The following sessions, listed in alphabetical order by title, have been planned for the upcoming AFB Leadership Conference to be held at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Virginia, on March 2-4, 2017. Please check in periodically as more topics will be added as the schedule is finalized.
AccessWorld Magazine Tech Summit and Showcase
Facilitator: Lee Huffman, AccessWorld, Editor and Manager, Technology Information, American Foundation for the Blind
Description: This all-day summit and showcase will feature usable, pertinent information about new accessibility developments in key technologies—from mobile communications and GPS, to advancements in vision research. It will also offer opportunities for attendees to ask burning and detailed questions of these companies’ experts, as well as other leading companies in the mainstream and access technology spaces.
Assistive Technology Assessment for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired
Presenter: Ike Presley, National Project Manager, American Foundation for the Blind
Description: Too often technology purchased for people who are blind or visually impaired that ends up not being used. There are many reasons why this might occur, but one of the most common reasons is that the technology is not the “right tool for the job” for that individual. Conducting a comprehensive assistive technology assessment is the first step in providing assistive technology that will allow people who are blind or visually impaired to accomplish educational, employment, and personal tasks. This session will present a framework and guide for conducting an assistive technology assessment.
Autism and Visual Impairment: Using a Collaborative Model to Develop Goals and Teaching Strategies through the Lifespan (Parts 1 and 2)
Presenters: Valerie Alvarez, Blindness Trainer Coordinator, Texas Workforce Commission, and Linda Hagood, Speech Language Pathologist, Washington State School for the Blind and NLCSD Doctoral Student, Portland State University
Description: The growing population of individuals with combined diagnoses of autism and visual impairment has presented new challenges for service providers. In this two-part presentation, strategies from the field of autism will be introduced, and adaptations for individuals with visual impairment will be demonstrated.
Part 1: Focus on Children
In Part 1, Linda Hagood will introduce the Better Together curriculum model, which blends methods from the fields of autism and visual impairment. Activities for teaching specific social-communication skills will be discussed and skills and strategies for dealing with common problems (e.g. prompt reliance, rigidity, echolalic speech, and restricted interests) will be demonstrated.
Part 2: Focus on Teens and Adults
Part 2, presented by Valerie Alvarez, will identify problems and solutions for adult job seekers and teenagers who are blind with a secondary impairment of autism. It will highlight the importance of affective strategies in rehabilitation to address common challenges for those job seekers such as self-advocacy, problem-solving and social interactions. The presentation will also facilitate a discussion about the importance of getting the autism diagnosis before they are adults.
Note: A question and answer session will be held the day after the presentation to focus on questions related to the Friday autism presentations and will provide video demonstrations and opportunities for hands-on practice in some of the activities and strategies introduced on Friday’s sessions.
Beyond Initial Placement: A Panel Discussion on Practical Tips for Guiding Adolescent and Adult Consumers to Develop a Career Path and Advance in Employment
Moderator: Shannon Carollo, M.Ed., TVI, O&M, AFB CareerConnect and FamilyConnect Content Creator
Panel: The panel will consist of individuals who are blind who have progressed beyond a first job, a VR counselor, a TVI, and a transition specialist
Description: A diverse panel of both consumers and service providers will discuss practical suggestions for directing consumers after the initial worksite placement. The panel will be asked questions about obstacles blind and visually impaired consumers face to maintain and advance in employment. Panelists will share their own advice on helping others navigate modern employment progression.
Building and Crossing the Bridge from Education to Vocational Rehabilitation Services
Presenter: Valerie Alvarez, Blindness Trainer Coordinator, Texas Workforce Commission
Description: This presentation is for those who are interested in knowing more about how to access rehabilitation services upon graduation from high school through the adult VR process. It will provide information about the variety of services, programs and opportunities that an agency can provide to job seekers who are blind. The presentation will also prepare customers to most effectively communicate with educators and rehabilitation providers in order to best prepare for transition from youth to adult VR.
