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25-26 Kick-Off and RCVI Welcome Back to School!

Added Sep 05, 2025 •

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Presented by Dr. Allen Huang (TSB) and Dr. Rachel Schles (Vanderbilt) on August 22, 2025. TN VIVA 2025-2026 Session Description: Kick off the school year with colleagues from the field and learn about the year ahead with TN VIVA and Consortium of Vision Educators (COVE) gatherings. Dr. Allen Huang provided updates regarding all things new with the Tennessee School for the Blind and Resource Center for the Visually Impaired, Dr. Rachel Schles provided updates regarding the Vanderbilt University TVI preparation program, and Dr. Hilary Travers of EMPOWERINGVI shared the latest information about that tremendous program.

Show Transcript

all right good afternoon everybody um this is the first uh Viva session of the 2526 school year uh my name is Dr Alan hang with the tennis School for the Blind and the director of Statewide Services covering Outreach Services uh the resource center for the visual impaired and um also admissions to the Tennessee School for the Blind um uh Tennessee Vivas Viva transfer visual impairments Virtual Academy and it is a partnership between the Tennessee School for the Blind uh the Vanderbilt um visual disabilities program as well as the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center who provides some kind of logistical support um and so the goal of Viva and this is you know kind of a learning series that goes back to coid the goal of Viva is to provide you know relevance high quality trainings and other opportunities uh typically provided virtually um that will meet the the learning needs of vision Educators um really anywhere of course we are tennis for the most part so um today we are going to focus on an over view of the year ahead with Vive uh the Gatherings we have planned hopefully get some input from you guys on topics that you would like to learn about um and then we'll also give a variety of updates from the field uh uh like say from the Vanderbilt uh Vision program um Hillary with Empower is here and um we will also give you some updates about what's going on here at tsp some cool cool new uh things on campus summer programs as well as um you know resource center updates so just a lot of cool things we just want you to know that um we as intended to be programming that is uh for you guys um you know high quality trained folks often buy your Tennessee colleagues and um we we want you we want we would want anyone to know that if they're a vision educator in Tennessee they don't live in an island um this is a this is a goal of mine for us to develop a a Statewide Community Practice that you always have folks who are going to you know jump at the opportunity to help you feel like uh you have the tools and knowledge to to teach your kids and effectively you know grow them to a place where they can be uh successful in whatever comes after their their school careers all right so that's enough about me um Rachel could you introduce yourself and then um anything else you'd like to add in case I'm missing anything thing and uh then we'll kind of get started yeah I am I'm going to throw a couple things about Viva out there while they're on my mind and then introduce myself um really do this is not actually just for vision Educators though we know there's limited amount of PD specifically for tvis and onm so obviously that's our primary audience but we really recommend like we want you to spread the word about sessions to your admin who have questions or a classroom teachers interested related service providers um family members um we're going to have a couple sessions this year specifically for like teens before and after they graduate high school and for families and so um this is primarily a network for and Community for vision Educators in Tennessee but we do welcome absolutely anyone who has a vested interest in supporting students of visual impairments around the state um we have we're just in the process of finalizing at least the first half of the Year offering I think we can probably tease I I think um we'll put a link in the chat that has the links to the upcoming sessions we'll do that we haven't officially sent the word word out yet because like I said we're we have just a couple other sessions we're finalizing but um we do have a pretty well set schedule so far so we can um share that with you all so you can get those on your calendar um I'll put the link in the chat just so it's here for everyone um and Alan will mention this to you that if you need either acvrep or just a regular PLU like certificate of attendance um please complete the Red Cap survey there's just a couple quick questions there so we can get you certificate within the next week or 2 um and beyond that um I'm Dr Rachel schles I am the uh Prof assistant professor of the practice and coordinator of the visual disabilities tvi training program here at Vanderbilt um really excited that we have a couple programs going where we're in our second year of having a uh a hybrid teacher training program so that working teachers in Tennessee can get an endorsement in vision um and so if you know a district who's a little short staffed um after being in our program for 1 year that a strong candidates can get approved in the second year of their program to start working as a tvi they don't have to wait for the 2 years till they graduate to start working as a TBI in Tennessee um this is specifically for already working already licensed teachers um who are wanting endorsement in Vision um admissions will open in about a month for now to start next June um and I'm getting to know more and more people all over the state because we have students all over the state so we need Mentor teachers all over the state and we really appreciate all the network and community that um that are growing program is has helped us connect all over Tennessee um and I think I think was so is there anything else I should have said Alan well I wanted to just clarify that the what you just shared about being able to work in your second year in the program uh that's a really new recent update so that is new news to most people I would imagine yeah and so even even from my perspective as an administrator like share with your colleagues and administrators that functionally if if you're a you know normal you know competent educator you know you can functionally be working as a tvi within a year or after a year which yeah it's a very intensive to be clear will be in classes in the summer the fall of the spring and the summer but then um I do all everyone who's interested applies in their first spring semester of our program to be considered for provisional endorsement um I put my um Emma thanks so much for the interest that's a great question about getting information to share with you your leads and directors um we don't have this Falls admissions um you know flyers and stuff ready yet uh if I put my email in the chat if anyone would like to make sure I send them the info when it comes out just shoot me an email and I'll make sure you get it Allan also has been very great about making sure through his list serve that when we have um admissions info updates that he sends it out through his list so I if you're here today I promise 1 way or another you will hear it but if you send me an email I'll make sure you're on the first list that I send out um probably in about a month month month and a half from now would be my guess is when we'll start sending that out all right and for what it's worth also just in terms of University training you know Vanderbilt currently is the only program in Tennessee I just wanted to make that clear for everybody but there are Edition programs out of state that you can can look into or you know folks can look into and so we encourage anybody who's explore all their options um the Vanderbilt option is a great option but it isn't for everybody and I say that as a Vanderbilt grad and just um uh so just know that there are options if you would like resources uh about other programs specifically those that have uh distance and virtual components please let me know we've compiled that that data uh including for our TSB staff uh who are looking at those uh training opportunities options and so um that that