ECC and the Family This video is posted online with the following chapter markers: Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. Partners for Success Chapter 3. DARS DBS Chapter 4. DBMAT Chapter 5. TAPVI Chapter 6. Resources Transcript for video titled: ECC and the Family Descriptions of slides and videos begin and end with ** (double asterisks) Fade up from black [ Silence ] Animation: On-screen letters "TSBVI" transform into braille cells. Fade to black. Chapter 1. Introduction Fade up from black Ann Adkins: Please let us know if you have any questions, now I am very happy to turn it over to Jean and Edgenie. Jean Robinson: Thank you Ann. I'm Jean Robinson, and I'm a Family Specialist with the Outreach Program at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Edgenie Bellah: My name is Edgenie Bellah, and like Jean, I'm one of the Family Engagement Specialists here at the School for the Blind and Visually Impaired Outreach Department. I work with the Deafblind Outreach Team, so I get the privilege of working with families who have children with the combination of hearing and vision impairment. And we are so thankful for this opportunity to be with you here today. We're really hoping that we have a -- an audience filled with family members, as well as professionals. And if by chance you are a professional who is working with a family that you would like to have them receive this information, we really encourage you to share with them this -- webinar, it will be recorded, so hopefully it will be a resource for you after this. [ Slide start: ] ** Title: A Review of the ECC; Remember, It's Now Law! Left-hand graphic: Boy with cane Right-hand graphic: girl folds laundry Content: What is the Expanded Core Curriculum? The term expanded core curriculum (ECC) is used to define concepts and skills that often require specialized instruction with students who are blind or visually impaired in order to compensate for decreased opportunities to learn incidentally by observing others. In addition to the general education core curriculum that all students are taught, students with visual impairments, starting at birth, also need instruction in the ECC. The ECC areas include (A) needs that result from the visual impairment that enable the student “to be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum; and (B) other educational needs that result from the child’s disability” as required by IDEA (34 CFR 300.320 (a)(2)(A)(B)). Texas Education Code (TEC) 30.002(c)(5) and (e)(5) require the flexibility of school districts to make arrangements for services to occur “beyond regular school hours to ensure the student learns the skills and receives the instruction” in the ECC. With the passage of Senate Bill 39 in 2013 (Texas 83rd Legislative Session), evaluation in all areas of the ECC is required for students with visual impairments. Priority needs must be identified by the IEP team and instruction provided in these areas. ** Jean: Okay. This slide is just a refresher. And to remind you that -- the Expanded Core Curriculum is part of the law, part of the I-D-E-A Federal law; and, also, in Texas, it's part of the Texas Education Code. And that's great to know if you've got administrators that are not understanding exactly what your role is and why you may need to do some of your teaching off campus. The... Texas Education Code puts it in writing. That school districts have to be flexible with school hours, and that you can provide educational services after school hours. So I think it's good that...if you aren't comfortable giving that to your administrator, sometimes that's where a parent can do that for you. So... [ Slide end: ] Let's see. The next slide -- Oh, the Expanded Core Areas. We have nine areas. [ Slide start: ] ** Title: ECC Areas Content: • Compensatory or Functional Academic Skills, including communication modes • Orientation and Mobility • Social Interaction Skills • Independent Living Skills • Recreation and Leisure Skills • Career Education • Use of Assistive Technology • Sensory Efficiency Skills • Self Determination ** And I don't want to read the slide to you, I know most of you already know these. But the ones that I wanted to highlight, that I think are particularly good for families to get involved is the Independent Living Skills, all...the family members need to have chores, and they can start out very simple. And then the Rec and Leisure Skills. Those are skills that are going to last a lifetime. That are very important. So, the next slide. [ Slide start: ] ** Title: Partners for Success: Right-hand photo: Father, sister, and mother standing behind young man seated at patio restaurant table. Content: • Families • Educators • DARS, Division for Blind Services (soon to be HHSC & TWC) • Medicaid Waiver Program Providers • Community ** Chapter 2. Partners for Success OK -- and so, to provide the Expanded Core Curriculum -- to really be successful, we need lots of people on the team. And that includes families, educators, DARS, Division of Blind Services, the Medicare Waiver program; that is referring to CLASS, they are acronyms of different programs. The deafblind, medical -- multiple disabilities, H-C-S, M-C-D-P, if any of those sound familiar; those are Medicare waiver programs and they very much can be a part of the Expanded Core Curriculum. [ Slide end: ] Also the Education Service Centers, I know that Region 10 has an E-C-C activity every month. So they're a great resource and then I don't want you to forget the community. Students with vision impairments can access the same community services that everyone else has, and it just takes encouragement, I think. And -- and some instruction on how to do that. Edgenie: I would add to that a little bit of creativity -- one of the things that -- some of the groups that we include with the community are your scouting groups, your Boy Scouts, your Girl Scouts, you know, other extracurricular activities that might be associated with your school or not, Y-M-C-A, whatever it might be. So, as we go through this webinar, we really want to kind of highlight the partnership that families can have with all of these partners and how you might be able to work together. So to set the stage for the family and school partnership, we wanted to bring back a very dear friend of ours, Dr. Phil Hatlen, who was the previous Superintendent of the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired and very much instrumental in getting the National Agenda set up for our children with vision impairment, including those with multiple disabilities such as deafblindness. So...let's hear what Dr. Phil Hatlen has to say about the family and school partnership. [ Slide start: ] ** Title: Family & School Partnership Left-hand Photo: Dr. Phil Hatlen Content: • Foundation of the National Agenda & ECC: the partnership that we so desperately need between parents and teachers. • Parents are teachers’ greatest assets • Parents and teachers need to assume dual responsibility • Mutual respect and honor Ref: From FamilyConnect.org ** Phil Hatlen: [ recorded voice ] The history of the National Agenda, which really gave birth to the Expanded Core Curriculum, has as its foundation the partnership that we so desperately need between parents and teachers. To ignore what parents have to teach us about their children, to ignore their responsibility and their privilege, in terms of working with us, would be to lose our greatest asset as teachers. So we need to work together with