Howe’s
Now
Spring
Issue 2005
INSIDE
THIS ISSUE
Howe’s
Now is a quarterly publication of the Council of Schools for the Blind (COSB)
that recognizes Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe. Samuel Howe was the first Director
of the
Council of Schools for the Blind (COSB)
President
Bill Daugherty
President-Elect
Carmen Grove-Suminski
Secretary/Treasurer
Sally Giittinger
Past President
Marje Kaiser
Board of Directors
Rosie Pridgen
Elaine Sveen
Dianna Jennings
COSB Consultant
Mark Richert
Editor
R. J. Beadles, Jr.
COSB Clips Editor
Beth Caruso
Braille, large print, and diskette copies are available upon request or can be viewed at
Direct correspondence to:
VI RehaB Consulting
Individual opinions and views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily the official position of COSB
or the editor.
On the Front Cover: The digital artwork on
the cover is from a student at the
On the Back Cover: The artwork on the back
cove was painted by Dwayne C,
a student from the
Correction: The artwork on the cover of the
last issue was attributed to a student at the
By Bill Daugherty, Superintendent,
As the education provided to students by COSB schools continues in the endless pursuit of excellence through innovation, collaboration, and the dedication of the remarkable people that work beside us everyday, we have to remain mindful and strategic about the issue of public engagement. Our leadership counterparts in neighboring school districts spend an enormous amount of their available time ensuring that district patrons understand what their schools are doing, and why. Student outcomes and achievements across the curricular and extracurricular programs, student well-being on matters of safety and security, and the ever-present concerns over district resources are in our news media on a daily basis. Public meetings explaining school policies, book selections, the need to open new facilities or close under-utilized ones, are weekly events. What parallels exist in COSB schools, where our patrons are relatively small in number and are often not part of our immediate geographic community?
The 2005 COSB Leadership Institute will attempt to address these issues by looking at the ways that our shareholders—parents, the education community, and public policy makers, to name a few—come to know us. Models of public relations efforts related to our schools’ good works will certainly be on the agenda. However, we will also study various types of programs and services, both campus and outreach-based, that seems to be resonating positively within our states either because they meet an unmet need or because they somehow do the job better than any other model around.
The COSB Board will be calling on you to help us identify examples that will be highlighted at the Institute. It is our plan that we leave the meeting with a notebook of resource models intended to help us better engage our publics through telling our story, or coming up with new programs that will have folks talking about us and how important we are to the overall service delivery system for students with visual impairments. Carmen Suminski, your COSB President-Elect, is working with our board to bring this all together in an event we hope you will find both energizing and useful back on the home front.
We really are doing interesting and important work at our schools, and the lives of the students, teachers, and families we touch on campus and through outreach, are much better off through our efforts. There are many success stories to tell, and thanks to colleagues like Gene McMahon, Robert Beadles and others, we are beginning to compile the evidence on these successes. These are not purely accountability efforts—they actually help us continually improve what we do.
We can also look forward in October to recognizing
some of our best resources through the POSB Awards program, and it is guaranteed
that whoever wins the Bill English Award will be someone who has dedicated
themselves to the principles of positive public engagement and to program
innovation. On behalf of the COSB Board, I wish you a bit of relaxation over
the summer, but there seems to be general agreement that summer ain’t what
is use to be. The upside of that is that June, July and August are now some
of the months where COSB schools do some of their best and most creative work.
We hope the Institute will help you find new ways to keep this fact fresh
in the public mind.
A Curriculum That Works! Or: Working With What Works!
Ann Moore, Director of Instruction,
In the spring of 1999, the
Through the Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (CSRD) grant the school was awarded, staff were able to order initial materials and get busy doing placement testing - with the whole school population. Staff needed to see which students required just a little accelerated remediation and who needed the total curriculum. Based on documented needs, it was decided the school would implement the total DI curriculum including: Reading Mastery (K-6th); DI Language (K-1st); Reasoning & Writing (1st-6th); Spelling Mastery (1at-6th); DI Arithmetic (K); Connecting Math Concepts (1st-6th); and, as needed, Corrective Reading (4th-12th); Morphographic or Corrective Spelling (4th- 12th); and Corrective Math (3rd -12th). This would allow for consistent instruction and cumulative skill development from Kindergarten through 6th grade and beyond.
Additional materials were ordered as students were placed into the various DI programs. Print formats were determined and Large Print or Braille materials were ordered, according to individual needs of students and staff. In the mean time, pilot projects had been going on in a couple of classrooms using the new curriculums for reading (Reading Mastery and Corrective Reading). Small successes were occurring from the very beginning, even without the extensive teacher training recommended by the publishers.
