ILLINOIS AER Mail

Fall 2012

Message from the President, Leah Gerlach

Dear IAER Newsletter Readers,

It is with a great deal of pride in our Chapter and personal humility that I begin my term as Chapter President. We have a tremendous diverse group of Board members and are extremely excited at the possibilities for our chapter during the coming year. You will find some outstanding new opportunities for members as we strive to be creative, cutting edge in our programs and one of the leading chapters in the country.

Check out this issue of our newsletter to learn more. Features to watch for include our conference for 2013. It will be much different than in past years as we partner with the American Foundation for the Blind’s outstanding Leadership conference. Our expanded awards recognition opportunities, which will give us the chance to recognize leaders in our field as well as community service organizations. Articles from those who have attended conferences, workshops and special events. Our chapter is fortunate to be able to offer financial assistance to its members and we are hopeful that this will allow members to be creative, pursue their continuing development, and provide the highest quality service to people with vision impairments. Whether you are a teacher involved with Early Intervention for our youngest clients, an orientation and mobility specialist, a teacher of children with vision loss, a rehabilitation professional working with adults and seniors with vision loss, or an educator training those entering our professions we welcome you to our Chapter and hope that you will find our Association a wonderful part of your career.

Our chapter’s success is greatly determined by you, the members and your input and participation in the chapter. If you have ideas, concerns, or questions I would love to talk with you. We hope that you will encourage your peers to join us and that you will be an active part of our success.

Sincerely,

Leah Gerlach, M.S.

630-690-7115

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Board Briefs

Susan M. Dalton, Secretary

The IAER Board recently welcomed the new members and officers for the 2012-2014 year.

·  President: Leah Gerlach

·  Past President: George Abbott

·  President-Elect: Amy Lund

·  Secretary: Susan Dalton

·  Treasurer: Pam Duda

·  Board Members: Andreas Heim, Cindy Miller, Doug Anzlovar,

Molly Clesen, Scott Smith, Stacy Kelly

2012 International Conference: Over thirty Illinois vision professionals attended the AER International Conference in Bellevue, Washington. We were very pleased to see such a strong representation from our state at this event.

Membership continues to be an issue for the past few years. Overall, AER numbers have been decreasing, but Membership Chair, Scott Smith reports that our membership increased to 227 members this past month.

Workshops are being planned for the upcoming year. IAER members are highly encouraged to submit suggestions for workshops or apply for funding assistance to host workshops and trainings in your area.

There was much concern regarding the lack of Award Nominations last year, so we are making a concerted effort to get the word out and encourage our members to recognize individuals and community partners for the various award categories.

Our biggest upcoming project will be preparing for the 2013 IAER Conference that will be held in conjunction with the AFB Leadership Conference in Chicago, April 18-20. Calls for papers have been sent out and the Program Committee will be reviewing proposals and working to ensure that the conference has sessions to cover all areas of interest for a variety of professions in the field. We are looking forward to working with AFB to make the 2013 Conference the best possible for our members.

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Space Camp

Lashelle Lewis-Smith and Alexander Gamino were awarded the IAER Scholarship for Space Camp. SCIVIS (Space Camp for Interested Visually Impaired Students) was held at the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL the week of September 22nd. Both were strong candidates with a desire to learn more about space. We look forward to hearing about their journey in the next newsletter.

Please begin thinking about those students who might be interested in Space Camp 2013. It is a wonderful opportunity for students to create lifelong friends, further their independence and learn more about space. Scholarship applications will be included in future newsletters.

News from the IIMC

From Melanie Hennessy

IIMC STAFFING CHANGES

There have been many changes occurring this summer at the IIMC. First and foremost, Nina Shosan, the Associate Director of the IIMC and principal purchasing agent for all equipment, instructional materials, and devices, announced her retirement in July. After interviewing multiple candidates for her purchasing agent role, Sue Honda was promoted to Manager, Instructional Resources, and James Forrest was promoted to Coordinator, Instructional Resources, effective August 1, 2012. Sue will continue her role with respect to the purchase and production of textbooks, while Jim will be responsible for all equipment, aid, and material purchasing. Kim Pettit was hired on September 17th as the Database Coordinator for the IIMC, filling the vacancy created by Jim’s promotion.