parents, we need to assume dual responsibility for growth in the Expanded Core Curriculum, and in academics and we need to respect and honor parents very much. [ Slide end: ] Edgenie: All right. So let's continue listening to what Dr. Phil Hatlen has to say about that family and school partnership. [ Slide start: ] ** Title: Family & School Partnership Left-hand photo: Dr. Phil Hatlen Content: Parents helping teachers understand their child + Teachers helping parents understand the ECC = ECC becoming embedded within the child and becoming a natural part of that child's growth and development. Ref: From FamilyConnect.org ** Phil Hatlen: [ recorded voice ] A collaboration between parents and teachers, should result in parents helping teachers understand their child to begin with. Teachers will help parents understand the importance of the E-C-C, but parents who know their children better than any teacher would know, need to help teachers understand the particular characteristics of their child. This collaboration between parent and teachers should result in Expanded Core Curriculum skills becoming embedded within the child and becoming a natural part of that child's growth and development. [ Slide end: ] Edgenie: If you are interested in hearing more about what Dr. Hatlen has to say about the school and family partnership, or the Expanded Core Curriculum in general, as well as other professionals in the field, we would encourage you to go and visit FamilyConnect dot org where there are just -- it's a wealth of information about the Expanded Core Curriculum, specific for families. And there are many more audios -- very much like what we just heard now. So we would encourage you to go check that out. That would be great. So, the next slide is kind of our introduction to how do we as families and educators work together? [ Slide start: ] ** Title: How Families and Educators Can Work Together Left-hand photo: Two mothers and their daughters stand on both sides of a teacher; all smiling. Right-hand photo: Two male teachers stand behind a mother kneeling and hugging her two sons; all smiling. ** We wanted to present to you some big picture suggestions, which is actually included on the next slide, [ Slide start: ] ** Title: Big Picture Suggestions for Families Content: Table 15.1, Page 579-580 • Senses: Provide multi-sensory hands-on activities • Time: All enough time for exploration and independence • Completeness: – Provide experiences to develop an understanding of the whole – Have a clear beginning, middle and end – Finished product • Environment: adapt to facilitate non-visual or reduced visual learning Ref: From ECC Essentials: Teaching the Expanded Core Curriculum to Students with Visual Impairments, pages 579-580 ** and included in the book from E-C-C Essentials, Teaching the Expanded Core Curriculum to Students with Vision Impairments. And this is actually table 15.1, which is found on Page 579 and 580. This...table actually takes big picture ideas, the things that we want to be trying to do, in order to create meaningful access and opportunities for our students to learn. So while these are not considered, per se, Expanded Core Curriculum, this is something that is so important for families to understand and to be able to figure out how to incorporate into their daily family lives. So the way this table is set up, there is actually three columns. The first column is the effective practices and we have this listed here for you on the slide; senses, time, completeness and environment. [ Slide end: ] The second column gives a rationale for each of these strategies. And then the third one has a -- an example. And one of the things that we really like about this table is, again, it's very practical. It's quite fun. It's something that families probably are doing already. It's just giving them a chance to think about what they're doing as families, as being related to the Expanded Core Curriculum. They're helping their children build a full toolbox so that, as Ann mentioned earlier, when they become adults, they have the skills, the opportunities, life experiences, to be very confident with their Expanded Core Curriculum areas. So, to give you an example, as a way -- that a family can take one activity and go -- hit all of these areas -- senses, which is providing that multi‑sensory, hands-on activity -- time -- allowing enough time for the child to fully experience the experience -- to fully explore, to be as independent as possible. The completeness, being able to, you know, have it experience it through -- as an entirety, you know, with a clear beginning, middle and end and having a finished product afterwards. And then the fourth area, the environment. How do we adapt to facilitate non‑visual or reduce visual learning. In this table that gives a beautiful example of two children riding home on the bus. One is Carolyn and one is Max. Max and Carolyn are brother and sister and Max has a vision impairment. And as they are riding home from school, Carolyn looks out the window and notices that the flowers are beginning to bloom. So we're assuming that it's spring, right? But Carolyn realizes that Max can't see that because of his vision impairment. So when they go home, later on that day, the family takes a walk around the neighborhood. And they go find the patch of flowers that Carolyn saw on the bus. And together they explore it. Max gets down and actually has a chance to physically feel the flowers blooming, and the family can talk about how, you know, the seasons are so different from each other, and all of that. So again we wanted to highlight this as a very practical way that -- that families can do the Expanded Core Curriculum. It's just helping them understand all of the components of that -- and how what they are already doing as their children's first and most effective feature. You know, we'll help them learn those skills. Anything that you would like to -- throw in there? Jean: Well, I think the next slide tells us -- gives us some more examples. [ Slide start: ] ** Title: And One More Big Picture Suggestion Content: Passive Participation (and arrow-right graphic) Active Engagement Left-hand photo: older teen seated in middle row of golf cart taxi, intervener seated behind him.) Right-hand photo: same older teen and his father riding a side-by-side bicycle.) ** Edgenie: Yeah. So this one was actually not included in the book, and Vivecca, I -- you'll get a chance to meet Vivecca later, but this is her son Christopher. Another big picture suggestion. Something that all of us can do any time that we have an opportunity to be with somebody with a vision impairment, including an individual with deafblindness, is to think about how to help them not be a passive participant; have things happen to them. But rather kind of move that to an activity with active engagement. So in these two pictures, we thought these two pictures did a beautiful job of illustrating this concept. In the picture to your left, you see Christopher riding in a golf cart, he's in the second row. Behind him is his wonderful intervener. Now I'm quite sure -- I can only imagine how much fun Christopher was having being in that golf cart. You know, there was a lot in that experience, in and of itself, as it's set up here, including Christopher feeling the wind blowing in his hair, and interacting with somebody that he's close to and, you know, who knows where they're going next. It's probably someplace pretty exciting and he's got