Taking the Angst Out of Literacy Media Decisions
October 26, 2020
Transcript start

Kathi Garza [00:04:01] Hi, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us today. We're really excited to be here doing this presentation on literacy media. So we're gonna get started with "Taking the Angst Out of Literacy Media Decisions: Spoiler Alert: It's Not Either Or." Well, now that you know that well, you still want your code. So I guess you'll stick around. Probably. All right. So I'm Kathi Garza and I work in the Outreach Department, a Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired as an infant early childhood consultant. Chrissy, did you want to introduce yourself before we do this? Sorry. 

Chrissy Cowan [00:04:36] That's OK. I'm Chrissy Cowan. And I'm a TVI by trade and I am the mentor coordinator here at TSBVI Outreach Department. 

Kathi Garza [00:04:47] I just got so excited. See, I told you I don't get nervous until I actually start doing it. All right. So to start we wanted to talk a little bit about this session and what we're kind of proposing here. So sign of support for multiple literacy formats. And that's kind of where the angle that we're coming from is that it really doesn't have to be either or. And for this presentation we're talking a lot about kids with low vision who maybe are borderline or who are you're considering maybe dual media for. That being said, there will be a lot of little things that maybe are applicable for students who are Braille learners. And you're working on developing their listening skills so that they can also access information efficiently in both- in multiple literacy formats. So, Chrissy's going to talk a little more about that later. But classically, the learning media assessment process guides the TVI towards visual or tactile media, kind of driving the car in the front seat while auditory comprehension tends to typically take a backseat. And we don't think quite as much about how all of these literacy formats can support each other. So we're suggesting here kind of a shift in thinking to consider all, you know, multiple formats for students, not just print and print and Braille or what we typically think of as dual media. But, you know, an encompassing that listening as well in your decisions, in how you're making decisions for these students. So anybody has to have the skill to read, print and or Braille. So we're definitely not saying, you know, that's not essential as well. But they also have to have the skill to access and comprehend, you know, auditory media in a variety of ways, whether it's via technology or, you know, in a class with a teacher or even when when working with groups on group projects with friends. 

Chrissy Cowan [00:06:48] OK, so this is not, you know, I want to be clear, this presentation is really not about teaching kids how to read. It's, you know, we do want to go through some of the skills needed to read. But that's not what this is all about. I just feel like as vision teachers we're not trained necessarily. We didn't take reading methods or we're not reading specialists. But it is important as you work on skills related [audio glitch] and an audible materials that you understand the progression, not the progression, but what the skills are to read. The first one is phonemic awareness. And again, these aren't necessarily in order. And that's just the understanding that words are created from small units of sound. So it's important to be able to hear the difference between pig and pog or dog and dig. So it is an auditory kind of thing. And the next one is phonics. And you've heard a lot about phonics and that's being able to connect the sounds to print or Braille. So something that's written down so that I now know the word dog. And then when I see d-o-g on paper, I can make a connection between what I know about dog and that word on the page. Then there's fluency and fluency is the ability to read and write. But we're talking about reading with speed and accuracy and expression. Then vocabulary is that bank of words we've learned. We either learn them by listening to them and then we we build on that by reading. That's why it's so important that kids with low vision and kids who are blind really explore their universe so that they build that bank of words and word meanings. Then there's comprehension, which is understanding what the text is all about. 

