Cohort Participant Introduction
Welcome to the Hive Summer Cohort for 2025! Please use this thread to introduce yourself and begin connecting with one another. Please include:
• Name
• Professional Role
• Location
• A brief description of the students you serve
• What are you excited to learn this summer?
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Trish Peterson, TVI Ithaca, NY I provide vision services for grades 5-12. I have students learning braille along with students that have multiple disabilities. This summer I am excited to learn what is new in the world of CVI.
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Emily Guzzio, TVI - North Carolina. Serve students with multiple disabilities, braille - Majority of my students are diagnosed or present with CVI. K-12
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My name is Patty D’Ascenzo. I am the Accessible Instructional Materials Coordinator for the Allegheny Intermediate Unit located in Southwestern PA. I worked as a TVI until becoming the AIM Coorindator for our program last year. I am responsible to support TVIs in our program as well as LEAs in the districts we serve. Support can be through professional development, collaboration/consultation on IEP goals, best practice for adapting materials to meet student’s needs, and bringing new ideas/concepts, tools to our program.
Because CVI is the leading cause of visual impairment in children, I feel that it is important to take advantage of any available learning opportunities.
I am excited because a colleague and I will be presenting a poster at an upcoming Pennsylvania conference, Bridging Knowledge to Know-How, later in July. Our poster will highlight our program’s inaugural Braille Challenge and Cane Quest events. We aim to showcase how these events not only celebrate student achievement but also emphasize the critical importance of strong Braille literacy and orientation and mobility (O&M) skills in fostering independence, access, and life-long learning for students with visual impairments.
I am excited to learn more about others who are part of this Cohort.
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I’m Michela, a Specialist for the Visually Impaired in a large Florida school district. This marks my 30th year in the field, with most of my experience focused on O&M an TVI. I truly love what I do and remain passionate about supporting our students and fellow TVIs. I’m excited to be part of this learning community and look forward to gaining new insights to bring back to my team and students!
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I completely agree—ongoing learning is essential. Our students benefit when we stay current and committed to best practices.
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My name is Barbara Hollick. I am a TVI and COMS in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I serve students in grades K-12. I am excited to be a part of a learning community and look forward to learning instructional strategies I can utilize with my students.
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Hello! My name is Lynn Shortis and I am a TVI/COMS in Western Massachusetts. I have close to 60 student ranging in age from 3-20 right now in one school district with varying visual impairments and all skill levels. I have several students with CVI and always look for classes, workshops, etc. to better my skills in this area so I can better meet their needs.
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What a great role you have and there is so much you can do with the knowledge you will gain! I have 2 students with CVI who are beginning braille instruction and who are both cane travelers. I never would have considered these instructional needs for these students before but have learned so much in the past 5 years that I now see the importance of these tools for such students. Of course, the challenge is finding the time to address these needs in the demanding academic routines of the general education classroom.
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My name is Sierra, I am a licensed TVI by trade; however, I started an educational consulting firm focusing on providing services to students who are blind and/or visually impaired throughout the Chicagoland area. We currently have on staff other teachers of the visually impaired, orientation and mobility specialists, assistive technology specialists, Braille Transcribers, and paraprofessionals. We currently provide services to children from birth to 22 years old throughout the state. I’m excited to learn more about how to best support our students with visual impairments through technology, literacy, and much more.
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Hello Everyone! My name is Kelly Jarrett. I am an ATP (Assistive Technology Practitioner) and special educator in Baltimore, Maryland. I have had the privilege for 28 years working with students that are blind or visually impaired. Over 30% of the students have a CVI diagnosis. They range in age from 3-21+. Many have complex bodies and have severe to profound learning impairments. The majority of students that I work with are also Autistic. I am always excited to learn new/better ways to help the students gain equitable access to their curriculum and world.
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Hi Michela -
Shout out to all O&Mers! You are some of the best teachers and humans that I have come in contact with. I could never do what you all do. I have learned so much from our O&M folks where I work. They are fearless and dedicated.
Kelly
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Hi Barbara -
Great to see that you are from Pittsburgh. One of my AT collogues is from your area. What is one of the most important skills that you teach students in your area?
Thanks,
Kelly
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Kelly,
That is a great question. Typically I would say orientation and mobility skills would be of greatest importance but I am going to rethink my response and say self-advocacy skills. Towards the end of this school year, I had the opportunity to travel with one of my graduating seniors to meet with the Office of Disabilities at the college she was planning to attend. She came prepared with a list of questions to ask. Throughout the discussion, the director kept complimenting her on how well prepared she was and felt she had a great many skills to successfully navigate advocating for her self at the University. Not only was it a proud teacher moment for me to see her utilizing the skills developed but it also an example of how important these skills were going to be for her moving forward.
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I am from Pittsburgh, but now living in Ithaca, NY. Do you have a lot of students that attend the School for the Blind in Pittsburgh or do most students attend regular public school?
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What do you like best about working as an education consultant instead of a TVI for the districts?
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Hi, I’m Angela Dullea and I am a TVI/COMS at a small district in Southeastern Massachusetts. I have students learning braille as well as students with visual field deficits. It has been a few years since I had students with CVI on my caseload and I am looking forward to building my learning about CVI!
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What part of Pittsburgh are you from? I grew up in Mt. Lebanon and now live in Dormont. I work for the Allegheny Intermediate Unit. The majority of my students attend regular public school although there are a few approved private schools we do serve. The School for the Blind is not one of them. They operate independently from the AIU.
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It’s a small world. I grew up in Castle Shannon and went to Keystone Oaks High School in Dormont. My BS was in Teaching the Deaf from Penn State There were no jobs in Pittsburgh, so I moved. I go back to visit family, but I have been away from Pittsburgh for more than 40 years at this point. I went back to school to add TVI to my certification. With the cochlear implant, there is not job security as a TOD anymore.
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Hi everyone! I am Katie Hardgrove and am currently the Assistant Director at St. Joseph’s School for the Blind in NJ. I was a Special Education teacher for years before becoming an administrator. I have been in admin roles such as Supervisor, Asst. Principal, Director of Curriculum, and Principal. My organization currently serves babies from 0 to 3 in Early Intervention, School age children 3 to 21, and Adults from 21 and up with blindness, visual impairments, and multiple disabilities. We have been seeing such an increase in students in Early intervention with CVI and I want to make sure we are supporting them with the most up to date interventions.
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