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As you can see, we’re doing a bit of remodeling!
While we are in the throes of construction,
please let us bring a workshop to you.
Here are a number of workshops we would like to bring to your region during the 2009-2010 school year. We also would welcome the opportunity to collaborate with you on ideas you have for training in your region.
If we can help you meet your regional training needs, please contact
Kate Hurst at katehurst@tsbvi.edu or
512-206-9224 or
download the Training Request form
Change is inevitable. Advocating for desired changes is a special skill. It doesn’t matter if you are advocating for a change in policy or a new piece of equipment. The skills are the same. This workshop will teach the basics of advocacy communication and provide opportunities to practice them.
Presenter: KC Dignan, Professional Preparation Program Coordinator, TSBVI Outreach
Target Audience: VI Professionals and Family Members
Length of Training: 2-3 hours
Presenters: Gigi Newton and Stacy Shafer, Early Childhood Consultants, TSBVI Outreach
Young children with multiple disabilities often do not have the opportunity to actively explore their environment. They also have limited opportunities to develop independent play skills and to fully explore objects. For any child, critical learning takes place through play. Children must be given the opportunity to experience the properties of objects, to compare different objects, and try out different things to do with the object on their own without adults interpreting that experience for them. In an attempt to facilitate this type of learning, Dr. Nielsen researched and developed the "Little Room" which is a specific environment, which can facilitate a child's learning. Information will be shared about Dr. Nielsen’s Active Learning theory and strategies, the types of objects to use with a child, guidelines for use and possible benefits of using a "Little Room" with a young child.
Audience: ECI and PPCD Staff, TVI, COMS, and Family Members
Length of Training: 6 hours
Presenters: Robbie Blaha, Deafblind Consultant, TSBVI Outreach and Brad Carlson, Deafblind Specialist, DARS-DBS and Co-Authors of Assessment of Deafblind Access to Manual Language Systems (ADAMLS)
Students with deafblindness who use manual communication systems typically require IEP accommodations and strategies that may be unfamiliar to Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments and Teachers of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. This training will provide information on an appropriate assessment to determine the student’s needs in learning and using sign language. Explanations and demonstrations of typical techniques will be provided. Participants will engage in activities that allow use of these techniques and will receive a copy of the Assessment of Deafblind Access to Manual Language Systems (ADAMLS).
Audience: Teams serving a student who is using a manual communication system as part of their communication program.
Length of Training: Minimum of 3 hours
Presenters: Gigi Newton and Stacy Shafer, Early Childhood Consultants, TSBVI Outreach
BART (Bonding and Relaxation Techniques) was developed by Evelyn Guyer, RN, BSN in the late 1980s. It is based on Vimala McClure’s parent education program of Infant Massage. BART is specifically designed to address the needs of infants and children with special needs. The BART Instructors Training is for professionals who work with families of children with developmental disabilities. A desired outcome of BART is parent/child bonding, so parents are the ones who use the BART strokes on the child. The professional attending this event learns how to teach the practice to families. Upon completion of this training, participants will be able to conduct parent education courses within his/her current agency, school, or hospital that serves individuals who are developmentally disabled or work individually with families in the home.
Each participant receives a copy of Guyer’s From the Hand to the Heart book (about $20 each) purchased by the hosting agency. Each participant must bring his/her own 20” flexible baby doll (no Teddy Bears).
Audience: ECI and PPCD Staff, TVI, COMS, and Family Members
Length of Training: 12 Clock Hours—2-Day Training
Presenter: Ann Adkins, VI Consultant, TSBVI Outreach
Effective collaboration between TVIs and general education teachers can assure “access to the general curriculum” for VI students and promote greater success in core curriculum subjects and the expanded core curriculum. This workshop will examine the roles of itinerant TVIs and general education teachers and identify some effective strategies for supporting VI students in inclusive settings.
Audience: Itinerant VI Teachers and COMS
Length of training: 6-12 hours
Presenter: Patrick Van Geem, Technology Consultant, TSBVI Outreach
Do you need support in creating computer generated tactile graphics? This is a hands-on training where participants will learn how to produce graphics by using MS Word2003 or 2007 drawing features.
