How can the American Council of the Blind of Virginia help the Vision Professional? Members of ACBVA will share their stories and educate session attendees on what consumers groups do. There is a great partnership waiting for AER! Margaret (Margie) DeMars will use anecdotes from her rehabilitation experience as she expresses her gratitude for the vision professionals' commitment and dedication in serving people with visual impairments and blindness. Sue Bowmaster will introduce session participants to the American Council of the Blind of Virginia (ACBVA) and what they do to augment the services vision professionals provide around the Commonwealth. Doug Powell will interact with session participants about advocacy tips that ACBVA have found successful, about practicing in using those skills, and the possible advocacy efforts ACBVA and AER could pursue moving forward.

Farmer Noah is a new O&M training concept being advanced by dxdt Engineering and Research, LLC of Germantown, MD. The presentation will describe the Farmer Noah concept and detail how it differs from traditional O&M training concepts for the blind and deaf-blind. The Farmer Noah concept applies the principles of cognitive neuroscience, to enable the blind to move within their environments with safety and confidence. It does this by training the blind and deaf-blind to locate non-visual cues in the environment and to use them as landmarks in mental maps of their surroundings and to understand and track their position and orientation within their environments. It does this in the context of a stress-free, game-like activity that exercises all the key skills required to master one's environment. Farmer Noah uses four pairs of objects referred to as animals. Each animal is equipped with a tap sensor, a sound card and speaker, and a wireless transmitter. The animals for the youth version of Farmer Noah are cows, pigs, turkeys, and goats. The adult version of Farmer Noah concept is based on matching musical instruments. The Deaf-Blind version is based on matching vibrations in a haptic glove. Farmer Noah's animals are placed on the floor of any training environment. The training Subject is challenged to find the pairs of animals, like the game of "Concentration". The training session When the Subject has matched all the animal pairs together the training session is complete. The arbitrary paths between the animal pairs are punctuated by non-visual cues such as furniture legs, carpet edges, radiant heat from windows, sounds from windows or appliances and household scents. During a training session the Subject will become practiced in identifying the non-visual cues, organizing them in the context of mental maps, and managing their mobility and orientation relative to the mental maps they develop. As the method is conducted in various environments, the skills of identifying nonvisual cues, building mental maps and practicing O&M skills will become second nature and further training using Farmer Noah will not be necessary. The presentation would describe the proposed research and would also relay the other modes of application of the system that were suggested by professionals in the O&M training community.

Ana will show how to create on-the-spot tactile images for various/all subjects. Learn how to be ready to emboss directly with almost any embosser and/or insert into braille pages under/above the respective questions/subject.

Teacher-made assessments can provide information that guides lesson planning, document growth for progress monitoring, and determine skills a student possesses (Barone et al., 2019; Risko & Walker-Dalhouse, 2010; Swenson, 2016). Virginia, along with 37 other states have adopted legislation which supports the use of the Science of Reading to improve literacy for students. This session is designed to help TSVIs to learn about the literacy needs of the students they serve. Additionally, the session will help TSVIs to learn how to create and analyze an informal braille reading inventory that will enable them to provide more effective braille instruction (Barone et al., 2019; Provost et al., 2010; Swenson, 2016).

What role does family play in the success of the people we serve? This presentation features, West Virginia University?s current president, Dr. Eric Cage and his dynamic mother, Bessie. The Cage family is originally from South Boston. Mrs. Cage, a retired high school teacher in South Boston, is a driving force for her family even though she isn't a driver herself. This session will tell you the story of how they became and continue to be a high achieving, successful family.

Have you ever thought about 3D printing for the Blind and Visually Impaired? Using an adventure movie metaphor, does the thought of learning how to use a 3D printer seem like an epic adventure or a terrifying apocalyptic struggle to survive? Decide if you might want to be the protagonist in your own 3d printing adventure. Will the hurdles, conflicts and bad guys be worth it for you to overcome in your already busy life? Come find out just how complicated 3D printing is, how expensive it will be for your district or department, get an idea of what the process looks like from idea to something in your hands, and you'll see and touch a plethora of real-life examples of things Matt used this technology for and used with his students.