[00:08:47] We also want to suggest-- next slide-- that there are skills related to listening, and if you don't have the book "Learning to Listen and Listening to Learn," it's blue. Used to be published by AFB, but now you get these books on Amazon. It really, really is a great resource in regards to listening. And it's divided by grade levels. So it's starting with-- It talks a lot about discriminative listening. So that's very early. And you learn the difference between what a doorbell sounds like and a dog barking. And so it's the most basic form of listening. We want to get kids too to comprehensive listening, and that's understanding what the message has been communicated. One of my favorite cartoons is Gary Larson. And it's someone talking to a dog. What dogs hear. "Bad girl, Ginger. That's a very bad girl. You dug in the trash." What Ginger hears, "Blah, blah, blah, Ginger, blah, blah, blah." So Ginger does not have comprehensive listening. She so, you know, you have to. You have to understand what the message is to be a good listener. So there's-- within that there's informational listening, listening to learn and then there's critical listening, listening to evaluate and analyze. And so if you've been around young children, you see at some point they will begin to question and argue, talk back, whatever. So they're doing critical listening at that point. So then there are skills related to listening on the next slide that we do want to enhance with kids with low vision and the kids who are blind as well. So we want them to be able to listen to audio materials such as books and the Internet, the radio, the television. Think of yourself how much listening you do to glean information all day long. We want kids to get good at that. Listening to a screen reader while using a computer, listening to audible literature on digital players and computers, and now on Zoom. So, you know, kids are parked in front of a computer right now. A lot of them. And they're in the position to have to glean the information they're listening to and act on it. That's why it's so important to teach kids, starting at a certain age, how to take notes, how to act on what they listen to. So it does help to be able to pair audible materials with the Braille or print. You know, if you have a construct of what print materials are and what Braille materials are depending on what you're using. And then you're listening. You have a better understanding of what you're listening to. For kids with low vision who are going to-- who are struggling with print because of their ability, their stamina to stick with it. Beyond some of them, five, ten minutes, being able to shift to an audible strategy is really a boon. So I suggest that when they have the audible materials, they also have the book open in front of them and they can go back and forth. And so when you have a science material, for example, and you've got lots of graphics being able to shift and also that would be the material online, being able to shift from the visual to the auditory is something that is going to increase their stamina and help them move through the material more smoothly. Now, Cathy said this at the beginning, and I'm going to say at least twice. We are not suggesting that audible materials replace print or Braille. We are not saying that audible materials are a primary literacy media. So we'll, you know, we don't-- it is not efficient if you have a student sitting in a classroom or wherever and is only able to access information through the audible channel. It's just not a very good method. So it's not a primary media. It is a support-- it's support to Braille and or print. OK, so let's back up a minute or move forward a minute or however you one look at it and see what the law says- IDEA says about literacy media, because this is. We're going to be talking about how do you decide with some kids? How do you decide if you're going to go with print or with Braille or with dual or with whatever? So let's look at what IDEA says. And now this paper, this letter that I'm referencing right here. It's discoverable on Google under OSEP Dear Colleague Letter on Braille. So what this letter says-- OSEP is is the big entity. It's the Office of Special Education Program. And it says that Braille instruction must be provided unless the IEP determines it is not appropriate for a particular child. Braille is the default media. When you're working with a student with a visual impairment, Braille is the default media. Now. This determination of Braille or print is based on a thorough-- this is their language-- a thorough and rigorous evaluation that includes notation of a range of multiple learning modalities, including auditory, tactile, and visual. It includes a database media assessment and a functional vision evaluation. 

[00:15:27] So in Texas, we have an LMA process. So let's look at what thorough and rigorous means. Some states have an LMA process. Some don't. And I've you know, I've kind of traveled the country and done presentations on the LMA process and have discovered that some people really beef up their FEE. They have a lot of this information within the context of their FEE. So, you know, so if you do that or doing the LMA, these are the kinds of things that make your report thorough and rigorous. So you're looking at the learning or the sensory channels. And for those of you that have been raised, as I was with the LMA book by Alan Koenig and Kay Holbrook, there was a form that had V-T... What did it have on it? V-T...  A? [audio glitch] well, that's something anyway. It had those letters and you circled whether the-- as you watch the child move through any kind of activity you were looking at. Were they primarily using their vision, their sense of touch or their hearing or their-- that's it. That is-- those are those are the ones. And then you're looking at learning media. So learning media is different than sensory kind of stuff. So you're looking at how are they doing with print or how are they doing with Braille or how are they doing with pictures? What is their learning media? And then you're going to be looking at selecting the appropriate primary literacy media. So primary: what they're going to be using the most be at print, Braille, tactile symbols. Those are the biggies. Then you're going to be looking at literacy tools. Are they using a computer? Are they using pencil, paper? What's the assistive technology? They're going to be using? You're going to be looking at their access to the general curriculum, some compensatory skills within the context of the ECC. So, you know, you're looking at-- you're watching them in a class or you're watching them in a playgroup or on the playground, whatever. How are they accessing information that's flying at them? You're going to look at their performance with auditory and listening skills, their performance with Braille and tactile skills, and their performance with print. You're going to be looking at size, speed, and stamina. A lot of people do the Braille on the print piece, by the time the child is reading, they're going to be using the Jerry Johns or or some kind of reading inventory like that. 