Audience: Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments, Braillists
Length of Training: 3 or 6 hour training
Presenter: David Wiley, Transition Consultant, TSBVI Outreach
When planning strategies to support a student with deafblindness who engages in challenging behavior, it is important to understand how the effects deafblindness may be influencing the situation. Deafblindness has numerous effects, including the way a person gathers information, communicates, and understands the world. Knowing these influences helps us do a better job of assessing the function of behaviors, and planning strategies to decrease the likelihood of behaviors such as aggression directed toward self, others, and property.
Audience: Families, educators, and community service providers associated with students who are deafblind
Length of Training: 1 hour minimum up to a 3.5 hour format
Presenter: David Wiley, Transition Consultant, TSBVI Outreach
Both education and human service providers may lack experience in working with and supporting individuals with deafblindness. It is critical to understand some of the basics about individuals who are identified as having dual sensory impairments if the goal is to provide quality services. This 2-day workshop covers tops such as the causes of deafblindness, the basics of vision and hearing loss, travel modifications, communication, active participation, behavioral issues and intervention strategies. Participants will learn strategies to improve the quality of interactions and support they provide to young adults who are deafblind.
Audience: Education and human service providers, interveners and paraprofessionals working with individuals who are deafblind.
Length of training: 12 hours
Presenters: Stacy Shafer and Gigi Newton, Early Childhood Consultants, TSBVI Outreach
Information will be shared about the implications of vision and hearing loss on a child’s development. Some of the teaching strategies that will be shared include use of hand-under-hand, the importance of using real objects to facilitate concept development, the importance of bonding, ways to facilitate movement, “tummy time”, exploration of the environment, and transitional movements. Teachers and others can learn how to include activities to provide vestibular and proprioceptive input into the child’s day. Presenters will emphasize the importance of routines and having a child practice skills with a wide variety of objects, with different people, in different locations, and in different positions to facilitate generalization of basic concepts and skills.
Audience: ECI and PPCD Staff, TVI, COMS, and Family Members
Length of Training: 6 hours
Presenter: Patrick Van Geem and Sharon Nichols, Technology Consultants, TSBVI Outreach
Gain a working knowledge of a screen reader, JAWS, interfacing with MS Office Products for the completion of tasks related to spreadsheets, word processing, and presentations. In this beginning level training participants will learn step-by-step procedures when using JAWS with MS Word products including Windows Key commands, Word, and Internet.
Target Audience: Educational Staff and Students
Length of Training: 3 or 6 hour options
Presenter: Patrick Van Geem and Sharon Nichols, Technology Consultants, TSBVI Outreach
Gain a working knowledge of a screen reader, JAWS, interfacing with MS Office Products for the completion of tasks related to spreadsheets, word processing, and presentations. In this beginning level training participants will learn step-by-step procedures when using JAWS with MS Word products including Internet, PowerPoint, and Excel.
Target Audience: Educational Staff and Students
Length of Training: 3 or 6 hour options
Presenters: Sara Kitchen, VI Consultant and Chris Montgomery, Deafblind Consultant, TSBVI Outreach
Communication is the foundation for meaningful programming for students with visual and multiple impairments including deafblindness. In this workshop participants will learn methods for developing meaningful communication systems using a holistic approach to interaction, routine development, and calendar systems. They will also share tips and strategies for developing functional and individualized communication systems that can serve as life-long tools for learning.
Target Audience: Teachers of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments, Special Education Staff (limited to 25 people)
Length of Training: 6 hours
Presenter: TSBVI Outreach Consultants
Should children with visual and multiple impairments receive O&M services even if they are not independently mobile? If a child is never going to be an independent traveler, what would be the purpose of providing O&M training? Direct service or the consult model, what works best? These are some of the questions COMS must deal with in addressing the wide range of abilities and needs exhibited by students with visual and multiple impairments. There is no set curriculum COMS can employ, but there are perspectives that help us create appropriate O&M programming for many of these students. This workshop combines lecture and discussion to enable participants to gather ideas and techniques useful in providing appropriate O&M services to the students with visual and multiple disabilities.
Audience: COMS and Teachers of the Visually Impaired
Length of training: 6 hours
TSBVI Outreach Consultants
This workshop offers a mix of lecture, simulation exercises and shared resources to introduce basic concepts about visual impairment, explore attitudes towards blindness, and provide evidence based resources on instructional roles and responsibilities to paraprofessionals working with students who are blind and/or visually impaired.
