TRANSCRIPT
TSBVI Tech Tea Time
Leader Dogs
1/23/25
 
>>Leslie: All right. Well, hi, everyone. My name is Leslie Hoskins, and today we are here from Leader Dogs for the Blind and we're going to do our presentation on Discover Leader Dogs for the Blind's teen programs. So on the screen, it's a white screen across the top kind of has a rainbow bar of different colors and it reads the title discover leader dogs for the Blind Teen Program. And in the bottom right corner, it has our leader dog logo. A little bit about ourselves. Again, my name is Leslie Haskins. I am a certified orientation and mobility specialist, as well as the outreach services and community engagement manager here at LeaderDog. On the screen, I have a photo of myself, a long dark brown hair. I am wearing a black leader dog polo shirt and kind of leaning up against a pillar on our leader dog campus. With me today is, and I'll go ahead and hand it to her to introduce herself.

>>Alyssa: Fantastic. My name is Alyssa Otis. I'm a guide dog mobility instructor as well as the outreach specialist at Leader Dogs for the Blind. And on the screen is a photo of myself i have long dark brown black hair and I'm kneeling on the ground next to a yellow Labrador. So first, I wanted to start by talking a little bit about the leader dog mission. So our mission is to empower people who are blind or visually impaired with lifelong skills for safe and independent daily travel. Leaderdog has actually been around. This is our 85th year. And although we focus on the independence and mobility of individuals, we know that the effects reach much, much farther than that. Leaderdog does not get any state or federal Received no payments from insurance companies. We run strictly on voluntary contributions to fulfill our mission. And all of the services that we provide at LeaderDog are completely free to the clients. This includes transportation, room and board, as well as the services that they're here for. So a few of the programs that we offer, we have them listed on the screen. Our mission is to offer these free programs that include our guide dog program. And on the screen, we have a little icon. It's orange and it's the side profile of a guide dog in harness. This is a three-week residential program where we hand select very specific dogs that are highly trained for people who are both blind or individuals who are deaf and blind. We also have an orientation and mobility program. The icon for this is a, it's blue and there's a stick figure gentleman walking with a long white cane. And so our orientation and mobility program is a week-long residential for the most part. Orientation and mobility program in the United States. Where we work with people from both the United States as well as Canada on those cane skills in order to be safer while traveling and more independent. We also have teen O&M, which runs a little similar and Leslie's going to kind of dive a little bit deeper into that But that's also an orientation mobility program that we offer. And then lastly, we have our teen summer camp. The little icon here is a yellow circle with a green little teepee type tent in it. And this is a really unique program. It's for 16 and 17 year olds. That takes place on our campus in Rochester Hills, Michigan. This is for individuals of that age who are legally blind. And we include things such as outdoor activities. Talent shows, plenty of different indoor activities, as well as some of those orientation and mobility skills as well. So today we're going to focus on our teen opportunities. But if you want to learn any more about any of the other programs that we're not going to cover today, you can absolutely reach out to myself or to Leslie. Our website is leaderdog.org. And our phone number is 888-77-5332. We'll have that at the end of the presentation as well, but we are always happy to answer any questions.

>>Leslie: Thank you, Alyssa. This is Leslie again. So we're going to start and talk about teen O&M first. So as Alyssa mentioned, we're really focusing on these teen opportunities and teen programs. But if you want to learn more about anything else we have to offer, we're always happy to do that too. So teen O&M specifically is here again on our campus in Rochester Hills. This is for teens who have completed like freshman year of high school and are typically at least returning for a year of high school after coming to this program. So we don't have specific age requirements, but typically that's anywhere between 15 and 18 years old. This program, because again, Alyssa mentioned, we don't have any state or federal income or money from insurance companies, we have flexibility on who we serve and how we serve. So if you have a teen kind of within that age range and you have some questions, please do give us a call. A lot of times we can be very flexible with this program. So it's definitely worth reaching out and inquiring. This is a program for a teen and also an adult supporter. Typically that's going to be a family member, relative, either a parent, guardian, or we've had siblings come in the past who have been older. And supervise, but it's for the teen and the adult supporter. As Alyssa mentioned, completely free. So LeaderDog covers the expense for both the teen and the adult supporter. That includes airfare, that includes the room and board while here, and the training. So we fly people in from all over the US. We'll fly people in from Texas, pick you up at the airport. Bringing to our residents here in Rochester Hills where you would stay or the teen and adult supporter would stay for the week. Throughout the week, it's going to be one-on-one instruction with a certified orientation and mobility specialist. So the team An adult supporter are going to be matched with one of our comms on property here and work together throughout that week. Now, of course, there's going to be networking opportunities with the other adult supporters to share resources, talk about experiences and things like that. But ultimately, it ends up kind of being that trio, the teen