[00:18:21] So this is what a thorough and rigorous evaluation means. So if you have all of that you are-- and you you write up your report and you say based on this evaluation information, which is very thorough. If you do all of this, this student will be using X. Whatever, tactile, tactile strategies, visual strategies. And if you have the information that supports your vision, the print, then that's a thorough and rigorous evaluation. So just so it-- what the law is saying is Braille first. And if you're not going to go with Braille, tell us why. Why is print better? OK. So if you cover all these point [audio glitch]. 

[00:19:21] OK, so looking at the initial selection of literacy media. Sometimes you're looking at a two year old or you're looking, you know-- a two, three, four year old and they're a new student to you, you're doing the functional visual evaluation and the learning media assessment. Brand new. And it's hard to determine, you know, what am I going to say in regards to literacy media for this little bitty kid? So you are going to be looking at-- a lot of times you're looking at their play and you're collecting data on that. So you might be looking at them playing with materials such as puzzles and how they're doing with pictures. Drawing, you know, print. Let's say you're looking at a four or five year old and they already know some print or they already know some Braille. How they're functioning with board games, toys, etc.. You're going to be really watching how they visually access those things. You're going to be looking at the lighting conditions under which they're playing and using those things. And you're going to be looking at the times of day. As you know, you know, kids with low vision in particular experience visual fatigue. So what happens as the day wears on? Let's say you're doing your evaluation in the late afternoon. You may be seeing a totally different scenario than if you were looking in the morning. Based on the eitiology, this decision can work really different. So so kids, for example, with low vision, who have a central scetoma or a blind spot in the middle of their visual field, they're going to be experiencing some pretty significant problems with reading print. You may have a student that has a rapidly advancing etiology where sight is going to be diminished fairly quickly. That's going to affect your decision on literacy media. 

[00:21:48] So what Kathi and I have put together are a couple of real kids. And what we'd like you to do, let's just say you're looking at these children fresh for the first time. And, you know, you've got to write a report and you talk to parents and talk to teachers about what channels they're going to go down for literacy media. And so what we'd like you to do is watch these two different children. One is Merrick and one is Madison. And Merrick is just three. And this was a little girl-- I have to apologize for the quality of this video. I was doing a functional vision and LMA on Merrick, invited by the TVI who asked me to help support her literacy media decision. And so I had her in a play area. Did not-- it was totally impromptu. And all I had was my iPhone. So I set that up and you'll see me crawling around on the floor. It's very poor video. But it is good enough for you to to get an idea. So what I'd like you to do is as you watch both of these girls, write in the chat what your initial decision would be about which literacy-- it may be print, Braille, or may be both. So go ahead and just let those comments fly as you watch these. 

Merrick [on video] [00:23:33] I have lots of babies. 

Chrissy [on video] [00:23:35] How come you have lots of babies? 

Merrick [on video] [00:23:40] [indecernable]

Chrissy [on video] [00:24:22] What is that? Do you know what that is? 

Merrick [on video] [00:24:24] A straw- a strawberry.  A strawberry. That was a strawberry. It's a fire juice.

Chrissy [on video] [00:24:25] Fire juice? I think that's supposed to be a fried egg. Does your mama fix you eggs?  Does she fix them that way? 

Merrick [on video] [00:25:30] [indecernible]. 

Chrissy [on video] [00:25:30] Oh, what's this?

Merrick [on video] [00:25:48] Stick. 

Chrissy [on video] [00:25:48]  A stick.

Kathi Garza [00:26:02] So here's Madelyn. 

Kathi [on video] [00:26:06] Did you find a pattern to make? 

Madelyn [on video] [00:26:08] Yes, yes, yes. This one. [indistinct] How do you make that one?

Kathi [on video] [00:27:47] Jean the Dragon is enormous with sparkles pointed and pink. Her teeth are sharp and scary. But she has a fiery wink. 

Madelyn [on video] [00:27:56] Fiery wink. 

Kathi [on video] [00:28:06] Fiery Frank love sausages. Pan fried, grilled, or roasted. Flame grilled are his favorite. He likes them nicely toasted. 

Chrissy Cowan [00:28:38] OK. All right. Those were the two videos. Boy. For Merrick-- and I think I wrote in the chat-- I think Merrick was ONH. Do you know, Kathi? 

Kathi Garza [00:28:57] I think she-- I think that's true. 