Audience: Paraprofessionals working with students who are visually impaired. Other members of the team are welcome.
Length of Training: Minimum of 6 hours. More time might be preferable if more significant practice with modifying materials is desired.
Presenter: Chrissy Cowan, TVI/Mentor Coordinator, TSBVI Outreach
Literacy media includes materials used to complete literacy tasks that are presented at both near and distance points. The literacy media assessment can be used as a springboard for empowering middle and high school students with low vision to understand and communicate their needs as these relate to accessing the general curriculum. Participants will learn the following to assess student needs and preferences on a variety of literacy media: (1) conducting a student interview related to current visual access; (2) conducting a modified print media assessment profile to determine near reading fluency for a variety of print media; (3) using observation to determine actual student access and visual requirements across the curriculum; and (4) writing a report to reflect student practice, preferences, and intervention needed.
Audience: Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments
Length of Training: 3.5 hours
Presenters: Chrissy Cowan, TVI/Mentor Coordinator and Ann Rash, Educational Consultant, TSBVI Outreach
The APH Sensory Learning Kitis useful for the development of skills for learners with the most significant challenges. Specific tools contained in the SLK may be used in the development of instructional components such as daily schedules, lesson plans, and alternative assessments for students with the most significant challenges. Since the SLK is available on APH quota funds, it is readily available. This workshop will give participants pointers on how to use the SLK, with time built in to explore the contents and apply these to their own students.
Audience: Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments, other members of the teams working with their students and individuals working on TVI certification.
Length of Training: 6 hours
Presenter: Susan Osterhaus, Math Consultant, TSBVI Outreach
An extremely hands-on workshop teaches participants how to create a mathematics document using Scientific Notebook (SNB) and save it in regular or large print. They will also learn to open a SNB document in Duxbury’s DBT WIN using the LaTeX importer and translate and format it in correct Nemeth code.
Hosts will need to provide a computer lab setting for this event.
Audience: Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments, Math Teachers, Paraprofessionals preparing math materials for VI students
Length of Training: 6 hours
Presenters: TSBVI Outreach Consultants
Tactile graphics gives visually impaired students access to maps, charts, graphs, and other types of illustrations. This workshop presents a variety of techniques for producing tactile graphics, as well as teaching strategies and information on tactile skills. Suggestions for teaching students to make their own tactile graphics will also be addressed. * This workshop may be offered as a make-and-take training.
Audience: VI Teachers, COMS, Paraprofessionals working with VI students, and Braillists
Length of training: 6 hours minimum (up to 2 days for make-and-take)
Presenter: Susan Osterhaus, Math Consultant, TSBVI Outreach
Math instruction is critical for all students, but especially for students with visual impairments. This special training opportunity will be helpful to anyone involved in math instruction with VI students. The early childhood and elementary school portion of the workshop will help participants to identify some of the challenges that the VI student faces in the general ed mathematics classroom. Opportunities will be provided for exploration of a variety of accessible materials, tools, and technology, which will allow their students to learn basic math concepts. Additionally, participants will have the chance to problem solve on how to use these materials, tools, and technology in accessing the general math curriculum through collaborative interaction among the student, math teacher, VI teacher, paraprofessional, and family members. The middle and high school portion of the workshop will help participants to locate the technology and resources to enable teachers to produce/provide accessible math materials (text and graphics). Participants will also identify and find a variety of accessible tools and technology, which will allow their students to draw, construct, measure, and graph independently, including various types of accessible scientific and graphing calculators currently available. Opportunities to problem solve how to use these tools and technology in accessing the general math curriculum will also be included.
Audience: Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments, Math Teachers, Paraprofessionals working with VI students, and Parents of VI students
Length of Training: 6 hours for either Early Childhood and Elementary School OR Middle and High School presentation. Two 6-hour days are required to cover both portions (early childhood thru high school).
