IPad 3 Contest by WonderBaby & Perkins School for the Blind

WonderBaby.org, a website dedicated to supporting parents and caregivers of children who are blind or visually impaired.

Perkins purchased WonderBaby.org last year, and it is now part of our family of online resources. To celebrate this partnership, WonderBaby and Perkins are giving away a NEW iPad (plus some amazing accessories) to one special winner!

This contest is being sponsored by Perkins, AbleNet, RJ Cooper and Inclusive Technology and they have all donated wonderful items to our giveaway.

Here's what one lucky person will win:

*The NEW iPad (iPad 3) donated by Perkins School for the Blind

*A virtually indestructible GumDrop iPad Case

*The RadSounds switch-ready music app donated by RJ Cooper plus an RJ Cooper switch interface

*A Blue2 Bluetooth Switch for use with switch-activated apps donated by AbleNet

*Two fun switch-ready apps, Smarty Pants & Five Sharks Swimming, donated by Inclusive Technology

This is the perfect package for a child with special needs who wants to get started with the iPad!

This contest is open to anyone, including all Perkins staff and any children or families you may work with. Feel free to enter (by clicking the link below) or tell others about this giveaway.

For more information about the giveaway, please visit:

http://www.wonderbaby.org/articles/ipad-giveaway

This giveaway will end on May 11th at midnight.

GSAP AT IDEAS 2012!!

GSAP is sponsoring 2 training opportunities at the IDEAS Conference June 4-7 at Epworth by the Sea on St. Simons Island. 

http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Special-Education-Services/Pages/IDEAS-Conference.aspx

Both sessions will be led by Linda Alsop, Director of of Deafblind Programs at Utah State University and Project Sparkle.  

A preconference session titled: “Effective Intervention for Students who are Deafblind” will be offered on Monday, June 4^th from 8:00 am – 11:45 am.  This session will cover the impact a combined vision and hearing loss on development, communication, and socialization and effective strategies for instructing these children, including the use of interveners.   An intervener is a staff person, trained in deafblindness, who provides individual support to a student who has a combination of a vision impairment with a hearing impairment that affects the way he or she is able to access information and function in the educational environment.

GSAP is sponsoring this preconference session at no cost to participants.  To have registration waived, enter the GSAP promotion code on your registration form.  The promotion code is GSAP01.

Our second training opportunity will be an intensive training looking more closely at the unique needs of students who are deafblind and strategies teams can use to build communication, provide information and establish a bond of trust with a student who is deafblind. This training will begin on Monday, June 4^th 3:00-4:30 pm and continue on Tuesday from 8:00-4:30 and Wednesday from 8:00-2:30.  The training is designed for teams focused on a student who is deafblind and will involve team planning for that student around the strategies presented.

Registration for the conference is $75.00. Some school districts have funding available. Some assistance with the registration fee may be available from GSAP on a first come, first served basis.  Please contact Deborah Fields-Harris fields-harrisd@comcast.net to inquire about registration assistance.

 

What is an Intervener?

http://intervener.org/

What is an Intervener?

An Intervener is a person who:

• Works consistently one-to-one with an individual who is deafblind
• Has training and specialized skills in deafblindness

An intervener provides a bridge to the world for the student who is deafblind. The intervener helps the student gather information, learn concepts and skills, develop communication and language, and establish relationships that lead to greater independence. The intervener is a support person who does with, not for the student. Specialized training is needed to become an effective intervener. Training should address a wide range of topics necessary to understanding the nature and impact of deafblindness, the role of the intervener, and appropriate educational strategies to work with students with combined vision and hearing loss (Alsop, Killoran, Robinson, Durkel, & Prouty, 2004; McGinnes, 1986; Robinson et al., 2000).

REMINDER:THIS WEEKEND!!! Georgia PINES/GSAPFAMILY WORKSHOP

26th Annual GaPINES GSAP Family Workshop
Keynote: Donna Patterson - "Sensory Loss & Parent Emotions"

Saturday, March 24 at the Atlanta Area School for the Deaf -- FREE
Sibshop! Childcare! Come out to learn & share!  SPACE STILL AVAILABLE!!

Click below for registration & information:
http://familyworkshop.gapines.info/atlantaagenda.pdf

http://familyworkshop.gapines.info/Add.asp

Usher Syndrome Research Update

From Bill Kimberling:

As you may know, since the mid 1980s, I have been involved in research on Usher syndrome. Many of you have participated in this research by donating blood and giving generously of your time to make our Usher research successful. For that, I thank you.

 I would like to re-establish contact with anyone who has participated in my research for several reasons: 1) We want to bring all the data up to date  - that will be extremely useful.   2) We want to create a list of potential participants for clinical trials coming up in the near future.

I would like to encourage all those who participated in Usher research to contact me at bkimberling@gmail.com or phone at 402-290 4721.

Literacy for Children with Combined Vision & Hearing Loss

The “All Children Can Read” website is built on a framework that incorporates stages of literacy development and key components of reading into instructional strategies for children with dual sensory challenges.  The website has been designed to present these strategies in a user-friendly, interactive manner that utilizes existing resources and provides practical examples.


http://literacy.nationaldb.org/

OSEP/NCDB Intervener Initiative

The National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness is seeking volunteers to serve on several panels of individuals who represent the interests of children and families with respect to intervener issues.  These include family members, state deaf-blind project personnel, higher education providers, interveners, and educational administrators.

The estimated time commitment for each panel member is approximately 8 to 10 hours over approximately four weeks (mid-March to mid-April 2012, plus one additional task in May). 

If you would like to volunteer, please send your name, job title or role (e.g., state deaf-blind project coordinator, parent, intervener), and a brief explanation describing why you are interested in serving on the panel to Peggy Malloy at NCDB. 

Deadline: February 15, 2012

 

Peggy Malloy

E-mail: malloyp@wou.edu

Phone: 503-838-8598 (call if you have any questions)

Fax: 503-838-8150

National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness

Teaching Research Institute, Western Oregon University

345 N. Monmouth Ave.

Monmouth, OR  97361