another rich learning opportunity in front of him. However, he's in kind of -- at this moment in a passive position. [ Slide end: ] Now, if you will look at the picture to the right, this is of Christopher riding a tandem bike, [ Slide start: ] ** Title: And One More Big Picture Suggestion Content: Passive Participation (and arrow-right graphic) Active Engagement Left-hand photo: older teen seated in middle row of golf cart taxi, intervener seated behind him.) Right-hand photo: same older teen and his father riding a side-by-side bicycle.) ** a side by side bike, with his dad. And you'll see Christopher has his hands on the steering wheel, he's pedaling. So his engagement in this particular activity is -- is just a little bit more increased. They're both fabulous activities, but one is he's actively engaged and the other one he's along for the ride. [ Slide start: ] ** Title: Some Basic ECC Suggestions for Families Content: • Family First! • Infuse and Integrate – Don’t Replace • Make it Fun • Decide on Your Approach • What’s Right for Your Family is RIGHT Right-hand photo: adult man and younger woman coming down a slide. ** Our next slide starts moving us into what -- what are some of the basic Expanded Core Curriculum suggestions that we can have for families. First and foremost, you know, we live by this motto a lot. Jean and I in particular, that 'family first.' And what we mean by that, we need to recognize and honor that parents are their child's first teacher. We also need to recognize and honor family life. And to support the family in being a family. That means that we always have great ideas. We always, you know, can think of -- of some really cool strategies that would be really cool if the family is doing it at home. And we all know, too, that we can -- if we're not careful, ask the families to do a lot more than can be physically fit into the time they have together as a family. So we need to be careful that we're not putting them in a position to where they are not able to be a family. Because we all recognize that, you know, that the time they spend together, the time families are doing family activities are just rich beyond measure. [ Slide end: ] And as kind of part of that, family activities should not be school carried over into home. That certainly learning is always going to occur. But we just need to be very thoughtful about that. And as part of that incorporating fun learning opportunities into the family's daily life. So the last thing on this slide says "What's right for your family is right." [ Slide start: ] ** Title: Some Basic ECC Suggestions for Families Content: • Family First! • Infuse and Integrate – Don’t Replace • Make it Fun • Decide on Your Approach • What’s Right for Your Family is RIGHT Right-hand photo: adult man and younger woman coming down a slide. ** We kind of borrowed that from our friends -- actually Hands and Voices, which is a national organization for families who have children who are deaf and hard of hearing. But what we mean by this, we actually found a beautiful quote on FamilyConnect that we wanted to share with you and it's in the next slide. [ Slide start: ] ** Title: A Double Agent’s Perspective Content: Emily Coleman: Mom & TVI Left-hand photo: left-to-right; father, son, daughter, Emily Coleman and youngest daughter "I know not only what instinct tells me, but also what the professional opinion may be about raising a child who is blind. As you'll see in my blog, I take the professional side of things into consideration, and then choose the path that works best for me...for Eddie...and for our family. Sometimes we go by the textbook, and other times we decide to go in a completely different direction." Ref: From FamilyConnect.org ** This is shared by Emily Coleman who happens to be a parent, her son was born with a vision impairment and then she became a teacher of students with vision impairment. And she does a lot of blogging on FamilyConnect. We really would invite you to check out Emily's blog. She has incredible, wonderful ideas. Emily gave us permission to share this information with you. And what we thought really tied into that last quote very, very well -- she sets this up by talking about -- she knows what her instinct tells me, but also I know what the professional opinion may be about raising a child who is blind. I take the professional side of things into consideration and then choose the path that works best for me, for Eddie, who is her child with the vision impairment, and for our family. Sometimes we go by the textbook and other times we decide to go in a completely different direction. [ Slide end: ] Sage advice. Okay. We'll continue on the next slide with some other basic Expanded Core Curriculum suggestions for families. [ Slide start: ] ** Title: Some Basic ECC Suggestions for Families continued Content: • Participate in ECC training (Family Leadership strand, etc.) • Keep a “process” mindset • Pick 1-2 ECC areas to focus on at a time • Explore your community • Connect with other families • Learn from mentors Right-hand photo: Three parents stand behind their three children seated in strollers. ** And that is, you know, we're very fortunate here in Texas and I'm -- there are national efforts on this as well, but families have the opportunity to participate in training specifically on the Expanded Core Curriculum. This is actually a very important part of the family leadership strand that we had the privilege of doing in partnership with the Division for Blind Services. Keep a process mindset. And what we mean by that is that families -- well, actually the entire team shouldn't be so stressed about trying to address every single Expanded Core Curriculum area, all the time. Instead, perhaps think of it as a long‑term process. We're learning. The child -- you know, this is part of the learning process. And so a child can pick one to two -- or the family can, actually -- pick one to two areas of Expanded Core Curriculum area and focus in on a time. As Jean said earlier explore with your community, connect with other families, learn from mentors. [ Slide end: ] And what we mean by mentors, we mean not only connecting -- this happens quite naturally when families have a chance to connect with each other, but it's also reaching out and connecting with someone who is a little bit older than your child, who has a visual impairment. And learning from them, how are they doing it? You know, in each of these areas, how might they be taking on chores at home, how do they do things like grooming? Adapt is so that they are able to do it non-visually, et cetera. So I think we're going to go ahead and jump to slide 21, show you another practical way that families can use the Expanded Core Curriculum. [ Slide start: ] ** Title: Making the ECC Practical & Fun Content: Center photo: web page from FamilyConnect.org titled, “Bringing the Expanded Core Curriculum into Your Holidays with Your Blind or Visually Impaired Child” Ref: From FamilyConnect.org ** This is part of the blog that I was mentioning earlier that Emily does. And what she did is, she wrote this really fun article about bringing the Expanded Core Curriculum into the holidays for a child with vision impairment. And it's based on the 12 Days of Christmas, so she begins each one, you know, with that in mind and each of the areas are explored. [ Slide start: ] ** Title: Festive Fun with O&M Content: Center photo: web page from FamilyConnect.org titled, “Bringing the Orientation & Mobility into the Holiday Season; The 9 Days of Holiday with Expanded Core Curriculum” Ref: From FamilyConnect.org ** The next page we show you the example of the O&M part. And just to give you, you know, it says on the first day of the holiday, the E-C-C gave to me, orientation and mobility. And some of these suggestions they give are decorate your cane -- the child decorating their cane for the holiday, having a scavenger hunt with holiday decorations within the home. Finding an excuse to go door to door, like doing a food drive or delivering holiday cookies. Better yet, holiday cookies that you made together as a family. So, really fun, practical ways. I think Jean is going to talk to us about one of our favorite articles -- [ Laughter ]. Ann's favorite for sure. [ Slide end: ] Jean: Ann mentioned this. It's in your handout and it is a reprint from Future Reflections, the title of the article is "Dad, where's the plunger?" And it starts out that his eight‑year‑old girl, daughter, wants to know what does a plunger feel like? And he really -- gave himself credit for always describing different objects. But when she said, "Do we have a plunger, I want to know what one feels like," he realized that she needed to touch the plunger and that even though they had one, he did not want her to touch it. [ Laughter ]. Ann: Don't let her touch it! Jean: So, he was creative and thought about where are there clean plungers? And so they took a trip to the hardware store. [ Slide start: ] ** Title: Partners for Success: Community Content: Adventures in Home Depot Center photo: Young girl with a cane stands in front of a wall display of toilet seats, her left hand holding on to a seat high above her head. ** Which I thought was fabulous because she got to check out toilet seats, all kind of stuff. Edgenie: And not only a plunger, but a variety of plungers, or a toilet seat, but a variety. [ Laughter ] Ann: I think the best part of the story -- well, she did convinced him to buy her, her very own plunger to take home. He said that he did that. [ Slide end: ] But the other part that I thought was really cute, when she was exploring all of the things at Home Depot, what really got her confused and got her attention was the toilet seats -- you can see it in that picture -- the toilet seats were hanging on the wall, how in the world can you use a toilet seat hanging on the wall. So it opened up a whole new world of conversation and discussion with her dad. And it led them to start exploring lots of other stores and they spent every weekend going different places and, you know, doing a lot of hands‑on exploration of places in town. It's a very cute article. I strongly recommend it. Edgenie: It's a fabulous read. If you haven't had a chance, hopefully this will be the motivation that you need to go and read it. Jean: It is on our website. It is in Spanish if you want to share it with families that are Spanish speaking. Chapter 3. DARS DBS Edgenie: Please, please do. All right. Well, we're now going to shift and talk about another partner that we have in addressing the Expanded Core Curriculum and that is our friends over at the Division for Blind Services. [ Slide start: ] ** Title: Partners for Success: DARS Division for Blind Services Content: Meet Juanita Barker, Program Management Director ** So, we asked Juanita, she was not able to be with us today. However she was gracious and came in and did a recording for us. So let's listen to what Juanita has to say about the Expanded Core Curriculum and how we can all work together. [ Video start: ] ** Shot of Juanita Barker, DARS DBS Program Management Director seated at a small table in a television studio speaking directly to the camera. ** Juanita Barker: Hello, I'm Juanita Barker, I am Program Management Director for Division for Blind Services and I wanted to talk to you a little bit about some of our services and what we can provide to families. The big six, that's the big core of our services, what we provide. We kind of call it our six pack, you know, it's making sure that everybody has got the tools that they need to be successful. And so our big six starts with 'adjustment to blindness,' we feel that it's really important that a consumer, a child, understands first what their visual impairment is and can explain it to someone. So that to help them to understand, you know, what they're going through and it's also about adjustment. Feeling okay that they're visually, that they are blind, that they can do almost anything that anybody else can too. So it's about that adjustment. Understanding, you know, about their visual condition and their -- the adjustment. And the acceptance of it all. Then we also have communication, which of course communication is really important. Because communication is not only being able to speak, the communication is being able to absorb information, to read information, to be literate. So communication is real important and in whatever the media is that the child may need for communication, whether it be large print, or it could be Braille or some kind of assistive technology, you know, communication is really important. So that they have access to the world just like any of their sighted peers do. Then we have travel skills, which of course, you know, I think parent and teachers understand that travel skills are so important, so that a child can travel safely about in their environment. They know how to correctly use a cane and -- but travel involves more than just, you know, being able to use a cane; travel is also how to access public transportation; how to be able to go to their outside world, outside of their home; outside of their school, to get to where they need to with transportation and travel. Then our fourth big skill -- big six skills area is independent living. And, of course, independent living is a myriad of activities that from the home, from organization, you know, to how they keep their dress or how they identify their clothes, how they can dress themselves -- you know, preference for what they want to wear to school instead of what mom wants them to wear to the school. How they can assist with laundry, how they can make peanut butter jelly sandwiches. You know, we have rehab teachers that can go to homes and assist children with those types of independent living skills, how do you sweep -- how does a blind children know how to sweep a floor. They learn how to divide the floor into grids, how you can figure out, have I swept this area, have I swept that area? I mean blind children are just like any other child. They should have the same types of household activities and should have the same responsibilities that, you know, they can be just as independent as anyone else, so the goal is some day they're going to be out on their own, making their own living, living in their own environment. Then our fifth big six area is vocational. That's very important. You know, vocation is employment. What is it going to take to have a job, to be able to support yourself. We want everybody to be self sufficient. And then for some of our consumers who have a lot of other disabilities, very significant disabilities. It may not so much be employment. It might be for the focus is on quality -- that the focus is on quality of life. What do they need for good quality of life. You know, what's going to happen when mom and dad are no longer there and can't take care of them. What about group homes? What other resources are there that will support them like all of the Medicaid waiver programs. Then finally, our last big six is support services. Support services are so important that, you know, you know about advocacy groups that will help not only the child but also advocacy groups for the parents, for the families. Community. What is available out in the community? Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, you know, the organizations in school, civic organizations. As my dad always taught me, you know, what you give to the community comes back to you. We want our children to be active members of the community. To be able to give back to the community as the community gives to them, we want to teach them that it's just as important that you give back to the community. Kind of that 'pay it forward' type of activity. I think the big six just fits in nicely with the Expanded Core Curriculum. To me, I've used the analogy before with what school does and what we provide, with what goes on at home and in the community, it's just kind of the caulking with putting the bricks together and building the foundation, the framework for the child and growing up. So what we provide supplements what's going on with the Expanded Core Curriculum at school. So, often it's important for our Children's Program Specialist, our Transition Counselors, in working with the vision teachers and the O&M instructors, that they understand what's going on at school, so that they can help parents understand why something is occurring at school and maybe what we can do to help make sure that this is carried on at home. So that that child gets all of those needed skills that they've got that -- that good tool built that they're going to be able to be successful later on in life. What's really great is that none of us can do it alone. We all have to be -- to work together to be able to provide what families are going to need, what our children are going to need. And we all have different resources. We each have our different funding streams, so there's some things that each of us can do that the other can't do. So, when you put it altogether we can make it happen. I was personally involved - and years ago we started one of the very first camps in the state for just kids who were visually impaired and blind because at that time there weren't any. All that there was Lions camp. You know, It wasn't just for kids who are blind, there were kids with other disabilities and stuff. But I kept hearing from parents it would be kind of nice if they could just kind of get together with other kids, because where I was from in West Texas, often it would be the only blind or visually impaired child in the school. So, you know, they didn't have that peer connection with a peer who really understood what it was like to be visually impaired or to be blind. So we started with a camp for kids who are pretty independent, who could come to camp like any other camp, Boy Scout camp, a church camp, whatever it was, same types of activities. And then we saw there were a lot of other kids who really were never probably going to be able to go to a camp on their own. They didn't have that level of independence, you know, that they could dress themselves, or maybe that they could even feed themselves, that they could go to that kind of camp. So we thought, you know, what can we do to offer those kids -- so that they can also have that camp experience? So we came up with a camp for families. So we had a week‑long camp with families where the whole camp -- family works together. The same kind of concept of, you know, a kid that goes to camp, it's the family that goes to camp. And they engage in all of those, you know, doing the s'mores, doing scavenger hunts, you know, climbing rock walls, I mean, zip lines, we had dads that were zip lining right there along with their blind and visually impaired kiddos. So, you know, that helped take care of some of the needs for that set of kids. Then we saw parents needed further education for their workshops, things that they weren't necessarily getting just in, you know, parent‑teacher conferences or maybe the things that Education Service Centers could do, but couldn't do on a regular basis. So we started having yearly conferences for parents; and expanded that to yearly conferences for families, where we would have activities for all of the families. Then we also saw that the older students, the transition‑aged students, you know, it's hard for them to get jobs back in their regular communities when they are visually impaired or blind. It's hard to convince an employer to hire a blind kid for the summer. So we started a work program at Texas Tech, it was a residential six‑week work program, where they came in and got regular jobs in the community, just like other kids, could be in the grocery store, it might be at the park, it might be at a nursing home, a hospital and during -- during the residential part of the program they were staying at dormitories at the university. So these kids all got a great exposure to what university life was like and, you know, hoping that, you know, some of these kids would then go on to college and in the evenings they worked on their independent living skills. So I mean they were responsible for keeping their rooms clean, just for -- you know, the things that other kids do when they go to college. Going to the rec hall, what am I going to do with my moment when I get a paycheck, setting up bank accounts. A lot of these kids, they didn't have their own bank account, how do you set up a bank account; money management, those type of skills that kids are going to need when they're out on their own. Well, I just want to thank you for the opportunity that I got to be part of this webinar today. Thank you so much and I wish everybody great successes in whatever you're going to be doing. [ Video end: ] Edgenie: All right. We're so grateful that Juanita could do that for us. What I personally love is that she kept talking about, "We did this and then we did this, and we did this." I hope that it came across loud and clear that the we really was a collective. It was families working alongside D-B-S, working alongside Educational Service Centers, working alongside the School for the Blind and Visually Impaired and for the school district. It was definitely the collective we that we all strive to have happen. Ann: Lots of great contributions from all of them, and it's always been a pleasure to work with them and see the great things that they do. Edgenie: Absolutely. [ Slide start: ] ** Title: Same Goals – Different Terms Content: Two columns of text Left-side text: Expanded Core Curriculum • Compensatory or Functional Academic Skills, including communication modes • Orientation and Mobility • Social Interaction Skills • Independent Living Skills • Recreation and Leisure Skills • Career Education • Use of Assistive Technology • Sensory Efficiency Skills • Self Determination Right-side text: Division for Blind Service Big 6 • Vocational/Quality of Life • Adjustment to Blindness • Independent Living Skills • Travel • Communication • Support Systems Center-photo: Mother kisses her toddler ** We wanted to highlight this slide -- Juanita did talk about it -- but you'll see here the big six that she covered right next to the Expanded Core Curriculum. And what is so wonderful about that is, as she said, you know, this is not something that -- that can be done in isolation. It does take a team to do it. And how wonderful that these -- these two