A Culture of Accessibility in the Sciences: Teaching and Learning Science in the Context of Blindness and Visual Impairment
Presenter: Mahadeo A. Sukhai
Description: Taking one or more science courses is mandatory in high school and in postsecondary education. Formal science education is increasingly important in ensuring an appropriate level of scientific literacy in students. However, science education presents unique challenges to students who are blind or visually impaired, as well as to science teachers and educators of the visually impaired. Students face many barriers in acquiring a solid education in the sciences: these include, negative attitudes of educators and other professionals; lack of appropriate support in the classroom; and, lack of knowledge on the part of educators on how to appropriately instruct a student who is blind or has low vision. For the student, disclosure of their disability, advocacy around inclusive teaching and accommodation, and the stresses associated with potentially being a trailblazer in their school or course/program, pose significant challenges. On the other hand, the educator faces challenges in understanding how to teach effectively to the student who is blind or visually impaired, in parsing the essential requirements of the scientific concepts, course or program, and in communicating these requirements to the student in an appropriate manner. In this presentation, the panel will discuss both student and educator challenges in the context of science education, present potential solutions, and provide a bridging perspective to ensure that students and their teachers can better understand the efforts undertaken by the other in teaching and learning science in the context of blindness and visual impairment. Finally, the concepts of Universal Design and their application to the learning environment in the sciences, in the context of both secondary and post-secondary education will be highlighted.
Education Summit Part 1—The Role and Responsibilities of the TVI Today
Facilitators: Mark Richert, Director, Public Policy and Senior Advisor, Strategic Initiatives, and Rebecca Sheffield, Senior Policy Researcher, American Foundation for the Blind
Description: This seminar will explore answers to these critical questions:
- What are teachers of the visually impaired (TVIs)?
- Who are they currently serving?
- Who should they be serving?
- How should the students they serve be assessed?
- And when are services appropriately withheld?
Topics to be discussed include:
- What's in a name—are we teachers, consultants, related services personnel?
- How can we ensure consistent definition of what constitutes a TVI across the states?
- What does an appropriate learning media assessment look like?
- How can TVIs best meet the needs of specific populations, such as students with convergence disorder, blind and visually impaired students with autism, etc.?
The morning seminar will be segmented in three parts:
- Learning Media Assessments (LMAs), braille, low vision services, dual media, and appropriateness of services
- Services to specific populations: BVI & autism, convergence disorder, etc.
- Defining and describing the TVI
Working lunch: After participants get and eat their lunch for a bit, brief announcements/hot topic presentations of no more than 5 to 10 minutes each will be made as time permits.
Education Summit (Part 2)
Description: This three-hour session will allow participants to have input into the revision of national standards for teachers of students with visual impairments. Using the current specialty set of initial licensure standards from the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), participants will discuss the specific knowledge, skills, and expected rolls of TVIs today given the diversity of the populations to be served.
How Technology Can Enhance Spatial Cognition
Presenter: Christopher J. Tabb, M.A., COMS, Statewide Orientation and Mobility Consultant, Outreach Programs, Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Description: What can be done to prevent challenges with spatial cognition in the developmental process? What strategies can be used to nurture the development of skills for spatial cognition? Are there tools that can be used to facilitate greater awareness of one's current travel environment and other environments to make informed choices about where to travel? These are just a few of the questions that will be addressed in this session. We will consider what spatial cognition is, how to facilitate its development, as well as how to extend the natural abilities of spatial cognition by employing technology to provide new information resources that aid and enhance the cognitive processes involved. We will connect resources that are presently available as well as discuss technologies that are just on the cusp of development and will soon be in the hands of everyday travelers.
From Grassroots to Reality: How Can You Advocate for Legislation
Presenter: Andrew T. Mason, General Counsel, Maine Education Association
Description: In this session, the ways in which blindness rehabilitation professionals can impact legislation from the grassroots on through to the legislation becoming reality will be explored. How professionals can advocate for and directly play a role in the legislation impacting the field and ultimately its clients will also be discussed.
How to Recharge Your Battery, Improve Your Anatomy, and Perk Up Your Personality
Presenters: Susan M. Dalton, M.S.Ed., CVRT, Treasurer, AVRT (and MACRT) and Faculty Member, Northern Illinois University, and Helen Hahn, CVRT, Braille and Academic Instructor, Alphapointe, Kansas City, MO.
