Active Learning Study Group _edit This video is posted online with the following chapter markers: Chapter 1. Intro & Forum Question Chapter 2. Approaches & Materials for Learners with CVI Chapter 3. Questions & Answers Description of graphical content is included between Description Start and Description End. Transcript Start [Music] Fade up from black. Animation: Text for TSBVI transform into braille cells for TSBVI. [Music face out] Fade to black. Chapter 1. Intro & Forum Question >>Hello folks! Welcome today. I'm going to close this poll out in just a second. But before I do-- let me just greet you and say welcome. My name is Kate Hurst. I am with the TSBVI outreach program and I'm sitting here with my lovely colleague. >>Charlotte: And I'm Charlotte Cushman from Perkins School for the Blind, and I'm just delighted to see people from so many different places. It's great. And-- and especial shootout to Tonya joining us in Denmark where it's bedtime, and to lots of you from all over this country and Canada. So-- so hi to everybody. >>Kate: It looks like in our poll a lot of people are here for the first time, but most of you have been to at least one before, and we are so glad to have you coming and joining us. We will be having another webinar in March, I believe. And then one in May. So, if this is your first time, pleases plan on coming back for those upcoming webinars. Okay, I think we can close the poll now. We'll just get started with our day. First of all, I want to give you a special greeting and thanks to our co‑hosts today, [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Co-Hosts Content: Figure 1: Photos of Diane Sheline and Patty Obrzut Description End: Diane Sheline, who many of you-- well, all over, but especially in Texas, you know and refer to as the CVI guru, what to do for CVI kids. And she's going to join us today since our topic is about CVI. We also, of course, have our dear friend Patty with us, who is at this moment up in Michigan, but she will soon be in Texas, down in Victoria, on Feb 28th and March 1st, to do two days of Active Learning training. [ Slide end: ] So, if you're interested, and have not signed up for that, please do. Region 3 is sponsoring that and you can sign up through the website. And then she's going to come on down to Austin and be with us for the Texas Focus conference, and do a couple of wonderful sessions there. So, we're very excited to have Patty come to Texas so we can catch up with her a little bit. Also today, we're going to be hearing some comments from Ellen Mazel, and we're awfully grateful to her, she does a lot of focus on CVI up in the northeast. And so, you know, we really appreciate your involvement and your expertise... in sharing with us. Okay. So I think I've already mentioned that we have our webinars, next webinar is coming up in March and in May. This is where you... register. You can see the link on your page, I believe. But if you can't, it's-- Charlotte: It's on the website. Kate: If you go to our website, the active learning space website, you can check it under... webinars and training events and figure out how to register. >>Charlotte: And I think we wanted to remind people, Kate, that you need to register for each of them separately. >>Kate: Yes, each and every one. So you can get ACVREP credit. Okay. Then also, we want to point out that on our website, you can also view webinars from the past. We have several years going back, of webinars from the past, covering a wide range of topics. So, if this is your first time and you think, gee, I kind of learned something, maybe I would like to learn more, go check that out on our web space as well. >>Charlotte: And we should add this webinar is also being recorded and will be on our website within a few weeks. So, if you want to share it with colleagues or families, you can check back. >>Kate: That sounds great. And then finally, kind of by way of housekeeping, if you have not already signed up for our Active Learning newsletter, let me encourage you to go on activelearningspace.org and sign up. That way, about once a month, or every six weeks Charlotte will send you an email newsletter that will tell you about any changes to the website, new materials that have gone up, and just kind of keep you in the loop about all things Active Learning that we're focused on. Our goal is really to create a community of practitioners who are interested in utilizing Active Learning. And so the more connected we can all be, I think, the better. Because we want this practice to grow worldwide. But especially in the United States, I want to see all schools, all states knowing and trying to implement Active Learning. Okay. Let's see what else? >>Charlotte: I think we have a question. >>Kate: I think, yes-- one of the features of our website-- though it's still a little bit clunky-- we promise it's going to get better soon. But we do appreciate how many of you do submit questions. And so the question that we're going to focus on today, amazingly, has to do with CVI. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Questions from Active Learning Space Content: I work with children with CVI and I'm wondering how to use Active Learning when I'm trying to encourage the child to look at an object and not just play with it. Description End: It says, "I work with children with CVI and I'm wondering how to use Active Learning when I'm trying to encourage the child to look at an object and not just play with it." [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Response from Patty Obrzut Content: • Remember the learner needs to use all of their senses to explore the environment but a child may need to start on strengths to build new skills. • Using materials that include all the senses fosters development in all areas. • Children at a lower level of development may have difficulty performing two or more tasks at one time. Description End: Well, we're going to start with a response from Patty, first, and then I'll throw my two cents in, anybody else can as well. Patty says that it's for are to remember that children with disabilities need to use all of their senses to explore their environment. We, of course, want to encourage development in all areas, but a child may need to start on their strengths to build new skills. And we know kids with CVI, their strength is not vision. If you use materials that include all of the senses, you will be fostering development in all areas. If a child likes tactile items, you find tactile items that are reflective, or that light up, or have contrasting color, et cetera. A child might be attracted to tactile quality, but at the same time you are encouraging use of vision. Children at a lower level of development may have difficulty performing two or more tasks at one time. As a result, they may not be a able to touch and look, or look and hear, or move and hear at the same time. So-- so then she goes to say I work with children with-- wait. I'm sorry. She goes to say, I skipped a page‑‑ >>Charlotte: There should be another slide there. >>Kate: Yeah, there should be more slides, guys. Well, while they're finding the slide, I'm going to just talk. Children need time to integrate the knowledge that they are introduced to first. They take pauses in their activities and may briefly switch between one type of input to another. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Response from Patty Obrzut (continued) Content: • Children need time to integrate knowledge. • They take pauses in their activity and may briefly switch between one type of input to another. Give the child the time. • Remember: "Play is often overlooked as the key that helps unlock the door to learning.” -- Mary Reilly. Description End: Give the child time. They take pauses-- okay. Then the final part of her response says:  A child that is playing is a child that is learning. Boy, I can't stress that enough. Let me say that again. A child that is playing is a child that is learning. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Response from Patty Obrzut (continued) Content: • A child that is playing is a child that is learning. Use play to introduce new skills. • If the child's strengths are hearing and touch, we use those skills to gain the child's attention, with the hope that vision skills will also be encouraged. Description End: Use play to introduce new skills. A child who is visually impaired may listen to a yellow golf ball as it rolls over a wooden play tray. That's an auditory sense. But then he may reach out and touch the ball to find out what is making the noise, that's tactile. They may eventually look at the ball to track it as it moves. If the child's strengths are hearing and touch, we use those skills to gain the child's attention with the hope that vision skills will also be encouraged. [ Slide end: ] And the other thing that I would say about this is you are not really focusing on vision in every activity that you're doing. However, when you want to focus on vision, I think that there are some things that you can do to enhance the quality, and that's what we're going to spend a lot of time today talking about. But I do want to say, this is such a new area for all of us. When... Lilli was alive, we were just really beginning to understand what CVI was, we're just now really getting a handle on how do you address CVI. And we know that we can do a lot of things for these kids that will help them greatly improve their use of vision. And so that's why we really wanted to have Diane come and share what she knows today, because I think that we need to tease out how do you do this? So I think that's all that I've got to share on that particular question. >>Charlotte: Yes. Lots more coming up. >>Kate: Okay. >>Control Room: Are we playing the video now, or this poll? >>Charlotte: I think the poll, yeah. So we have another poll for you. We're interested to find out if you work with learners with CVI, and that would be a yes, no, or I don't work directly with students. So far we have 100% working with learners with CVI, this is something that we already kind of knew. [ Laughter ]. One person so far not working with learners with CVI. And one who is not working directly with students, but again we're not surprised to see these results. We know as all of you no doubt do as well that CVI is the leading cause of visual impairment in children in the United States and North America, and much of the developing- developed world. >>Kate: Especially when they have multiple disabilities. They often go hand-in-hand. >>Charlotte: Exactly, exactly. Chapter 2. Approaches & Materials for Learners with CVI Okay, we're going to be watching now a prerecorded video. We do some prerecording, because we have had technical issues in the past, this helps to make things run a little more smoothly. So, we're ready to watch that, and then we'll come back and be taking some live questions at the end. Some of our special guests will be able to speak, as well. And you can use the chat pod to share comments and questions throughout. So here we go. [ Video start: ] The goals for today's session are to review considerations for learners with CVI. And to identify modifications and explore activities, materials or equipment that may be helpful to learners with CVI. People often wonder what kind of modifications should be made to active learning activities, materials or equipment, with children with CVI. It's beyond the scope of this webinar to provide an introduction to CVI, but there is a lot of good information in books and on a number of websites for people who would like to learn more. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: If you wish to learn more about CVI... Content: — Cortical Visual Impairment: An Approach to Assessment and Intervention by Christine Roman-Lantzy — TSBVI http://www.tsbvi.edu/cvi-exercise — Perkins eLearning http://perkinselearning.org/cvi — Strategy to See https://strategytosee.com/ — CVI Teacher https://cviteacher.wordpress.com/ Figure 5: Cover of Cortical Visual Impairment by Dr. Christine Roman-Lantzy Description End: You may wish to read Dr. Christine Roman-Lantzy book, Cortical Visual impairment, An Approach to Assessment and Intervention. Also the TSBVI website, Perkins eLearning, Strategy to See, CVI Teacher, all of those URLs can be found in your handout. [ Slide end: ] Questions arise with Active Learning approach with learners with Cortical Visual Impairment as sometimes the best practices for each seem to be in conflict. People wonder about visual clutter versus providing a wide range of materials, or competing sensory input versus providing a variety of sensory materials. Focusing on vision goals, versus focusing on motor goals. And while you'll need to discuss what is best for each individual student, we are hoping to provide some guidelines and information that may be helpful. The TVI's role is not to do all of the teaching and activities, but rather to do a thorough vision assessment and make specific recommendations regarding positioning, preferred visual fields, environmental modifications, latency, et cetera. You may at times be working on vision goals using Active Learning materials while at other times your role would be to help the team with adaptations and modifications to improve visual access. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Begin with Assessment Content: • Using the CVI Range or other tools to assess the child’s visual functioning • Matt Tietjen’s “What's the Complexity” Framework (coming soon from AFB) • Diane Sheline’s “CVI Skills Inventory and Strategies Worksheet” in Strategy to See • Use the Functional Scheme or other similar assessment Description End: Begin with an assessment, such as Dr. Christine Roman-Lantzy CVI Range. Matt Tietjen's What's the Complexity Framework or Diane Sheline's CVI Skills Inventory and Strategies Worksheet. [ Slide end: ] This assessment of the child's visual functioning should be considered together with other areas of development as measured through the functional scheme assessment or a similar tool. Dr. Nielsen wrote a number of articles about CVI, but it should be noted that a great deal has been learned about CVI since these were written in the early '90s. In her articles in 1993 and 1994, she notes the following:  Bombarding a child with visual information may be so overwhelming that the child will refuse to look at it. You need to be clear about the goal of the activity. If it's focused on vision, that's fine. But not all activities will have a visual component. Many children with multiple disabilities have difficulty generalizing information to new situations, and it seems meaningless to provide the child with environments that he will never meet outside of the vision training room. Many children with visual impairment who are at an early developmental stage do not experiment with all sensory combinations at one time. These children are busy using other sensory modalities while they are not using their sight. Some children need to explore the auditory and tactile qualities of an object, before they can benefit from looking at it. She notes that some children with CVI may later become able to include the sense of sight when exploring, experimenting and experiencing an exciting object or event for the first time. Others will maybe never achieve this ability. She emphasizes the importance of identifying which of the child's sensory modalities is primary, while also determining which stage of the learning process the child is in. For more information and links to her articles, visit the active learning space site. In the last 25 years, since Dr. Nielsen's work, one of the most important findings about vision is that we have documentation, based on the CVI range, that students can use their vision more consistently and efficiently, if they have repeated practice and experience in using it. Active learning often focuses more on tactile, auditory and motor experiences than visual ones and these learning channels need to be encouraged and strengthened. We know through research, in the area of neuroplasticity, that you get your biggest improvement in neuroplastic changes early on when children are very young. You may end up doing specific activities where the goals are centered on vision and that's fine. Our hope today is just to look at what considerations may be helpful when using an active learning approach with a child with CVI. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: General Tips Content: • Use the appropriate educational technique Five Phases of Educational Treatment • Match your pace to the learner and follow his lead • Don't over-react or over-praise • Be aware of the type of skills the learner is working on Description End: So, here's some general tips for implementing an Active Learning approach. Many of the general guidelines for Active Learning apply to all learners regardless of the type of visual impairment they may have. We would like to review those here. First, use the appropriate educational technique and for that you can see the five phases of educational techniques, offering, imitation, interaction, sharing the work and consequences. Two, match your pace to the learner when you interact. Three, follow the learner's lead in any activity. [ Slide end: ] Four, don't overreact or overpraise the learner. If the child becomes upset, simply move on. Or if the child demonstrates a skill, simply comment on what he or she has done. Number five, be aware of the type of skills that the learner is working on in the activity or environment. For example in the Little Room, the focus is on tactile, motor and auditory skills, not on visual ones. Number six, select materials that are based on the child's sensory preferences and developmental level. Number seven, arrange materials so the learner has physical access to explore independently. Number eight, position the learner so he or she can move optimally. Number nine remain slightly during the child's exploration and just share simple feedback when the learner takes a break or at the end of the activity. Number 10 allow plenty of time for the learner to respond. For some learners this may be minutes rather than second. Number 11, recognize that the child needs to work at their current skill level, and will attempt higher level skills when the learning cycle has been completed. You can learn more about that in the dynamic learning circle on the website. Observe the child and your own interactions. Maybe you want to videotape the child and/or the adult during instruction periodically. Number 13, use a wide variety of materials with differing properties. Number 14, change only one feature at a time in the materials or the environment. So what are some of the considerations that are specific to learners with CVI? [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Considerations for Learners with CVI Content: • We’re not always working on vision goals • Know the CVI Range score of your student and the educational implications when designing materials or planning activities. • Competing stimulation may make it difficult to use vision optimally • Latency - learners should be allowed ample time to plan and execute a response. Description End: Well, as we've said, we're not always working on vision goals in all Active Learning environments. You need to know the CVI range score of your student and the educational implications of that when designing materials or planning activities. Knowing where the child is on the CVI range will help you to know things like, the appropriate number and the spacing of visual targets, what distance is optimal, preferred visual field, preferred color, et cetera. [ Slide end: ] While many children with CVI are drawn to lights, the focus of Active Learning is on the active engagement and the participation of the learner. This means that simply stringing lights for the child to look at may be interesting and fun for the child, but we can't consider that to be an Active Learning approach. Ask yourself:  What is the child learning? In many Active Learning environments, there's competing sensory input, including sound, smells, visual targets, maybe things that are hot or cold, wet or dry. For many individuals with CVI, this type of competing stimulation may make it difficult for them to use their vision in an optimal way. Latency is a common characteristic for students with CVI and learners should be allowed ample time to plan and execute a response. So what do we make of the whole business of lights in Active Learning? Well, a string of lights is kind of the equivalent of a push button toy. It's not a bad