partners, really, education -- well, we're all partnering on this. But, you know, that we may be using different terms, but really in the long run they are the same. We're working towards the same goal. And it's all backed up in research and, you know, evidence‑based practice. Chapter 4. DBMAT [ Slide end: ] Jean: Okay. This will be my favorite part of the program. Edgenie: Absolutely. Jean: I have the privilege of introducing the parents -- two of the parents that are on the webinar. They have called in. And the first parent -- they are really the experts, in my opinion -- and the first parent is Vivecca Hartman, [ Slide start: ] ** Title: Partners for Success: Content: Family Organizations & the Community Meet Vivecca Hartman, DBMAT Vice President Left-side photo: Portrait of Vivecca Hartman ** and she's Vice-president of the D-B MAT, and that's a parent group that's probably the oldest ‑‑ Edgenie: Over 40 years old. Jean: Yeah. Vivecca, are you there? Vivecca Hartman: Can I hear me now? Wonderful. Edgenie: Oh, yes, wonderful. Jean: Hi. Hartman: Hi. Everything you guys are talking about is great. Jean: Oh, good. Well, we want to hear from you now. [ Slide end: ] [ Video start: ] ** Slide show of family events with DBMAT organization; including indoor/outdoor activities, meals, workshops and visiting legislators. ** Vivecca: Okay. I was -- I have been with D-B MAT for, well, my son is 18, so about 17 and a half years. And we have been doing a lot of family gathering type of events. We have an annual camp that we get to attend, that the state does help with, so we have a weekend camp for families and the deafblind individuals and their siblings. And seeing that it's once a year, a of number of us just didn't feel like it was enough, so we have tried to email and correspond about other things going on around the state, and try to encourage each other to meet up at places. Sometimes I've even just had potlucks at my house. Just anything that gives us the opportunity to gather together, because when we come together, we feel supported and it gives us hope. That we're not alone, of course. And it's kind of surprising to me how every time we come together, we come up with more ideas of how to get‑together again. And how we can do things that maybe we didn't realize we could because each one of us does a little bit of something and then once we start talking and collaborating, we realize, "Oh, if I did a little bit more like she did and I added what they did, maybe we could actually build on this and Christopher could do a full set of an activity of some kind." So that's actually what I wanted to point out, that by coming together it's for the just to socialize and eat. But it's more of a realization that you're not alone and, hey, we can do this if we collaborate together. And that's been the best thing that I've loved about it. Jean: Vivecca, I forgot to say where you live, where you're from, and could you also explain what D-B MAT stands for? Vivecca: Okay. I live in Houston, Texas. And in the state of Texas there's actually the highest concentration of deafblind in this area, so we do have the benefit of a number of us being able to get together within about an hour's drive of here. And D-B MAT is the Deafblind Multi‑handicapped Association of Texas and we just called it D-B MAT, an acronym for it. I see a bunch of the pictures being shown are events that we've had. Will we also have an annual golf tournament that helps raise money for our -- kind of one of our primary goals as D-B MAT is to help encourage the education of those who work with our deafblind individuals, so that we can fulfill their lives more fully. And that is through scholarships for interveners, to get college credit and work towards being a nationally certified intervener. I think we've given just about everyone who has asked a scholarship or support in some way, or we've asked them to come back the next year and then been able to help them out. Edgenie: That is fantastic. Vivecca: Does that cover it? Jean: Yeah, thank you. Edgenie: Oh, absolutely. Vivecca, again, I just want to highlight -- the pictures are telling a story for themselves, but what is incredible about our family organizations -- that we all need to remember -- is they are for families who have loved ones of all ages. So it does not end when school, you know, a person walks the stage or school is officially, over or as David Wiley says, "The school bus quits coming." It serves all ages. So that's an incredible opportunity for you to connect with mentors that can set an incredible role model for your children, as well -- this picture happens to be you involved in some legislative actions and socialize and all of those wonderful things. Vivecca: It's been pretty neat for us to be able to meet older people that are deafblind and live happy lives. It kind of gives us the ability to project to the future and see what life can be like. Edgenie: Oh, that's fantastic. [ Video end: ] Chapter 5. TAPVI Jean: Okay. Karen Whitty is our next parent and she's the TAPVI President Elect. [ Slide start: ] ** Title: Partners for Success: Content: Family Organizations & the Community Meet Karen Whitty, Vice President TAPVI Right-side photo: Portrait of Karen Whitty ** Karen, are you there and tell us what TAPVI stands for and where you're from. Karen: Oh, great. Wonderful, thank you for having me. Actually, I am officially, as of today, the Vice-president, which is kind of fun. [ Laughter ] For TAPVI. I am very new to the organization, and it stands for Texas Association of Parents of Visually Impaired children. [ Slide end: ] [ Video start: ] ** Slide show of the Whitty family with focus on son, Chris doing sports, school, prom, hiking, working and visiting legislators. ** And our goal is to -- to connect parents, and educate parents, and also provide activities for -- children and families together. And, also, along with that, to provide some support. Jean: So, Karen, where do you live and ‑‑ Karen: All right. [Multiple voices] Karen: Let me tell you, I'm a talker and I'm going to fill up this five minutes that you have given me. Jean: Okay. Well, okay. Here's your time. Karen: Thank you. Well, we live in Austin and we've been here for about 15 years. And my husband and I, Clark -- he and I have two children. We have a 19‑year‑old son named nick, a sophomore at Texas A&M and then we have a 17‑year‑old son Chris, who is a junior at Lake Travis high school, he's our child with the visual impairment. And so just a little brief background on Chris. He has cortical visual impairment, epilepsy, a mild case of cerebral palsy, along with global delay. He's extremely social. He's always happy, and he literally has a solution for everything. So what I would like to do right now is talk about what Expanded Core Curriculum has looked like in Chris' life, as well as our family's. It's opened up many doors for Christopher. I wouldn't say that it's a concept that we knowingly embraced from the beginning of Chris' diagnosis of C-V-I, however, I'm sure that we are doing things to enhance his learning through experience without even knowing. Around about the age of nine or 10, Chris was very fortunate to have Ruth Ann Marsh as his T-V-I and O&M for several years. When she first started working with Christopher, Ruth Ann told me that I needed -- that Christopher needed to learn by experience to enhance his conceptual learning abilities at home, at school, in the community, and with his peers. And we as a