can be shared and so uh I I will quickly type my email in here um and and I I second what Allan says both this as in the Lum and the coordinator of our program um our program isn't for everyone there's not a single graduate program that is the right side the the best fit for every single person so it is really critical that anyone interested finds the right program for them um I just put in the chat a PDF um of questions to ask when someone's considering a program and so if you do know someone who's interested you know maybe there's a para in your District or there's a classroom teacher who you've worked with them and you just know that they are a tvi ready to to go um and so the perspective TBI resource is a great guide for questions someone should be asking if they're considering a TBI training program all right so with that um let me actually uh hand things off to uh Hillary Traverse who's on here uh to briefly provide some updates about Empower and then I'll just kind of give her that time and then we will jump into the meat and potatoes of what we're gonna update for um the year ahead with Vive and if you are unmuted and there might be sound in the background if you don't mind trying to mute otherwise I can aggressively push a button and do that from here um but Hillary please uh take it away sure thanks Alan um hi everyone I'm Hillary Travers um I'm might be familiar to some of you because I've talked about our project in the past but if I'm new to you that's great we're we're happy to support um everyone and anyone so um as Alan mentioned and well a little background so I work at Vanderbilt um I'm not in the preparation program with Rachel although we are friends and colleagues I'm in the same Department um but I have an OSAP Grant it's not a training Grant it's a um it's an edtech Grant actually and that's technically the category and so with that funding we created a program called empowering youth with visual impairment um so again if this is old news or new news I have some updates and so I'll provide some background and share the exciting updates and when I say exciting updates I mean as of this morning so this is very timely you will be the first to hear about this which is very exciting um so the purpose of our program um originally our work was really thinking about how do we best support students who are blind or have low vision specifically in rural communities um I'm sure if you're a practicing professional you know that there are just limited service options um in rural communities it's not because anyone's not doing their best work there's just not enough Personnel to go around um and not only are there not enough Personnel but the resources that exist locally in rural communities are different than what exists in our larger um urban areas and even some of our Suburban areas so we really designed the program to say how can we think from rural and then grow from there so everything we create is relevant to any blind and low vision student I think it's important to emphasize that but the examples that we use throughout our program we we try to cater to those who are rural because um if everything they see is about like the urban experience then they're just going to tune it out and say well that's not that doesn't apply to my life so we just tried to be really mindful about um you know when people say oh just teach them public transit well there is no public transit when you live in a rural area so we tried to give examples that are realistic for their lived experience um and I did did not say this and this is maybe the most important thing the project focuses on transition age youth um so we're looking at 14 to 22 year olds really thinking about the journey to adulthood so if you have a new middle or high school student on your case load this year if transition is something that is new to you please please please come visit us I'm going to share um some links in the chat as I talked briefly and I'm going to share my screen because I think for those who can oh if I if I'm allowed to do that Alan um for those who can see it I'll talk through it but it's just helpful to see what is I'm talking talking about so we have a website um the web address is pretty simple empower again I will put this in the chat um but this is where you can find everything our website is fully accessible um we have some contrast options we have some sizing options but um we have focus on our team who use nvda who use voice over um so we we test everything um so just know anything that we create ourselves is fully accessible for any audience um this is our homepage so we have some information here I'm not going to go through it too much because you can explore it in your own I think the important part is we have a navigation bar just like most websites at the top um and as You tab across depending on if you're using a screen reader or your eyes we have different options that kind of capture our project deliverables we have resources that we design these are 1 Pages these are great but you can share with families um in particular so we have resources about connecting to outside agencies about um questions you can talk about with your student about guide dogs that's something they're interested in or just to educate yourself more about the guide dog process getting started with nvda so again if you're working in in those Outreach settings and you know that there's going to be gen Ed teachers or other teachers that are going to have to support that blind or low vision Student please send them to our website so they can get connected and kind of get foundational skills about how to support blind and low vision students nothing will you know replicate your services but we know that the reality when you have a consult mode is like someone else has to do that work so that's where a lot of our resources can come in we also have created some videos on here um I'm going to click the resource Tab and then um sort by video quickly oh sorry my screen is not large so this is why I'm having an issue okay we create did some videos that are pretty fun um and I say they're fun I mean I think they're fun we created them with blind and low vision students and adults um some of the adults are you know pretty big names in The Vision World so like Richard Rua um works with AP on their Career Connect Center he's on our adult Advisory Board and just a lovely human so he's in 1 of these videos um and he takes on a character role but essentially we wanted to demonstrate real scenarios that students will encounter um so understanding the first 2 actually kind of technical but like a ations in high school and we chose a career tech ed class like how can a student talk to their teacher about getting the appropriate accommodations or when they go to an employment setting what does that look like and um what kind of speech can they use so they're very short we're talking like 3 to 5 minutes um and they're just a fun way for students to explore kind of what that could look like okay the only other important 1 I'm going to focus on today or the 2 sorry and then you go explore our online courses these have a new look um and it's partly because we are really responsive to audience feedback we have courses specifically for students for professionals and for families for professionals you can get PD credit so we can talk about that in a second because I know you guys are Professionals for your students if again if you have consult model type students for kids in high school which I know can happen um this is a great way to assign kind of like homework or just you know some learning for them outside of the classroom to prepare them for adulthood um in the past there was a login required and so there were some limitations because if we're capturing student data there were School concerns and we heard you loud and clear we understand that we were only capturing name and email but there were still teachers in districts that said we can't have students sign up for their own account so now we've changed it so for all audiences there's no sign-in required so if students click for students um all their all the courses that we have available right now are displayed right there again everything's accessible um we have different ones so like how to write a professional email we heard um we worked with mnps on this because a lot