thing in and of itself, but what can the child learn from it? Choose instead materials that have qualities of light that encourage active engagement. Presenting learners in the earliest stages of CVI, like in Phase I with lights and looking for responses is a common technique. In Active Learning, though, the goal is to have learners be active participants who engage with their environment, thus we want to be careful about not just stringing lights across the top of a Little Room or a position board, but rather presenting them in such a way so as to encourage the child to reach out and interact with them. Lights can be used to draw a child's attention to Active Learning materials, such as a shrink key of on a Illume bowl of balls. We are going to look at some videos of some of these lighted materials, and how they can be used effectively in Active Learning actives with a learner with CVI. In the first video we're going to see a young boy who was participating in a CVI clinic with Diane Sheline, and others, at TSBVI. And since this is part of a larger assessment, the clip is very short. This Illumi‑Bowl of balls is made using a silver mixing bowls with a silver puff light attached to the bottom. You then fill the bowl with yellow whiffle balls, or whatever the child's preferred color is. You can learn how to make this on the Strategy to See website. [ Video start: ] Audio Description: A title reads, Lucas with Iluumi-Bowl. This video has no audio. A young boy is seated in a wheelchair. In his lap is a silver metal bowl filled with white and yellow plastic balls, illuminated by a bright flash light. [ Video end: ] >>This is an example of using light to help direct and focus a child's attention on a visual target. In this activity, the goal is for Lucas to explore the balls in the bowl. The teacher uses offering. The light itself is not the activity. The shiny bowl also has reflective properties that helps to attract his visual attention, and the bowl was lifted slightly so it was in his visual field. The goal is not necessarily a visually directed reach, but rather it relates to fine motor and cognition. This activity could be modified differently for children in different CVI phases, by using different materials, such as yellow fuzzy tennis balls or golf balls, et cetera. Okay. Let's look at some more examples of how lights can be used to highlight a visual target. In the next two videos we're going to see, you will see two different children in a darkened environment. They are presented with a lighted slinky called an Illumi‑Spring Lighted Slinky. This is also something created by Diane Sheline that you can look on her website Strategy to See. Basically you attach a puck light to the end of a slinky, and present it to a child against a back background in a darkened room. In this next video we'll see a little girl in a CVI den. Note she is more active when her feet are also engaged. The goal is for her to increase her interaction with a visual target. She does better with no other competing stimuli such as sound. [ Video start: ] Audio Description: A title reads: Araceli with Slinky. This video has no audio. A toddler lies on her back in a darkened area. An adult suspends a lighted yellow slinky above her right side. She reaches across midline with her left hand, and then touches the slinky with both hands. It sways back and forth. She pumps her legs as she watches the slinky sway. She uses both hands to touch the slinky. New video segment. She rolls onto her right side. The adult moves the slinky closer to her hands. She moves the slinky with her left hand, smiles, and pumps her legs. New video segment. She hooks the Slinky with her left hand, pulls, and releases it. It sways back and forth. She uses both hands to touch the slinky. She pumps her legs as she watches the slinky sway. She hooks the Slinky with her left hand, pulls, and releases it. It sways back and forth. [ Video end: ] >>Charlotte: Now we're going to look at another video of the same boy that we saw earlier with the bowl of balls. This time he's exploring a slinky. [ Video start: ] Audio Description: A title reads: Lucas with Slinky. This video has no audio. A young boy lies on his back in a darkened space. His right hand is inside an illuminated, yellow slinky suspended from above. He brings his left hand to his mouth. He looks at the slinky as he moves it with his right hand. He brings the slinky to his mouth with his right hand, and taps it with his left. He continues to move the slinky with his right hand, rhythmically tapping it on his mouth. [ Video end: ] >>Charlotte: With the hand in the slinky, he is beginning to explore the movement of the slinky, while also visually attending to it. Finally, there's one more idea we wanted to share of using lighted materials. This one is an LED balloon. [ Video start: ] Audio Description: A title reads: Blue LED Balloon in CVI Den. This video has no audio. An infant lies on his back in a darkened CVI tent. A blue balloon, with a light inside, is suspended above within reach of his arms. He looks at the balloon and bats it with his left arm, and then his right, making the balloon sway. [ Video end: ] >>Charlotte: As in the other examples, we see that the lighted materials are being used to encourage visual attention to the object at the offering stage. You can look at the recommended products section of Diane's website to get lots more ideas of materials to try. The next example we're going to look at is the Mardi Gras bead curtain, where strings of red metal beads are suspended in front of a mini light box. This activity is to encourage more visual attending behaviors in children in Phase I, or to encourage attended action with a beaded curtain with either hands, feet or other body movements in Phase II. You can find the directions to make this on Diane Sheline's website. We're going to watch a short clip of a young boy with a bead curtain. [ Video start: ] Audio Description: A title reads: Mardi Gras Bead Curtain. This video has no audio. An infant lies on his right side facing a mini light box with a curtain of read beads suspended in front. His arms are extended and he explores the beads with his hands. [ Video end: ] >>Charlotte: As with the other examples we've looked at, notice that the child is positioned in such a way as to promote independent movement and exploration, without adult direction or intervention. So what about modification? Well, we have looked at some examples that incorporate some of the other modifications listed here. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Modifications for CVI Content: • Reducing competing stimuli • Child’s preferred color • Movement • Reducing visual clutter • Reflective materials • Color highlighting Description End: Such as reducing competing stimuli, using items of the child's favorite color and movement. