It is time for a few teachable moments!  What is a teachable moment?  It is a short (4 minutes) recording on a specific teaching strategy that is easily adaptable into the classroom.  Today we will be listening to 5 teachable moments on adapting books for children with visual impairments. Want to see what these look like in person?  Not to worry, here are the links so you can view the video when you have time. 

Shape surprise

The Tiny Seed

Polar Bear

Supermarket Book

What's for lunch

Click here for an accessible transcript of this episode on the Perkins eLearning website.

Did you know you can teach a child about the beach using a plastic or paper plate, some card stock, and a few pom poms?  Enter Gwyn McCormack, founder of Positive Eye.  Gwyn has been using her visionary skills for the past 12 years to educate children, in a very creative and fun way.  In this podcast, she will provide many teaching ideas, most using items found around the home or in a craft store.  She will also share with us a few exciting projects she is working on to help facilitate a child's learning in a new way.  

Dr. Jan van Dijk of the Netherlands, was an international leader with more than 50 years of experience in the field of deafblindness. In this podcast, he shares his expertise on child-guided assessment. Dr. van Dijk assessed children by observing and following their movements, emotions and interest to gain insight into each child’s learning process. His child-guided method of assessing is recognized and used throughout the world.

Click here for an accessible transcript of this episode on the Perkins eLearning website

In this weeks podcast we are airing a reboot of one of our webcasts.  The webcast, Charge Syndrome an overview is brought to us by Pam Ryan.  During this webcast Pam will discuss the features of charge, medical complications, and how this syndrome can effect a child's learning.

 Click here for an accessible transcript of this episode on the Perkins eLearning website

This is part 1 of 4 in our college success series.  Leslie Thatcher and Kate Katulak are here to discuss what can help someone with a vision impairment get ready for college.  This can start early on in the students life with learning braille and finding out what type of assistive technology method(s) will be useful for the student to succeed in their classes.  What else does it mean to get ready for the transition to college, and what else should be on their "to-do" lists?  Lets find out.

Click here for an accessible transcript of this episode on the Perkins eLearning website

"The most important part of science is not so much being able to answer questions correctly on a test or knowing who discovered what. It's being able to become a problem solver and a thinker and develop critical thinking." - Kate Fraser.  

Please enjoy this webcast reboot of "Accessible Science for Students with Visual Impairment"  during this podcast we will virtually enter the classroom with Kate Fraser, and discover how she teaches her students about topics in science.

Click here for an accessible transcript of this episode on the Perkins eLearning website

Rachel Bennett is a mom to Clara and Henry.  She is a busy mom, balancing her work and home life.  Bringing the kids to their various appointments, play dates, school, etc.  She is also learning as much as she can about Henry's CVI diagnosis and doing everything she can to advocate for him (and others) and teach him how best to use his vision.  This amazing woman came to talk with me, and we had a great conversation. 

Click here for an accessible transcript of this episode on the Perkins eLearning website

Diana Autin offers deafblindness guidance based on Educational Service Guidelines that were developed by New Jersey's Statewide Parent Advocacy Network (SPAN). Guides include fact sheets, mini-guides and an IEP Meeting Checklist. Educators can use these guidelines to understand the implications of combined vision and hearing loss on learning, and to recognize the need for specialized assessment, program planning and service delivery. 

Click here for an accessible transcript of this episode on the Perkins eLearning website

As children with CVI enter phase II, two functions are improving.

Click here for an accessibly transcript of this episode on the Perkins eLearning website

As young adults are transitioning to college, there are many unknowns for the student.  What is the best school? How will they find classes? Will they make friends?  For many, this might be their first time out on their own.  First time they had to figure out where to eat, or even how to do their laundry.  This can be intimidating for any young adult.

We will be talking with Kate Katulak and Leslie Thatcher about transitioning.  They will be presenting some tips and thought pauses on how this process to transition can be a smooth one.  I am also excited to tell you this will be a 4-part series.

Click here for an accessible transcript of this episode on the Perkins eLearning website