of teachers are saying like students didn't really understand at the professional language and emails you know they were not using appropriate Greetings or they didn't understand subject lines and what goes in there so we wrote this and there's a video that we actually passed before that talked about um how to navigate emails with a screen reader so if that's something you're not comfortable with but your student needs we also have that employment accommodations self advocacy moving it into an apartment things to consider um and we grow all the time so this is we have 7 now but again we will be expanding and we welcome advice if you have topics you want us to cover so um please encourage your students to take those for the professional courses that I mentioned we have um more options we have 10 courses right now um some are more technical so like if you've never written a transition plan as a tvi because you've always worked with younger students this is a part of the IEP that comes into effect when students turn 14 and if your student um is blind low vision as their only disability category you will become responsible for writing this plan um and that brings into effect like compliance elements with the state it's kind of a whole new can of worms so we walk you through the process we give you a sample student um we hold your hand through it um so that's something to think about if you're looking for technical skills if you're new to the profession and want to know more about some kind of broad topics about the ECC we have 1 about Career Tech Ed I think it's somewhere down here intra Career Tech Ed um if you're not using the described and captioned media program for your students we introduce you to how to sign up for that so take a look again there's no login required um as you you take the course I'll click 1 just so you can see what happens it'll take you to a learning platform um again it is fully accessible so that's good to know and you take the course and at the end for each course there's a lesson that says wrap-up and post-course Survey you have to take the surveyed so that tells us you completed it and then we'll send you your personalized certificate and you can turn that in for PD credit um different courses have different amount of hours because some courses are quite short and some courses are long but all lessons within a course are short we we did that on purpose um we want them to be digestible quick and easy for you we load them with resources if you want to go looking for that but if you're like this is enough for me then that that's plenty um so that's the new look to our courses we're excited about the non-registration my very last thing sorry if I'm going over time Alan um I'll be very quick about this we have communities of practice um and this is nice because it aligns with the mission of Eva which is getting teachers together to talk about what is going on in the world of vision what's working well what's not working well how can we support 1 another um our communities of practice are National so if that's of interest to you and you want to hear from others in other states and what they're doing um we welcome you we have an interest form right at the top of our website that you can navigate to we talk about the purpose who can participate the structure Etc um the important thing to know is that our first 1 is going to be kicking off in September um it'll meet there are going to be 4 Separate sessions so it's kind of like a cluster you have like a little cohort it's adult family members and professionals working together we want to try to bridge that gap between family and school and the focus for this first session is on post-secondary Ed we'll have another session that runs in January and February surrounding employment and then um our last 1 of the year will be march to April on community involvement Independent Living these are our 3 post-secondary areas that we focus on federally so we invite you to come um we're filling up kind of quickly because we had started this form last spring um but again we can always create more groups if there is a lot of interest so we really welcome anyone um and it's a great opportunity to share again what's going well for you and if something's not going well you can always bring a case study um situation without revealing the student's name and you know any identifiable information and the group will be there to help you it's not just us telling you from a professional perspective it's people who are really in the classroom who have kids who are living that experience um and you don't have to be in a rural community although preference will be given to folks from rural communities if we do get way too full just because again that's our emphasis so um I see that Alan has put our website in the chat I appreciate that I'm going to put the link for the other things are there any questions that anyone has or suggestions just off the top of the head of like this I this is the thing that we're going to need related to transition because I'm again we are we try to be really responsive so if there's something on the top of mind I'm happy to hear it otherwise we can always connect later because I can put my email as well Hillary thank you so much I I will personally add maybe 1 topic it may already be covered but um you know CTE itself as a topic is is a growing thing for us here at the Tennessee School for the Blind on campus where students who attend um and I know 1 of the prevailing discussions or things that I I'm aware of is you know how do you you know work with folks in the community to develop Partnerships or opportunities for students you know who they may for example at csb they may go to TSB but they live in rural Tennessee or just different parts of the state and what does it look like to uh and especially if they you know may not be go to college or maybe they do go to college but ultimately they're looking for a job that potentially puts them back close to home and and so what does that kind of um what what can what can make that a better transition into you know locating or advocating for job opportunities probably I guess I'm saying this from a professional standpoint yeah if we're going to try to seed interest in Employers in in making opportunities for students just just a thought on my my side um I think that's a great idea and it aligns well um there's no research out there around CTE and blindness but we actually myself um Richard and some folks AT AP and then some individuals through the national technical assistance center on transition the collaborative which is intact very long name we um had a joint research partnership this past year where we interviewed um teachers across the country who had students who were blind involved in CTE to understand like what's working well and what's not um and a lot of the folks um came from schools for the blind so we're actually pulling that data now because we did a survey and then interviewed follow-up um and so we haven't published it yet but that's I'm glad that that's where you're thinking because we can put that in there we'll combine that information possible thank you yeah can I sorry last thing that I realized I did not share and Katrina will be very sad with me if I don't because she's put a lot of work into this um in our online courses I did not talk about the family ones I think these are incredibly valuable if you have families that are looking for information we have 1 that we just published called Dignity of risk it's a little bit unique to our other courses and it's great because I was looking at the Tennessee Viva um topics and I see that someone's going to be talking about learned helplessness and these 2 Concepts really aligned with 1 another um but we have the voices of parents of blind and low vision youth as well as blind and low vision adults some of who work in Tennessee um talking about their experience growing up and the importance of letting kids take risks um it's incredibly powerful because again it's it's unlike our other courses where we're sharing kind of professional opinion it's almost entirely their voices um and so yeah I just I think we're really proud of this um and I would encourage you to watch it it's it is about blindness but I would it's not really not blind a specific it's just about like students with disabilities