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Reducing Visual Clutter Content: • Invisiboard (APH) • CVI Tray Liner • CVI Den • Crazy Glow Doodle Dome Tent Toy • Pop-up Canopy Tent Commercial Instant Tent with 4 Removable Zipper End Side Walls • Portable Pop Up Pod Dressing/Changing Tent • Privacy Pop Bed Tent Description End: We're going to talk now a bit about reducing visual clutter. You probably noticed in all of the videos that we have seen so far that the environment is darkened, and there is a black background or kind of tent. There are many different models available, and you will want to think about the available space, as well as the size of the child. [ Slide end: ] And other considerations such as whether or not he or she will be positioned in a wheelchair, sitting or lying down. Keep in mind that you should not close up any of the tents. You need to leave the door open so that there's good ventilation, and you also want to be able to observe the child. There are a number of options to reduce visual clutter, some of which we've listed on this slide, including the Invisiboard from APH, that's the one shown in the photo here. A CVI tray liner is something that you can make yourself for your students. If they have a wheelchair tray that is clear or translucent. Covering the tray with black fabric, or paper, can provide a good background and reduce visual clutter. The CVI den is another do it yourself project that Diane Sheline describes on her website. Some commercially available options include the Crazy Glow Doodle Dome Tent, the Privacy Pop Bed Tent, the Portable Pop Up Pod, dressing and changing tents, the Pop-up Canopy Tent Commercial Instant Tent with four removable zipper and side walls. These products change periodically, but you can look for ones that are sturdy and safe, and best suit the child's needs and available space. We have included some of the links on the website. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: CVI Den Content: Figure 12: A child lies on her back on the floor of a CVI Den Description End: So, let's look specifically at the CVI den. In this slide you can see a young girl in a CVI den with a number of materials arranged around her. Including a slinky suspended from the ceiling of the den and a mini light box. Again, you can learn more about this on the Strategy to See website. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Little Rooms for Children with CVI Content: • Vision does not need to be focus of every activity • Decrease visual clutter • Suspend black sheet above • Use black cloth, construction paper, repositionable adhesive-backed vinyl • Begin with objects of a single color or highlighted color • Use a recording sheet to collect data Description End: Little Rooms for children with CVI are a big topic. At this point I would like to address a question that comes up frequently in relation to using an Active Learning approach with children with CVI, and that is the use of a little room. We know for that children lying on their backs looking up at a clear ceiling with numerous items suspended above them and attached to the walls next to them, that can be a huge amount of visual stimulation. [ Slide end: ] First, it's important to remember that vision does not need to be the focus of every Active Learning activity. And children at a young developmental age may be focusing more on fine and gross motor skills, learning about spatial awareness and cause and effect. In addition to the options we just looked at, you could also try suspending a black sheet above the little room so that you can still observe the child, but the visual clutter will be reduced. You can use gigantic chip clips to attach the fabric. You could also use a photographer's back drop. One thing that you may want to do is to get your head down inside the Little Room to see exactly the child is looking. This will help you to see if there's visual clutter, and will help to determine where the black sheet should be positioned. You could use a black cloth or construction paper, or black repositionable adhesive-backed vinyl, to make a solid colored ceiling or side panels. Be sure this does not interfere with ventilation or with your ability to observe the child. You may wish to begin with objects that are all a single color of object. For example, all red or all yellow. Or in the child's preferred color. Be sure that you are using a recording sheet to collect data. This is instructional time, not a baby-sitting tool. You are not interacting with the student during this time. But you must still be monitoring what the child is doing. There are some sample forms on the active learning space site that can be used for this. Above all, please remember that good ventilation and clear visibility of the child are essential. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Car Seat Adaptation Content: Figure 13: Two photos of a young child sitting in a car seat with a black hood. Description End: Another example of reducing visual clutter is a car seat adaptation, like this one shared here by Diane Sheline. In this slide you can see an example of a little boy who was, at that time, visually functioning in Phase I. He was in the car traveling more than three hours each direction to Texas Children's Hospital. [ Slide end: ] His parents wanted a way for him to practice using vision while on the long drives. He alerted well to reflective targets within 12-inches of his face, but he needed CVI den‑like situation for him to be able to use his vision. [ Slide start: ] repeat previous slide In the first photo you can see that they purchased a black car seat with a black hood and handle. They used a piece of PVC pipe spray painted flat back to velcro into place between the two handles. On it she used material for him to practice looking at and touching and interacting with. In the second photo you see that she draped a piece of black velcro, compatible non‑skid backed material on the seat he faced. A black trimmed mirror was attached with velcro to the black material. [ Slide end: ] This mirror was so that his mother could look at him and monitor what he was doing and looking at as she drove. His mother was encouraged to keep the radio off and not play music or talk when the child was using his vision. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Red Mylar PomPom Content: Figure 14: A young child plays with a red mylar pompom. Description End: Let's look now at reflective materials. I'm sure a lot of you using mylar material, like pompoms, as they are often a favorite of children with CVI because of their reflective property. We're going to watch a very short video click of a red Mylar pompom held in front of a young boy. This clip is from a vision assessment and was not specifically designed as an Active Learning activity. We've included it, because it shows how the positioning of a visually attractive item, the red pompom, invites the child to explore it. [ Video start: ] Audio Description: A title reads: Red Mylar Pompom. This video has no audio. A young boy with glasses is seated in a wheelchair. A large, red mylar pompom is presented in front of him. He reaches out to explore it with both hands. [ Video end: ] >>Charlotte: Next we would like to look at how a position board, which is a basic piece of active learning equipment, can be adapted for children with CVI. Diane Sheline shares an example of using color highlighting with materials on a position board. When designing a position board for a child with CVI, it's important to know his or her CVI range score. We're going to look at two videos of two different children. One of whom is in Phase I and one of whom is in Phase II on the CVI range. [ Video start: ] Audio Description: A title reads: CVI Phase I Position Board. Diane Sheline, Strategy-to-see dot com. Diane Sheline: The young boy in this clip visually functions in Phase one, with a CVI score of 1 to 2. He clearly is not able to visually attend to this many targets in the array, and they're unfamiliar to him. It's going to be much better if he has one of his favored, familiar targets on the board, and in this case he will readily look at it and reach out and touch it, and interact with it. So, we really have to be careful about the targets that we use, especially with a student who visually functions in Phase 1. This child is going to be much better off with just one favored, familiar target on the board that he can ex- explore at this time, and maybe, in a bit, two widely spaced visual targets, but that's it. [ Video end: ] [ Video start: ] Audio Description: A title reads: CVI Phase two; Position Boards. Diane Sheline, Strategy-to-see dot com. Diane Sheline: This 5 year old little boy has a visual diagnosis of CVI, secondary to periventricular luekomalacia. His score on the CVI range is 3.25 to 4, placing him in the early part of Phase 2 CVI. He clearly is able to visually locate up to four targets in the array. He seems to benefit from the color highlighting of the reflective... quality on the targets. And the targets are all of metal, which will adhere, or stick to the magnetized bowl, helping him when he is working on his goals and objectives; including the concepts of in and out. He turns his head to the far right to better see targets on his left, with his left eye. Therefore the position board is, well, positioned, so he can more easily use his preferred visual field. Targets are presented within arm's reach, or generally within 12 to 18 inches of his body, and the array is simple with plenty of blank space. Although these targets, and the position board, are novel, or new to him, he still is able to use his vision for functional purposes. There is some 'look, look-away, then reach' going on, but occasionally, he also uses a visually guided reach. The three battle cans each have different contents. One has sesame seeds inside. The second has rice inside, and the third has pinto beans inside. Therefore, they're a different weight when he picks them up, and they make a different sound when he shakes them. All three of those metal cans will stick to that magnetized bowl... but he's not quite at that point, yet. He just is having a really good time exploring them, and pulling on the elastic cords that's attaching them to the- to the position board, and... exploring what's on that board. [ Video end: ] >>Charlotte: Hopefully these two clips will help to reinforce the fact that every child is different. Not only are these two boys at different points on the CVI range, but they also have different positioning needs. It's important to think about the seating and positioning needs of your students when designing equipment and activities. We remind you that vision does not need to be the focus of every activity, but we offer some general guidelines for using position boards with learners with CVI when vision is a priority. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: General Tips for Using Position Boards with Learners with CVI Content: Phase I: • Use only one target at a time • Presented in child's preferred visual field • In child's preferred color • Avoid competing auditory stimuli • Keep any target(s) at the appropriate distance. • Position Board should be solid, dark color, preferably black Description End: If the student is just beginning to use vision in Phase I, use only one target at a time, presented in the student's preferred visual field, in the student's preferred color. Keep any target or targets at the appropriate distance, as determined by observation, a report or a CVI range. For a child who visually functions in Phase I, it may be no further than 12-inches away. [ Slide end: ] If the student is visually functioning in Phase II, two to three well spaced target may be used. Make sure the position board is of a solid, dark color. Black usually is best to make a bold colored target stand out. If you do choose to use pegboard, spray paint it black and then hang a black sheet behind it or position an Invisiboard behind it so the light doesn't shine through the holes and create visual clutter. Remember, if you choose to play music or talk while using the position board, that's competing auditory complexity. A child who visually functions in Phase I, generally cannot tolerate competing auditory complexity and use vision at the same time. Know the visual functioning level of your student using the CVI when designing a program using a position board. Place the position board in the student's best field of view. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Pegboard Books Content: Figure 16: Black pegboard book with one yellow object attached to each page Description End: Wooden pegboard books are another basic piece of active learning equipment designed by Dr. Lilli Neilsen that can easily be modified for children with CVI. These books have pegboard pages with items attached. And are usually on some kind of a stand, so that the learner can turn the pages. [ Slide end: ] Diane Sheline has created a modified version for learners with CVI, which can be seen on her website. She notes that it works best if you spray paint the pages black and use the single color, usually yellow or red, attached to each page. Start with familiar or preferred items, such as a cup, spoon, tooth brush, toy or wash cloth. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Content: Animated GIF of Pegboard Book with yellow objects. Description End: Here's an example of a book that Diane made. [ Slide end: ] Because the pegboard has many small holes this can be visually distracting. Try presenting the pegboard against a black background to minimize visual clutter. We're going to watch a short clip of a young boy with CVI exploring this book. [ Video start: ] Audio Description: Pegboard Book Demonstration. A toddler, wearing glasses, sits at a table with large book with six pages made from pegboard. A single, yellow object is attached with elastic to each page. A teacher sits next to him. He turns a blank page to reveal a yellow duck. Toddler: [Laughs] Teacher: [Laughing] What is that? [ Laughter ] Toddler: [Verbalizing] Audio Description: He turns the page back and forth reveal the yellow duck. [ Laughter ] Toddler: [Laughing] Teacher: Are you closing the book? Hey, look at this. Audio Description: He turns the page back and forth reveal the yellow duck. Toddler: [Laughing] [ Laughter ] [Clapping] Teacher: Let's open. Open the book. Let's go to another page. Audio Description: He turns a blank page to reveal a yellow cloth with six large buttons. Toddler: [Laughing] Teacher: Well, books can do that. Audio Description: He turns the page back and forth. Toddler: [Laughing] Teacher: Okay. Let's wait-- and look at this thing. Audio Description: The teacher turns to a page with a small round mirror in a yellow frame. Teacher: You don't want to see the things on the page. You're more interested in turning them. Toddler: [Laughing] Teacher: It turns, doesn't it? Audio Description: He turns the page back and forth. Teacher: You're turning the pages. Toddler: [Laughing] Audio Description: He turns through the pages, forward and backward. Toddler: [Laughing] Teacher: Okay. Let's open. Toddler: [Laughing] Teacher: That's closing. Audio Description: The teacher turns to pages with a yellow comb and a yellow toothbrush with blinking lights. Teacher: You are much more interested in... [Indiscernible] Toddler: [Laughing] Teacher: That's pretty fun... turning pages. Toddler: [Laughing] [ Laughter ] Teacher: That's pretty fun. Good job. Good job. And close the book. And open? Toddler: [Laughing] Teacher: Open? [ Video end: ] >>Charlotte: I think we can all agree this little boy loved playing with the pegboard book. Note that Diane interacted playfully with the boy while he turned the pages. Up to this point all of the ideas we've looked at were shared by Diane Sheline. We'd also like to share a couple of ideas from Ellen Mazel, program manager for Perkins School for the Blind. She also has a great website, and it's called CVI teacher. You may wish to have a look at that. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Presenting an Array of Comparables Content: Figure 17: Cookie sheet with Slinkys of various size, design, and color on it Description End: This slide shows an example of presenting an array of comparables modified for a child with CVI with the use of the color red. In this activity the learner is presented with similar items with different attributes such as color, size, weight, texture, and encouraged to explore their properties independently. The items shown here are a variety of slinkys, some big, some small, in different colors. Note that the red doll has slinky arms and legs. The learner can explore the similarities and differences among the items. [ Slide end: ] Ellen has also designed a couple of position boards, which are shown here. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Position Boards Based on a Child’s Preferences Content: Figure 18: Two photos of position boards on black pegboard, one with colored ties of different colors and one of plastic balls suspended Description End: Two preschool children she worked with had distinct object preferences in recognition abilities. One for ribbons or strings and one for balls. To provide an Active Learning experience at near, they created slant boards with pegboard materials placed in their preferred visual field. [ Slide end: ] They started with one item, then increased the array. As the child's skills developed, they were able to move items more to the child's other weaker visual field. In the beginning, their own movements created movement in the materials. Later, reaching and batting began to happen intentionally. Using preferred items can often be highly motivating. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Supporting Reaching for Learners with CVI Content: • Always have something in arm’s reach that is shiny, of the child’s preferred color, with slight movement. • Help the child understand that their movements can make changes: • Balloon tied to the wrist at the best visual distance • Something tied to the foot at the best visual distance • Red socks on feet, red hair elastics on wrists Description End: Ellen offers some tips to support reaching for learners with CVI. Always have something within arm's reach to touch and look at that are shiny, of their favorite color, and slightly moving. Help the child understand that their movements can make changes. Maybe you could have a balloon tied to their wrist at the best visual distance? [ Slide end: ] Something tied to the foot at the best visual distance. Red socks on the feet, and red hair elastic on wrists, so their own movements create a moving visual event. This also helps children understand that their hands and feet are part of their bodies. We hope that we've given you some ideas of things that you can try with your students. We also wanted to emphasize that each child and each situation should be viewed individually. As we said, not every activity needs to have a vision focus, and you'll need to decide as a team when vision goals are a priority and when other skills, such as motor and cognition may be more of a priority. [ Video end: ] Chapter 3. Questions & Answers Charlotte: Wow, we hope that all of you enjoyed those videos as much as we did. Again, thanks so much to Diane, as well as to Ellen, for sharing some of these things. We had a number of questions come in, in the chat room, while we were watching the videos. And some of them have been answered already. But some of them we may want to have a little more discussion on. I think one question... was about stabilizing the position board. I think we often see small children with large position boards, and obviously you don't want them to come crashing down on the child. So Diane wrote a little bit about how she's done that. Shall we read that, Kate-- >>Kate: Diane, why don't you come on the line and I will be reading. One bit of clarification, the child in Phase I was evaluated about seven weeks prior to this video being taken, this was the first time that I had seen him reach out and grab a target. If I had evaluated him that day when he was using the position board, he would have probably scored higher on the CVI range. Okay that didn't answer it. The... board is stabilized because it has a base that is really an Ikea coffee table top. [ Laughter ]. >>Charlotte: That's stable, right? Diane: Kate, can you hear me? Kate: Yes, we can. Diane: Okay, I just wanted to clarify that it- it just happened to be an Ikea table that my daughter was throwing out. I thought, well I can use that. The one thing about having that