Division Education Sessions

AER Divisions have developed special programming to be held during the conference. Below are descriptions of these sessions. Check the Conference schedule for the dates and times of these sessions:

Administration -

From “Doer” TO Manager - Have you ever felt like someone quietly slipped the role of manager into your job description … but didn’t tell you?  Organizations often add managerial responsibilities to those employees who have been the best “doers.”  And more often than not, because you’ve been a great “doer,” it’s assumed that you’ll automatically become a great manager.  But the truth is, the skills that made you successful in your prior experience are not the same skills that will make you a good manager.  Speakers include Roxann Mayros and Annisio Correia

 

 

Rehabilitation Counseling, BEP & Employment Services – In Search of Excellence: Who Are Our Current Leaders? What Are our Exemplary Programs? What is the Status of Specialized Employment Services for the Blind?

An opportunity for we who are interested in the employment of blind and visually impaired persons to analyze the status of our field and how our professional organization can help develop and move forward an agenda for growth. Conversation will begin with a discussion of this year's McAulay and Vieceli award winners. It will then explore how we as professionals become aware of who in our field are developing or enacting effective practice models. We will discuss what form leadership in our field should take and how we can develop that leadership. If time permits, we will conduct a SWOT analysis, taking note of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats faced by our field and by any effort to develop and focus its leadership.

  

Combined Division Session: Multiple Disabilities & Deafblind, Infant and Preschool, Education Curriculum and Itinerant Personnel: Expanded Core Curriculum - Back by popular demand, these four divisions of are teaming together to present an all day session on instruction in the Expanded Core Curriculum content areas. All of the latest resources and tools will be shared with participants. In addition, participants will be able to actively engage in some of the latest resources developed through various partnerships across the country. If you want to know how to improve your practice in the ECC content areas for ALL children and youth who are blind or visually impaired then register now for an exciting information-filled day. If you want to be part of a learning community that is committed to improving outcomes for ALL children and youth who are blind or visually impaired then make sure you attend this session.

Information & Technology – The division will offer two presentations in one session: “Accessible Captchas” - A growing number of web sites require a person to register for free in order to access the site’s services. In most cases, this registration process requires a user to visually read a scrambled image and type in the hidden message. These images are specifically designed to thwart computer programs from reading them. Some sites offer an audio alternative to the video image but these are often long numbers which are hard to hear and memorize to type later. This session will look at solutions to make these “Captchas” accessible for the blind and visually impaired.“The Accessibility of Cloud Computing” - As people become more mobile and attempt to have access to all of their information from any device in any place, cloud computing has become more prevalent. Cloud computing allows you to store and share files, create group calendars, and do a variety of online collaboration tasks. This session will look at a couple of the major cloud computing systems and their accessibility to large print and speech software

 

Combined Division Session: Psychosocial Services and Division on Aging - The Aging and Psychosocial Divisions are combining forces to bring you an exciting consumer panel.  The panelists are both working age and older people, who will address “Major Challenges of Vision Loss.”  The challenges they will discuss include the impact of not being able to drive or having to give up driving, family members’ reactions to their visual impairment or blindness and possible role changes, experiences interacting in social situations among sighted peers, and some of the best resources they received or techniques they developed to enable them to adjust to their disability.  The consumer panel will be followed by a discussion among professionals in the audience about what we learned from the panelists.  Audience members will be encouraged to share challenges and successful strategies they have used to assist individuals though major life crises related to vision loss. 

 

Psychosocial Services:  After a morning of collaboration and programming with the Aging Division, the Psychosocial Division will initiate its afternoon session with member introductions, a brief business meeting, and awards presentations.  Focus will then turn to the topic of The Use of Humor in Our Work.  Different perspectives on this topic will be explored including humor as a diagnostic measure, humor as an intervention, and humor as a stress reliever for the clients/patients and for the professionals.  Division members attending are encouraged to bring their experiences and stories to share.

