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Social Emotional Learning & Crisis Support for Visually Impaired Students

Added Sep 07, 2021 •

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Presented by Andrea Word, MSW (TSB) on 9/1/2021 Unity Virtual Academy 2021-2022 Session Description: This session is designed for TVIs to learn more about SEL (social emotional learning) for students with VI, learn signs of when a student is in a mental health crisis, and discuss appropriate resources in and out of school to support students.

Show Transcript

all right well welcome everybody my name is Alan Wong I'm the director of accessible instructional materials and Outreach Services your Tennessee School for the Blind and I'm going to be your your host today for our second events of the school year for the unity Virtual Academy so glad to have all of you guys here with us today we are really excited has mr. Andrea word from TSP here to talk to us about Osho social emotional learning and and how that factors into the wives of our our student population this word is our school to say that she's at school social worker I think I wrote an email today that you know in the time that I have the Nomis word you know cares deeply about our kids and you can tell she cares deeply about this work specifically and she she goes the extra mile and so I think whatever we have to if your from her today will be incredibly destructive and useful for us to take back to the work that we do so with that said we're here through around 3 and I'm going to give the Florida on this word and take it away what should I do now I actually had a chance to work Allen in the classroom a little bit before I became a social worker so yeah it was it was a good partnership and I'm glad I was able to work with him and again thank you so much Allen for those kind of work I do. I do care for the students then. Charles Barkley hard to meet their needs you know nothing is perfect but I do try my best so I see stated I asked me L and Crisis Support for visually impaired wine students again I'm Andrea word and on the school social worker I have my phone here if you see me glancing it's just to keep up with the time I tend to be a fast talker so I'll try to Pace myself all right let's get started so what is social emotional learning you know you may be surprised to know that they're still I guess you could say confusions to rounded sdl believe it or not we're still trying to navigate that and learn. And what does that look like especially for our population and for short we called SEL so I don't not going to read every word to hear on the PowerPoint but I do think it'd be very beneficial to get this science definition of SDI do social emotional learning it help students of all ages to better comprehend their emotions to feel those emotions fully the ability to manage their emotions in a healthy and health Manor and demonstrate empathy for others okay and as a huge huge thing for kids. Right to learn how to manage their emotions as you'd found while working with his population it's easy it's this evening you know and even more need for it on because the things our population May face sometimes just have an understanding that I'm more than my visual impairment I'm more than being blind and having a really a sense of self I've often noticed that our kids idea of themselves are constructed from others that is like they don't have that you know they don't know it's okay to have an idea of their own their own sense of self the alarm behaviors are then used to help students make positive reasonable decisions right again that's our population we wants them to be able to sell advocate it's vital it's crucial you know be able to say this is my visual impairment or I'm flying I need assistance I don't need assistance I need this assistive technology and so forth that is huge for our kids to get them to pick up when they need to create framework to achieve their goals and build positive relationships with others thanks so this is a model that's dear and near to my heart I thought this numerous times cat castle that's how I was taught to pronounce it sounds like cancel but components of scl and I stands for the collaborative collaborative for academic social and emotional learning do all this to say what are the components right guys that we look at to see if we're reaching that social emotional that sdl go okay so against self-management is key you know a student has no we'll just because I didn't get the piece of candy I thought I can't throw my chain that's a real scenario right self-awareness you know to know that I have my own thoughts and my own ideas and understand when I'm feeling upset and what that look like for me reasonable decision making again I'm often find with the vi population in our blind students for used to others doing for them with naturally or making decisions for them and then they come to us and in Allen probably a jump in on this we kind of pushed them to be independent and make decisions and sometimes we get pushed back on that because they're afraid of their not used to that but they need to know how to do that if possible relationship skills do you know knowing that I have to know how to interact with others and not everyone's not my normal is my everyone else is normal okay and that ties into social awareness so here is Bates very important hear it TSB on Fridays we have what you call lines question we talked about things of this nature and whenever I'm teaching a class I always like to implement the components of SEL I'm so the kids will understand you know fully understand where we're coming from in the whole picture so we talked about msdl so I'm managing myself you know learning how I feel expressing how I feel being aware of others. that's great. It show me the components what do I do in the classroom and haven't had teachers  so examples of SEL in the classroom small group discussions and role-play does a liberal play I feel like it's one of the best teacher