RETURN OF BOOKS NO LONGER IN USE

This is a reminder that books that will not be used by your students in fall 2012 are to be sent back to the IIMC. We estimate 5,000 books that were sent out on loan in years 2004 to 2011 are significantly overdue. With the IIMC’s reduced budget it is imperative that books not in use be returned as soon as possible. The IIMC can assist by providing mailing labels or if your school(s) is in the Chicago metro area we can come and pick up the books. You are also always welcome to drop off books at the IIMC during business hours (Monday-Friday 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM).

To assist with the timely return of books on loan, the IIMC will be placing the following label on all volumes that are being sent out for the 2012/2013 school year.

BOOK ON LOAN

Return to Illinois Instructional

Materials Center by:

June 15, 2013

EQUIPMENT PURCHASE UPDATE

To date, equipment orders filled for the 2012-2013 school year exceed $260,000. This means we have only $40,000 left in our equipment budget until July 1, 2013. Therefore, we will only fill “emergent or urgent” equipment orders until then. Please continue to submit all your equipment orders for tracking/wait list purposes, but if you need the item(s) immediately due to an emergent or urgent situation, please submit a written explanation and justification along with your order. These will be reviewed individually and a determination made and communicated to the ordering teacher as to whether this order can be filled out of the remaining funds.

As with book orders, equipment (and instructional material) orders must be COMPLETE and LEGIBLE in order to be processed. In particular, each piece of equipment requested must be assigned to a student for use. Also, the equipment is loaned to the student and must be returned to the IIMC when the student no longer uses it or qualifies for state funding. Please refer to the BOOK ORDER section for further details.

SERVICE LEVELS AND AREAS OF CONCERN

Shelle Hamer and Naomi Hershman, as representatives of the IVLC, presented the IIMC with a list of issues and concerns regarding materials at a meeting held at The Chicago Lighthouse on Wednesday, September 19th. In summary, here were the issues presented and the IIMC’s responses to their concerns.

Customer Service (inclusive of Communication):

The concerns presented involved means of communication, responsiveness, and demeanor. To address these concerns the IIMC will perform the following:

1.  All telephone calls will be initially answered by the Chicago Lighthouse Call Center and forwarded to the appropriate staff member in the IIMC. If the TVI reaches the staff member’s voicemail, he/she will leave a message to be returned within one business day.

2.  Customer Service training for the IIMC staff occurred the week of September 24th to promote and improve communication with the TVIs.

3.  Email etiquette will involve no capital letters and detailed explanations of the issue at hand.

4.  All email communications are to include a copy to Melanie Hennessy for triage and follow up.

Equipment ordering, funding, and approval processes were discussed. To improve the overall ordering process for equipment, a series of working meetings with Shelle Hamer, Naomi Hershman, and Melanie Hennessy will be held, beginning October 10th to produce the following:

1.  Revised ordering form(s) inclusive of space for narrative explanation of need for item(s).

2.  Prioritization process/scale to identify which equipment orders to place first vs. put on hold.

3.  Timetable for equipment orders in light of funding availability from the ISBE.

A future meeting (December timeframe) will be held to discuss the APH census process for 2013 to be able to meet APH’s requirements as well as improve the ease of census completion for the Vision Coordinators and TVIs. Also to be reviewed at a future date is the approval process by Vision Coordinators in light of TVIs not having a Vision Coordinator or reporting to a Director of Special Education.

CONTACT INFORMATION

If you are not receiving IIMC information or literature electronically or know of someone who is not, please contact us at (312) 997-3699 or at . We need your email address to give you the latest information from the IIMC in a cost effective manner, and we hope to send ALL correspondence in the future electronically.