and letting them have the opportunity to take risk because that's what it is to be human so um I encourage you to share that with families especially as we're starting a new year of like thinking about what is risk mean letting kids fail safely um and building them back up as they're on this journey to adulthood all right thanks so much Hillary yeah thank you guys for sharing the website giving us a little walk through um definitely loving how you know well-developed it is jealous of the oep money the precious oep money and um don't laugh let's see yeah absolutely and so why don't we now uh change gears we will get into um sharing what we have ahead with uh Viva and so I'm going to share that link again oh actually before I get started uh for those who are here that did anticipate requesting a certificate for being here today um the link was provided I did not give an open code and so the opening code for that is year ye are okay so just kind of write that down and I will um just State this right now we are unable to offer a CVR up credit at this time just because how we get approved to do that with acvrep um we're still in the process of renewing that and so um unfortunately just at this moment um I can't I can't offer that so please just select a certificate of attendance um all right so the link I dropped in the chat will take you to the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center website and I'm going to share um my screen where I've got that pulled up all right and do you guys all see that yes all right and so this is where you'll get taken for the most part is our landing page at vkc you'll see a description of Tennessee Viva um things of that nature and then notice on the right there is a graphic with a link as well to the PDF which will take you to a flyer for um this fall semester it will be updated on the fly so check back routinely to see if anything's been added um because like um Rachel mentioned we are still trying to finalize a couple of topics so you might see some things specifically late fall uh pop up on the calendar if we can get those um hammered out um so this PDF please do share it with those who could be interested um and otherwise um let's give this a run through I'm going to use my Ctrl scroll up or Control Plus shortcut to give you a better View um all right so today this is happening uh the kickoff and rcdi welcome back um we're doing that so I'm not gonna I'm gonna skip that now all right and so later in uh while mid-september look out for the first Cove Gathering of the year so Cove stands for Consortium of vision Educators this is really where we'd like to gather as tvis and and folks who are doing this work um on Ms of course welcome and um we just want to be able to be open and and transparent and share out what what we're seeing and feeling uh from the you know from our work with students do we have uh areas where we need support others can provide that support or insights um we probably have a lot more shared experiences that we realize especially when we're talking about things like uh TCAP testing the accommodations and navigating all that and so notably what we're currently planning to cover are some conversation topics surrounding testing for our students um as well as the crucial bit about functional vision and learning media assessments right um including DCC component what's in your kit what do you really like to use um as you're as evaluating students because of course this is our you know our foundational evaluation our work that we alone can do as a you know certified CVI and it guides everything about what it everything of what we do with our kids right and so um you know feel please plan to join us and share out what you love to use and we'll try to you know you know walk through the various components of of this that from of course charts and Acuity and um various sized objects and what that can represent for us and um you know I think it could be a really good conversation um feel free to send in and share topics that you think you'd like to bring up uh at that meeting and we will certainly see about putting that on the agenda um we not just FYI for those who are new to Viva and Cove we do not record Cove sessions just we can have uh more of a Frank or open discussion without worrying about our uh our strong feelings being immortalized in video recording um later in September though um we will have a session um titled identity and developmental considerations when assisting individuals with visual impairments and Rachel do you want to just speak up a little bit about kind of the where where this came from because um I think our our speaker uh Activia Palmer is a more of a connection for you and I'd love to for you to share out a little more about that yeah um so Activia Palmer is a um I'm gonna get the the exact credentials wrong but she is a certified um Voc Rehab counselor uh she works in the Pro um in the Smyrna Center um she herself has occupant albinism and does a phenomenal presentation about the intersectionality of identity and developmental considerations um I know this in the title but she weaves them together very well when thinking about how we're working with either children with visual impairments and disabilities or adults um and so she you know she its um she does a very nice job of of weaving the intersectionality of these considerations and how we can as professionals best support our students um as they are growing um yeah all right and so you know and my my eyes drawn to words I don't understand like biocos social and so how can you not uh nerd out and want to find out more um so please join us then um this will be 11:00 am to noon Central and um and then to clarify anything that's not a Cove Gathering is typically recorded so just know that if you can't make exact times we will um typically have sessions recorded and they will then be available on tsb's website and also show you that page um shortly um all right so uh from September 23rd we're going to jump towards October 3rd where we will have a session titled access for all differentiated instruction for complex Learners with visual impairments um and this session will be taught by Melissa Hawkins who's a teacher here at TSB um Melissa is a fantastic uh tvi in classroom you know special education teacher um for uh some of the youngest students we have have at csb and so she has kind of like a blended classroom of students with complex needs as well as those who may just have a visual impairment um and so it is really uh she is 1 of the best people you could hear from in terms of how do you juggle all that um and how do you ensure that um you are taking what you want to teach and making it individually uh and appropriate and differentiated for your students um anything else Rachel on that yeah just to clarify her session is really going to be about um uh because she does focus on students with uh complex and significant disabilities who also have visual impairments I know she'll be talking about tangible AAC and how to use um communication symbols as well as um she's in she just really excellent behavior management strategies as well so she's going to share some of that I think thanks all right all right jumping from October 3 to um October 21st we will have an evening uh discussion panel with some college students as well as um a vocational rehabilitation counselor I think or coordinator for them um and so this is really cool so we have 2 students who uh respectively attend Lipscomb University and um MTSU Middle Tennessee State and they're going to just share out various experiences they'll be opportunity to ask them questions um and you know this can be 1 of those powerful things for families to attend um ourselves as professionals to attend so we can get those perspectives and kind of understand what it may be that our students will be experiencing when they reach that point in educational careers so please look out for that and especially if you have the right uh families and students in mind please share out with them about that opportunity we specifically schedule those topics in the evenings uh to hopefully cater better to those families all right and then right away the next day um I I think that's right yeah so right away in the next day during day time um we have a topic on learned helplessness okay this is um presented