family really grasped that concept and ran with it. So what did some of those life experiences look like in Christopher's life now and in the past? He knows his basic household chores of washing, loading the dishwasher, making his bed. He volunteers every week at the Humane Society and we make meals for the homeless here in Austin at Thanksgiving. He mows the field with my father at my parents' place in Vermont. And I kind of want to give you -- to set up that scenario for you. What my father does is he takes his tractor and he hooks up a little trailer to the back of it. And then he throws a bunch of pillows in the trailer and puts huge head phones on Chris. And then they mow the field. And they've been doing this every summer since Chris was about four or five, even did so this past summer. And that way he's getting that experience of mowing with a tractor. He has done adaptive snow skiing for the first time this past winter, he loved it so much we're going to take him this coming winter. Friends of my parents -- they paint barns, and so they take Christopher out and he paints barns with them. He's very active with the V-I community here in Austin for White Cane Day, Kayaking Day, O&M-athon and other activities. He's traveled throughout the U.S. in a couple of other countries via trains, planes, subways, buses, taxis, Uber; and he's also called a taxi service without us knowing that he was going to do that. So he strives very much to be independent on his own. He's spoken to the Texas legislature as an advocate. He rides a bike and unbeknownst to my husband and I, my parents taught him to drive a golf cart this past summer. [ Laughter ] Yeah, I know. And then his biggest thing that I want to share with you all that's pretty cool, this past weekend we went to a party, they had a big, giant, blowup water slide that was like 20 feet tall, and he really wanted to go on it. So, all by himself, he goes up to this wiggly, wobbly, cloth, blowup ladder, he starts to go up. Halfway up he loses his footing and slides down. Everybody around him was encouraging him to get up and try it again. He did it, and he went up the ladder, got to the top and slid down this water slide. And I wish you could have all seen the look on his face, it was sheer shock. It was just absolutely priceless. When he got to the bottom of that water slide, you could tell how proud he was of himself. I mean, he was just ear to ear smiles. And he went up and down that water slide over and over and over and after the party he called everybody he knew and told them about his accomplishment. You know, I guess the point of that, you just can't buy that kind of self confidence. And as a parent, it was just wonderful to watch him experience that. So, looking into Chris' future, he will have a paying job one day, and right now we're looking for a little high school job. What we have done is we have identified his strengths and that he is good with technology and he has excellent people skills. So we have been going around and interviewing different businesses in the area like the local grocery store, his favorite Mexican restaurant and Mexican food restaurant and then assisted living homes. We've been inquiring about different positions at those businesses. [ Video end: ] [ Slide start: ] ** Title: Partners for Success: Content: Family Organizations & the Community Meet Karen Whitty, Vice President TAPVI Right-side photo: Portrait of Karen Whitty ** What they might have that could be of interest to Christopher. What benefits they have, and also possible growth within the company. And then as far as extended education after high school, we're hoping that he'll go to the School for the Blind for a couple of years, and then after that to Austin Community College where they have a step program that's adapted for persons who have, you know, special needs. And then Christopher really wants to be a priest. So I -- it's a mission of mine to find some sort of seminary school that will offer Christopher an adapted program so that he can fulfill his dream. Where will Christopher live one day? We would like for him to go into a dorm while in college, just like our older son. And then after college he will need some sort of assisted living. So, you know, we are hoping that he'll be in some sort of apartment, or home where he can live as independently as possible, but also close to me, because I will need that. [ Laughter ] How has Expanded Core Curriculum impacted Chris' future and ours? Well, it's given Christopher the confidence to go out and try new things, have new experiences and start new relationships and it's given us, his family, the confidence in knowing that he can live a life that's truly his own. And that's what Expanded Core Curriculum means to us. Jean: Oh, that's wonderful. Edgenie: Fantastic. Jean: Thank you, Karen and Vivecca. Karen: You're welcome! Jean: I appreciate the time you spent today okay this call. [ Slide end: ] Edgenie: You made it real. We appreciate that. Chapter 6. Resources Ann: We want thank all of our presenters, glad Juanita participated in advance by recording her session. I especially want to thank Karen and Vivecca for providing the parents' perspective and valuable experience that you shared, and Edgenie and Jean as our Family Engagement Specialists here in Outreach, you're the two people that I hope that you will contact with any questions you have about family issues related to your child with a visual impairment or with a child with additional disabilities, including deafblindness. And they can put you in contact with other people, other organizations, and there are a few resources that we've also added in your PowerPoint. The last six slides of your PowerPoint include those resources. [ Slide start: ] ** Title: Resources on the TSBVI website: Content: What is the Expanded Core Curriculum? & ¿Cuál es el Currículum Central Expandido? (a flyer that explains all 9 areas of the ECC, available in English and Spanish): http://www.tsbvi.edu/images/ecc-flyer.pdf and http://www.tsbvi.edu/cual-es-el-curriculum-central-expandido    2014 Educating Students with Visual Impairments in Texas: Guidelines and Standards (424k) http://www.tsbvi.edu/attachments/EducatingStudentswithVIGuidelinesStandards.pdf Resources for the Expanded Core Curriculum (RECC): http://www.tsbvi.edu/recc/ Meet Your Family Organizations (coming soon to the TSBVI website) Paths to Literacy http://www.pathstoliteracy.org/ ( a joint project of TSBVI and the Perkins School for the Blind) ** The first slide has resources that are available on our T-S-B-V-I website, and I want to draw your attention to one of those -- if we could go back just one slide -- the very first resource is that E-C-C flyer that Jean mentioned at the very beginning. And it's the flyer that explains all nine areas, available in English and Spanish, and we found it to be an excellent resource for teachers, administrators, family members; whoever that may not exactly understand what the Expanded Core Curriculum is, and its relationship with the core curriculum in public schools, and also the big six with D-B-S. The second resource on that slide, I'm not going to go through all of them, but the second resource on the T-S-B-V-I slide, is another wonderful document on your screen is the Guidelines and Standards for Educating Students with Visual Impairments in Texas. That link is for the 2014 version. The 2015 version is almost out and will be on our website and on T-E-A.'s website. It includes lots