As staff finished with the “placement testing” phase of the implementation, they discovered that not only did lots of students have decoding problems, but many coming into the secondary program could not comprehend orally presented information. This was not just a vision problem but a lack of basic comprehension and vocabulary skills. There were so many documented needs for students in the secondary level that teachers were asked to teach “out of subject area”. That means that the Vocational, Family Life Science, Math, Foreign Language, and others, were being asked to teach reading. Talk about a new learning curve - and in some cases and a whole new paradigm! But, it worked! Students began to learn at a faster rate and retain more information – they were being taught to mastery! They were accelerating their learning and “catching up” faster.
A group of ASB staff members, including the superintendent,
was able to travel to
Many changes have occurred since ASB began using the DI curriculums. We have only a few “remedial” type classes in secondary now (only about 5 students in the initial implementation year did NOT need these types of courses!). ASB still admits new students coming into the upper elementary or the secondary grades who need some extra help, but the various DI programs can provide that help, in an accelerated manner! Many staff who have taught the DI programs, in previous years, now incorporate those successful strategies into other content areas. They are finding that good teaching strategies work in any classroom – not just the actual DI curriculum classes.
We still also get students who have just lost, or are in the process of losing, their vision and need to learn Braille, O & M, adaptive technology, etc. It is often a slower process for these students to initially learn, or keep up with, their academic requirements. But, our test scores are going up, even though our state continues to change requirements with different tests. We know that most standardized tests are very difficult to adapt for blind or visually impaired students. Our state department has been very cooperative in working with us on this issue and we continue to look for better ways of truly showing what our students are learning, and we keep a close eye on the day-to-day mastery level of our students.
However, there are many ways that our students do show their acquisition of skills: they are better and more diverse readers (for academic and for recreational purposes), they are more attentive listeners, they are better at following precise instructions, better able to apply strategies outside the classroom, better able to think, and they are better “behaved” because they are in a structured environment, know what is expected of them and are functioning on their academic level. One more “test” of reading ability is through the Accelerated Reading Program which we use to encourage more “pleasure” reading. Students are constantly meeting the goals set for this program, and some go way beyond those goals. We know the DI curriculum is working!
Our DI Curriculum is correlated to the Arkansas Frameworks (they keep changing those also!); it matches, and actually exceeds, the Reading First initiative; and it certainly embraces the No Child Left Behind philosophy.
We invite visitors to come and see our classrooms and enjoy
the learning that is going on in them - from Pre K to 12th Grade. We are in
the process of developing a “Birth to Three Program” and welcome any ideas,
suggestions or models that you can offer. We are also preparing to open a
Ann Moore, Director of Instruction
(501)296-1810) (Telephone)
amoore@asb.k12.ar.us (Email)
The
A pioneer in field had powerful international impact on services for the visually impaired
A memorial service
for C. Warren Bledsoe, who helped develop the long cane technique for blind
people to use in getting around independently, was held on
Born
While serving in the Army Air Force during World War II,
he was transferred to a special unit at
As the war ended, Bledsoe was charged by Gen. Omar Bradley with transitioning the rehabilitation techniques developed in the Army program to the Veterans Administration. He helped develop the blind rehabilitation center at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Hines, Ill., where he also helped establish the model for current rehabilitation methods for blind people and was appointed Chief of Blind Rehabilitation Services of the V.A. In 1958, he transferred to the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, where he influenced the commitment of federal funding to establish and promote training programs for orientation and mobility specialists.
Before his retirement from HEW in 1976, Bledsoe returned to MSB as a member of its Board of Directors. He served many years as the Secretary of the Board and as chairman of several committees before becoming an emeritus member in 1993.
Through his powerful impact on the field of services to the
visually impaired, Bledsoe received numerous awards including the Alfred Allen
Award presented by the American Association of Workers for the Blind (AAWB)
in 1977, the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and
Visually Impaired’s (AER) Lawrence E. Blaha Award in 1986 and the Ambrose
M. Shotwell Award, AER’s highest award, in 1990. In addition, the American
Printing House for the Blind (APH) honored Bledsoe in 1995 with its Wings
of Freedom Award, and in 2002 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame for Leaders
and Legends in the blindness field which is housed at APH in
Throughout his career, Bledsoe encouraged the development and preservation of literature in the blindness field. While contributing many articles and book chapters to this effort himself, he worked to preserve complete sets of the field’s leading journals in schools and agencies around the country, resulting in the AAWB establishing the C. Warren Bledsoe Publications Award in 1977 for outstanding authors in the blindness field.