by Jay Humphries who is also a teacher at csb um J is a fantastic teacher in his own right and and has a really good way of capturing um or describing how learned helplessness manifests uh in in students um including some really powerful um personal experiences that he can share out from his students that he's had at csb and so if this is something that you feel like any of your students seem to uh struggle with or um it is present in some form due to a who who knows what kind of Reason um we do invite you to join us all right just note the unique kind of scheduling uh time frame there be because of um fitting it into Jay's daily schedule all right and from there we're going to jump into November all right where on November 13th uh 11 mm we have a pretty cool uh session planned where um Max Evano who's in at specialist at the California School for the Blind um he will present on their screen reader training website which you can look up today if you look up CS bsrt or screen reader training website you'll you'll find that and if someone can you know look that up and put in the chat that probably be best um but I've I've heard Max talked about this before and invited him to just share out a session about it for us that can be recorded because it's a really great um resource in terms of uh something we can explore with our students to learn how to use nearly any screen reader that's out there including you know from from your jaws on Windows and PDA on Windows to your voiceover on Apple devices all the way to even chromevox which GMO GMO box but you know it it's they're they're to their credit they they've built it out that way and there's even a portal where they have some games uh is my understanding and so um know that this is a resource that you can use with students if they are at that point of needing to develop their screen reader skills so I'm looking forward to that 1 as well um we currently have a break from there all the way into January but just uh putting it out there um in November for those who know and don't know the specific dates of Tennessee school for the blinds Unity conference which is an in-person conference and we hold it annually and as always the week before Thanksgiving so this year that falls on November 20th and 21st so if you guys would um you know write those dates down we are going to try to get information out uh sooner than usual just so everyone can start planning we invite all of you guys here with us today to you know join us for that uh Gathering of folks from the field um a variety of sessions are always you know on hand with you know if things from your standard presentations opportunities to uh see the latest products that are out there in the field um as well as to get Hands-On opportunities um in in those learning activities so um pencil in November 20th and 21st uh and and stay tuned for more information about that but looking ahead into January in the new year uh we will have our uh spring oops our spring gathering for Cove uh more topics to be determined uh closer to time um that'll be on January 16th Friday and then also in January with a date TBD we will have a session um that will Center on the Inspire Academy which the new summer program that we um put together um at at csb this June for the first time and it is Catered towards high school students Rising Juniors and seniors who are generally on a college track okay and have have have kind of a requisite academic skill set and and really you know put them through a variety of experiences learning opportunities uh that can really push them a little bit in terms of the feeling out their Readiness along a number of domains um so that we can we can help them and their families and Educators uh you know identify areas that they may need still need to develop um I wonder let's see Susan if you're still with us I know you might not have realized I was going to bring this up but do you want to speak a little bit about inspire thanks Alan for this the surprise appreciate that um Inspire was um a concept for a number of years and um this past June we were able to put that year of planning and dreaming um into to reality we had um 10 students attend um from all across the state not all were students who um attend TSB regularly we had public school students and some who um attend TS be but all were academically um focused on getting ready for college and so um we have some some cute little end of the week video um I asked them to say what they um enjoyed most and give advice to next year's Inspire students so we have some little Clips like that that we're going to be able to share out um but basically um for me it was um as I knew it would be very empowering for the students to not feel alone and to work on things that they knew maybe were expected of them but they weren't quite sure how to navigate um they learn very quick that they were going to have to self Advocate and ask for assistance um but I think all of them left having been challenged um physically mentally and um they Rose to that challenge they were met with support and um they left with a timeline for what they needed to work on their junior year if they were Juniors and what they needed to do their senior year if they were seniors so overall it was highly successful and and um I'm sure they went home and slept for 2 or 3 days because I know all of the instructors did so it was great yeah thank you Susan and just so you guys know Susan and actually a couple other people who are here today let's see the Amanda um we have they're they're all part of our TSB Outreach team who really led the charge on um pulling off and Inspire I gave them all the credit in you know organizing and all that for the programming and um you know just working Hands-On sometimes hands-off quite intentionally with the students and and challenging them like Susan described um I'll share a couple things that I remember and if anyone else wants to chime please do we are just so excited about inspire you know later in the week we had a culminating moment where early early in this week our in in the week students have been tasked with researching um recipes they they literally use their phone or whatever device they want to use to pull up recipes that they were interested in in cooking I think it they were guided with just the parameter of its a pasta dish it's something like that and um but not only did they research it they were taken out to shop for the ingredients for it and then they ultimately cooked it right like some of these students I'd probably say the vast majority had never done steps 1 2 and 3 from beginning to end uh for for something like that and and I'll never forget now um 1 of the students during the kind of they had a potluck essentially they were all sharing off their food um and 1 of the girls was you know um congratulated or or she was given kudos for the pasta cooked and and and she said thanks you know but the chicken was a little dry you know and you know what does that tell you like she she really was invested and she kind of picked that out and and for herself she's going to do something different uh the next time she cooks pasta for herself right or you know this this this this meal and and those are those powerful moments the little things where they're literally getting to do a thing that um they can build off of and it informs them for that Independent Living um experience um I don't know Amanda I I also remember something that uh you had gone through with a student with um getting on escalators for the first time like terrified like do you want to share briefly about that so 1 of the things we want to do and Inspire is just make sure that we're increasing the child's Independence and showing them everything that they can do independently and that might be also getting over some of their fears and we don't want any kid to um you know leave high school and not be able to travel independently and there were a couple kids who had mentioned on their application that they were terrified of escalators so wanted to go through that desensitization process um you know through the orientation Mobility skills in order to help them get over that fear and they did a great job they definitely hit that first step and it will be easier next time yeah thanks so much it's just um yeah so just I hope some of these examples are kind of