in tools you can have especially for our students right so and so we would sit in a circle and we would discuss what is appropriate what's not appropriate no you may not can see but if you hear someone if you hear someone's voice getting further and further away from you and you're talking to them clearly they're not listening to you right and just kind of showing them that and and asking them how does that make them feel a student start by their own personal strengths and weakness again that ties into teaching them that they can think for themselves and they can have a sense of self new stories and books I love this especially with my younger kids I used to be a preschool teacher years ago with my little kids that's how it teaches them I would find a book that would talk about a particular feeling what have a character display not feeling so they could kind of make that directions to they were engaged but it also gave them a clear example but it can work with any age are children routine routinely provide authentic feedback and ask questions ask a questions you know I can tell that you like that movie and I sometimes that will prompt the kids if they okay well you know Miss words that she made that statement let me explain what I like about it so this is just things that can be implemented in the class and you know doesn't take any crucial planning to help them build those SEL skills and practice that in the classroom okay I like to interact so I have here this box just identifying barriers so again we talked about SEL we talked about the component we talked about you know we have discussion we can have roleplay things of that nature but what are you all and please feel free just to speak out can someone give me some examples of barriers that the vi black population may have acquiring sdl skills to understanding sdl don't be shy anyone want to take a shot did no wrong answers and you want to take a shot at that Alan can you think of any barriers that are kids fake I know you know bears Jeremy a barrier that seems my face is trying to be the right way to wear this be tell me what you're saying about social skills not knowing the emotions of the person they're talking with and how to respond based on those the other person's emotions right now that's a huge but I'm sorry I can't see myself who was that that was speak this is Rachel Rachel yeah right so that's what he was one right I mean the obvious I can't see body language I can't see how they're reacting to me so that's like a huge barrier and typically why the SEL is delayed in our population because of that and that's just the natural barrier that they faced anyone else we are Rachel was right and I want y'all talking about now. call Jasmine information to know so let's hold on to what Rachel just told us so incidental learning okay I don't know if you've heard this time before but incidental learning basically all that saying is you know you learn what's around you right sided individuals we don't have to think about incidental learning it just is and it just happened you know yes our parents direct us and they teach us but no one for the most part had to sit down and say okay well this is why mad or when you're hungry or when you're upset little kids just kind of pick that up by bit by being able to see people's reactions and things of that nature instrumental incidental learning is learning game certain people and activities around you okay Axel challenges the obvious inability to read body language cannot or struggle to connect visual images with feelings it's a very abstract population number of oblong children are used to isolation unfortunately a lot of them used isolation because they have limited activities there's not much you know it depending on the parent whatever there's not much that they get into and they tend to isolate a student's what did you do all weekend I was in my room while I was on the couch you know some are not provided with opportunities for social and emotional burning in the early years compared to their peers again I should teach preschool you know the little kids are like sponges and it was orbit formation are costly and those who have small children were probably at the constantly watching you and they marry and without them knowing it their learning and taking it information so if you are blind students are non-verbal you know I always say let's not forget about our nonverbal friends people often forget this typically when a student is bi or Bly not all but it's been difficult number do come with other disabilities multiple disabilities here in tsp are supposed to buy it and its academic and the Alton epidemics where you'll find some students on the Spectrum and so forth so this time has to be taking an account or talking about STI was our population okay so how do I close the gap to encourage sdl alright identify identify conventional gestures using social context is no they can't see them we know that but to discuss it okay turn to face the speaker and maintain social interaction this is teaching them how to interact with others intern building that confidence within themselves be part of their environment of their Community discuss all right this is a big one just us facial expression sometimes I fine with our kids that will they can't see themselves make sure get that week so I have a saying up you know I can see you remember we can see you you may not want me picking your nose and stuff like that and so we talked in the open like that talk about you know if I show expression depending on the student have them explain how their face feels are having to touch their face when your face is all scrunched up you know how does it make you feel like I feel and I feel okay if you feel upset you try to connect those together explain explain that facial expressions convey a meaning if you're sitting there looking at me or you know like this is quite the Humane I can see it but you're conveying a very negative message to whoever's looking at you discussed