Laura McGookin
Northern VA, TVI for students prek - high school. I have students learning braille, functional life skills and students using assistive tech at all levels. Looking to build my skills for my students with CVI.
Lauren - I think that is a problem everywhere. I went from working directly for a school district to being a contractor - I am now mostly on my own for professional development. But even when I worked for a school district, I had to look for opportunities specific to VI as the district was more about general ed. It is great that so much is online - I have found the Hive to be particularly good!
Katherine - these are great questions. I don’t know nearly enough about FVA’s for students who have CVI. My bet is most TVI’s would say that. I am hoping we get some good resources for this through this course!!!
Hi Serena,
Nice to see a fellow administrator here! I am the Principal at St. Joseph’s School for the Blind in NJ.
Thank you Rebecca! I am looking forward to it.
Thank you Rebecca! Yes- I agree with doctors having a better understanding!
Hi, I provide services for students in K-12. I have served students also learning braille and that are MU. Nice meeting you. I hope to visit New York this summer!
Alison Hampson, Burlington, Vermont, Itinerant TVI. I support students and their families and school teams in the northwest part of the state, traveling to 7 different districts (as of now about 11 schools) and work with ages birth to 22 (or when they get their high school diploma). My caseload includes several “officially” diagnosed with CVI plus a few who present with it. My students range from academic to those with significantly complex diagnoses.
I am looking forward to learning new things about how we can best support (and identify) CVI for our students. It is always exciting to come together with those who share a passion - it is going to be fun!
Hi Lynn! That is a lot of students that you serve! I am just starting to learn about CVI students and I am always looking for classes and workshops as you. Nice meeting you!
Absolutely!! I had it cushy, professional development-wise, at the school for the blind. So grateful for this platform + all the resources out there!
I am always looking for new ways to teach my students with multiple impairments and CVI. Most of my students have O&M.
Hi Lacy-- I attended NRAER with some North Dakotians (I winged it with that, ha!) a few years back-- you all have a school for the blind, is that correct? Your job sounds…BIG-- that’s a lot of titles!
I am so grateful for my time at TSBVI-- the mentorship and support I received was unbelievable & shaped who I am as a teacher. I travel monthly for 4 days, but in my “main” district the most I travel is 50 miles in a day (excluding my commute), which usually feels manageable.
I’m so curious about the similarities/ differences with your experience/ the educational structure in Canada. Do you dedicate a day(s) to each city? I ask that knowing it’s rarely that simple, ha!
My name is Sondra Reece. I am a TVI in Barren County, Kentucky. I serve a diverse range of students in our area with various visual impairments, including CVI. I hope to learn new strategies that will enhance my services for students with CVI, in addition to increasing my knowledge of updated assessments that are available and new research that has surfaced over the last few years.
Typically I drive about 50/day (excluding commute), but I travel 4 days/month (sometimes more if an eval is needed and I can swing it).
As far as a braillist-- sadly, no! But at this time, I’m extremely lucky to have a school team that is dedicated to learning braille alongside their student and have a para who attends our weekly team meetings and now does an EXCELLENT job of creating accessible materials. My other braille students are dual medial learners (under the age of 5) and are in the same town I live in, so I’m able to be in their classes 4x/week and provide in home support and biweekly team trainings.
This year, myself and another TVI contractor decided to share about 6 students who live in a town 6 hours away from each of us-- this has been a game changer; it allows to alternate travel months to the district that requires the most time on the road. What’s really great is I never feel out of touch with these districts because the amount of time we spend communicating. We collaborate on FVE/LMA/ECC + CVI protocols. We develop IEPs together and provide team support together. But we can also help each other out when someone is sick or cannot attend an IEP meeting. We send (so many!) voice memos back and forth after we travel to see our shared students and bounce ideas off of each other. It’s been amazing. Having the ability to learn from each other has been invaluable and has decreased some of the intensity of our travel. For our shared braille student, we take turns transcribing and interlining braille materials and ship them out-- another huge support.
On average, I travel approximately 50 miles per day. While I am currently assigned to one school district, I have previously served two or even three districts simultaneously. In those instances, I typically dedicated one specific day each week to travel outside my home district. When a student needs greater flexibility, I occasionally split that day into two half-days to better accommodate individual schedules.
Scheduling can often be a significant challenge, particularly when coordinating across multiple schools or districts. However, I’ve found that when administrators and school staff are supportive and collaborative, it becomes much easier to effectively meet the needs of students. Strong communication and flexibility on all sides are key factors in creating a workable and responsive schedule.
Hi! Massive change for sure!
No matter the amount of travel, I think working at multiple schools makes it hard to feel tuned in to what’s going on. I really struggled with (and can still struggle with) feeling disconnected from schools when I’m not there. I think the school teachers feel that way, too. Now I keep my schedule posted on my door so people know when they can find me (though, sometimes I have to update the schedule weekly because of new students/ meetings). I also try to pop in and just say hi to my student or to the teacher when I’m at their school, even if I’m not scheduled to work with them that day-- 9/10 times, the teacher has some sort of a question for me; honestly, I think this has made the biggest difference. As of last year I started telling teachers at the start of the year to pleeeaaassseee let me know if they need support with something or have a concern they feel like I’m unaware of (I put it in writing on a little intro paper)-- I’m just not there all the time and may unintentionally miss it, which has led to teacher frustration-- it seems obvious, but it’s really helped manage their expectations of what I’m reasonably able to accomplish.
Scheduling monthly meetings with teams also was a game changer!!
Biggest things I learned at the school for the blind: Behavior support, INDIVIDUALIZED CALENDAR SYSTEMS, paraprofessional/ team training, creating meaningful/ student-focused activities, and the importance of family collaboration. I will say that I left TSBVI with skill deficits because of the nature of being at a residential school for the blind, but I think that can be the case any time you have a very specific focus within a field-- not necessarily a bad thing, I just had a BIG learning curve when I switched to itinerant teaching/ being a contractor.
What works for you with supporting teams when you’re not around? Always looking for more ideas!
Hello, I’m Wendy Bailey, and I’m from Princeton, West Virginia. I am a Statewide Outreach Specialist for the West Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind. I have over 10 years in the field. I currently provide support to all 55 counties in WV. Most of that support involves FVA/LMA supports, CVI assessment supports, teacher trainings, and, at times, direct services to students. I find that a lot of times, TVIs are sometimes not as comfortable conducting CVI assessments as they are with the FVA and LMA, I hope to be able to take some of the information from this course and share with the TVIs across my state and provide them with some resources and strategies they can use with their students.
While I serve only one district, the student population I work with is diverse, ranging in age from 3 to 21 and presenting with a wide variety of disabilities. In recent years, I’ve seen a noticeable increase in the number of students with Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI), which has required continued adaptation in both assessment and intervention strategies.
Staying current with new research, best practices, and resources for students with complex needs—especially those with CVI—can be challenging. So glad we have this opportunity to learn from others during this summer.
Hi! I’m Kim Litscher and have been a TVI for over 25 years. Most of my experience is with children ages 0-3 and a handful through age 6. CVI has been my area of interest for most of my career. I took a short break to stay home with my now 5 year old and feel so much has changed in 5 years so I’m looking forward to learning more! I’m in Kansas and have served both Kansas and Missouri.