Chrissy Cowan [00:28:59] Yeah. And so she-- you know, of course I did-- I spent a couple of days with her. So I had a lot more information-- the benefit of more information than you all did with a two minute video. But most of you said dual and many of you included auditory with that. And one person said Braille. And one person said tactile symbols with Braille and auditory. That was Mary Ann Siller. Who I think just checked out. So I think you all pretty much nailed it. Merrick went on to learn Braille and she was able to use her vision with a stand magnifier to look at pictures. And so but, you know, so she really enjoyed looking at books. But she did not do that very efficiently. When I tested her, if she knew what-- kind of what the picture was, she could identify it. Otherwise, she didn't. So one thing that concerned me with her when you saw her with the carrot. I handed her the carrot and didn't tell her what it was. And she said it was a stick. So that tells you right there that her vision was not strong enough to really help her identify objects in her environment. Now, I understand that kids, you know, they see those little enough nubby things and they call them carrots, you know, whether or not they know that big thing is a carrot. But back then when I did this, I think most three year olds would have looked at that and said that's a carrot. So I could see that her vision was very compromised. She went on to learn Braille. And in fact, last year, she was one of the participants in the Braille Challenge. And she's now in junior high and a very, very proficient Braille reader and does a little bit with her vision. So that [audio glitch] Kathi, you want to-- do you want to go on about Madelyn? 

Kathi Garza [00:31:25] Yes. So Madelyn is a little lady with albinism in the Northwest. And she-- what I liked about what a lot of you said, a lot of you talked about visual and auditory, large print. Somebody asked about her acuity. Somebody asked-- somebody mentioned that, you know, without the mention of colors and other details, it's hard to say. And that's kind of the point is that, you know, while one, you really would need a lot more information to be able to make that decision than just watching these videos. And so it kind of-- not to suggest that people would do an evaluation on a two minute and twenty five second clip. But, you know, it just kind of hammers home that the things you really would be looking for, you would need to observe quite a few activities across environments. And Madelyn right now is still very young. She's in kinder this year. That video was, I think, when she was about three and she's in kinder this year. And she is actually learning print-- she's learning Braille and print right now. So because of the pandemic they have and the academic demands with virtual learning, they've cut her Braille time a little bit. But it was a decision that was agreeable to everyone to help her be able to just get through her school work at home when all of her cool toys are distracting her. So. Well, we'll have to revisit Madelyn in a few years and see what she's up to in terms of literacy media. But, yeah, I mean, that's kind of the, you know, the idea that it really does take a lot of observation and different types of activities to really get all the information you would need to make make a decision. 

Chrissy Cowan [00:33:12] So I suggest that, you know, you're under it under a timeline to get those reports in. So I suggest that you go ahead and write up what you're your best, you know, based on rigorous and thorough information in your report. Go ahead and just go for it with the primary literacy media for, you know, your students. And by the way, there are forms in that Alan Koenig and Kay Hollbrook book, the literacy media book that's turquoise and white. There are forms in there that kind of go a little bit deeper, certainly, than what we've done today. But go ahead and write it up in your report and then say at the bottom of your report, make a recommendation that you continue to observe and adjust your decision. You can you can do that, you know, and certainly with with the team at the IEP meeting, you're going to say, this is how I feel we should go. However, I will be monitoring her progress and we're going to talk about monitoring progress. Sometimes I've made the decision to go with with Braille, and I've been wrong on that. You know, the student was very, very visual and craved visual and, you know, gravitated towards print. So, you know, you're just really what you're doing is you're making your best guess. And Debra Sewell says the LMA book will be discontinued in December. Oh, oh oh. Thank you, Debra, for saying that. I'm so sorry. Where did my chat go? So all of that information is in the new book-- ish-- newish book. How long has it been been out, Debra, for a couple of years? And Debra, if you would, in the chat, put the full name of the book so that people can can find it on your website. OK, so. 

Kathi Garza [00:35:22] All right. So I think it's me now. Unless you have another thought before I move on, Chrissy. 

Chrissy Cowan [00:35:28] No, I don't. 