Description: Recreation activities are outlets to gain health benefits and provide satisfaction and pleasure for the participant. An essential part of human life, recreation comes in many different forms, shaped naturally by individual interests and the community. Discover how to incorporate recreational activities that result in relaxation and improved performance while learning new skills in the rehabilitation process.
Licensure: Why Passage Is More Important than Ever
Presenter: Grace Ambrose-Zaken, Ed.D., COMS, Hunter College of CUNY
Description: For twenty years, a coalition of advocates, consumers, providers and schools in New York have been working to pass legislation to license vision rehabilitation professionals. In 2005, the New York Vision Rehabilitation Association was formed with one of its goals to get New York State licensure for vision impairment specialists (VIS) with subspecialties in vision rehabilitation therapy (VRT) and orientation and mobility (O&M) specialists.
Both locally and nationally there is a strong push for redirecting federal funding from specialized vision rehabilitation agencies to generic disability organizations. Efforts to support "most integrated setting" legislation are sometimes used to try to eliminate specialized services for people with visual impairment. Medicare coverage is limited when it comes to funding services and devices that address the needs specific to the vision impairment.
There is pressure from the New York public schools to reduce and/or eliminate the O&M specialist from their list of covered providers. Neither O&M nor VRT is listed as a profession by either the Department of Health or Department of Education. Doctors do refer patients with vision loss to OTs for low vision rehabilitation because they are licensed. The policy of physician referral to VRTs and O&M specialists’ services is less clear because they are not licensed professions.
New York State needs licensure more than ever as government and private vision rehabilitation agencies and schools have job openings for VRT and O&M specialists that they cannot fill because not enough students are graduating with either degree.
This Q&A session will review the current status of the NY bill to license vision impairment specialist: VRTs and O&MSs and provide a rationale for VIS licensure in NYS.
May the Workforce Be with You: How WIOA Is impacting Vision Rehabilitation Therapy Services
Presenters: Ian Shadrick, M.A., CVRT, CRC, Program Manager, Transition and Children’s Services, Rehabilitation Services for the Blind of Missouri and Past President, AVRT; and Susan M. Dalton, Treasurer, AVRT (and MACRT) and Faculty Member, Northern Illinois University
Description: With the current talk about Workforce Investment Opportunity Act (WIOA) and final rules for the WIOA Act being implemented, this session will review the five required services and nine authorized services of the Act. Also learn how WIOA impacts vision rehabilitation therapy services, and how VRTs can enhance or expand services and service provision under WIOA.
Multi-Generational Workforce
Presenter: Lou Tutt, Executive Director, AER
Description: Today’s multi-generational workforce: the Matures or Silent Generation (born between 1932–1945); the Baby Boomers (born between 1946–1964); the Generation X (born between 1965—1981); the Millennials (born between 1981–2000); and the new Z Generation (born between 1993–2000), can be found employed in most occupations across the board. Just as employers are adapting their approach to accommodate this multi-generational workforce, so are those who provide services to different generations.
The Unique Role of The O&M Specialist in Working with Babies Birth to Three
Presenter: Marjorie Wood, M.Ed., COMS, Austin, TX
Description For the first two years of life, growth in all areas of development is rapid. Many things a sighted child learns just by watching will have to be actively taught to a child with a visual impairment. This session will focus on identifying some of the foundational skills that are necessary for motivating the child to move safely, securely, and independently within the environment; the role of the O&M Specialist; and how to advocate for services.
Preparing for Transition to Adult Life–It Begins Earlier than You Think!
Presenter: Mary C. Zatta, Ph.D., Director of Professional Development, Training and Educational Resources Program Perkins School for the Blind
Description: This workshop will emphasize the importance of planning for the future at an early age and how to incorporate this instruction within the school day. From the moment that a child begins school, teachers should be planning for the future and ensuring that all instruction is focused on providing students with knowledge and skills that will ensure that quality of life is a post-school outcome.
Using the Total Life Learning Curriculum, we will look at the specific skill areas that should be emphasized in elementary, middle and high school and explore how the curriculum aligns with the Expanded Core Curriculum will be looked at and the shift that occurs in high school as planning and preparation becomes more intensive will be discussed, specifically, the importance of engaging service providers and community members and strategies to facilitate engagement in the transition planning process.
