escWorks

NOTICE: TSBVI will be taking photography and/or video recordings at this event. By registering you are giving consent to appear in any media TSBVI captures. If you do not consent to being in media, please contact us and we will work with you to make your media release status known to those capturing media.

You have the option of paying by check, purchase order, or credit card. Cash will not be accepted. Credit card payments will only be accepted online at the time of registration. Payment may be made in advance, paid on location, or received within 30 days of the event date. Instructions regarding where to send payment will be provided in your invoice/confirmation. If you are unable to supply a check or a PO number at the time of your registration, then simply enter "0000" and provide the number to us at a later time.

How to Increase Physical Activity with the ECC, Universal Design for Learning, Pre-teaching, training paraeducators, and promoting self-advocacy.

Objectives:
Participants will learn a variety of instructional techniques to increase the students engagement and understanding of sports and recreation. Participants will learn about a variety of resources to help them include their students in physical activity, recreation, and sports.

How to Increase Physical Activity with the ECC, Universal Design for Learning, Pre-teaching, training paraeducators, and promoting self-advocacy.

Objectives:
Participants will learn a variety of instructional techniques to increase the students engagement and understanding of sports and recreation. Participants will learn about a variety of resources to help them include their students in physical activity, recreation, and sports.

Participants will learn about how to teach fundamental motor skills, aquatics, sports and recreation to students with multiple disabilities.

Objectives:
Participants will learn how to teach basic fundamental skills, aquatics, sports and recreation to their students with multiple disabilities. Participants will get a variety of resources such as books, videos, tip sheets, and web sites to help them plan and assess their students.

This session is designed to give participants insight for working with low vision students who have the potential to drive but may not always get picked up for orientation and mobility services. Pre-requisite skills needed to drive, including, but not limited to, street crossings, scanning and traffic patterns will be discussed as well. Have you considered what happens to these students if they choose not to drive or do not meet the qualifications to drive? What about travel when driving is restricted?

Objectives:
Identify areas that you, as a COMS, are already doing to prepare students for pre-driver readiness. Identify three examples of how to empower families to support their children in this goal. Identify ways to use of the Pre-Driver Readiness Checklist to assist in skill development.

This session provides a blueprint for harnessing the functionality of assistive and mainstream technologies to excite and empower students who are blind and vision impaired. Participants will gain an understanding as to the non-negotiable O&M skills that students must master independent of technology in order to benefit from the countless opportunities that technology provides to them to be independent travelers. Attention will be given to practical examples as to how developing exceptional O&M skills while mastering various technologies can “normalize” the process of independently navigating and thriving within one’s community.

Objectives:
Learn strategies for combining O&M skills with technology usage to safely, independently, and efficiently engage within one’s community. Identify mainstream technology components that complement the vision impaired traveler's O&M efforts.

This session takes inventory of the various educational, vocational, and social tasks necessary for students who are blind and visually impaired to transition into adulthood. With the advent of mainstream technologies, assistive technologies, and accessibility best practices, attention will be given to the relationship of technology serving as a catalyst for independent and efficient task completion for students wishing to live an independent, successful, and fulfilled life. This presentation explores the possibilities for students to embrace higher education pursuits, set meaningful vocational goals, and seamlessly integrate into their communities by affectively using a combination of mainstream and assistive technologies across desktop and mobile platforms.

In this general session, information will be covered pertaining to how educators and professionals can best communicate and collaborate to increase success in students with vision loss and complex needs. A multiple lens approach will be used to discuss educational overlap to address student needs while using the expertise of multiple educators.

Objectives:
Attendees will be able to identify strategies to increase communication and collaboration with other educational service providers.

In this session you will learn how to make tactile maps that you can leave with a student. To keep! Forever! They are sturdy, permanent, and require inexpensive materials to make. Using this technique, you can create tactile maps for small layouts like a route to a class or a large layout like an entire neighborhood. I will pass on my craft technique for making tactile maps, which are resistant to flattening by sweaty or heavy hands, out of foam board, self-stick materials, and tactile media.

Objectives:
Learn about the readily available materials and prepare some materials for use. Discuss uses for the technique, the limitations and brainstorm a tactile map you could make right away. Make and take a tactile map that you can start using with a student.

Scott Meyer will facilitate this panel where blind and low vision adults share recreational activities they do. Other staff from CCRC will share recreation examples of their students and friends who are blind and/or low vision. Panel presenters include: Scott Meyer; Winford Haynes; Drew Bernet; Valarie Alvarez Tish Martinez; Cody Hatfield; Helena Roberts; Julie Brown; Alison Behringer. We will mention the many recreational activities we have done. Make sure the audience understands it is just about overcoming the fear of trying and anything is possible…No Limits. Allowing as much time as possible for Q&A.