News from ISVI

ISVI has started the 2012-2013 school year off with an increase in enrollment. Currently, there are 88 students receiving educational services from ISVI.

Important events so far include:

  • Team Illinois traveled to Ohio for the NCASB Championships September 29-30, 2012. They enjoyed great competition. Team ILLINOIS Goal-ball had their first practice on October 1 and their first competition was at ISVI on October 10.
  • This year ISVI has six students who are at-tending Lincoln Land Community College. These students are participating in the ISVI Transitional Living Program and their Lincoln Land experience is a positive one. They are independently setting up their own transportation to attend classes.
  • A Patriot Day Remembrance Assembly was held on Monday, September 10, 2012, in the Joshua Rhodes Auditorium. The assembly was to recognize the heroes of 9-11 and to show unity."We Remember" ribbons that were made in the ISVI Braille Dots Print Shop were passed out for staff and students to wear on Tuesday, September 11. The ribbons had Braille on them that read "We Remember".
  • The bi-annual Lion’s Low Clinic was recently held at ISVI. This clinic is the longest, continuous Low Vision Clinic in the state of Illinos.
  • The ISVI Girl Scout Troup was involved in getting manual available in Braille. This article was published in newspapers and it was carried on news programs around the state:

It takes courage to ask for what is needed, which is exactly what a Girl Scout troop based out of the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired displayed. Girl Scout manuals were not available to them in Braille.

"They offered us audio books, which for some girls, and some girls across the nation, I'm sure is a great alternative. Our girls can read Braille so we kept pushing for Braille, pushing for Braille," Troop Leader Amanda Rodda-Tyler explained. Breanna Carpentier agreed, "I want to be like the other people and be able to read and be normal and read what everybody else does."

These young women have come across the problem before. When they need a book transcribed in Braille they must make a request and wait until it is completed. It often happens with text books. When they contacted the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., the organization was in favor of a Braille version of the manual, but the decision is up to the publisher. These scouts confidently made their case to the publisher.

The girls made it a project for their gold award. They made calls, wrote letters, and waited for a response. Braille manuals are now available for any visually impaired Girl Scout.

"Jueliette Gordon Low, the starter of Girl Scouts, pushed for girls with disabilities being included in Girl Scouting. Her first troop had young ladies with different disabilities in it. She said everybody should be welcome. We were meeting this obstacle of welcoming everybody," Rodda-Tyler explained.

News from Spectrios Institute for Low Vision

As many of you know Spectrios Institute (formerly the Deicke Center for Visual Rehabilitation) is a comprehensive low vision service. Our mission is to empower children and adults with vision loss, regardless of income, to optimize their visual capabilities and independence through the use of prescriptive tools, technology, rehabilitative training and inspiration. We strive to educate the world to see the potential in every person with vision loss. Here are a few things you may not know about our agency.

·  We conduct a technology day camp every summer for children with vision loss. This year our campers decided to do a service project to help others understand about how people with vision loss do things. Watch for our posters in your eye doctors office or school

·  We will, along with the Department of Rehabilitation, be conducting workshops for High School juniors and seniors, as well as adults with vision loss, on self advocacy, disability sensitivity, and technology to help them become prepared for college and work.

·  On December 1, 2012 between 9:30 and 2:00 pm. we will be holding a very special technology Open House, demonstrating the latest in new technology and providing I Pad workshops. We will be having a drawing for a door prize of a Pebble Mini video magnifier. Please feel free to stop in and learn more.

Check out our Website for further information www.spectrios.org for further information. E-mail us at if you have any questions.

News from Hadley

Seminars@Hadley = Guest Speaker in Your Classroom!

Did you miss these seminars of interest to high school students and young adults? The recordings are available for download on the Past Seminars page of the Hadley Web site.

http://hadley.edu/PastSeminars.asp

Listen to the seminar recording individually or as a group. It is like having guest speakers in your classroom!