This session will provide information on how to advocate for accessibility for indoor spaces. The presenter will also share the benefits of providing accessible in your local community. GoodMaps is excited to share information about their locations in Virginia and D.C. area.

Haven't had a braille student in a while? Have a braille student and need to brush up on your braille rules? Come join us for a braille refresher session. This session is geared toward individuals that have already learned the full braille code but need a refresher and some braille resources.

Since 2011, Virginia has required a Basic Personal Financial Literacy course for high school graduation. But our students with blindness and low vision need more. In this session learn how two successful blind entrepreneurs/expert trainers have joined forces with a professional educator to provide blind/low vision transition-age students with an engaging, dynamic personal financial literacy program that intertwines effective and engaging instruction, mentorship, and peer learning. Additionally, learn about the accessible take-home tools provided that empower our students to be the masters of their financial futures!

This course explores the intersection of neuroscience, behavioral economics, and disability inclusion to equip HR professionals with the knowledge and tools to foster a more inclusive work environment. Through an engaging presentation, participants will gain insights into the underlying cognitive processes that influence decision-making and impact employment opportunities for people with disabilities. The course will delve into concepts from renowned experts such as Daniel Kahneman, Dr. John Medina, Malcolm Gladwell, and Daniel Simons, providing practical exercises and real-world examples to highlight the importance of active listening, multi-sensory learning, and the power of reasonable accommodations.

OpticAware is a device developed through collaboration between HabitAware and American Printing House for the Blind. The OpticAware bracelet and app were designed specifically to alert the wearer when he/she/they engage in eye poking, pressing, and/or rubbing, as there are medical ramifications associated with these behaviors. The OpticAware app allows the user to review data tracked by the device and app with the goal of becoming more aware of the wearer's pattern of behavior. Information about the product's background/development, field test, and launch will be shared.

Ensuring that Students receive instruction in all the areas of orientation and mobility curriculum can be challenging. This is especially so when the student lives in a rural area. Vision Rehabilitation Program (CVRP) has found a solution: mobility camp. Students put their skills to the test in a city that offers advanced O&M skills.

The ITS4US Deployment Program is committed to advancing equity in transportation by addressing the mobility challenges and needs of underserved communities, such as people with disabilities, older adults, low-income individuals, rural residents, veterans, and limited English proficiency travelers. Through this program, deployment sites are working to build local partnerships, develop, and deploy innovative and scalable mobility solutions, and achieve complete trips for all travelers. A complete trip is one that is seamless, barrier-free, and user-focused from origin to destination. The program supports four large-scale, replicable, real-world deployments of integrated innovative technologies to solve mobility challenges for all travelers. The presentation will include an overview and updates of the ITS4US program and its four deployment sites and how the sites replicable solutions help address the needs of blind and visually impaired travelers. Join this session to learn more about how the four ITS4US sites are deploying ITS solutions to improve equity in their areas and what resources are available to support you in deploying these solutions in your own community.

Participants will explore the IEP Discussion Guide as a vehicle to drive collaboration and increase access to the general education curriculum for students with complex learning needs, including combined vision and hearing loss. This comprehensive tool provides a way for the IEP team to collect information across six domains to consider supports to be included in the IEP and better understand the global impact of deafblindness on a specific student?s access to the curriculum. Participants will leave the session with the skills and knowledge to connect the IEP Discussion Guide to their caseloads and lead their team through considerations for vision and hearing loss, access to information, communication, social interactions and relationship, and conceptual understanding and development.

This presentation will focus on past successful efforts for advocacy, barriers to success and using "engineer" language to maximize success, and discussion of participants' advocacy efforts and challenges or success stories.

So you have a student taking an upper-level math or science class and find teaching and transcribing UEB to be intimidating? Don't worry, you are not alone. In this interactive session the presenters will share some easy-to-use resources to teach your students (and yourself) UEB principles for upper-level STEM classes. They will also discuss ways to problem solve barriers to UEB instruction.