Objectives:
Participants will understand that if Blind and low vision adults can overcome the fear and uncertainty of "will I have fun" they can do it! Participants will have ample time to ask a wide range of questions.

Teaching orientation and mobility (O&M) to students or adults with multiple disabilities or other unique learning needs are often overlooked because the assumption that the student will not be an independent traveler. Orientation and mobility is more than independently crossing a street or finding a location. Let us "Think Outside the Box” and provide the necessary instruction to help that student or adult attain independent travel to their skill level. Let us come together to share, collaborate, and discuss ways to best serve all our students or adult clients.

Objectives:
Understand that students or adults with unique disabilities have the right to achieve their independence in O&M to the best of their abilities. Know how to facilitate this growth and encourage the student/adult to achieve their level of independence. Have Fun! while we brainstorm ideas to put in out toolbox.

We all realize the importance of having parents as partners in supporting the growth and development of O&M skills for their children from birth to 22. This session will take a look at the components that we, as COMS, can incorporate early on and continue throughout a student's school years for building and maintaining that strong partnership throughout a child's school years./ for supporting and encouraging growth in O&M skills throughout a child's school years

Objectives:
Participants will identify and use one new skill for enhancing better communication with families. Participants will identify one method of supporting parents/families in their ability to encourage/incorporate O&M skills with their child.

Blindfold practice is open to anyone who wishes to participate. You need to bring your own cane and blindfold. Orientation and Mobility Specialists will facilitate this opportunity for you to get hours practicing under blindfold.

Gain information and hands-on experience with the Stellar Trek, AI-powered GPS/OCR assistant.

We will start with a live Demo and testimonial to introduce the whole group to biped, then we will ask attendees to download the biped app and do the onboarding so that they learn the different sounds produced by the device to identify obstacles in 3D space. Finally, we are going to split the group in 2 or 3 smaller groups to test the device in different scenarios (outdoors, indoors, stairs, etc), for every subgroup one person will be wearing the device while the rest will be using the O&M companion feature in the app to monitor the device activity and provide better guidance to the blind folded user.

Objectives:
Learn how AI vision models could be applied to improve blind mobility. Learn how to use biped in different scenarios (outdoor and indoor navigation, obstacle avoidance, last mile assistance, etc).

Be ready to get up and learn some movement strategies to address additional sensory needs of students with vision loss. Strategies will be shared to analyze and address students with additional needs such as deafblindness, behavior, autism tendencies, and/or communication difficulties through the use of movement. In addition, strategies will be shared on how to best assist students within physical education class and the use of movement breaks to increase appropriate behavior and sensory regulation for students with vision loss.

Objectives:
Attendees will examine observational strategies to learn what body movement may mean when displayed by students. Attendees will be able to apply strategies to assist students with vision loss and additional needs within physical education class. Attendees will identify movement opportunities to increase sensory regulation for students with vision loss and additional needs.

Having support is crucial to the growth of independent travels skills. Participants will learn about a model being used to upskill supporters of high school aged students. Experienced based approaches, observations, and other lessons learned will be shared so that we can apply approaches with other students/clients and their supporters.

Objectives:
Participants will learn about a model being used to upskill supporters of high school aged students. Participants will learn about important questions to ask when researching guide dog organizations. Participants will identify program opportunities for teens to support independent travel goals.

Panelists share their diverse perspective on the sport of para-blind fencing and how it compliments O&M travel skills. Both of these activities focus on body position, balance, gait, spatial awareness, confidence in haptic senses, and more. Panelists will discuss these factors, limited research in the field, and the work taking place in Texas to bring a resurgence of para-blind fencing in the United States. The session will also include a live para-blind fencing demonstration.

Objectives:
Participants will name at least three ways that para-blind fencing can benefit cane travelers. Participants will name at least three ways that para-blind fencing can benefit cane travelers.

We are leading the development of a new multisensory O&M tool designed to better assess the functional abilities of people with a vision impairment in real-world environments. This tool is being trialed in Australia for use by O&M specialists in general practice as well as in clinical research.

New and exciting medical treatments and innovative technology (e.g., gene therapies and the bionic eye) are currently being researched by our teams in Australia. However, proving the efficacy of interventions increasingly involves demonstrating the real-world impacts on the functional abilities of people living with vision impairment.

There is currently no validated functional assessment tool that adequately captures the complex interplay of visual and non-visual sensory inputs used by people with a vision impairment to complete daily tasks. Nor a tool that can track progress over time, or measure the succes

O&M Specialists often work with the same students for many years and develop a trusting relationship with the students and the families. This relationship offers a unique, personal knowledge of the student that helps plan and support the transition process. The transition from school to adulthood is at the forefront of what an O&M Specialist does with their students regularly. This presentation will provide resources, specific strategies, and practical examples in how O&M intersects with areas of transition.