adult supporter and O&M specialist really working together collaboratively throughout the week. It's also a great opportunity for that adult supporter to build some empathy and understanding about what their teen is going through and experiencing and how to support them best. So we know it can be very challenging for our teens when they're going through this time of life. You know, teen years are stressful. Add being blind or low vision on top of that, especially if the kids don't know anybody else who's going through those similar things. It's really nice to come and connect with other teens. And again, adult supporters as well. So throughout the week, which I'm going to go to next, we'll go through kind of an example of what a teen O&M week would work like. But typically the teen and the O&M specialists are going to work together on that teen's individual goals. So if that teen is working on crossing complex intersections, that's what they're going to be focusing on. If that teen is just starting out with a cane. And needs to start with basic cane technique, we're going to start there. We're really meeting them at their skill level and going to focus on their goals and priorities of what they want to accomplish throughout the week. Again, that adult supporter is going to be there as well and have a similar track where they can observe and join along. But also having a few other unique opportunities while here. So on the screen here, we have a photo of one of our past teen O&M participants. He is walking down a sidewalk at the camera, but with his long white cane behind him is a male O&M specialist and then who happens to be his mother was his adult supporter. And so again, this is for a teen and an adult supporter. This camp or this O&M program takes place three weeks out of the year, a week in June, a week in July, and a week of August, which we'll share those dates as we work through the presentation. Throughout this week, we also talk about different mobility options. So if the team is interested in traveling with a guide dog, we certainly talk about that. However, I do want to make it very clear that nobody has to have a strong interest in a guide dog to come for this program and still really benefit. Because we're Leader Dogs for the blind, it'd be silly for us not to talk about guide dogs if that was of somebody's interest. We have plenty of dogs here to really trial and get that experience. But the main focus of the program is O&M. So I'm going to move right along here. I'm going to give you just a little bit of an idea of what a teen O&M week might look like. So on the screen here, we have a table and it's got Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. And each day is broken up by kind of an AM and a PM. So on Monday, what's going to happen is that adult supporter and the teen is going to meet with their O&M specialist. And they're going to go through an assessment. They're going to find out how best the teen learns, what is their vision like if they have some remaining vision, how usable or reliable is it? What is their skill level that we're kind of taking off and then where do we need to build on it? What are their goals? Those types of things. And that's happening with both the O&M specialist, the teen, and the adult supporter so that everybody's kind of in on those conversations. They're also going to review human guide. A lot of times it's interesting. Adult supporters don't get a lot of education on the front end of being a human guide or being a proper human guide. And so we'll start from scratch and kind of go through those processes. Additionally, we'll make sure that everybody has a tour and is comfortable around our facility so that they can navigate independently. One thing I want to point out for this program is that this year, 2025, all the teens and adult supporters will be staying on our campus here in Rochester Hills. But in past years, they've actually stayed at a local hotel. So it depends on kind of our class structure and schedule here. If we have clients on campus during those weeks. Then we will not have our teen support O&M program staying on campus. But LeaderDog will still cover the hotel expenses and the travel to and from campus. They will take care of or we will take care of all of that. But this year specifically for 2025, everybody will be staying on campus, which is exciting. So Monday afternoon, we're going to talk about guide dog readiness a little bit. So get that out of the way. Usually everybody comes here and they have so many questions about guide dogs. So it's nice to kind of tackle that on the front end. And also we can let the teen and O&M, or I'm sorry, adult supporter understand some realistic expectations. And some goals of which they have to have. So they want that goal of traveling with a guide dog, they can start working on those things while they're here. So we're going to go through guide dog readiness and an O&M experience. And so that could be potentially going under occluders or blindfold as an adult supporter and learning a few basic cane techniques. On Tuesday. The supporters are going to observe some of our guide dog mobility instructors working with dogs. It's a great opportunity to learn about guide dog travel, learn all that goes into it and have those realistic expectations. So our adult supporters are going to be away from the teen. We're going to take them. We're going to go observe some of our guide dog mobility instructors while the teen is working one-on-one with their O&M specialist on their goals. In the evening, or I'm sorry, in the afternoon on Tuesday. We are going to start preparing for an O&M lesson the next day. What that means typically too is the adult supporter up until this point hasn't had the opportunity to observe their teen on their O&M lesson. So we're talking about what is that going to look like? How can you best support, when to kind of stay back and going through what to expect when that day comes to prepare for that. On Wednesday, this is an option for the adult supporters to kind of