title is: 5388 – ” Programs and Services for Students With Dual Sensory Impairments”. You can email Dr. Amy Parker for more information at: amy.parker@ttu.edu
Chris Montgomery
Deafblind Specialist