tone is crucial for a population and I'll tell me why I don't like someone so why don't you like someone so I don't like the tone that she had you know recognizing behaviors that calls isolation again it goes back to in the nose can't see it don't know how it looks don't know that it grosses people out but then I'm wondering where I'm standing alone and there's no friends at the lunch table so going through these things with them to build that sdl and as you see I have a mixture of examples that deal with inter an external because that's really what s e l is how to do with myself in the outside world okay and how to assist our nonverbal friends I can't forget them if possible use a communication device hear it. we have what you call a communication device where a teacher will Accord you know things like yes no I'm hungry and then the student is trained to you don't hit the button to relay what they so that gives them a voice and it gives them an option utilize symbols as we call a more tangible Court symbols if you want to be correct so an example of this would be like a plastic spoon you would put a cardboard and that student when student touches that that indicates I'm hungry and Gage and positive reinforcement and redirect students if you see that a student is struggling especially a student can't express himself you know it's on us to redirect best that we can't all sometimes we can but we always want to do positive reinforcement and before we go along I just you know people always ask me what what are some examples on if you can see this but I made a board here that I used with students and things like and you know obviously for those who can reprint they read it for those that do not tell them what it says for instance you know I feel okay well if you feel like you know what can you do so I can be helpful so I have things like this and it's just laminated cardboard simple little things that students can do to build those SEL skills and some people get worked up and think it has two a huge curriculum but it doesn't always have to be so what is the prices so for us for the purposes but we're talking about A disruption or break down in a person's normal or usual pattern functioning when unstable a dangerous situation and remember a crisis it's different for each student a crisis for one student may not be for another so and I know no one here would do that but we have to remember that everything's individual Steven Downs will Crisis so this word what is the connection between Priceless and an SEL you know how are we connecting to whilst also emotional learning it's crucial we know that especially students especially those that experience crisis crises and often the skills that are acquired through STL will determine how the child will cope and respond to the crisis so have a child use them their selves in there environment oftentimes what kind of give you an idea how they respond to a crisis not always so they kind of go hand-in-hand STL helps children to manage and heal from difficult experiences and promote resilience and that's why we want to promote resilience and problem-solving skills and feeling confident Within Myself and those coping mechanisms to bring myself down so come and stressors and I mean really destressors could be for any student even adults but again it's just from my experience here working with our population here it is B bullying that's very common so the way our school works we serve like 53 townies out of Tennessee I don't know if you guys know that but a lot of our kids come here you know it obviously for the vision impairment but they were both in The Homeschool you know losing vision very common a lot of our kids will come here they have their site but eventually we'll lose it Homelife depression isolation we talked about that feeling different from site Sears changes in mental health suicidal ideation I know that that is nothing that is not comfortable topic but it's a real topic I don't deal with it often but I have had students how to express to me you know I just want to be here anymore I want to kill myself you know I hate being like this you know this is a struggle for me right about that and so that's real and that is something that our population they struggle with changing room environment or person again I think of our students on the Spectrum you know that could that could mean the difference between a crisis and not a crisis just the wrong person in the room additional health issues like I stayed at most of our kids multiple disabilities are multiple issues in addition to being visually impaired and Trauma so you see that I had that bolted again one of those things you know makes people uncomfortable don't want to talk about but it again our school a lot of work is done with a lot of trauma that talk to their visual impairment are being blind or home life is very prevalent and ask me no you know if you have traumas especially unresolved promise you're more likely to go and you know have a crisis because you don't have the coping skills you know so Aces many of you are probably familiar with I know Allen's have seen it a thousand times Aces but adverse childhood experiences and I'm not going to go to Jeep into it but just so you all kind of have an idea how traumatic experiences 10 effect they range from abuse neglect to Franklin car Eurasian so you have physical sexual mental illness emotional a lot of our kids unfortunately experience physical experience emotional and things of that nature and its talk to them I'm jamming their home life so it's good to have that in the back of your head like hate this kid may be acting out because there's trauma and unresolved issues and here's the aces past and I'm not going to get lunch get nervous but this is typically if you were to see a counselor or even myself an Asus test just to see what kind of, you may be dealing with those questions like before you were eighteen you have a parent or some of your household who was incarcerated you know have you been