step away and have a day to themselves. Maybe they want to check out some local attractions. Maybe they have work obligations that they can work on remotely. But again, the teen during this time is working one-on-one with an O&M specialist the entire time. Wednesday, again, for that adult supporter, if they wish, they kind of get a day to step aside and do their own thing. Switching to the next screen here, this screen shows the rest of the table. So it's showing Thursday and Friday, again, AM and PM. Here, Thursday is the great opportunity for that adult supporter to really come and observe their teen all day. So they're going to be working in that trio as talked about previously. It's going to be The teen, the adult supporter, and the O&M specialist. And they're going to be all together. A lot of times on Thursday in our typical O&M week, we might go to the mall. We might work on escalators, elevators, stairs, large building orientation. We might be working on some rural travel, so travel without sidewalks. We might be going to a new environment. We might be going to like a busier environment. So maybe they've mastered our downtown Rochester environment with our lighted intersections and stop sign controlled intersections. And now we want to generalize those skills. So maybe now we're going to Royal Oak, which is a local suburb or near us. And we're going to work on evaluating and analyzing different intersections. To make sure that the student, the teen understands those concepts. So the adult supporter would be with the teen and the O&M specialist all day on Thursday to really observe that, ask those questions, really understand exactly what their teen is doing and why they're doing what they're doing. On Friday, this is kind of our wrap-up day. The week goes very, very fast for us here, especially when we have it broken down into those morning lessons and afternoon lessons. Friday is going to be the Juno Walk Day. So on Monday, we kind of talked about that guide dog readiness. We talked about the expectations of a guide dog. But now on Friday, after having worked on some of our O&M skills. Now we're going to actually go out and maybe walk with a dog. We might start with a Juno, which is going to be that empty harness handle. And simulating kind of what it would be like for a guide dog walk. And then we might actually put a dog in that harness so that the teen can really feel what it is like to walk with a guide dog in harness. You know, so many times people always think, I want a guide dog, I want a guide dog or their parent will say, you need a guide dog, you need a guide dog or their doctor or somebody will tell them they need a guide dog. But until they really experience it for themselves or really learn and understand all that goes into it. Sometimes it's not what they actually want. So this is a really great opportunity for that teen to feel what it's like to travel without all that tactile information. To really put those O&M skills to use to have to analyze their intersections and maintain oriented while maybe traveling a little bit faster with that guide dog. This is also typically where we're going to do our recommendations moving forward. In a perfect world, we're sending our teens back to continue working with their local O&M specialists. So we might come up with some goals to potentially take back to those O&Ms. As long as the teen and adult supporter agree, we can certainly send our reports to that local O&M specialist saying, this is what we worked on while we were here. This is what we were successful with. This is kind of where we would go as next step so that they can hopefully pick up where we left off. And then we'll talk about homework too. What can you do to reach your independent goals? Is your goal to travel with a guide dog or is your goal to Take public transportation independently. Whatever it is, what are some resources? How can we help support you in the next journey moving forward? Friday afternoon is where we really try to celebrate and have some fun. So it is a stressful week. Again, the adult supporters learning a lot, networking with other adult supporters. Going under blindfold themself and kind of learning and observing what it's like to travel with the long white cane And also watching their teen in what might be some stressful situations. One of the best things that we've heard from some adult supporters who have attended this program Is that they've never really had an opportunity to watch their team do some of these independent travel. Skills. And so it's a great opportunity to build that confidence for both the teen and the adult supporter. But Friday afternoon, it's time to celebrate. It's time to have some fun. Typically, we have kind of a nicer meal on Friday with some really good desserts. We have a social activity. We actually have a conference bike here. Which is a seven person bike where everybody sits in a circle kind of facing each other. And then there's one person driving. And so we can go out on that and have some fun, talk about some teamwork. We have cornhole that has auditory cues with beeping so we can play that. We have a nice pavilion outdoors where we can do some other outdoor activities. That's kind of an example of teen O&M. Now, sometimes people get confused between our two programs but again Teen O&M is with the teen and adult supporter. They're focusing on those orientation and mobility skills, working one-on-one with an O&M specialist. That is Teen O&M. Again, it takes place in June, July, and August. And is available to anybody who is in those teen high school years. Ideally, they've completed that freshman year of high school and or will be going back to high school in the fall after completing this program. Moving on to our second program. Our second program is Teen Summer Camp. Teen summer camp is exactly what it sounds like. It is a camp. So we're not doing as much one-on-one instruction. It's more kind of herd travel And we're really doing camp activities. We're going rock wall climbing. We're going zip lining. We're on