Publish or Perish: How Our Profession Will Thrive
Presenter: Susan M. Dalton, M.S.Ed., CVRT, Treasurer, AVRT (and MACRT) and Faculty Member, Northern Illinois University
Description: What we do and the results that come from our interventions in vision rehabilitation need to be documented in order to validate our profession. Learn how you can take your everyday practices and put them into a professional article, what makes a good article, understand the peer review process and the steps to publication.
Rehabilitation through 1Touch Self-defense
Presenter: Stephen Nicholls, Director, 1Touch Project
Description: Few rehabilitation programs have been developed to address the areas of self-confidence, independence, feelings of safety and socialization for people who are blind or visually impaired. 1Touch aims to address these issues by providing an adapted self-defense curriculum. 1Touch research indicates positive trends in psychosocial aspects. The skills acquisition portion of the research shows a high level of retention of the material.
Rio Leadership Lessons Learned at the Paralympics
Presenter: Michael J. Bina, Ed.D., President, The Maryland School for the Blind
Description: Attending the 2016 Paralympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, provided a diverse and enriching culture in which to observe the world's best elite athletes and their families. Many significant insights were gained that have relevance and application for professionals in our field.
This session will focus on the role of the Paralympics—less as a venue to earn medals for an athlete's country—but more as an opportunity an athlete to change the world's perception of people with disabilities. The session will provide profiles of individual athletes who demonstrate that disability doesn’t mean inability and who, through their hard work and sacrifice, dispel harmful myths, break through the barriers of discrimination, prejudice and low expectations commonly assigned to people with disabilities in many pursuits, including employment.
In addition to providing "leadership lessons learned," the presentation will highlight visits to an adult rehabilitation center and a school for the blind in Brazil. Participants will have many relevant takeaways from this presentation. They will be exposed to thought-provoking observations questioning how our schools and agencies can better and more profoundly—one student and client at a time—change the world, that is, the general public's perception of people with disabilities.
Shedding Light on Cloud Computing
Presenter: Larry L. Lewis, Jr., President and Founder, Flying Blind, LLC
Description: This session identifies cloud computing and discusses its significance within educational and vocational settings. A variety of assistive technologies and strategies will be demonstrated to promote an inclusive approach to information management for students transitioning from high school to either a higher education setting or to the workplace.
Support Service Providers and Sign Language Interpreters: Facilitating Communication and Other Support Needs of People Who Are Deaf-Blind
Presenters: Deborah Harlin, Director IRPD, Helen Keller National Center
Description: The presenter will provide information regarding the role and availability of Support Service Providers (SSPs) and the support needs that the SSP can provide for deaf-blind people. The presenter will describe the different types of SSP support available, training needs and how to access SSPs. In contrast, the presenter will also provide information on sign language interpreters and how their role is different than an SSP, and how to access qualified certified interpreters.
Teaching History the Accessible Way: Exploring the Helen Keller Archive
Presenter: Helen Selsdon, Archivist, Helen Keller Archives, American Foundation for the Blind
Description: In 2005, the American Foundation for the Blind began an odyssey to make the Helen Keller Archive available to sighted, hearing, blind, deaf, and deafblind audiences worldwide through digitization and an accessible online interface. Join AFB and Hudson Archival digitization staff as they review the work that has taken place and demonstrate these free tools for teachers to build and share resource lists and curricula, and to teach students who are blind or visually impaired the joys and value of research using primary source materials.
Toddler Canes: An Innovation in Addressing the Mobility with Vision Impairment Needs of New Walkers with Congenital/Early Onset Visual Impairment
Presenter: Grace Ambrose-Zaken, Ed.D., COMS, Hunter College of CUNY
Description: The vulnerable population of early intervention/preschool learners with visual impairment needs a developmentally appropriate mobility with visual impairment (MVI) device to combat the effects of repeated ambulation without protection from MVI. MVI is a term used to describe the unique motor demands that result when visual impairment inhibits sufficient reaction distance and reaction time to obstacles (e.g., objects, changes in elevation and surface texture) in the path ahead. Constant exposure to MVI and its effects on balance, gait and locomotion results in impaired physical functioning.