heavy of a base is for an itinerant teacher, it's difficult to move around. But I really wanted [Echoing] it to be stable. Also if you look at my website, I give instructions how to make it and what I used. >>Charlotte: Thanks, Diane, that's really helpful. Let's see what else we've got for questions here. I think Beth had a question, that I think we haven't responded to, yet. Beth asks:  I have a student who does not use her hands independently. Any suggestions to help with data collection? It seems like she has more spastic arm movements than deliberate. Do you want to-- >>Kate: Well, one of the things, I responded to Beth's question, I think the big thing with Active Learning, you take the child wherever they are. And so, whatever movement she's making are appropriate for where she is. One thing that I would encourage is for you to complete the Functional Scheme Assessment, so you are very clear about what skills she does have, and you know how to select items and equipment that will target the skills that she has. And those that you want to-- hope to see her develop. And make sure that you are getting objects close to her so that any movement, whether it's a spastic movement, or an intentional movement will cause something to happen. And I'd love to have Patty, or any of the rest of you, chime on this if you have other thoughts that you want to share. >>Patty: Hey, Kate, it's Patty, can you hear me? >>Kate: Yes, ma'am. >>Patty: I was thinking it's a great question, because I'm working on the lecture for coming down in February and March about movement. And it's so important to understand that the first movements that happen are all unintentional movements. They're all reflexive movement, and then they become intentional. So a child with spastic cerebral palsy is going to move because of reflexes. And so it's so important to position all of the items near that child, so that any movement happens, and then through repetition eventually those movements become purposeful. So, you kind of answered it. They just need to focus on positioning things to encourage any movement. It doesn't matter if it's reflexes, or unintentional, because eventually those become intentional. >>Hurst: Great. >>Charlotte: Patty, maybe you can stay on the line, there's a question from Irene Lane, what do you suggest for materials to use with an older student who is strong and destructive? >>Patty: Oh, gosh. You just-- you just have to adapt, adapt, adapt. So, if you are using elastic that's usually thicker, stronger elastic. If it's... you have to build things stronger and heavier for kids who have destroy things. So, if I had more specifics, I could probably give her better examples. But we have one child who, you know, will throw computers on the floor, and all kinds of things, and you just have to learn to bolt, adapt, secure, and eventually it works. >>Charlotte: Thanks for that response, Patty. Irene or anyone, if you do have more specific questions, you can email us, or post it on the active learning space, and we'll try to get you more specific responses. We've got a few more minutes left. Let's see what else we've got. How to sign up for Patty-- how to sign up for Patty's events. Those are on the active learning space website in the training events, I'm just getting the link to put that in the chat window. All of Patty's trainings are listed... on our website and you can sign up, there are links where you can sign up for them there. So you can get more information about the dates and find the links to the registration forms. >>Kate: I'm putting up something about Texas Focus. >>Charlotte: Great, thank you. >>Patty: Charlotte, can I add one more thing, too? >>Please. >>Patty: So, I'm getting ready to come down to see you guys in a couple of weeks. I just started videotaping again. And I can't-- I can't-- encourage people enough to videotape. Because when you start to videotape, you watch it and you see things that you didn't see before. And it just helps continue your education. So, I just have one videotape of a child using their hand, and then to be able to show people that videotape opens their eyes. So, I would just encourage videotape, videotape, videotape. >>Charlotte: Thank you so much for suggesting that, Patty, because I think we all- we all feel like we know what we're doing. But videotaping makes us really see what we're doing, and be able to discuss that a little bit more. We've had a number of questions about where the Functional Scheme can be purchased, and Kate has just put that link right there in the chat window. You can get it through Lilliworks.com. There's another workshop coming up in California. We'll need to get that on to the website, Lori, so maybe you and I can connect after this to be sure we list it on our site as well. We've got about two more minutes. So I'm not sure if there are any more questions. There are a number of people who were typing. >>Kate: I think Mary Catherine is going to put up the... link to, hopefully, to register for the Active Learning Conference in Victoria. But while she's doing that, we might want to go ahead and get the code out to people and we can keep kind of chatting in the background. >>Charlotte: The link to the Victoria conference is actually right there on our training events page. But-- active learning space. But I'm going to go ahead and grab the link and-- pop it right in there. >>Kate: Thank you, Charlotte, we appreciate that. There's still plenty of spaces. Let me just say to you, Region 3 has been so gracious, they are giving this conference for almost nothing. It's $25 to register. So if you can get yourself to Victoria, which is not terribly far from Houston-- Charlotte: We're talking Texas! Kate: San Antonio, Austin-- you know, it is-- it is very cheap conference and there's a block of rooms at the Holiday Inn Express there in Victoria so, you know, do-- do come and listen to Patty there. If you can't make it there, come to Austin for Texas Focus. We've got room there, too. She's going to do two wonderful sessions there, and there will be a lot of other wonderful speakers at that event. >>Charlotte: And the registration link is also on the active learning space, same place, training events page. So, I think we're just finishing up now. And I hope that all of you will come back again in March. We're going to be talking about setting up your classroom, and how to schedule the day. I know it's kind of late in the school year to be thinking about that. But we-- we feel like that, you know, any time is a good time to talk about it. So, we hope to see you then, and meanwhile do sign up for our newsletter. This webinar should be available on our site before too long. Thanks so much for joining us. Bye. >>Kate: Bye‑bye, guys. >>Patty: Bye, everyone. [Silence] Fade up from black. Animation: Text for TSBVI transform into braille cells for TSBVI. Fade to black.