sexually abused and things of that nature so it kind of gives the clinician an idea of where the student or the individual stands okay my favorite brain picture here and again we have two pictures here you have the brain on the left the brain on the right quote normal brain functioning and abuse brain as you can see the brain here on the right it's not as lit up there's not as much as I can are you going on it's been altered we wired and this is a real thing we do have students where it's the trauma has been so great that it sits impact greatly so who sings I'm not trying to make teachers or others into social workers are councils but just to have this background knowledge to know that there's many different levels to do so as to why the child may be having a crisis or struggles with SEL so what kind of Crisis look like and this is not limited to I mean that it's across-the-board do a minor crisis if you will a student suddenly stopped communicating and shuts down I see that often hear a student becomes frustrated cries we like to call him a meltdown they're having a meltdown the student has a drastic change in Behavior major the student is expressing suicidal creation and other words passing thoughts of suicide talking about it the scary part and have a plan they may not have executed it obviously but they have a plan or actively trying to commit suicide and I hope that have to ever face that a student is engaging and stuff harm and there is a difference between suicidal ideation and self-harm self-harm example would be cutting cutting the arm so just to clarify or harming others a student is throwing items or destroying property so it's all over the board what a crisis can look like in again with what was the question one may not be for another common strategies for mental health and Crisis Intervention in this is starting uniconic the miner in I love breathing techniques cuz they're easy and most students left to do it I sent this one out last year's, 478 technique works well with adults to and through the nose for a second hold breath for 7 seconds and Excel for 8 seconds and you can do that repeatedly validating the student ceiling I think sometimes as adult you know I kind of like you know you want to slow our roll like this is not the situation is not that serious or we just need to react in some situations I mean you do have to react to special life-threatening but most the time students like to hear while I get what you're saying I hear what you're saying and that kind of puts them at ease and cam situation and you're also modeling SEL right that you're trying to get a car send them your modeling that allowing the students to take a break sometimes just asking a student if they would like to talk about their feelings and redirecting the student case of these are some interventions on reminder end all right so so sometimes things escalate I know every schools different but prices planned so that's when the student is prone to have a crisis is happening all the time you know it can be others across his plan to find what a crisis looks like for a student who to notify the steps to be taken how long this could last what steps do I have to have the crisis some students will need a behavior intervention plan and will need to modify their it so our school is unique in the way every student in our school has an IP that's really rare in a most schools that would not be everyone here is an IP and so if we do something as drastic as create a behavior intervention plan you know that's a step up from the crisis plan then we would have to have a meeting and modify their IP crisis plan continued use when the student may be at risk again for harming themselves or others focus on immediate response to the behavior can include support how much rain is a Health crisis response provider typically in the school that's going to be the school social worker I'm for those who don't have a social worker crap the counselor it's more effective when using positive strategies when always wants in support of the student with a student is, gentefied identifies when parents should be notified right cuz you always want to keep parents in the loop and also want to add one a kids purses they want to kill themselves you do create what we call a safety so it's sort of like a crisis plan but it's a safety plan you know what do we do what what are some things that you can do to help yourself not get to that level and I've only have to do one so far so I'm happy about that so most schools have a crisis intervention system or you know a program that system for TSB ours is called c r t I know that Handle With Care it's kind of popular with schools crisis Report Team other mission is to provide immediate on Steam Crisis Intervention the object is to reduce tension okay by utilizing Rapport so if they don't have to report with the students the art is that they can talk to them in a way like hey Johnny you know I see you're upset that's just kind of calm down I know that always can't happen but it said adults there you realize them strength when necessary okay however the key is to utilize the escalation and Resorts her strength only when it's needed and Kay and tsp has an appointed person who conducts these trainings and displaced the appropriate restraint techniques if you have not Ben trains I would urge you to to just try to stay away from this train a child could get messy but you know if you're in a school system is should be a system in place and you should eat I'm receiving some type of training for Crisis Intervention appropriate internal resources do most schools again have the school counselors they have the social worker we have a school psychologist these individuals work as a multidisciplinary team we do we're great about that we kind of keep each other in the loop and we kind of work together if the teacher feels like he or she can't handle it hey do you need talking this word if you need to talk to your counselor refer students to resources that provided within