of the legal information about eligibility and services, and all of that type of thing that might be helpful for parents. [ Slide start: ] ** Title: Resources from Perkins School for the Blind: Content: www.perkins.org Perkins School for the Blind: Expanded Core Curriculum http://www.perkins.org/news-events/eNewsletters/insight/inside-story/expanded-core-curriculum.html Perkins Activity & Resource Guide: A Handbook for Teachers and Parents of Students with Visual and Multiple Disabilities (2nd edition) (http://www.perkinsproducts.org/store/en/perkins-publications/1316-perkins-activity-and-resource-guide.html) Perkins Scout http://www.perkins.org/resources/scout/ - online resources for literacy, recreation, transition, AT, MIVI, O&M, social skills, assessment, etc. Wonder Baby www.wonderbaby.org – a project funded by the Perkins School for the Blind to provide resources for parents of young children with visual impairments as well as children with multiple disabilities. ** The next slide includes a variety of information from the Perkins School for the Blind and their website. And I particularly like the second one on that slide. They are all great. But I want to draw your attention to the Perkins Activity and Resource Guide: a Handbook for Teachers and Parents of Students with Visual and Multiple Disabilities. It's got activities, it's got checklists about the evaluation piece and the teaching piece, and it's wonderful. T-S-B-V-I and Perkins also have a joint website, Path to Literacy, I'm not sure if we included that -- yes, at the bottom of the T-S-B-V-I website. Those are two wonderful resources -- and WonderBaby -- they are all wonderful, wonderful. Edgenie: WonderBaby is fantastic, if you haven't had a chance to check that out, please do -- written by a parent. [ Slide start: ] ** Title: Resources from the Blind Children’s Center Content: Pamphlets are available free to parents, in English and Spanish, http://blindchildrenscenter.mycafecommerce.com/categories/publications o Move With Me o Dancing Cheek to Cheek: Nurturing Beginning Social, Plan and Language Interactions o Reaching, Crawling, Walking…Let’s Get Moving: Orientation and Mobility for Preschool Children o Learning to Play o Talk to Me I and II o Heart to Heart (also as a DVD; for parents, addresses feelings, emotions, etc.) o Fathers o Let’s Eat (also as a DVD) o Standing on My Own Two Feet o A Unique Way of Learning (about young children with ONH)Also see First Steps: A Handbook for Teaching Young Children Who Are Visually Impaired. (1993). Los Angeles: Blind Childrens Center. www.blindchildrenscenter.org (teaching strategies for parents & teachers) ** Ann: Yes, it is. And the next slide shows a whole list of pamphlets that are available free for parents, in both English and Spanish, from the Blind Children's Center. They are fun, cute little pamphlets -- very small, but the Blind Children's Center has a variety of other publications, and I included First Steps, even though it's from 1993, it's a nice handbook for teaching young children who are visually impaired. [ Slide start: ] ** Title: Resources from the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) Content: www.afb.org • Expanded Core Curriculum: Resources for You http://www.afb.org/info/programs-and-services/professional-development/teachers/expanded-core-curriculum/ecc-resources/12345 • AFB: Family Connect http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw120706 • MacCuspie, P. Ann. (1996). Promoting acceptance of children with disabilities: From tolerance to inclusion. Nova Scotia, Canada: Atlantic Provinces Special Education Authority (formerly AFB Press; order from Amazon now). • Sacks, Sharon A. and Karen E. Wolffe (2006). Teaching social skills to students with visual impairments: From theory to practice. (AFB Press) • Trief, Ellen and Feeney, Raquel. (2005). College bound: A guide for students with visual impairments. New York: American Foundation for the Blind. • Wolffe, K. (1998). Skills for success. (AFB Press) ** Next slide includes a list of resources from the American Foundation for the Blind. Many of these are teacher oriented, but there's also a component -- quite a few of them for the family; College Bound is one of those, A guide for students with visual impairmentments. I particularly like Ann MacCuspie's book on Promoting acceptance of children with disabilities, from tolerance to inclusion. It is now available from Amazon, but it is specifically for students with impairments. And you see the FamilyConnect website there that both Jean and Edgenie mentioned. [ Slide start: ] ** Title: Materials from the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) Content: www.aph.org • P.A.T.T.E.R – Preschool Attainment Through Typical Everyday Routines • Getting to Know You: A Social Skills/Ability Awareness Curriculum (for teachers, service providers, and families) • Reach for the Stars: Planning for the Future • Developmental Guidelines for Infants with Visual Impairments: A Guidebook for Early Intervention (2nd edition) • Experiential Learning: Activities for Concept Development ** The next slide refers to the American Printing House for the Blind. This is just a sample of many resources that are available through A-P-H. They can be ordered by family members, but if they are used at school, school districts can order those through the T-V-I, and they are materials that are on loan, at no costs to school districts, as long as we still have quota funds. Several of these are geared towards younger children. [ Slide start: ] ** Title: Other ECC Resources for the Family Content: • Allman, Carol B. and Lewis, Sandra (Eds.) (2014). ECC essentials: Teaching the expanded core curriculum to students with visual impairments. NY: AFB Press. Chapter 15, pages 577-607. • Pogrund, R. L., & Fazzi, D. L. (Eds.) (2002). Early focus: Working with young children who are blind or visually impaired and their families (2nd ed.) NY: AFB Press. • Ready Bodies, Learning Minds (Athena Oden, www.readybodies.com) • Little Bear Sees series – books and apps for children with CVI www.littlebearsees.org • Lilli Works: www.lilliworks.com (information and suggestions ** And then the last list includes the ECC Essentials book that Edgenie referred to earlier. It's an A-F-B publication Practically brand new -- 2014, but it includes a chapter on each of the nine areas of the Expanded Core, and chapter 15, itself, is specifically geared towards the family and the community. [ Slide start: ] ** Title: Addressing the ECC – Webinar #9 Content: Living the ECC: The Expanded Core Curriculum and the Family September 10, 2015 Right-side graphic: TSBVI logo; gold & maroon ** We want to thank you for joining us. We want to see if any of you have any questions -- Kate added in the chat information to share with you about family organizations on T-S-B-V-I's website, and that link may or may not be in our handouts. But if you go to the T-S-B-V-I website it's under Family Support Organizations, and I do believe that's in -- that's in your handout. That's in the handout. [ Slide end: ] Edgenie: On the website, though, are some wonderful videos that the family organizations did. That may be an opportunity for you to learn in‑depth about the family organizations. Ann: Any additional questions we'll be happy to answer those through the chat. Thank you, please join us next time. Fade to black Fade up from black [ Silence ] Animation: On-screen letters "TSBVI" transform into braille cells. Fade to black.