Mr. Bledsoe is survived by his daughter Hester Anne Butterfield and her husband, Charles and their daughters Emily and Elizabeth and by his daughter Virginia Bledsoe, her husband Greg Staley and their son Steven.
More recently, MSB established the C. Warren Bledsoe Significant
Achievement Award for outstanding contributions to the school. Memorial contributions may be made in his name
to The Maryland School for the Blind,
[For more information, call (410) 444-5000 or visit www.marylandschoolfortheblind.org.]
The PawPrint workers not only learn many concepts and ideas of retailing, but they are learning patience and determination in completing a task, and know the value of a job well done. The student workers also know which tasks and skills they need to continue to work on and improve in the future. When they ask to come back and work the next school year, it is obvious that the work experience at the Shop was a good one for them and they really enjoyed it.
by Beth Caruso
The Alfa Insurance and Alabama Farmers Federation Board of Directors unanimously approved a
contribution of $250,000, to be paid over five years, to the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind (AIDB). This gift will be applied towards the construction of a new dormitory on the campus of the Helen Keller School of Alabama (HKS). The new single level facility will replace the two-story Rogers Hall as a dormitory for young women with sensory and multiple disabilities. The $1.1 Million HKS project began in December 2003 with a $250,000 gift from The Daniel Foundation, and garnered many other generous gifts from Alabama’s corporate, non-profit, and individual communities. Construction bids will be opened later this month with groundbreaking scheduled to begin in March,,2005.
The SCASB Tournament was held at the Parkview School for
the Blind in Muskogee, OK from Thursday, January 6 through Sunday, January
9, 2005 The ASB cheerleading team came in first place! The team competed in
three events - compulsory cheer, five-minute cheer routine, and dance. They
did an outstanding job! Felicia Frames,
Captain also won 3rd place in the individual cheer competition. The whole
ASB wrestling squad made the trip and 14 of the 18 wrestlers wrestled for
tournament points. ASB wrestlers pushed past those from the
In early March, CSB hosted the CTEVH 2005 Conference in
The
exercises as well as some assignments. The last four lessons explain how to braille letters, numbers, composition signs, and punctuation marks. Whether you want to emboss a letter or read a braille message, this course can give you the skills to do so. Hadley instructors add enthusiastically, “Learning braille visually online is truly a wonderful opportunity. Imagine how reading and embossing braille could enhance your relationships with your family members or clients who are blind!” This tuition-free course is open to students in the Family and Professional Education Programs. So, why not contact Student Services today to enroll? To do so, just call 800.526.9909 or visit the school's web site at www.hadley.edu.
– Dawn Turco [Turco@hadley.edu]
The
Mr. Larry Schaaf, Research Associate, IU Center for Excellence on Disabilities, and parent of a disabled son, facilitated activities to assist in forming an individual action plan for each student. Parents and students were provided opportunities to write the individual action plans during small group discussions and large group lecture format.
The weekend included sessions on technology & the use of e-text, trusts & guardianship, assisted living, supportive and competitive employment, post secondary education, funding issues, disability services & vocational rehabilitation information, an Exhibit area with low vision and technological equipment, a student fun night, sibling leisure activities and a special parent’s dinner.
The three-day conference was held at and was sponsored by
the
The
Transition 2
Four One-Week Programs, for ages 16 & up, will be offered. Students may attend one or more weeks. These will focus on Food Shopping & Preparation, Dressing & Personal Care, Clothing Management; Household Maintenance, Personal Organization and Use of Public Transportation. Eight students will live in and maintain two apartments with some instruction occurring in a ranch house on campus. Additional activities incorporating the above will include Job, Career, & College Exploration, Presentations of Latest Technology and Day trips to Places of Interest in Baltimore, & DC.
Project BASIC: Building Academics & Skills for Independent Competencies Four one-week programs with instruction in Expanded Academics, i.e. Cooking, Technology, Braille, Low Vision & Self-Advocacy
Each Week’s Program will have the following themes:
July 5th–8th – Social & Leisure Skills for the Younger Students grades 3-5
July 12th-15th – Social & Leisure Skills grades 6-10: Expand & Explore Knowledge & Experience in all Areas of Social Interaction & Leisure Skills.