the school and outside like the service-related service team most schools have an agency there partnered with and so we have a partnership with Centerstone we have now you know the pandemic they were doing things over the phone the councillors but we actually have a council that comes to campus a couple days a week and she kind of supplements right and talks to the students especially those two are more bound to have a crisis or who just need that extra support so I find it very helpful and of course Centerstone keeps all of us in the loop so these would be Eternal resources because I put in the school appropriate external the obvious if it's out of control call 911 when in doubt call it out that's my rule of thumb call 911 after you do that notify the appropriate in the the nurse school okay so for example if a student as you know I have to keep using the Snapple but for First Student was attempting to commit suicide you know we don't have time to be on the radio you know we need to 911 also you can eat Ally mobile crisis okay so mobile crisis is the 24/7 response team for those who experienced experiencing a mental health emergency mobile crisis bring much that sector gears Ford 18 and up so adults and then use Villages is designated for minors So Below 18 Okay so again our schools very unique our students can actually go to school here to there are 22 so who you would call depend on what studio or do them if you're dealing with the student this 20 21 22 then you would call mobile crisis okay so you will be contacted use Villages is very similar to mobile crisis their team will come to the child they will assess and they were evaluating they feel like they need to go to a facility they will their services are provided through Tennessee throughout Tennessee so whoever takes care of your crises for me for this school at that would be me so I have the numbers to both of these in the resources for mobile cart form prices in villages and that's when something extreme extreme is taking place okay and I just hear some things Tennessee state crisis line I have this poster here in my office of the National Suicide Prevention and there's mobile crisis there's several numerous Mental Health Resources that you can share throughout your school and also your staff in talking with your students that it's okay to have felt and sometimes we need an intervention on the computer scary and just kind of explaining that and I have a quote here I'm going to anyways I'm sure we have you know plenty of time Children of the world's most valuable resource and its best hope for the future President John F Kennedy I sincerely believe that they look to us for the we don't have all the answers I know they look to us and school for the most part is typically a safe haven and where they learn all these things the SEL and how to manage myself and I can receive services and I can receive help so it's always something to remember and you keep in your mind and I will I'll conclude my presentation I know we have quite a bit of time left I was worried that I would drag out too long but I finished early but that's okay but I hope that you did receive the information that you needed and got Tabla General Overview at least with the VR I am blind population on what s Yoakam like in Crisis Intervention and the components of that any questions or comments but Allen I'll turn this over to you well I had something I was going to throw it out there if we do have some time I was wondering if you could I asked you to maybe walk us through a hypothetical situation may be based on something you've experienced before and could you just kind of outline an example of you know kind of a situation you walked into what you saw what you kind of how you assess the situation and some of the actions you might have taken as a result they just maybe put it in to put into our minds apply practical example of course so I had to pretty much came to me and was like I'm going to kill myself I'm so I'll give you two different examples so and I know you were like oh God she's talking about suicide but I don't think people realize that this is a topic that crosses the mind of our soon as much as it does it does so you know this dude is that all you know I'm I'm I'm going to kill myself I'm going to do this okay so if course I had to use the Columbia Reno rating scale that's real life you know the sea where they at you know where you are you just having ideas are you just having thoughts do you have a plan are you going to try to execute this like where are we so we did that and a presentation I mentioned that we you know you can tell crisis plan or so what you know what a safety plan so why did identify everyone where the student was with his thinking process okay and he told his teacher to stitches freaking out you know so once I established where the student was with this then I created a plan with the parent had to talk to the parent you know get admin involved after that Alan I had to just really Be watchful and I had to wash the student and all the times you know I would go by the classroom I would do check-in things that nature to just make sure that we didn't have a crisis because the student was a college student residential student so the wise that you know our staff in the Cottages or watching the student and things of that nature so to answer your question was that when you when you're dealing with a major crisis okay what's something unless the kids like actively just trying to do something behind themselves or others obviously would call 911 to the social worker mobile crisis but you would do Alan and everyone on here you would get that student to the appropriate person first if you can does that make sense to everyone that makes sense you would try to get the student to the appropriate person counselor social worker someone like that who can assess the situation see where the child is and then come up with a plan does that make sense because a lot of times teachers are like oh my God what are