Presenters: TSBVI Outreach Consultants and DARS-DBS Transition Staff
Federal and state law calls for collaboration between school and human service providers in planning transition for students with disabilities. Still we struggle trying to find a process that works. This workshop will provide a transition planning process to follow for developing meaningful transition goals and objectives for students with visual impairments. Designed for team participation that includes educational and rehabilitation staff as well as the family and students, this workshop is very hands-on. Teams will learn and use a process for meaningful transition planning for their visually impaired students. Participants will use actions plans within the transition process to begin writing meaningful goals and objectives for their student or students.
Audience: Transition Teams (including TVI, COMS, DARS-DBS Staff Diagnosticians, Parents, and the Student)
Length of Training: 6 hours
Presenter: Eva Thompson-Lavigne, Transition Consultant, TSBVI Outreach
A unique event offering an individual team training experience focused on a single student who is visually impaired. Included is a home visit to discuss transition plans with the family, to identify student strengths and needs and to observe and discuss independent living skills. An observation period at the school provides an opportunity to meet with school staff individually. The team (including human service representatives) comes together for approximately 4 hours of training to work through a variety of assessment tools; to identify specific transition-related goals and objectives for the IEP; and to make an action plan related to on-going transition activities for the student and support activities for staff and family. The goal of this training is to improve the quality of transition planning and programming for the student through a highly collaborative team process.
Audience: Transition Teams (including TVI, COMS, DARS-DBS Staff Diagnosticians, Parents, and the Student)
Length of Training: 3 hours each Home Meeting and School Observation, plus 4 hours of team training. Times are flexible based on the needs of the Team, but general can be managed in two days.
Presenter: Susan Osterhaus, Math Consultant, TSBVI Outreach
A hands-on workshop where participants learn to navigate in the Audio Graphing Calculator (AGC) and prepare their students to use it. They will also learn to graph various functions, perform computations with matrices, enter data points, and interpret data obtained, especially as it relates to an algebra class.
Hosts will need to provide a computer lab setting for this event.
Audience: Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments, Math Teachers, and Students taking a class requiring the use of the AGC
Length of Training: 6 hours
Marnee Loftin, Licensed Psychologist, TSBVI
Students with visual impairments, like the rest of the student population, may also have as an additional disability, some type of Autism Spectrum Disorder. They may also exhibit behaviors that appear autistic, but are not. So how can you tell the difference? Participants in this workshop will learn ways to differentiate between characteristics of visual impairment and autism and the differences between the diagnosis of autism disorder and Asperger’s disorder. Steps for an appropriate diagnostic evaluation process and assessment resources for students with visual impairments and possible autism, educational strategies, and case studies will be shared.
Audience: Assessment/Evaluation Personnel, VI Professionals, Parents
Length of Training: 3 hours
Presenters: TSBVI Outreach Consultants
Babies who are visually impaired and have additional disabilities such as hearing loss or motor problems may have delays in developing formal language. Nevertheless they come into this world communicating. The focus of this workshop is to help parents identify how their child is communicating currently and how to help them achieve the next level in their language development. They will also learn ideas for sharing that information with professionals in a way that can guide the educational programming.
Audience: Parents of children with visual and multiple impairments including hearing loss
Length of training: 6 hours
Presenters: TSBVI Outreach Consultants
This workshop offers a mix of lecture, simulation exercises and shared resources to introduce basic concepts about visual impairment, to teachers who will have a VI student in their classroom. It will explore attitudes towards blindness and provide evidence-based resources on instructional roles and responsibilities for working with students who are blind and/or visually impaired. Effective strategies to foster independence and achievement in students with visual impairments will be included.
Audience: TVI, COMS, General Education Teachers, Special Education Teachers, Administrators, Parents and Paraprofessionals working with students who are visually impaired.
Length of training: 6 hours. More time may be needed if more significant practice with modifying materials is desired.
We can custom-build a workshop to meet your specific needs. Here is a partial listing of broad topical areas around which we can develop training:
Contact us to request a specific topic or for help in locating a speaker.
If your district, service center, agency, or organization would like to build your own workshop in collaboration with TSBVI Outreach, it is easy to do. Just make a request using the form on the TSBVI website.
Texas School for the Blind & Visually Impaired
Outreach Department
1100 West 45th Street
Austin, TX 78756
If you would like to discuss your ideas for a workshop or training in your region or school district, please contact:
Kate Hurst, Statewide Staff Development Coordinator
512-206-9224 katehurst@tsbvi.edu
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