TThe purpose of this session is to discuss MVI as an important new term of art, introduce the new device called a toddler cane and support curriculum, present the findings of the research on the toddler cane and supporting curriculum, and show videos demonstrating the difference in gait and active engagement in the environment by toddlers with MVI when wearing a toddler cane.
Transition Summit
Facilitators: Dael Cohen, Formerly Transition Services Coordinator, Overbrook School for the Blind; Neva Fairchild, National IL and Employment Specialist, American Foundation for the Blind; Lori Pulliam, Director of Transition, Washington State School for the Blind; and Alicia Wolfe, M.Ed., AFB Content Consultant and Teacher of the Visually Impaired
Description: During this all-day session participants will acquire more information about the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) from featured speaker, Tony Stephens, Director of Advocacy and Governmental Affairs of the American Council of the Blind. Participants will also have the opportunity to briefly share the unique and specific ways they are using WIOA funds to provide transition services to teens and young adults who are blind or visually impaired. Other scheduled guests will share their resources and innovative service delivery models for providing comprehensive transition services. Participants from community rehabilitation agencies, schools, state vocational rehabilitation agencies, universities, and other organizations are encouraged to participate as we all work together to implement WIOA across the nation.
Triangulation: Planning for Impactful O&M Services for School-Age Students with Visual Impairments and Additional Disabilities
Presenter: Diane L. Fazzi, Ph.D., COMS, certified orientation and mobility specialist, is Coordinator, Orientation and Mobility Specialist Training Program, Charter College of Education, California State University, Los Angeles.
Description: Participants will be encouraged to consider the Home-School-Community triangle for planning O&M lessons that will maximize outcomes for school-age students with visual impairments and additional disabilities. Case scenarios will be used to formulate plans and approaches for engaging families, school personnel and community experiences to promote inter-dependent travel for students with visual impairments and additional disabilities.
Transition to Work (Part 2)
Presenter: Alicia Dael Cohen, Formerly Transition Services Coordinator, Overbrook School for the Blind; Neva Fairchild, National IL and Employment Specialist, American Foundation for the Blind; Lori Pulliam, Director of Transition, Washington State School for the Blind; and Alicia Wolfe, M.Ed., AFB Content Consultant and Teacher of the Visually Impaired
Description: This is Part 2 of the all-day session in which participants will acquire more information about the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) from featured speaker, Tony Stephens, Director of Advocacy and Governmental Affairs of the American Council of the Blind. Participants will also have the opportunity to briefly share the unique and specific ways they are using WIOA funds to provide transition services to teens and young adults who are blind or visually impaired. Other scheduled guests will share their resources and innovative service delivery models for providing comprehensive transition services. Participants from community rehabilitation agencies, schools, state vocational rehabilitation agencies, universities, and other organizations are encouraged to participate as we all work together to implement WIOA across the nation.
Unveiling an Accessible Toolkit for Social Networking
Presenter: Larry L. Lewis, Jr., President and Founder, Flying Blind, LLC
Description: This session explores the phenomenon of social networking and identifies nonvisual obstacles that they present to the user who is visually impaired. Optimal strategies leveraging off respective assistive technologies on desktop and mobile platforms will be demonstrated to provide educators and rehabilitation professionals a blueprint for successful outcomes within educational and employment settings. Attention will also be given to consumers wishing to get the most out of their social networks using their preferred platform(s).
Visionary Leadership
Panel: Sharon Giovinazzo, President, World Services for the Blind; Virginia Jacko, President/CEO, Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired; Denise Jess, Wisconsin School for the Blind; Sylvia Perez, Executive Director, Lighthouse for the Visually Impaired and Blind; and Sharon Sacks, Superintendent, California School for the Blind
Description: This panel of strong leaders, who just happen to be blind and female, will tell you about their paths to leadership, the highlights and pitfalls of leadership, and how to prepare if you too would like to lead a department, organization, or your own business.
VRT Research: Preserving the Profession
Presenters: Elyse Connors, Ph.D, CVRT, COMS, Assistant Professor, Blindness and Low Vision Department, Western Michigan University; Dr. Helen Lee, Ed.D, CVRT, COMS, Associate Professor. Department of Blindness and Low Vision Studies, Western Michigan University; Jennifer Ottowitz, Ms.Ed., CVRT, Instructor, Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired; and Lachelle Smith, CVRT, Program Director and Assistant Professor, Vision Rehabilitation Therapy Program, Salus University.