 

Low Vision Rehabilitation: “Vision Loss and Brain Injury: More Tools for Your Toolbox.”  We will have two tracks—a child track and an adult track—with top experts in the area of vision loss due to brain injury.  For the child track, speakers include:

• Kathy Appleby from Vision Associates, who will discuss strategies for working with students with CVI who do not exhibit the classic CVI characteristics.

• Barry Kran, O.D., Optometric Director of the New England Eye Low Vision Clinic at Perkins, who will present a lecture entitled: “Cortical/cerebral visual impairment (CVI): Is CVI one or several entities?”

• Luisa Mayer, Ph.D., M.Ed, Christine Roman-Lanzty, PhD, Barry Kran, O.D., and Kathy Appleby, who will sit on a panel addressing multidisciplinary approaches to working with children with CVI.

The adult track features:

• Dr. Kara Gagnon, O.D. from the VA Connecticut Healthcare System, who will present a session entitled “Mild TBI: Identification, Assessment, and Rehabilitation.”

• Colleen O’Donnell, MSA, OTR, CLVT (Visual Rehabilitation and Research Center, Henry Ford Health System), who will present on scanning techniques for clients with vision loss due to brain injury.

• Professionals from the Palo Alto VA and Envision, who will present a session entitled: “Multidisciplinary Rehabilitation Approach for Patients with Neurological Etiology.”

 

Indeed, the Division 7 Day program promises to be intellectually stimulating for all participants. Don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity to learn new skills and network with colleagues!

 

Vision Rehabilitation Therapy:  "Write Angles: A Writing Workshop for VRT's."

Sharing ideas, experiences, and research findings through published writing is a vital sign of the health of any profession. This session demystifies the writing process and helps participants consider what they might contribute to our profession’s literature and how to prepare it for publication. Through a set of facilitated activities, participants will begin the process of developing an idea and an outline for actual publication. Speakers include Richard L. Welsh, Ph.D., President, Pittsburgh Vision Services, Retired, and First President of AER, and Mary Nelle McLennan. M.A.

This session will be held from 9:00 am - 12:00 pm, Thursday, July 22, 2010.

1:45 pm – 3:15 pm

After a break for lunch we will have some time with Garrett Holme of ACVREP. The topic of "highly qualified" and certification will be major points of the discussion. Garrett will also be discussing with us the new on-line process for becoming certified, which ought to eliminate many of the problems of the previous certification process.  

National Vision Rehabilitation Meeting Discussion and Division Business Meeting – our afternoon will be a discussion about the idea of having a national Vision Rehabilitation Therapy conference similar to the one that was held in Kalamazoo, Michigan some 10 years ago. This will be followed by a brief Business Meeting. 

 

Also, please join us during an evening session for the VRT Division awards presentations, which will include a memorial tribute to honor Dr. Sue Ponchillia, who passed away this past October.

Personnel Preparation: 

Personnel Preparation Division Work Group Session, Saturday, July 24, 1:45 p.m.

 

Since our last AER international conference, a committee has been exploring the possibilities of developing minimal standards of knowledge and skill in literary braille for students exiting university teacher preparation programs. As part of that work, a Delphi study was conducted to gather consensus in regards to the minimum level of literary braille code skills required for students completing university programs. The study has been completed.

This work group session is the next step in the process of determining what, if any, minimum standards should be established and the mechanism for applying these standards on a voluntary basis in universities that choose to adopt them. While consensus was reached in many areas, other topics will require more discussion and the results and possible implications will be discussed in some detail. Please come join the work group on Saturday, July 24 from 1:45-5:30 and be prepared to participate in lively discussion and decision-making regarding the development of minimum standards in literary braille for university programs.

Important note: This Saturday work session should not be confused with the concurrent session scheduled during  this conference on Thursday morning at 9:45. The concurrent session is a general session to share results of the Delphi with anyone who is interested in hearing about it. The Saturday session is a working session to discuss and plan next steps for using the results of the study, and is intended primarily for Personnel Preparation Division members.

For the purposes of planning this session and ensuring that we have enough materials, the committee requests that you pre-register to indicate your intention to attend. To confirm your participation or for more information about this project, please email Frances Mary D'Andrea at literacy2@mindspring.com or call 412-521-5797.