Hi Lindsay,
I also have a masters in specialized reading… from a LOOOOONG time ago. 
It’s always been fascinating to me how braille reading instruction lines up with typically sighted learners. I look forward to learning along with you.
Karen
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Hi Everyone! My name is Mary Shepperd. I work in Michigan City, Indiana as a TVI. I have one student who is blind and 19 students with low vision. I am also TOR for students needing intense interventions. I cover the district from Pre-K to Grade 12. I am excited to learn how to use technology to help my students with reading and to learn strategies and tips from all of you.
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Hello! I am Ashley Erne, and I teach at a tiny school in Iowa. This year I am teaching 2nd grade, and next year I will be moving to Title 1 Reading. I currently have a student who is blind in my 2nd grade class, and I will have them again next year for Title 1.
My student has struggled with fluency, and has also struggled with comprehension (reading and listening). I am hoping to gain insight as to how to best meet their needs during my intervention time and support them in the coming school years.
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Hi from Houston, Texas! My name is Laura Coughlin, I am a CTVI. I taught Resource reading for years and became a Vision teacher about 15 years ago, I currently have a braille reader who is struggling. I’ve had other braille readers in the past - now they are in college! I’ll be interested to see if reading braille with SOD is a topic of discussion. Can’t wait!
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Great to see you here Staci! When I saw this course, I thought of you!
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It’s really great to see someone who spends more time in Gen Ed here! It would be great if we could get more people who have positions like yours here.
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Do you split your days between the two settings are do all of the VI students funnel through your room at the MS some how?
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Hi, My name is Melissa Root and I am a Teacher of students with Visual Impairments in southeastern Massachusetts. I also am an occupational therapist, and AT specialist. I have a first grader that is in the beginning stages of learning braille, while also learning to read. The rest of my caseload primarily uses technology to enlarge text and use text to speech, although two middle school students know braille and we practice it as a back up medium in case of a future need for it.
I’m excited about learning about any information that can help me teach my first grade student reading with braille as successfully as possible.
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I’m Kathy Davis, a former TVI who moved into working with severe profound medically fragile kiddos. I have 8 classroom students, 6 of whom are still on my TVI caseload (CVI). I am in Raleigh NC, and I teach in a private, residential group home that has 22 students ages 3 - 17. My group of 8 is Level 1, ages 5 - 8, all levels of cognitive skills but mostly in the 1.5 - 3 y/o cognitive and developmental levels. I am hoping to learn more about literacy for my particular niche group, given that Unique Learning Systems is less than adequate.
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Hi everyone. My name is Ashley Morgan. I’m a TVI in Northeast Ohio. I currently work as a TVI at the Stark County Educational Service Center. I am serving one student, who will be a senior in the fall. I am with him the entire day, providing instruction in Braille and Assistive Technology. I enjoy reading,and I am anxious to learn new strategies to help my student improve his reading fluency.
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Hello! My name is Leighann Patrick. I’m from Winston-Salem, North Carolina and I’m a Teacher of the Visually Impaired. I work primarily with elementary aged students on braille instruction. The district I work for has an elementary level braille program that is housed out of a school, where I serve them daily. Currently I work with 2 students who are learning braille and one student receiving AT services. However, I am going to be possibly getting 3 new braille students next school year. I am very excited about getting more in depth into how to imbed foundations of reading and adapt it to the group of students I work with. While I have taught in the special education field for a number of years (7) and am currently in my 2nd year in the VI field, I do not feel as if I have a good number of tools in my toolbox to help all of my students with foundational reading. I am always looking out for more tools to help me help my students succeed and I look forward to hearing from others what their strategies are that have worked!
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Hi Staci. I too am a TVI in Northeast Ohio. It’s nice to see another local Ohio teacher in the group 
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Hello everyone. I’m Alison Hampson from Burlington, Vermont and work as an itinerant TVI in 4 different districts in the northern part of the state. Yes, it can get wild in the winter but any time of year I enjoy the drives between schools (which can be a substantial distance!). The youngest on my caseload is 11 months and the oldest is 18. I’ve one who is a braille reader currently (and is also my primary motivator for taking this course!!) and another with whom I will start braille in the fall. I’m excited about this course because any time I can learn more about how to best support literacy and build reading skills, especially for braille readers, I’m on board! I look forward to the collaboration and learning from all of you.
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Thankfully the foundations of reading matter to all reading media: print, large print, digital magnified print, and braille!
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Hello Everyone:
My name is Sharon Clark. I am a Teacher of the Blind and Visually Impaired in New Jersey. I have 3 students who read braille on my caseload. I would love to learn strategies to assist my student with reading.
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Hello everyone! My name is Brielle, I am a itinerant TVI and O&M In long Island, NY working with K-12 students. I have a pretty diverse caseload of students including those with multiple disabilities, low vision, 2 students with progressive conditions learning braille and a full time braille reader. Im excited to continue learning strategies for reading instruction.
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Hello everyone! My name is Sandra Fox.
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I am a credentialed TVI with a MA in Sped.
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I am located in California’s Central Valley. I am about forty minutes southeast of Fresno.
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Currently, I serve students with moderate to severe needs.
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I have my gen ed credential and have recieved SOR training that is more geared for gen ed, but I am more interested in what can be learned about best practices for students with visual impairments. I am passionate about learning ways to close the reading gap that often happens with our students with visual impairments.
I am looking forward to getting to know you all better and learn with you all this summer. 
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Hi! I am Danielle, a Teacher of the Visually Impaired from Long Island NY. Although I have about 10 years of teaching experience, I only began as a vision teacher last year. I work as an itinerant between school districts, mostly with students with visual impairments along with other special needs. I currently have 2 braille readers and writers, well teaching one braille. I used to be a reading teacher, certified in Wilson’s reading program- so I am excited to learn how to teach braille instruction along with reading instruction.
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Leanne, other than the Basic Reading Inventory (by Jerry L. John’s), will we be covering any other reading foundation test? Thanks in advance!
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Hi all-
My name is Rose Golomb. I am an itinerant TVI working in PA in the suburbs of Philly. I currently have students at all grade levels. The majority of my students are low vision using, so we are working with a lot of large print and technology to access materials. I have only one braille student at this time. I am excited to learn more about literacy instruction to help support my students!
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