getting you guys excited if you guys have um students who are approaching that that time frame in high school just keep keep this program in mind we will get you know round 2 of applications for the coming summer um out uh right around that January February time frame uh and we're we're just so excited to continue this as a as a service for um students to be able to participate in and uh um you have that powerful experience um and last 1 actually another thing comes to mind that I really want to um touch on it was funny we went to a sounds game and uh our staff went above what I would have asked because because sometimes I just I'm like I don't know about that they they they sent digital tickets to the kids and I'm like I can't figure out digital tickets the way they do this stuff now but we send them to the kids they're individual phones well what what happened with 1 of the kids the 1 of kids on the way to the to the stadium okay in our vans she's gaming or doing whatever on her phone and her battery dies and what what does not happen when you need to access your your ticket uh your phone does not charge quickly and uh you know how do you confirm the details of you know getting into whatever it is to access those digital tickets and so a learning experience on maybe we should keep track of where our our phone's battery level is so that uh we've got enough to use the phone for crucial you know crucial um tasks right so uh we got that sorted out which involved talking to customer service um which is all also a thing that you have to be ready to do and ask for help with and so um that also stood out as something as I remember but again making making a little bit of a spotlight here on Inspire and so we hope you'll join us for that program and look out for more information um coming up soon um all right so that's the that's what we've got from here till um January like I said there may be another uh session that we line up uh that fits into the fall but I hope you guys are excited for that and again if there are topics specific topics too that that you feel like you need more support in please let us know 1 way or another we we we think we can um arrange those kinds of experiences through Vive or potentially other formats okay I'm gonna take a deep breath um let's see what we got uh now we're going to go into some some a variety of updates um I'm going to give you 1 just kind of um 1 thing I have as as Vision Educators tvi's onm oftentimes we have to get our reports and in Tennessee a lot of our folks go to Vanderbilts right uh certainly something that I had heard we've heard for a while is it's really hard to get you know a visit reports and I reports uh from them uh I recently had had a gotten in connection with 1 of the doctors there Dr laurian Keeler she's part of the um project pave program as well as Vanderbilt Institute um and so she recommended uh that we try she gave me some specific guidance and so for those of you who think this could be helpful for you please get ready to take some notes um but I have a fax number that I'm going to share with you guys and she she just said this is the number you should use if you asking for um School vision reports okay and so that fax number is 615 936 and 1540 guys 615 936 1540 and that's again to request School vision reports and along with you know with your facts uh please uh they they wanted to for you to include the students full name as well as date of birth uh with that request and hopefully um please report back if this works out um hopefully this is a more reliable um way of getting um you know the the important information back for either student referrals or you know updates um on that annual or you know once in a while basis um I I know certainly some people go round and round with you know records and then you get like a essential like a massive file folder for the entire entire medical history like that's not what I asked for I just needed an eye report so please report back if this works um so I can share with her um but I'm passing this along with all of you guys all right a fax number and spec specifically this is for the Vanderbilt Eye Institute so if the suit's going anywhere else this is of course not going to work okay um all right now I have a question so this will need some participation for you guys um we uh Rachel and I this last year um Tiana can someone put that number in the chat I will do that right now 615 9361540 fax number okay provide full name and dob all right to request School vision report okay um so uh Rachel and I uh this last year had the the privilege we've we had served on a um committee to examine um Vision eligibility criteria for for Tennessee that it kind of came up for in the rotation for what CDE was ready for and I can't really speak too much to those efforts um it's it's in the process we finish with our test Force work and um it's in their hands now and at some point we all as a field will get to review their final recommendations or what they think they're going to do and provide public comment look out for that um but along with those efforts um I I had an opportunity to take a look at the long-standing but maybe not perfect uh blank Tennessee I report form you know little problematic when it begins by saying our report for children with visual problem vision problems and so um I have a draft from that that you know it's not going to hurt anybody but we may be able to just take what I shared with tdoe and make a version that we can just informally use on our own if people would be interested um I can I can um you know prepare that for some dissemination or I might just call it like a you know document that you guys can use on you're on if if interested is that something that might be interested interesting to you guys because um I've heard from both uh medical providers as well as TBI is that they would really like to see some changes to the um current official uh State our report form let me see if I can pull it up and give you guys a a look see okay Alicia says she had done her own um a couple years ago shared out with some folks that's good you know no 1's telling you you have to use to say our port form but official you know our goal is to get to something that is a little higher quality um from the state side um but then in the meantime um it will um could be good to have something out there so let me let me uh share this with you guys yeah please do share it Alicia um here we go all right so I'm just gonna share my screen and then you guys tell me should just be a single document is that sound about right okay so I've just called it here I examination report form eventually it'd be nice to have something just be a new official Tennessee our examination report form and it just goes over a little bit of you know what this is for because typically as tvis you know you know uh we have to explain ourselves to to ophthalmologists and those folks and so a couple statements on what this is all about um basically basic details um for capturing ocular history you know visual Acuity um you know visual performance descriptors if uh Acuity is not available um visual field uh things of that nature um as well as common um things that we look out for like photophobia color vision issues uh issues with the eye um things like that uh going into clear statements from those doctors on what their their impressions of prognosis are um recommendations for treatments uh and any you know some open-ended space as well in a clear way for them to send it back to us and so I modeled this off of Texas's inter agency I report form which is a pretty good document and just tried to take it a little bit to the um next level um there was a little bit review that was done by uh 2 different um actually 3 different uh opthalmologist so there's a bit of feedback that's gone into what I just shared with you and so if you guys would be interested like I said I'm probably gonna work towards um having something that's sharable uh to the field here in Tennessee um all right uh any questions at this point all right it's 1:27 um we're going to try to get us to the end here we're scheduled to go till 2:00 um and I and I really at this point only have some updates uh for what's going on here at TSB and what's going on with the resource center uh which of course falls under um yeah thank thanks Alicia good to see