July 18th-22nd – Technology & 21st Century: Emphasis will be on the latest technology advances to assist individuals with visual impairment. Presenters & Vendors will be bringing new devices in all areas to campus.
July 25th-29th – Job & Career Exploration: Students will have a chance to explore work opportunities both on and off campus. Activities will include job application and interviews as well as simulated job opportunities.
– Ruth Hynson [RuthH@mdschblind.org]
The Celtics continued their support of PSB by honoring Michael
Cataruzolo, head of Perkins Volunteer Program, as one of the “Heroes among
Us” at a game against the
PSB was featured on WCVB-TV 5’s Chronicle,
In March, the international singing duo Vlieg Sisters and their band performed a free jazz concert in Dwight Hall for students. The Vlieg Sisters, both of whom are blind, delighted the audience. Students, staff and visitors to the campus enjoyed Latin American classics as well as original jazz compositions suffused with musical influences from South America, Rumba, Flamenco, the Caribbean, Brazil and the Middle East.
This spring, Perkins celebrated its second annual Flower
Show at the Thomas and
PSB continues this year of celebration with its 175th Anniversary
Gala. Guests will have the opportunity to share the spirit of Perkins through
stories, art and music at a cocktail reception and dinner. This special fundraising
event will take place in the State Room atop
On
MSB has formed its own “Techno Team” of students who meet monthly to receive instruction in software use. Among their learning tasks is to completely disassemble and reassemble a computer without assistance. The purpose of all of this instruction is to equip these students with skills that will allow them to function independently with technology upon graduation. Speaking of technology….MSB has inaugurated on-line testing with the statewide testing program. – Margie Owens [MOwens@mde.k12.ms.us]
Boubin
will be responsible for educational programming, supervision and direction
of MSAB staff and day-to-day operations of MSAB. He will report to Superintendent
Mitchell and function as part of the executive leadership team for the academies.
He currently serves as Director of Special Services for the
The
Our students stay busy with a variety of activities that include the Nebraska City TeamMates mentoring program; Special Olympics bowling, track, and basketball; and the Job Olympics at Peru State College, which offers competitive opportunities for high school students in various job tasks, and transition activities. – Sally Giittinger [sgiittin@esu4.org]
The
New York Institute for Special Education
Several
classes from the New York Institute for Special Education (NYISE) have become
pen pals with Major Kathy Nadal, an Army nurse stationed at a MASH unit in
This past winter, eight high school students from the NYISE participated in a Midnight Run for the homeless. Clothing was collected, donated, and purchased by staff and students at the Institute. On a very cold and blustery NY winter night, accompanied by several staff members, these eight students were driven to various pre-determined locations in Manhattan to distribute clothing and food to people in need. This is the second consecutive year our students have participated in the Midnight Run. It has become, for our students, their most important and anticipated event of the school year. – Joe Catavero [jcatavero@nyise.org]
North
Dakota Vision Services/School for the Blind along with Dakota AER and AFB
hosted a Vision Conference on April 27-29 in
– Carmen Grove Suminski [csuminsk@state.nd.us]
The
Spring
came early to
These skills include filing, time management, program planning, operation and care of equipment, communication (including live broadcasting), self-confidence and problem solving techniques. OSFB Radio is a 24-hour, 7 days a week, station and includes both live and prerecorded programming. Our programming includes music, interviews, school programs, school sporting events, daily calendar of upcoming events, books, local newspaper, student and staff talents, and round table discussion.
Please tune in to http://www.omnimedianetworks.org/.
- Cindy Myers [Cindy.Myers@state.or.us] and Don.Ouimet [Don.Ouimet@state.or.us]
At
The school year, as usual, is flying by. Sixth through twelfth graders have just concluded the annual science competition in which they present their projects in accessible format to a panel of judges who walk through the exhibits, reviewing the presentations and asking questions about hypotheses and findings. The second annual OSB Idol Talent Competition was an even greater success than the first, with students and staff contributing their talents on stage and behind the scenes and the rest of us enjoying all that they did. Teachers continue to earn Act 48 credits and work toward additional degrees, often on their own time, while preparing lesson plans, working on IEPs, putting in a full day each day in the classroom, planning and chaperoning field trips, and in general, and always putting the needs of the students first. - Dennis Brookshire [dennis@obs.org]
The
In
Project
Magnify is a pilot project led by SCSDB and funded by the SC Dept of Education.
It is designed to increase visual reading skills in students with low
vision through intensive training and practice with prescribed low vision
devices. It will involve 10 students from districts served by our teachers
of the visually impaired who will participate in the study.