they like he's talking crazy shot hurt himself what do I do in so unless it's like a life-or-death situation at that moment it is best to try to direct the child to that person who handles us to handle that situation in immediately because time this is of the essence you know and I mean our teachers do fine but I know it's sometimes we think that we're overthinking right and we'll say all that wasn't nothing will go home for the night well that was time lost would you would you all agree estamos so just the kind of is it better to be safe than sorry and it's so hard to put it in a box because the situation is very so much and there's like a direct protocol for everything which to really like I would handle so I kind of just sounds like I'm saying will bring them to me bring them to me but, that's what would happen here at csb unless it's a life-threatening situation you know other situations Alan I've had carefully watched, you know students accused student of other things and then in the middle of a class they are freaking out there having a crisis they are screaming they are crying they are having a meltdown no one knows why okay what do I do tell time to cross this acting out what we do and so you know the teacher did those steps tried to talk the student down you know what's wrong do you need to go see someone that counselor this toast worker do you need a break something of that nature so really does it's a case-by-case scenario if it's a situation that you feel that you could contain if you want to do those things that I mentioned such as do you need a break like talking about it or do we need to step outside know what can I do for you things of that nature is if that doesn't work then you with your  to the individual who would handle that makes sense yeah that's great thank you and you know try to remain calm the best you can but you know we're all human and sometimes it's hard to do anybody have any personal thoughts as well give me time in this is Misty I have a question so I'm you've had some of my students there you have some now but the problem I deal with the most for social emotional health is when I get a student that suddenly lost vision and a lot of times because they're a teen or pre-teen they are not willing to open up but you know they're going through those stages of grief you have a specific program or process that you used to work with him cuz honestly I just was winging it but I just wonder if there's a program that tried-and-true that works best for that specific topic of losing vision suddenly if I'm okay so during our visit on what time you would just talk cuz I would take up on on behavioral and social cues with one child or when teenager use a visual of baking soda and vinegar you know when you bottle things up eventually it's going to boil over and so you have to get it under control before you reach that boiling point honestly I can't remember everything we did have her draw cuz she had some Vision so I had her she wouldn't sometimes she would refuse to speak so I have her draw things so like I would give her markers and she just drew colors and we sat and talked about what the different I represented the vinegar and baking soda that is amazing that was some guys that was an amazing example because that kind of goes back to I was saying like meet them where they are you know try the different things of talking doesn't work do something tactile they can touch if they have division they can see you know sometimes that will help them to better and what you're getting across delicious be honest especially teenagers they don't want to be talked at I mean they so now you know they've heard it but Missy yes I've had students who were who refused to learn Braille yes ma'am I'm preaching to the choir I know they refused needs a cane That's mom's like yeah he threw the came down last night he can he acted up last night and he just tore up everything in the house through story and so things of that nature I've had students come to me instead I'm extremely depressed at you no backing up in the PowerPoint I sent depression and they and they compare themselves to their side appears you guys that's what you'll start to see because think about this and I'm get into some things you can do to talk to him but let's just get in their mind right now their mindset think about it especially those crucial years when you're like 16 everyone's driving there be an independent I mean just take checks back to when you were that age how special that was and I think about no you can't do that but everyone around you is doing this you know I've had kids who are losing their Vision Misty say I hate being here it makes me feel stupid because you know I'm visually impaired and so get him to understand that their visual impairment does not reflect their character you guys that's a huge one especially for an older kids they think they can start with one another well I can't see I'm losing my sight you know I'm stupid I'm less than right so what I would do with these students Misty I mean obviously if I have that report I would try to talk with them you all I didn't work I would always seek outside counseling resources because this it is grieving Misty you said the right word its grieving accepting it you know can you imagine your vision slowly leaving you are so weak dinner with Center Stone so as far as a program I don't know if I would use the word program but we do refer them to Centerstone if their parents give consent which most do so that was my problem that you used it and I have something for that to okay good I like that I like having an outside resource because I don't we don't go home with them they can't call us all the time I'm said give him someone to talk to on the weekends and also there was a Counseling Group in Misty I escaped my mind I probably could snap email to Alan he get up everyone there was a Counseling group that dealt with only those who were visually impaired and losing their Vision okay do miss me sometimes if you can