Description: Have you ever Googled “teaching a VRT skill” and come up with zero or only a few hits? Our field has desperate need for research specific to VRT content areas. Lack of literature in our discipline has contributed to the lack of visibility and knowledge of our specialty to other health care practitioners, third-party insurers and to the general public. Have you ever been intimidated about what you could do to get involved? This session discusses how every VRT can contribute.
When Is Self-Employment an Option?
Presenter: Colleen Wunderlich, Director, Forsythe Center for Employment and Entrepreneurship, Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually impaired
Description: As the nation’s unemployment rate remains unchanged since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), self-employment is increasingly becoming a path to economic self-sufficiency for people with disabilities. However, it is a path for some, and not for all. In this presentation, Colleen Wunderlich will share what she observes from her colleagues and students who are entrepreneurs about what factors contribute to success. You will discover the common characteristics in people who succeed in self-employment; the resources and support that help sustain a person who is self-employed; and how to realize if and when it is time to find employment in the workplace.
Working with Babies (Birth to 3) with CVI-Cerebral/Cortical Visual Impairment: A Session for All Professionals Working with Babies with CVI
Presenter: Anne V. McComiskey, M.Ed., TVI and Retired Founder/Director, BEGIN Early Intervention Program, Atlanta, GA.
Description: The diagnosis of cerebral/cortical visual impairment (CVI) is confusing, especially for parents of babies and toddlers. Often parents and professionals working with the family don’t understand that there are appropriate, effective and time-specific methods that can enhance the vision and development of a baby with CVI until months or years after the diagnosis.
This presentation will review information about CVI and its impact on babies and their parents, offer thoughts about working with parents of babies with CVI and suggest interventions to support babies’ visual and developmental growth.
Topics on Aging
Cultural and Linguistic Competence in Serving Older Individuals with Vision Loss
Presenter: Suzanne M. Bronheim, Ph.D, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Developmen
Description: This session will discuss considerations in serving older individual with vision loss from culturally and linguistically diverse groups, including how culture affects perception of disability, independence and accepting help. Participants will learn how cultural and linguistic competence plays out in their roles as service providers and how the organizations that employ them need to support cultural and linguistic competence with policies, structures and resources.
Elder Abuse—What It Is, How to Identify and What You Should Do
Presenter: Andrew Capehart, Assistant Director, National Adult Protective Services Association
Description: This presentation will cover how elder abuse is defined, warning signs of elder abuse, and your responsibilities as a provider, and resources that can help.
Managing Your Caseload While Staying Sane and Focused
Panel: Polly Abbott, CVRT, OMS, Director of Rehabilitation Services, Second Sense; Kendra Farrow, Research and Training Associate, National Research and Training Center, Mississippi State University; and Tandra Hunter-Payne, M.Ed, CPhT, Program Manager, Office for Blindness and Vision Services, Maryland State Department of Education, Division of Rehabilitation Services
Description: This presentation will cover recommendations on managing caseloads and encourage a dialogue among participants on dealing effectively with waiting lists, prioritizing services, determining when it is time to close a case.
Recognizing and Appropriately Responding to Medical Issues Your Older Consumer Might Encounter
Presenter: Audrey Demmitt, VisionAware Peer Advisor and R.N.
Description: This presentation will cover recognizing medical emergencies and identifying medical conditions occurring with older consumers. Examples of topics to be covered include stroke and heart attack, blood glucose levels, cognitive issues, adverse drug reactions, and urinary tract infections.
Strategies for Collaborating Effectively with the Aging Network—What's Working in Massachusetts
Presenters: Mary Kay Browne, Director of Special Projects, Massachusetts Association of Councils on Aging, and Karen Hatcher, Director,BRIDGE Program, Massachusetts Commission for the Blind
Description: This panel will include presenters from the Aging Network and from the vision rehabilitation field discussing how the two “systems” can work together effectively to meet the needs of older persons with vision loss.