Kathi Garza [00:35:30] Okay, great. So let me see. There you go. So one of the things that we wanted to do was just to kind of have give you some helpful information that I think this is really helpful when communicating with families. In my experience, just with the little bit of volunteer work that I've done with NOA- the National Organization for Albinism- get a lot of questions from families about print and about Braille. And I find that many of them don't always have the context for what each of those choices kind of entails. And so we share this a lot. I've shared this a lot with families. These characteristics of a print reader and characteristics of Braille readers. And there's another slide, too, that will hit in a minute that really talks about print and Braille specifically. But when you're thinking of print readers, we're thinking of students or individuals who are efficient at completing tasks at a near distance. Maybe they're reading a little bit at the end of their nose. I'm totally guilty of that. But I still. But they're still able to maintain efficiency alongside their peers. They're interested in pictures and identifying pictures and details in the pictures. They use print that's not too large and relatively stable-- they have a relatively stable eye condition. And then also we are looking at students who are making steady progress and learning to use vision with print or for print, for print and pictures. And then when you're looking at characteristics of students who would typically be Braille readers, we're seeing a preference for textual exploration, just kind of like we saw in Merrick. I loved watching her reaching and rummaging through that basket, looking for the juice or whatever the different things that she was looking for. Someone who's using their tactile sense to identify smaller objects that maybe they can't get quite as close or get fine detail from. And maybe somebody who has an unstable eye condition or a poor prognosis where their vision is going to be deteriorating or they'll be losing fields, reduced central field. And for someone where reading print is very laborous and unappealing and their preferred print size is is very large. And so those are the characteristics that you would look for-- that you might see by somebody who would tend to be more of a Braille reader. And of course, there's a little bit of-- maybe I should have put arrows between these columns, because I think sometimes there's a little bit-- there can be a little bit of fluidity between some of these things. You know, sometimes for-- well, I'll just use myself as an example. Sometimes I do rely on my tactile sense for doing things that are that are smaller or, you know, that require-- that I can do by feel. And then other times, you know, I'm really bent, stubbornly bent on looking at pictures and labels and things like that. So. Going on--. 

Chrissy Cowan [00:38:48] Before you move on, Kathi, I wanted to point something out with Merrick. I think if we would, we're not going to do this. But if we were to go back and watch, she really did a lot of tactical exploration without vision. And so whatever that egg was that she was calling fire juice, to this day, I have no idea what she was talking about, except she had a juice cup. And at one point, I think she tapped it to-- I don't know. But she wanted to find it again. And she had thrown it in the basket. And rather than turn around, look in the basket, she just felt. She just did this kind of ineffectual feeling of it. So she really was doing a lot of tactual exploration rather than visual exploration. And that was one of the reasons why I thought, you know, I think we need to develop a tactual and go with Braille. OK. Sorry, Kathi. 

Kathi Garza [00:39:50] No worries. And so here's where we're talking a little more about the different considerations that one would need to be aware of prior to making a primary literacy media decision that wasn't necessarily dual media. That was kind of one or the other in conjunction with auditory. And so this is-- to me, this is a really good thing to share with families or have a conversation with families about, because I think sometimes when you don't have a context for these or if you're looking for a solution and I don't want to be disrespectful to families, I think we all just want what's best for our kiddos. But, you know, it might be easy to say well print doesn't seem to be working. So Braille must be the other choice. Or they have vision. So they should use print rather than Braille. And we don't want Braille at all. And so here would be some things to consider. So with print, you know, we obviously it's the norm. So it's easily-- it's easy to get access to. It's easy to have on hand. There is increased access with it. And especially when you're thinking about even if you're thinking about enlarging it. The size can be manipulated so that it can be tailored to the needs of the student. But it can be cumbersome if it's too large, because a lot of times when I see students who come with enlarged materials, you're also enlarging the white space. And so a lot of times the text is actually only being enlarged a tiny bit. And then you've got these pictures that are so huge that the student is craning their head around and around trying to get the whole image in. And if you have nystagmus or any kind of field reduction on top of that, it makes it even more challenging. With print, you know, the instruction happens in the classroom along with their peers, whereas a lot of times it's not that's always the case with Braille. With print you definitely-- one of the things that needs to be considered is that there needs to be monitoring for stamina. Chrissy talked a little bit about this earlier. Especially when you're thinking about what families typically see, which is homework time at the very end of the day, you know, and then... And definitely print also may require some specialized instruction. We don't want to underestimate the need for providing specialized instruction about tech-- about graphics and charts and maps, and how those pieces of material-- how those materials are laid out and definitely needs to be purposeful instruction to support kids in learning about those things and what you would typically expect to see on something that's more of a visual graphic representation. And also to, you know, to give students-- help them build their awareness and their advocacy in talking about print and samples of good print versus bad print, contrast clutter, spacing, size, all of those types of things. You know, I see kids come with pieces of homework that have been photocopied so many times that there's a shadow, you know. Or they took a screenshot of something on Pinterest and then printed it out. And it's all blurry and distorted. And so a lot of times for our kiddos with the vision, that can be a real challenge to navigate. And so having those conversations about print and how to talk about what your needs are really important with print as well. So that purposeful instruction is important. And then with regard to Braille, you know, definitely require specialized instruction and the instruction requires frequent and consistent sessions as well. So it's not something that we typically think of kids being able to pick up and become fluent in in just one or two sessions a week. It must be taught by a certified TVI, and it includes separate codes for math and for literary learning, which this is the one that I think sometimes is a definite eye opener for families as well, that it's not just learning letter for letter. And it doesn't-- it's not just one for one the way that that we think of print. 