find a peer who has been in the same situation or is currently the same situation to mirror that sometimes that will help I have one that they did help because it gives I'm not the only one and it gives them peer support that make sense yes I did do that because we have a great example locally and I have brought her back she's a working single mother actually you guys may know her I have pulled her in several times to talk with students this is a adult mom at that I bring into some yes yes adult role models and in my experience can be one pretty powerful voice as well not just we are we're fortunate to speed up we've had you know stuff before and staff currently who have a visual impairment and actually along the lines of talking about the barriers to driving in weather that's something to pursue even if it's erratically possible through bayoptiks understood that this teacher of ours at the school has talked to some of our older kids exploring that talking about the pros and cons of a persimmon. And you know some of it is in some of the things that he shared with me is you know I could drive but it's a pretty perilous experience it's not actually I don't feel safe and I'm going to be true and so providing that real talk if you will coming from an adult's who sang you know I could push for it but I'm okay the where I'm at the way I am. It can be really really transformative in my mind and Alan yeah I would like to piggyback off that if the peer support is not successful here it says beware so you know is that we have adults that can attest to this and that can talk to the key and you can also use that and I would also say Misty sometimes with parents that are resisting sometimes if they had that adult to talk to just say hey I was there these are the options cuz I you know I realize that a lot of his fear a lot of it is fear I'm accepting you know the changes and things of that nature so I try to be sensitive to that when parents are resistant to me I try to keep in the back of my head this is probably really about something else but having an adult to talk to them and things of that nature can also help as well so have you guys ever this is something I've always wanted to do but there's not there's a small population here so since you were talking about this he ever considered with zoom being so prevalent now like doing monthly like online support groups because you know that would be great for both of us that live in counties where we have a small number of no Legally Blonde students right to expand our resources right and that is a resource so hopefully I'm this year that can be implemented because I have thought about that and I do also want to strengthen you know parent engagement right which I have a parent email that's divided into the three regions of Tennessee Middle East where I communicate with parents but it would also be cool to just talk about address those issues as well which can also offer support to the students so that is something that I am working on but I'm so glad that you mention that cuz what we are unique we serviced so many people across the state we've got to be flexible Macbeth's be creative right is there any brochures or anything that we can give parents of for a newly diagnosed visual impairment yes ma'am I can get those yes ma'am I can't get those I think thanks for them to to be on the lookout you know in their child about their social emotional being yes ma'am I have that literature that I can provide to you or anyone bathroom saying that would need it in because I had all right I had passed out some things about social injustice 2 parents be an email that's the way I've been doing it but yes I most definitely can have literature that chocolate this is what to look for in this is how this impacts down because and I think that was missing is that Miss Cindy talking to me yes I'm sorry I can't see you I don't know but Miss Cindy sometimes parents don't understand how crucial in the magnitude of it all I've heard I've actually heard a parent so y'all before well you know it's just going to happen you know is what it is well yeah but it comes with a lot of emotional and mental baggage is that makes sense doesn't mean they're bad parent guys that does deflection because it's hard for do it that makes sense yes and also like I'm about to have new students that have they have diagnosis of brain tumors that's the cause of the visual impairment so you know their medical condition of the brain tumors is pressing right now as far as what they're thinking about so they're not even the parents are probably not even thinking about the the visual impairment aspect of it missing email is that a student that attends here a TSB no these are some new ones that coming down the line I'll give you my contact information if you don't already have it but if you all run into situations like that please feel free to reach out to me because I do want to talk to parents and do make them aware how this will impact their child I do want to be more present in that I really really do I'm actually thankful that you guys are telling me this because you know how often I get my information from you all and from teachers right and so thank you I wanted to do this but I see the need there is a need to address this on the front end and not just the fact in you know what I mean so thank you guys and I would also like to add some something else I've seen guys with push back is when you say all the students going to lose their Vision they need to learn Braille I've seen it where your parents are resistant because they think they're going to have to learn that and that's an inconvenience I want to see pictures of lot of barriers will say to that or reasons why people react the way they do this is Misty again so my parents don't think the biggest obstacle is the same as the student because they don't know any other parents going through what they are at when I have the opportunity to send kids to tsp for camps or things like that that helps the kids