Objectives:
Attendees will identify at least 3 areas in which transition and O&M intersect. Attendees will identify areas where they can collaborate with other team members (TVI, transition staff, TWC, and families) in the area of transition. Attendees will learn how to use community-based instruction to expose students to career opportunities.

This presentation will illustrate O&M approaches for working with the Birth-3 population, including children who are visually impaired and have multiple impairments. It will highlight how our diverse and vastly rural state of New Mexico has approached providing O&M services to Birth-3 population. We will review the tools we use for evaluations and assessments, show how we provide services to our children in rural areas, and how we support the transition process to Part B.

Objectives:
Overview of how our diverse population of students receive O&M services. Present on the types of adaptive mobility devices we make and design to meet the needs of each child. Discuss how we coach our families on how O&M can be fun and how beneficial the skills can be for their child.

Come here one blind teachers unique story of losing her first guide dog and the overnight sudden transition from guide dog user to cane user and how a horse is helping her heal. Learn the differences between a guide dog and a cane from a real life perspective and a different perspective of having to change literally overnight

Objectives:
Learn the differences between a guide dog and a cane from a real life perspective and a different perspective of having to change literally overnight. Learn how a horse is helping her find hope and heal.

Join us for an engaging round table discussion tailored for O&M specialists, focusing on navigating the complexities of the field. Whether you're a seasoned professional or a newcomer, this session is designed to address your concerns, share effective strategies, and provide valuable insight into working with schools, whether contracting or as an employee.

Objectives:
Explore practical techniques and best practices for guiding individuals with visual impairments safely and effectively through various environments. If you're in the early stages of your career, discover valuable tips and resources to help you navigate challenges and establish yourself as a confident O&M specialist. Gain an overview of the educational landscape and learn how to effectively collaborate with teachers, administrators, and other professionals to support students with visual impairments in their academic journey

This session will discuss the need for school districts, ESC's and community organizations to partner in working with students who are beginning their transition journey into the workforce or college and their communities. This session will help schools and community partner organizations create a plan for finding the gaps where the schools are not able to cover and where the community organizations have difficulty covering. Once those areas are identified, participants will gain an understanding of how to partner with and develop a close working relationship to local organizations that will help develop creative ways to fill in the gaps. This information is gathered from the unique partnership that has developed between Lighthouse for the Blind of Fort Worth and ESC Region 11.

Learn about the new workload analysis tool, the VISSPA, a companion to the VISSIT and O&M VISSIT, to account for all those "other" duties that TSVIs and COMS do as part of their itinerant work week. Findings from recent validation studies on the tool will also be shared.

Objectives:
Participants will be able to describe the development of the new scale, the Visual Impairment Scale of Staffing Pattern Analysis (VISSPA) and implement how it can be used by itinerant vision professionals through a demonstration with a case study scenario of a vision professional's workload. Participants will have a new tool to be able to analyze their own workload through the use of the VISSPA. Participants will be able to describe the results of the validation studies conducted on the VISSPA.

While many students may spend time outdoors when attending specific events (such as camps and adventure weekends), multiple barriers may keep them from accessing nature in their own communities. In this session, attendees will gain knowledge for promoting their students’ access to nature for a lifetime of engagement. Participants will learn about the benefits of outdoor activity from a recreation and leisure standpoint, as well as the ways that time in nature supports well-being. Attendees will discuss barriers to individual engagement in nature, while exploring adaptations and potential solutions. Participants will walk away with ideas and resources for promoting activity in nature for all.

Objectives:
Participants will identify three advantages of spending time in nature. Participants will engage in group discussion about existing barriers for individuals.

A quick look around yields information including intersection layouts, street signs, business signs, pedestrian paths, etc. Apps and devices such as SeeingAI, or the StellarTrek from HumanWare, allow a visually impaired traveler to gather as much environmental information as possible while not breaking their travel work flow with their traditional O&M tools. This session will discuss navigation aids, specifically focusing on those utilizing artificial intelligence in how visual interpretation can complement information gathered while using traditional O&M tools such as the cane or dog guide. Participants will learn how AI can be used to identify the status of pedestrian walk signals Participants will learn how artificial intelligence can assist a traveler from veering when crossing an intersection Participants will examine how a blind traveler can identify location of doors or physical addresses.

This session is designed to assist VI professionals in understanding the need for movement for learning and increasing quality of life. This session will also assist O&Ms with tools to encourage collaboration with family and other service providers in developing a longitudinal plan for developing lifelong movement routines.

Objectives:
Identify the key areas of the brain that must be activated and engaged in order for a student to learn new concepts. Identify who should be involved in creating a meaningful lifelong movement routine and their roles in developing and implementing the routine. Identify three ways that a lifelong movement routine benefits a student, long term.