[00:44:06] And then Braille can definitely, you know, can alleviate some of the aspects of visual fatigue that students with low vision may be facing. And, you know, and it's you can't necessarily say I mean, definitely somebody who is a Braille reader may definitely be more fluent than they were in print without having to deal with that visual fatigue. And you know Braille is also not as readily available as print. And so that makes it challenging for students. If they're not able you know, if something comes up at the last minute or they're not able to have access at the same exact time as their typically sighted peers. 

Chrissy Cowan [00:44:52] OK, so whichever you decide you're going to monitor progress and, you know, in your IEP meeting set a timeframe for instruction in your media choice. So you might set that as a six week period or a 12 week period or whatever. But do kind of note that in your IEP. Make sure that direct service is frequent and consistent. If you're gonna teach Braille, you cannot teach Braille to a new learner for 15 minutes a week. It's got to be daily. So just make sure it's frequent and consistent. Check in with a classroom teacher about progress. If you're working with print, with an optical device, for example, make sure that the student is progressing and reading and probably the classroom teacher is going to be one of the best people for you to get that information from. Also, check in with the parents at home. Is he reading more? Is he reading a lot? You know, just check in with home as well. Report the progress at regular intervals and then make adjustments if you need to make adjustments. So you also really need to consider the child's preference, especially for those older kids, for media decisions. I see a lot of people trying to teach Braille to a junior in high school who has progressive loss. Well, you know, and if the student is really fighting it-- personally, I don't think you're going to get all that far. But that's just me. So. OK. So what if the student doesn't appear to be picking up regardless of what you've chosen? So you have some tough decisions to make. Is it the media or could it be a reading disability? So kids with a visual impairment are not immune to dyslexia and other reading difficulties. And that's the point at which you have to pull in a reading specialist who knows reading well and can can evaluate the student in in those reading air areas of reading that I talked about at the very beginning. Is it a lack of appropriate instruction? Some kids are in a situation where they're just-- they're not getting quality instruction or you're not giving them enough service in terms of supplementing the literacy program. So the TVI ultimately needs to collaborate with the classroom teacher and enlist the support of assessment personnel and the reading specialist. 

[00:47:45] So pulling it all together and we've got about 10 minutes. Kathi and I talked about creating what we're calling a customized literacy access plan. Unfortunately, that spells CLAP. So we're not going to say we want you to create CLAP. But we are saying that we like the idea of a customized literacy access plan. And you're going to develop this as a product of your LMA. It's going to have the tools and strategies on it for reading and writing. It's going to be organized by class. For those, you know, for those older kids. And we have put some sample plans and templates in your resource folder. So you're going to see two distinctively different templates. One is for preschool because that scenario looks real different and one would be from for everything beyond preschool. So first grade on up. We have the templates and we also have samples filled out. So in the few minutes we have left, Kathi is going to show you what a template looks like. And-- are we going to look at--. 

Kathi Garza [00:49:05] We were going to look at Jason, who is a third grader-- or seventh grader? Right? 