to have someone to relate to and it really helped social emotional health in fact there's nothing for the parents except for the Pre-K valuation Frozen with some children don't lose their Vision until later in life and those parents need someone to cuz I've been blessed really good parents in my County that's for sure but it's more just feeling very isolated and it's not that they don't want to help their kids are getting counseling it's just they feel like it's something they should be able to handle on their own that makes sense it's like an overwhelming thing right I should be able to do this but the same time this is new for me it's uncharted waters from my child is it's new for me and you know all of that and it goes back to what I said earlier that feel it's just me going through this there's nobody else to go through this with you know we think about things that we've been through in our lives where we didn't have someone to go through it with or we didn't the difference that made right and so I try to keep that in mind with our parents I'm really and I'm not just saying this for the sake of Dunn Tire Point Alex and tell you now that I've heard this I'm definitely going to push even harder for the parents to have support and I know no parents use the computer so forth and I'll sort that out but I do think that's really really important especially the social emotional peace because it's not just the child going through since the parent as well so yes I'm really going to push for that because they need support I need an outlet they need a resource that's great you with that it's 2:56 or just a couple more minutes of people have questions but sign me up for that that looks like when it when it comes to fruition parents parent group student group you know at the same time so it's just works perfectly for everybody okay I'm all fired up right now me too I'm right sound named least the ones that I talk to you yes but guys I am always and I noticed a little you know the left but with the whole trauma thing I'm trying to like push being trauma and for cool things of that nature I just want to make sure that the kids have everything they need to feel supported in their families and I'm glad and Alan thank you again I know we got to go thank you again for giving me this opportunity feedback from you all that I value so this I'm actually kind of glad that I finished early so we could actually have this discussion it kind of worked out and thank you I'll and I really I opening and I really enjoyed this you're welcome glad you can make it where you know this is going to be really helpful for everyone we're going to get this posted PSPs website soon Rue the revamps resource center web page let me plug that we're working on it really make it a true instructional resource Hub I just cannot be more excited for what is coming coming down the pipe through us so thanks everybody for being here if you know if you guys have topics that your you do feel like are gaps in the field or in the state that you know you'd love that local connection point in touch base with us and we will see what we can do no look for someone who can address that topic you know anything like that you know we want to make this as useful or Vision Professionals State Line as as we can make it thanks everyone for being here enjoy the rest of your day the rest of your week Rachel you have anything you want to add I just wanted to know that I've in the chat I dropped the link again if anyone needs a certificate and if screen Andrea you can see the chat box has a couple people put their email address for you there but thank you so much Andrea I learned a lot today and just appreciate you meeting the discussion

1:00:31 Bioptic Driving – Adult Perspectives & Tennessee Requirements (Panel Discussion) Featured
Participants: Dr. Joshua Robinson (Vanderbilt University Medical Center), Arthur Humphrey, Joshua Harper
Date: 2/23/2024
TN VIVA 2022-2023
Session Description:
This session will present an overview of considerations of bioptic driving for teens and young adults with low vision. Panelists include a low vision specialist and adults with low vision sharing why they decided bioptic driving was or was not a good fit for them. This session is geared towards teens with low vision and their families, as well as TVIs, O&M specialists, VR counselors, and other transition specialists looking for a background knowledge of how to talk about bioptic driving with students and clients.
Uploaded Feb 24, 2023
51:27 Lightbox Stories & Literacy Programming for Students with Complex Profiles Featured
Presented by Dr. Adam Wilson on 2/17/2021
Unity Virtual Academy 2020-2021
Session Description:
Looking for ways to integrate literacy and lightboxes? In this session we will take a deep dive into the creation of lightbox stories and digital books, adapted so they are accessible for students with more complex profiles that include VI. We will also look at opportunities for meaningful engagement for learners so they become part of the story!
Uploaded Oct 14, 2021
1:46:30 Essential Assessments (FVA) Strategies for Students with Visual Impairments and Complex Profiles Featured
Presented by Suzanne Dinwiddie (TN Deaf-Blind Project) on 2/18/2022
Unity Virtual Academy 2021-2022
Session Description:
Project will share tips and
Hear about strategies that TVIs and O&M specialists can use when conducting functional vision, learning media and expanded core curriculum assessments with students with VI and complex profiles, including students with CVI.
Uploaded Feb 22, 2022
1:21:12 RCVI Welcome Back to School! (2022-23)
Presented by Allen Huang (TN RCVI) on 8/19/2022
TN VIVA 2022-2023
Session Description:
Welcome back to school! Join us to hear about exciting RCVI updates and what is planned for TN VIVA in the year ahead. Updates regarding the 2023 Federal Quota census and a review of the RCVI textbook ordering process will be provided as well.
Uploaded Aug 22, 2022

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