Nice to meet you Danielle! I am also always looking to add new tools to the toolbox!
Hi Samia, I am also in VA! I also love the creativity I get to have with elementary kids, I love making things, but I have also had a lot of fun with my middle school students this school year. Sometimes I like the higher level lessons and challenges I can do with them.
Hello. I’m Chris Cooke, a Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist working with adult learners at our state agency for the blind in Oregon. I teach Braille and technology, including smart phones and Mac. I have a Monarch through the RISE project and am thoroughly excited about tactile graphics and their use. I am most excited to learn how to support adult learners to better understand and benefit from tactile graphics. Those students experiencing difficulty with spatial concepts are my favorite learners.
Hi, Tabatha. this is Chris from Oregon. I am a lifelong Braille reader with no usable vision. I absolutely love Braille to the end of the earth and equally love tactile graphics. I teach adult learners in-person (with some remote lessons) and would like to integrate graphics more into my work. Encouraging new Braille readers is a pleasure. I am also finding navigating this forum with Jaws overwhelming, even though I was on it a lot last summer. Hang in there!
Hi there! I know a TVI outside of Nashville, we did COMS together! She’s the BEES KNEES! Molly? Do you know her?
Happy to be with you here to learn!!
Hello adult educator! I’m here with you! Glad to have you here as my peer and as a representative for some of the community we serve!
I have found that using google notes, keeps a running note on each student after their session. Teachers work days have became my days to catch up on paperwork, since my schedule lives me with very little if any down time. ChatGPT has also help with writing reports without using the student names, just a letter to identify each student. I try not to use him/her either when talking about a student. It has definitely been a great resource to help organize all my testing data and teacher/parent inputs throughout the year. Google notes allows me to quickly record notes after sessions about a student, their progress or not, and what I may need to change before the next session.
We have some blind students, and one deaf blind student. Our division has a part of hearing program as well as the vision program. The deafblind students attend the hearing program and receive itinerant. support from the vision program.
Hello, I am Paula Holmberg, an itinerant TVI in Southern California. I serve vision impaired students from birth until graduation or aging out of service. The students maybe solely blind or vision impaired, or may have multiple disabilities including deaf-blind, multi-disabled, ocular and or cortical vision impairment. I am looking forward for new strategies for braille instruction.
1 Like
Hello everyone. I am getting a really late start because this summer has been crazy.
Kelly Wakefield
TVI and soon to be CATIS
Northern IL
I work with students pre-k through transition
I am excited to learn from everyone who has been doing this a lot longer than me and the people overseas. New strategies in braille instruction are definitely something I am looking for.
2 Likes
Hi Emily! I would love to hear about your experiences with BLV students in Ireland!
I also use google but I use google forms for hard data collection and Noteability for running records after each student.
I would like to know more about how Allegheny County is providing VI services. My VI department has undergone major changes in how we provide braille, large print and adapted materials recently. Many of our multi-impaired students are offered textured adapted and auditory materials, since neither print nor braille are reasonably effective. Does your program serve many severely multi-disabled?
Hello Lynda, I was recently introduced to Chat GPT as a way to create materials and I didn’t know Google had a Notes app.. I would love to know more about how you are using them to handle session data, testing data… I have used iPhone Notes to my frustration, voice input frequently turns into erroneous text.
Yay for another CATIS!
Hello my name is Ann Bailey. I am currently a life skills teacher for grades 4-6 in Brookline, NH. I have 6 students with differing abilities including 2 with down syndrome and 4 with autism. One of my students has CVI and when he came to me last summer he had no programs or interventions in place. I am most excited to learn about the methods used to instruct this student to help him reach his full potential as he is very clever!
Hi Samia-I apologize for my late response. School got our late and I am already preparing for ESY. I had a student with CVI and significant hearing loss placed in my my life skills program last summer. The student arrived with a box containing 2 knob puzzles, some toy cars, and a few pillows. He also had a binder with the icon “My Way” on it. He had been introduced to “My Way” due to him engaging in self-injurious behaviors. A TVI had been assigned to work with him and my first comment to her was-" I am pretty sure he is very capable-how do we teach him? The TVI is very collaborative and we worked together to lay the groundwork for his instruction. Fast forward-I could carry on for hours as to the progress this student has made-but I felt he needed more. I am so pleased to be part of this cohort so I can continue to teach this student in a way that is so critical to an individual with his learning style.
Hi Libby. I currently have a student who has multiple diagnoses with the primary one being autism as well as CVI and significant hearing loss. I quickly realized as an autism specialist a lot of the techniques were not appropriate to enhance this students learning. He had a high rate of self injurious behaviors when he came to me along with the program My Way which he used constantly to get out of work. In connecting with the TVI and ordering materials from APH I have been learning how to make his programs more enjoyable via tactile and different graphics.
I’m also getting a late start but glad to be here.
Name: Stephanie Davis
Professional Role: Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI), Certified Orientation & Mobility Specialist (COMS), and Vision Rehabilitation Therapist (VRT)
Location: Pennsylvania
A brief description of the students you serve: I work with students from preschool through transition age with a variety of visual impairments and additional disabilities, supporting access to learning and independence.
What are you excited to learn this summer? I’ve taught tactile readiness skills before, but I’m always looking for new perspectives and practical strategies to expand and improve my instruction, especially as it relates to tactile literacy beyond braille.
Hi Lacey! You wear so many different hats! I love and appreciate the perspective of someone who teaches and works with students who are deafblind or have multiple disabilities because it makes me rethink certain concepts in terms of accessibility and communication especially.