Cohort Participant Introduction

Hi Ashley -

I’m excited to hear how you connect the Title 1 program with teaching Braille. One of our teachers used the Sonday program with her braille friends and the result was fabulous! What program do you use?

Hello Autumn!

I’m heading to Homer in a week for a vacation - super exited to drive through Canada from MN. Oy - 60 hours one way! I went to grad school with a gal from Georgia who taught in Alaska for 8ish years and was always intrigued with the itinerant model up there. Just wondering - are the 4 braiille students in the same area or do you need to travel outside the Juneau area?

Hey Jonathan -

Do you make lots of more CVI friendly books for your friends? I would love to share some ideas with what we have created -

I love to have CVI friendly books in classrooms with my younger kids and we like to also put some in the library so they can check them out too.

Sheri

Hi Everyone! My name is Nadya Krause. Currently, I am TVI and O&Mer for the Allentown School District. My counterpart and I cover the district as itinerants working with school age kiddos. I’m so excited to participate in this cohort. I’m excited to collaborate with others folks in the field both near and far.

Hi. My name is Teri Chaney. I am a TSVI and have serviced birth to 21 year olds for the past 13 years. I took a new role this last year in August of a new program that KSSB and the state of Kansas put together called Family Infant Toddler Services (FITS). I serve networks in central Kansas and only work with birth to 3. It has been a good change and I am loving the early intervention.

Hello. My name is Natally Bones and I have been a COMS for 24 years in a few different states across the country, working with students of all ages. Currently I am an itinerant teacher working in the Phoenix, Arizona area. My current caseload is working with students K-12. I’m excited to learn how to better serve my students with their literacy as it correlates to literacy in the community and during travel.

Hello Everyone,
My name is Melissa Snyder. I am a Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments and a Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist from Breckenridge, MN, which is a border town of North Dakota where I am currently working. I am an Outreach Coordinator for the North Dakota Vision Services/School for the Blind. I am currently serving children from birth to graduation across a large geographic area in the southeast corner of the state. Some of the students I work with in the public-school setting have a TVI in their home district and I see those students as a COMS. In the more rural districts, I see students in a dual capacity and provide direct services as well as consult services to meet student needs. I am looking forward to learning some different ways to implement braille instruction for students.

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Your new position sounds great, being able to focus on specific developmental skills within a smaller age range would seem to allow you to really focus in on specific skills at a level where children are like sponges.

I agree, CVI has been one area that I have been heavily focused on learning more about in the last few years. I have really been working on finding ways to help staff work with the students on my caseload with CVI.

Hello Lanna! I will enjoy learning along with you!

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Hello there. My name is Dudley. I’m a CVRT and AT instructor in Georgia. I also have experience in early childhood education. I primarily work with older adults, but I work with school-aged learners within the classroom from time to time. I am visually impaired myself. So, I’ve been reflecting on my literacy journey that was led by my TVI back in the day. I am looking forward to the insights from this course because I believe that all forms and topics of learning follow a similar systematic framework. I am always looking to improve my approach for the overall success of my students/clients.

Hello. My name is Sadisha Clarke. I am currently a teacher for students who are blind or visually impaired in Douglas County, Georgia. I serve students with low vision, total blindness, CVI, and some diagnosed with other disabilities along with their visual impairment from kindergarten through 12th grade in general education, resource rooms, and special education classrooms. I hope to learn skills to encourage reading for all the students I serve based on their levels and needs. Skills to help identify nonverbal and verbal readers and promote continued growth.

Hi! My name is Shelley Snook. I am a TVI in Carlisle, PA. I am employed by a school district that is part of a six-district consortium. I cover three of the six districts. I work with another great TVI that covers the other three districts. I work with students in k-12. I currently have five Braille students on my caseload. I look forward to connecting with other educators to hear how they approach Braille instruction with struggling readers.

I saw the introductions and then totally forgot to do it! Sorry, I am late!

  • Name: Megan Flowers
  • Professional Role: Education Program Specialist, Low Incidence and Sensory Disabilities
  • Location: Columbus, OH
  • A brief description of the students you serve: I serve students in the state of Ohio with low incidence and/or sensory disabilities including the categories of Deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind, blind, visually impaired, traumatic brain injury, multiple disabilities and autism.
  • What are you excited to learn this summer? I am very excited to continue learning about students with visual impairments, best practices, evidence based strategies, and in general, more knowledge to share with others!

Hello everyone! My name is Veronica Puente, and I am the braille teacher at the school for the blind in Raleigh North Carolina(Governor Morehead School for the Blind) . I worked with all grades and with students who are blind and who have multiple disabilities. I am blind myself and know first hand how important braille is for all students who have a visual impairment! I use braille everyday not just for work but for my own personal everyday life! Without braille I would not be where I am today, and I am excited to share this amazing journey (that of reading braille) with my students!
I am most excited to learn from others and to share my love for literacy! I would also like to developed strategies to help my students and coworkers understand that braille is relevant in today’s world, and that braille is literacy and that literacy is a human right and not a luxury. I am so grateful to be here and I will do my best to make up for my missing time! Thanks so much for this opportunity!
Veronica

Welcome, Veronica! Thank you for stating that literacy is not a luxury, but a human right. One thing I have learned in this course is that TVIs are educational specialists who are greatly needed and highly underpaid! (When do you have time to assess, teach, meet for IEPs, write reports, travel, and repeat! I worked many years as a classroom teacher. While I taught early literacy skills to first-graders, this course has shown me the challenges faced by students who are blind or low vision and how the lack of this knowledge can lead a teacher to make erroneous conclusions on assessments and ineffective instructional decisions in the classroom–decisions that too often lower expectations. This course has also shown me how vital collaboration is because reading instruction must be nurtured and supported throughout the school day. Veronica, you seem like the best person to help your co-workers understand the importance of braille. What better proof would they need than you!