PaTTAN BVI Newsletter

New for 2022: APH has shifted to after-school hours and Saturdays. This means more opportunities for students to catch live classes. APH has a range of classes focused on ECC areas taught by awesome professionals. You don't want to miss these classes!!

• Singing 101 - January 19th, 2022, 5:00 -6:00 PM
  
• Deductive Detective Skills – Solve the Mystery - January 29, 2022, 12:00 – 1:00 PM

"Mastercard announced a new design that helps sight-impaired people orient their bank card and quickly determine whether they are using a credit card, a debit card, or a prepaid card, all thanks to one simple design element. The so-called Touch Cards feature one of three different notches on the shorter end of the card: a round indentation for credit cards, a square indentation for debit cards, and a triangular indentation for prepaid cards. It may look inconsequential, but it marks an important step in the company’s quest for inclusivity." Read more in this article.

Desmos' mission is to help every student learn math and love learning math. The software has been written to conform to the WCAG 2.1 accessibility guidelines. Examples include a robust set of keyboard shortcuts in our calculators and classroom activities, respecting font-size settings of low vision users, ensuring that our colors have sufficient contrast, providing screen reader and Braille access to our equation editor, and making graphs accessible to fully blind students via audio and tactile output. Visit their accessibility page to learn more.

A family support group offered in partnership between APH and the Chicago Lighthouse’s Virtual Parent Support Group. Ongoing meeting - Registration

• CVI Scotland: Functional Vision Assessment and Beyond: An Overview of Key Steps for Teachers in the Educational Assessment of Students With CVI by Amanda Lueck, Ph.D.
• CVI Self-Paced Short Course

Instructions were sent to Pennsylvania service providers with additional information on how to register their eligible students. All information must be updated prior to February 28, 2022. If you have questions about the Federal Quota Registration, please contact Julie Breneman, at julie@pattan.net or 717-901-2238.

The Spring Session of STRIVE ON will run from February 3 to 21, 2022; 5-7 pm. Registration applications were due January 3, 2022. The Spring Session topics will focus on Employability skills in the areas of:

• Assistive Technology

• Personal Management/Independence o Employable Skill Sets

• Employable Skill Sets

Future 9th through 12th-grade students (2022-23 school year) who are interested in participating in future STRIVE ON programs should consider signing up with BBVS, if they are not currently a member.

Registration is open for many of these summer opportunities.

• Helen Diller
• Pennsylvania Camp Abilities
• Delaware Camp Abilities
• Beacon Lodge,
  
• VisionCorps: Camp Cool, Abe’s House, and Vision Outfitters
• And more!
  

*We recommend that you encourage families to follow up with these organizations to see if they are still holding camps with COVID.

For students who have low vision, various interventions have the potential to maximize the use of functional vision, which varies from student to student. Specifically, these strategies can maximize clarity, optimize the field of view, maximize color and contrast, optimize lighting, minimize glare, and enhance visual efficiency, visual comfort, and visual confidence. This booklet explains the general process for matching students with appropriate low vision interventions within a functional setting. Access the publication on the PaTTAN website. The digital version is a fillable form.

This discussion will focus on teaching practices for learners who are visually impaired and working on self-determination and/or self-advocacy skills.

• High School Learners: Wednesday, February 09, 2022; 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM -

• Post-Secondary: March 30, 2022; 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Available for ACt 48 and ACVREP Credit. Register through the PaTTAN Training Calendar.

Sixteen of the HELIX sessions will be revisited this April through an asynchronous Schoology course, including:

• Assistive Technology Feature Matching Overview for Students with Visual Impairments (Kirk Behnke)
  
• Assistive Technology Feature Matching for Students with Visual Impairments Workshop (Kirk Behnke)
  

The Annual Penn-Del AER Conference will run from April 27-29, 2022. The annual conference will also be offered in a hybrid format. As more details become available, they will be posted on the Penn-Del Annual Conference website.

The American Printing House for the Blind (APH) Hive offers a variety of free online courses for vision professionals and educators to increase their ability to respond to the needs of students with visual impairments. This “one-stop” for professional development offers ACVREP continuing education units upon successful completion of a course.

The APH ConnectCenter includes FamilyConnect, CareerConnect, and VisionAware – a hub of websites that offer curated advice and resources to assist children, parents, adults, job seekers who are blind or visually impaired, and their associated professionals, leading to greater independence and success in their lives.

APH is also hosting many live events, including a focus on transition. Visit the APH Connect Event page to register for live online learning opportunities and earn ACVREP credits.

AER continues with synchronous and asynchronous learning opportunities, with a discount if you are an AER member. AER is releasing has a slew of exciting upcoming live opportunities , which can be viewed on their events page. They also created an extensive library of recorded courses, presented by experts in the field. Complete your continuing education from anywhere: home, work, even at the park! Every webinar on this site is approved for ACVREP credits and will provide a certificate upon completion.

Perkins School for the Blind has a number of offerings for those working with students with visual impairments to increase their knowledge and skills. Visit the following sites to learn more:

• Perkins eLearning - Professional Development
• Accessible Science
• Paths to Literacy
• Paths to Transition
• Paths to Technology

Hadley offers a variety of free online learning opportunities in the following categories:

• Daily Living
• Recreation
• Braille
• Adjusting to vision loss
• Technology
• Vision loss

*Sign-up/log-in to get access to the entire training.

We encourage all supervisors and professionals in the field of visual impairment to sign up for access to our drives. We will be posting recorded presentations, resources and much more! Sign up today! Select your group below to request access.

• Supervisor Access Request Form
• Professional Access Request Form