you um all right so some cool new things going on at csb it just kind of share you know um we had 11 new students start with us which is really exciting and you know pridefully you know the admissions process has as I think taken a taken a step forward in terms of uh being a little clearer for families um I can't always guarantee it's going to be a quick process but we try to make it clearer for families and school District so there's no frustration at least and it's very clear where we stand and what we need to have happen um if you ever have questions about potential admissions um please reach out to me directly and I would be happy to um walk you through you know where given situation um but just all as always you know we just want to make sure that we are honoring the lre process so that from District standpoints that you are you feel like you have you know done your due diligence and um appropriately meeting a student's needs but ultimately you know we we love to you know it's good to talk through the the fundamental why of why we're looking at TSB um for for a given students um a couple other things about CSP we have a new principal for this uh school year her name is Miss Jamie Ballard she is from uh um Texas outside Houston um and she so far has brought a a tremendous level of leadership to to the school we're excited for what she's going to bring and um uh so just kind of stay tuned for anything that um you know she might be able to um you know bring bring to TSB but certainly I think um we're off to a great start along with that um I'm excited for the the PD that we will be offering outside of Leyva even we have a new staff member at csb um her name is Casey Sloan who is a longtime tvi here in Tennessee uh she's serving in a role that's titled tvi instructional specialist uh she works uh in the capacity of just supporting our classroom teachers in terms of vision practices it's a really cool thing that um I was proud to to you know help bring about and um but look look for her in terms of um working with me on some professional developments that we may be able to hold in person here at csb throughout the school year um and then selfishly I was just kind of post for you guys that there's an at specialist position available at TSB it's part of the puzzle in terms of how we can best meet our our students needs and so um spread the word if you know someone who's really good at at who might be interested um you know we're looking for a good candidates for that position um all right uh let's see last thing with TSP specifically um our outreach program I I kind of introduced several of those folks to to you earlier um we have 6 6 folks on our team uh spread across Tennessee um we're fully staffed for the first time in 2 years and I'll just kind of share out their names with you and name out their rough regions um we have a west region which is our region 1 which is Amanda Perez who you heard from earlier um man it's fantastic sea Region 2 is what I we've called South Central um roughly aligns with the the core region South Central and that's Patrick Rich um who's also a fantastic uh tvi onm um let's see we've got our Region 3 which I've called upper mid which is pretty much uh anywhere from say Henry County to Ventress County um and a little bit down I24 that's Wendy Morrison um we have a Southeast region Region 4 Alicia Davidson she's on here I think or was at 1 Point um and so she's new to our team which is uh which we are so glad for uh she's fantastic got a got a got a running theme here alright fantastic folks um Susan you heard from um is in East Tennessee um and Susan's uh region is I I called called it the lower east region 5 uh so you know generally um around in south of not and uh and our last region region 6 I've called upper east and that's Allison Conway who's been with our team um a long long time as well and so just so you know those names and from time to time if you're in a given region I'm hoping that our team will develop connections with you so that um you just know that you have an additional uh you know strong professional in the field that you can um contact for thoughts and ideas and and if we want to get formal you can request cons consultations and other supports uh so that you know we can just collectively uh grow our capacity as a field in Tennessee you know my if I've if I've got any overarching Visions um for the state it's a student could move almost anywhere in Tennessee and get a really high quality of Education all right so we're here to support each other 1 way or another um and ensure that you know kids get the best and that they have great outcomes um all right so that's TSB updates uh I'm gonna shift gears to the resource center for the visually impaired which for those who know and or may not know uh the resource center is the accessible instructional material Center here in Tennessee and so for for sure if you have an IEP with certain accommodations for large print or Braille textbooks and have that instructional need you can get those things from us uh you can also for students who are eligible really all students at this point are eligible um the federal quota program is unique to our field and pretty much allows all students with IEPs with vision eligibility on it to have products from AP ordered for them and that again goes through us and we we have a great budget for that every year thanks to a strong census process and so I would tell you guys right now we're in that spend down phase of the federal quota census and so if your student need anything please go ahead and order it and we we will probably we will pretty much get it for you you know even if it's a a you know couple couple couple or 3 or you know the quantity is more than 1 uh I can probably do that unless it's really expensive and so please know that never feel hesitant about ordering something from uh from us uh especially on that AP bonus has been a great you know they've been very responsible with their ordering in the past and and frankly we just are in this really sweet really sweet spot in terms of being able to provide whatever uh whatever y'all need so please um I hesitate to say this but border liberally for your kids um and and typically unless it's you're asking for you know 2 magnifying um I won't really push back you won't hear from us okay so just spread that spread that word with your teams and with the TV guys around you um please look up the catalog which is on 8 Pages website and share that with um classroom teachers special Educators um for your kids who are eligible uh because these are great products um by and far most of them and and they may see something that catches their eye uh and so share it out there please let them know that the catalog is searchable it's a PDF so if they use Ctrl f a little search bar will show up they can type in keywords for you know their their subject that they teach and um you know have them um you know tell you what they're interested in ordering and ultimately if you have questions about that process you can reach out to me but at this point we've done a little bit of restructuring at the resource center so Deanna Rivera who many of you may know um and already heard from I'm going to type her information into the chat um TSB tigers.org Diana is our office manager at the resource center she is going to be really the the best point person moving forward if you have questions about um large print ordering Braille book ordering as well as AP ordering okay and so um if you'd like so know anything about that she will take care of you if you don't know who is allowed to order or for some reason you can't remember your password and you're having issues resetting it she is the best person to go straight to and she will take care of you all right so just know that about all things ordering and again with Federal quota we are um in the um writing that period where we need to start making sure we get our money spent down and there's plenty of money remaining currently in the public account which just about all of you guys would be ordering from and so um this this you know frankly goes all the way to the embossers you can get from AP to magnifiers to you know the large print bold line notebooks um if you need more Braille paper um just you know reach out and we'll we'll make it happen for you guys all right um some other