Students will have clinical low vision exams and prescribed magnifiers
from the
Extreme
Classroom Makeover, similar in name and theme to the popular reality television
program, the SCSDB Walker Foundation announced a new contest this year that
will provide up to $3,697 for the winning teacher to completely refurbish
her/his classroom. The funding is made possible from Irmo Navy, a group of
business leaders from
The
Our faculty/staff have been reconfigured a bit as we now have four fully Certified Low Vision Therapists (via the Pennsylvania College of Optometry program) and have added an additional outreach consultant, giving us five full-time contacts with schools, families, and agencies throughout the state.
On March 1st we were happy and proud to celebrate our 105th birthday, and we are also beginning to gear up our planning and preparation for our summer program and this summer we will be excited to host our next "All School Reunion" on August 5-6-7, 2005.
Our students
are in the midst of their forensics, goalball, and swimming seasons and we
look forward to participating in the NCASB meet in
The
Ridgefield
Lions, for the last 14 years, have provided an access device for a blind child
at our school. Each year the students
write an essay about how a device could make a difference in their life. This
year’s recipient received a Voice Note, which was awarded at the Ridgefield
Lions Volunteer recognition banquet, which was attended by 120 people.
The
Don Donaldson has quite literally been lost in darkness and blinded by the light. His autobiography, WHAT’S IN A NAME, details his experiences throughout a life blessed, cursed and always out of the ordinary. “Mine has been an unusual life lived to the fullest, in the two worlds of dismal shadow and restored ‘come-look-see’ perfect eyesight,” Donaldson says.
At age
7, he lost his sight from a horrible accident involving dynamite.
He attended a blind school and worked his way through
The
Our student
body traveled to Timberline Ski Resort for a ski trip sponsored by the West
Virginia Lions Club. The West Virginia State Lions Clubs are also sponsoring
a U. S. Blind Chess Tournament for all ages, June 24-25, in
SPACE
Space Camp for Interested Visually Impaired
Students (SCIVIS) is ready for another blastoff
Visit our website for more information:
Dan Oates [scivis@atlanticbb.net]
The VIEWS: The Visually Impaired Experience Work Success
An Outreach Program Coordinated by
The
Last summer, twenty-nine students from across
the state of
The program is split into two components.
VIEWS I is designated for students in their freshman and sophomore years.
Students attend either the KSSB for a three-week, intensive vocational program
or a VIEWS four-week program in
VIEWS II is designated for students in their
junior and senior years. The first component of the program is held in
Students also practice O&M skills and
daily living skills. They meet with adult blind mentors, vocational rehabilitation
counselors, American Disability representatives, and personnel experts from
the state of
If you want more information on this program contact :
Bill Daugherty, Superintendent,
After the completion of the program in
By Diane Mihulka, M.S. Ed.,
The North Dakota Vision Services/School for the Blind offers a Career Week each fall for high school students with visual impairments. Career Week is an intensive week encompassing various aspects of career exploration, job shadowing, vocational education, and preparing for life after high school.
Questionnaire
Prior to attending, students and parents complete a questionnaire which indicates the areas of emphasis for the student during the week, such as selecting occupational areas of interest to job shadow, touring a vocational school or university, speaking with a specific mentor or professor, understanding social security or other disability agency’s roles, etc. This questionnaire not only assists the instructor in preparation for the week’s informational sessions, but job shadow sites are also prearranged in the community.
Topic Sessions
The specific topics of sessions are planned from information derived from the questionnaires. The following topics are generally included during the week:
Jobs/Employment
AFB Career Connect/Speaking with Mentors
Job Shadowing Introduction & Tips
Complete Interest Inventories
Developing Interests/Narrowing Interests
Job Search
How to Complete Application Forms
Resumes
Job Responsibilities
Salary and Fringe Benefits
Interviewing Skills/Firm Handshake/Body Language
Personal/Social
Attitudes
Self Esteem
Photo I.D. Cards/Wallet Information
Personal Visual Impairment Issues
Your Rights and Responsibilities
Social Skills/Group Sessions
Education/College
ACT Special Testing Requirements
Transition to College Life or Employment
Scholarships
Disability Support Services
General College Information/Credits/General Requirements
Living Independently
Orientation & Mobility and Employment
Technology Options
Adult Agency Roles/Your VR Counselor
Budget/Financial Considerations for Living Independently
All students job shadow at three or more job sites in the community and also participate in many of the topic sessions planned specifical