Educators of blind/low vision students cannot do it all and can burn out in trying to do so. By sharing accessibility tips and tricks, vision educators can empower classroom educators to imbue accessibility throughout their teacher-created materials and activities thus increasing opportunities and reducing the risks of learned helplessness for blind/low vision students. This session provides participants with easy tweaks that teach regular educators how to make their materials far more accessible to all their students. Participants wil also receive accessible flyers and cheat sheets to share CVI and O&M for Adults and Children Related to the Higher Order Visual Functions with their partner educators.

This presentation promotes the expansion of basic life skills through collaboration with students' teachers and service providers. Discussion of practical life skills will include grooming, eating, basic chores, dressing, labeling and organization, social skills, and the attitudes surrounding blindness. The conversations with participants will include education and rehabilitation venues and home along with residential settings.

During this session, participants will be provided with an overview of Active Learning, the importance of Hand Under Hand, how to use a Toy Bar and Adapted Mobility Device (AMD) and the opportunity to create a Toy Bar or AMD. Material lists, directions, purpose and how to use the items will be provided. Participants will be able to:

• List the 10 Basic Principles of Active Learning
• Determine the need for an AMD or Toy Bar
• Make an AMD or Toy Bar and discuss its use with peers

Erin Weaver, Outreach Specialist at APH, will lead a hands-on training for using APH's newest refreshable braille display, The Monarch. Work with a true expert as you learn the basics, tips and tricks, and troubleshooting for this incredible new piece of equipment.

This session will highlight Launching Point, a week-long college immersion program for blind/low vision Virginia Pre-ETS students. From July 14-21, 2023, DBVI staff, expert blind transition trainers, and peer mentors provided this experience at James Madison in conjunction with the University. In addition to interactive workshops where they learned about and practiced vital college readiness skills, these students had a great time rock climbing, performing at their own Improv show, working out and working it in the gymnasium, touring the college, including the Maker Lab, and the arboretum, and getting hands-on with chemistry and geology class materials. Come join us as we discuss the power of this DBVI/Sky's The Limit Communications collaboration and how this program can support TVIs in their college readiness instruction.

Good health management greatly impacts your life, job, and school success. Sometimes, maintaining good health includes taking medications, and just because you have a vision impairment does not mean that you cannot independently identify and manage your medications. Surf the tide into this session to learn about free, accessible medication identification resources, and tips for managing medications with vision impairment!

Let's embark on a journey to discover the ways we can complement cane travel by utilizing GPS apps through the landscapes of modern navigation as we explore the myriads of benefits and potential challenges of GPS and transit apps. From real-time precision to personalized routes, these tools offer a great deal of advantages. Yet amid the convenience, we will also navigate the nuances that can pose challenges when traveling while maintaining your spatial awareness and focus on your environmental clues to maintain your safety. Join us as we unravel the pros and cons of navigating our world with these digital companions.

The presenter will share research pertaining to Braille Reading Materials for Adolescent and Adult Learners, a product developed by APH. This new product targets the braille reading needs of older learners, including students who are adventitiously blind and adults with vision loss interested in learning braille. This product allows individuals learning braille to bolster and practice their braille reading skills through the use of materials and content specifically developed for learners ages eleven through one hundred eleven. The presenter will share information regarding the integration of Braille Materials for Adolescent and Adult Learners into the TVI's braille literacy toolkit and will share suggestions for the use of the materials in a wide variety of scenarios.

This presentation will focus on the four areas of Higher Order Visual Functions, HOVF, related to O&M. These areas include motion perception, navigation in 3D spaces, visually guided movement, and complex visual scenes.

As a low incidence disability, blindness/low vision is widely misunderstood by administrators, fellow educators, and parents. They often have an incomplete (or incorrect) understanding of what it takes to provide FAPE (free appropriate public education) to our students and that the problem is magnified if the student has additional disabilities and/or is gifted. This session will explore the roots of these misconceptions and will provide participants with tools to educate fellow team members and how to work together to support the development and implementation of effective IEPs for our students.

Students with Visual Impairments are dramatically under-represented in competitive employment in the STEM fields. In STEM, solutions to problems are analyzed, reasoned, and interpreted by students using their math and science abilities in various real-world scenarios. STEM presents a way for students to use math and science to solve real problems, answering the established question: When will I ever need to use this stuff? Participants will encounter challenges, engage in collaborative teamwork to complete tasks while exploring APH STEM products in an active learning environment, and reflect on the learning process.