things that I just put up on your radar to look out for this coming school year I hope I haven't talked about this too many years in a row but you know again with some um Personnel restructuring and other other um uh adjustments in terms of who does what I am really excited to hopefully grow into a place where increasingly you can reach out to us at the Resource Center for technical assistance all right um Lori just quick question can we get a a smart brailler uh we can get you smart brahlers as long as they're available from aph we can we can get them and and certainly if something you have already is technology and it has to be repaired um we can get you a working 1 right away and then handle your repair on our end so just know that that's something we can do for you so let us know if that's something you got a need for absolutely okay um going back to technical assistance um I've got a couple staff that you know I'm positioning to be Point people on uh certain kinds of technical assistance and so specifically that is um if you are a Jaws user or have students who are jaws users and perhaps you're in or screen readers I should really say and if you're in the middle of something or an activity and you run into a roadblock um I've got some staff members who could probably help you out um I I some staff who are full-time screen reader users and they're quite good at what they do and um I've been I've been empowering them to really formalize their skill set in terms of understanding all the different features in these uh programs uh to include uh the interfacing with uh refreshable Braille displays and so if you run into some specific issues in a given moment during the lesson um look out for some information on how to call in and get what what the what some would call just in time support or on demand PD or that kind of thing um because I think that's something that hopefully can reduce downtime um in in a perfect world you know quickly point out uh features that you may not be aware of and you know get you back on back on track on your way uh within your lesson so look out for that exciting information for um uh screen reader users uh refreshable Braille displays um and then also anything that you get from the resource center especially a pH that's non-visual okay um we can typically Provide support for that as well so that might include uh say there's a device from AP called the poly which is a great Braille instructional tool if you're having issues for some reason poly or can't set up an account uh with the related uh app or service um we we'll we'll be you'll be able to reach out and I can connect you with my staff member who's really good at that who can get in there update the Wi-Fi you know get it all fully updated that kind of thing um so things of that nature we'll get a list of those products out there that if you have issues you can call in just to get some troubleshooting assistance um let's see and similarly if it's all things a um reach out to uh to us as well um I I hold a can of certification I don't know how much that's worth um but I I feel quite comfortable helping folks work through the troubles that they might have going on and so um you know know that you have a place you can go with questions at least as a first line of um what do I do here am I missing something all right um I've mentioned that through um some of our other staff like Miss Sloane joining us here tsp look for in-person PD for those specifically Hands-On opportunities to be offered uh and then last thing I would say is also we're going to be trying to implement some regular opportunities uh for um Braille lists together and develop a work group so that in terms of their unique um skill sets they're able to share out their tips and tricks um the softwares and Equipment they use um to to produce materials for for their students so I know some of our larger districts and and some of our not so large districts have brailles staff or staff who are who essentially have that skill set um we're gonna we're going to look to make those in-person or virtual Gatherings possible so that we have you know great practices shared out um and then real benefit everybody collectively so what we may be able to do here at csb we can share out strategies and software across the state but I'm pretty sure there's things that folks are doing not at TSB so I would love to see brought into our our teachers and staffs um skill sets so um look out for that information as well um all right at this time I think that's everything I came here to cover um we've we've done a lot here uh giving you a heads up on what's going to be happening with Leyva uh some updates with TSP the resource center um cool updates from empowering V uh Vanderbilts anything that needs to be asked or um Rachel anything that you would like to uh share about the Vandy program uh this is our time everybody as we wrap up these last few minutes before we uh um end the session um yeah I guess just a little plug um that now that our program has grown to have students all over the state we need Mentor teachers all over the state too um so I'll put my email in the chat again um the state does have some um guideline requirements for who can qualify as a mentor teacher um essentially the the highlights are as your district has to agree to it we need a contract between your district and Vanderbilt um you need to have at least be in at least your third year as a certified tvi and um your administrator needs to approve you um and they just need to verify that you have at least 3s on your team's forms or teams emails um like I said we do need mentors literally all over Tennessee and so um I am uh getting to know a network more and more tvis over the last year but I don't know everyone and also some people move or you might be new to the and so um please feel free like this I'll put my email in the chat again in a second um but feel free to reach out to me directly if you have interest in being a mentor um it might be that your mentee comes and observes and teaches with you in your District or now that we have this option for our second-year students to be provisionally endorsed um it could be a good setup where you are just a mentor resource to a tvi in another District um or a beginning TV in another District because we know there's a even though we are all in this together there's a lot of wtvi who are the only tvi in their district and we need mentors for those folks too so I think that's the key thing I wanted to share and then um that's just yeah open questions from anyone else um for Allen or myself about as we start the school year in the chat I just put the uh uh Certificate request Link in there also some opportunity to provide additional input um and then for those who would like a closing code to request a certificate that closing code is ahead and um these these surveys are really helpful not just for you to get your certificate um but we ask you to evaluate the session uh we're in the process of um I'm applying for grant funding to try and get us a budget so we can pay speakers and recruit people from all over the country to talk to us the data we get and like your evaluation or your score of the surveys is actually something we really care about and use because we can help use the quotes that you share if this is impactful or helpful for you we can use that information to justify why a private Foundation would want to fund us um because we want to keep providing this opportunity to everyone all right with that I'm going to stop recording

7:23 LEA Instructions for Completing Federal Quota Census Updates Featured
All LEAs with students who are registered with the RCVI should following the steps described in this video to complete student account updates for the annual Federal Quota Program census. Questions may be directed to [email protected] or [email protected]
Uploaded Dec 10, 2025
1:00:31 Bioptic Driving – Adult Perspectives & Tennessee Requirements (Panel Discussion)
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
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
56:27 Social Emotional Learning & Crisis Support for Visually Impaired Students
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.
Uploaded Sep 07, 2021
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

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