Chrissy Cowan [00:49:10] Seventh grader. And this this is Jason. He's in seventh grade. He has twenty one hundred acuity and the date of the assessment. So this is something that I'm going to share with all of Jason's classroom teachers. It is something I'm going to do in coordination with Jason himself. So I'm going to to be writing down what tools and materials. Note that I'm not writing down strategies. I'm looking at tools and materials that Jason is going to use for reading and writing. So what I have here are-- For reading Jason is going to use regular print books and materials. He might use in large print. And he's going to do that with a magnifier. He's going to use an MP3 player. And for Jason, that's his smartphone with earbuds. He's going to use Ipad with the Internet. He might be using a line marker that we get from APH. He's got a 6X monocular. He's going to be using Google Drive. His teachers are going to be putting things in Google Drive. And he's going to access print materials there. He's going to be using Bookshare with the read to go apps so that he can listen to some books and so on. So what you see on the left column are all the tools for reading that Jason will be using. Then for writing, he's going to be using a regular pencil for some things. He might use a black Sharpie pen. He's going to use regular lined paper. He might be using a Chromebook and a laptop. And he's going to be using an iPad. So if you go down a little bit farther on this template, here are Jason's classes. Oops. 

Kathi Garza [00:51:11] Sorry. 

Chrissy Cowan [00:51:12] So this is-- one thing that is unique about this template is we've broken it down by what he is using in classes. So in English-- and those numbers refer back up to the chart. We're not going to scroll you back and forth, but those numbers. So for the one was like, I think print books that refers you right back up into those tools that were listed in the chart. Kathi talked about-- you know, it doesn't have to be in these boxes. You could write something out of the list in a word document that might be easier for people to follow. For handouts, he's going to be using certain tools. For the smart board, he's using certain things. For the whiteboard. And then for homework. So that's kind of looking at the array of things that Jason has to access. And again, this was written with Jason in mind. And it was shared with his classroom teachers. Now, if you go down further, you see just definitions of terms. So what, what Google Drive is, what Google Classroom is, et cetera. So this is a handout intended to give to all of Jason's classroom teachers. Ideally, Jason would be the one as in as a seventh grader to share it with people. So the template that you have in your materials, you have this-- this sample and you have a blank template. OK, let's see. He had twenty one hundred. There's also an example in your materials. Did we do Javier in the in the handouts, Kathi? 

Kathi Garza [00:52:58] Yes, we did everybody, I think. 

Chrissy Cowan [00:53:00] OK, we did everybody. Javier has much more significant vision loss. So you will see a whole bunch of different tools and materials for Javier. Then we have Madison, who is a preschooler. So the preschool template is pretty different. We have five minutes. 

Kathi Garza [00:53:20] Do you want me to show the preschool one or--? 

Chrissy Cowan [00:53:23] If you want to show Madison's filled in. 

[00:53:32] OK. So you, Madison. We're looking at reading and writing just like we did before, but it looks really different because she's in preschool. So commercial story books for reading, personal copy of book. Stand magnifier. What I really want you to look at is below. We didn't do by classrooms. We did by activities and location. So we've got her in group circle time, which is a really classic setting for young, very young children. And what tools and materials she'd be using doing group or circle time. Then learning stations, because, you know, those kids go all around the room. Then the play center-- You saw Merrick in a play center. Reading instruction and personal desk and table. And then we just-- we just put the numbers in there that relay back to the listing of what those are. So those are two distinctively different templates. Kathi, do you want to say anything about those? 

Kathi Garza [00:54:49] No, I just wanted to talk just a little bit about the fact that these-- I know we mentioned it briefly, but they are-- you know, I know that these tables in the documents sometimes are not, you know, as efficient for screen readers and things as like a list. But we did practice it with JAWS and it did read it. If anybody has trouble with accessibility or anything, please let us know. And we're happy to help you brainstorm another suggestion. I was also thinking that for a student like Jason, who's in seventh grade, you might-- you and Jason might work together on making the whole plan. But then you put everything for his English teacher, first period in one document and you only give them access to that piece. That way, it's not overwhelming or confusing. And definitely, I think you could even make one for extracurriculars like art, band, P.E., any of those kinds of-- I know I definitely would have benefited from some-- a little bit more of understanding in P.E. about my visual difficulties. So but yeah. So definitely you could just get it down to one page for just those specific content area teachers. 

Chrissy Cowan [00:56:05] Oh, well, OK. So now we hope you can go forth and you have a little more information on how to determine, you know, the literacy media and certainly we really hope that you're going to insert auditory and teach the students auditory skills that are going to be the companion to print and or Braille. And then you have the templates, the CLAP. That sounds awful. Customized literacy access plan, if you want to rename it. Be our guest. That you can share with people. So I think I've already told you more than I know. And we welcome your questions if you want to e-mail us. There's the information in your print materials and online.