Do you have a new braille student? Do you have a braille student who scrubs or backtracks? Do you need ideas on how to make braille lessons fun, engaging, and motivating? This engaging workshop will discuss the time-tested Mangold method for developing proficient braille readers, will explain Mangold Basic Braille Units 1- 3, and will describe teacher-tested lesson ideas.

In this dynamic keynote presentation, attendees will explore the intersection of creativity and adaptability in achieving success within the music industry. The speaker, a seasoned professional, will share innovative strategies and tools that have propelled his career, illustrating the importance of thinking outside the box. Participants will also gain insights into the speaker's personal journey toward independence, discovering key strategies that have empowered him to carve his own path. These lessons will serve as a roadmap for anyone seeking to embrace autonomy in their lives. Finally, the presentation will highlight essential advocacy techniques for individuals and parents of those with visual impairments. Attendees will learn actionable ways to effectively advocate for their needs, ensuring that voices are heard and supported in all spheres of life. This keynote promises to inspire, empower, and equip participants with the tools they need to thrive personally and professionally.

This presentation will start with a broad overview of the barriers SWVI face when advocating for complete involvement in recreation and leisure activities. Using the storyline from the Five Little Frogs, participants will move through an obstacle course relay (created using the Reach and Match Learning Mat and Hop-A-Dot Mat), like those implemented in Physical Education classes. Concrete ways instructors (Teachers, TVIs, Paras, etc.,) can maximize cross functionality of Recreation and Leisure skills to benefit students will be included. Following the activity, discussions will focus on the Expanded Core Curriculum domains of Compensatory Access and Assistive Technology, and their natural fit in the Recreation and Leisure domain. Participants will have the opportunity to collaborate on creative solutions to support involvement and inclusion that mirrors peer engagement by utilizing these skills and the ECC.

The passing of the Virginia Literacy Act has launched TVIs into exploring the science of reading and its impact on students with sensory disabilities. Through understanding how all children learn to read, we are now faced with the extra challenge of ensuring every child can access the approved curriculum in every school division. During this presentation, Robin Bliven will guide participants in understanding options for students with hearing or vision loss utilizing the literacy curriculum chosen by the school division in accordance with the VLA. Supplemental programs, interventions, communication modalities and accommodations will be presented as options to help fit every child!

This roundtable discussion will provide ways to meet the RT client where they are and ideas to set them up for a successful ongoing journey to increasing their independence. And give you the opportunity to learn something new and share ideas to meet the clients where they are in their adjustment to vision loss. How can we teach our clients how to keep up with our ever-changing culture?

"Can I teach O&M when the individual is using a support cane?" Dr. Council, PT and Mrs. Walker, COMS, hope this session will help you answer the question for yourself as they provide some background on the medical model PTs use in the United States, their example of how they work together, as well as practical information on sizing and utilization of devices individuals are bringing to O&M instruction. They want to share the common ground, the differences, as well as the very positive impact on patient outcomes and service delivery PT and O&M have found. All from answering the question: "Can I teach O&M when the individual is using a support cane?"

Come learn about the financial investment BTSpeak and payment plans, share your questions and experiences, explore a range of the features of BTSpeak.

• The Blazie Technology's pricing and payment plan.
• Share your questions and experiences among BTSpeak users on the BTSpeak email company/user list.
• Use a device with 2 computers in one.
• Use the traditional feature where you use your device via a simple easy to use menu driven system.
• Use the Linux desktop feature.
• Create and edit documents for work and school.
• Access Google Drive and Google Docs.
• Manage files and folders.
• Quickly change your documents to different file types such as: .txt, .docx, .brf, .brl, .html, etc.
• Access email.
• Take notes with the voice recorder.
• Ask Chat GPT questions.
• Use the calculator.
• Use the calendar to schedule appointments.
• Play radio stations around the world.
• Surf the internet with a text browser or The Firefox or Chromium browsers.
• Install up to date computer programs on your desktop.
• Access the Linux command line for unlimited accessibility and accessible software.
• Instantly share files with other people and devices.