the conference bike. We're doing really, really just fun camp things that maybe teens don't get to experience. This program specifically is for 16 and 17 year olds. So this program is licensed through the state of Michigan, which means we have to follow their rules and regulations. So this program In order to apply and come for it, they must be 16 or 17 during the week of camp. Camp is only taking place one week out of the year because that's all we can handle as instructors. So it is the last week of June typically that the teens come and take over our campus here in Rochester Hills. Again, we will explore mobility options. We'll talk about a guide dog if that's a realistic next step of travel or if that's something that they're interested in. But mostly they're making memories and friendships to last a lifetime. We bring in kids from all over the US and Canada. We can take up to 24 teens each year. And each year we have a very dynamic and an exciting group And they really just have an opportunity to bond with one another. Teens going through very similar experiences. My favorite thing about camp is typically they arrive on a Sunday. And everybody is super quiet and nervous and not sure what to do. And then by the time that they're leaving the following Saturday, they're all crying and hugging because they never want to leave and they've made the best friends ever. What's also really great about this program is now that they have social media, Snapchat and all sorts of things, they're staying connected for years to come. When I first started camp, cell phones and stuff, not everybody was using them as frequently. Not everybody had one. So they lost connection a lot of times, but now these teens are staying in contact I was just invited to a Zoom reunion the other day from, I can't even remember what year it was, probably. 2019, I think they were having a Zoom reunion. So they really do stay connected. And Alyssa and I saw a teen not too long ago at a conference who had come for camp and he came up and he was like, oh my gosh, it's been five years and I still talk to and rattled off three or four names that he's still in contact with regularly and gave me updates on their lives. It's a really, really great camp and opportunity if you know anybody who's going to be 16 or 17 during the last week of June, please recommend this camp. On the screen here, we have a really great photo of our campers from two years ago. Most of them are all wearing a blue leader dog shirt and they're standing in a big field with trees behind them. And I think we said one, two, three jump is what I'm guessing was supposed to happen in the photo. So you've got summer in the air, summer halfway, summer squatting like they're ready to jump. But this is taken out at Lions Wear Lake Camp in Lapeer, where we go for a whole day and do a lot of fun activities. I'm going to move to the next slide. Again, I'm going to go through a sample week of teen summer camp could look like. So this table on the screen here is broken down just Sunday and Monday, and the timeframes are morning, afternoon, before dinner, after dinner, and evening. So these days are jam-packed. And I forgot to mention, and I apologize for teen O&M, we don't have as many structured evening activities. Excuse me, but we do still offer like a night lesson one of those nights a week, and then a lot of just socialization happens naturally in the evenings with the adult supporters and teens as well. Excuse me, I'm going to take a quick drink. So again, our campers are arriving on Sunday typically Sunday afternoon. So as instructors, we are prepping, we are getting ready, we're putting everything in their rooms, labeling everything. And then they start to trickle in as our campers are trickling in, we're going to orient them to the building. We're going to orient them to their room. Make sure they can get to and from all of the places that they need to go independently. Because we do expect that the campers, when they are coming, that they have the daily living skills to have time management to manage their own clothes, all of those types of things, bathing, all of that. But we want to make sure that they're comfortable and know their surroundings. Once everybody has arrived, typically after dinner, we're going to start orientation, getting to know one another, go over some of the house rules, if you will, and introductions, starting to learn everybody's names. And then we'll do some icebreakers. Again, we typically read the book Fish. Which is a leadership book. If you've ever read it. It's really great. We send it to the campers ahead of time. And so we have these big giant stuffed animal fish, if you will. And we kind of do the throwing of the fish like the Seattle Pike Place. Market. The book is based off of that. So that's one of the icebreakers that we do. We also do some different team building activities in the evening. So typically our days start around 730, 8 a.m. And go all the way till 1030, 11 o'clock is usually when we're like, it's time to get in your rooms, go to bed. And then a pro and con of that again is that social media that they can text and Snapchat all night. So who knows how late they stay up sometimes. Moving on to Monday, this is our first full day of camp. It's pretty exciting. Monday is the day that we go out to Lions Bear Lake Camp in Lapeer, Michigan. And we do the rock wall climbing. We do zip lining. We do low ropes course. This is a great first day activity because it's team building. It's getting to know one another Learning everybody's names. It's learning who's a natural leader in the group. And who actually kind of likes to step back and kind of observe and watch so Lion's Bear Lake Camp. Usually everybody's super giddy and excited on the bus on the way there about the 45 minute ride back in the afternoon, most kids are sleeping, taking a little snooze or just kind of conversing quietly. When we get back on campus here, we go right into yoga, which is really nice to kind of do that stretching after using some muscles that you might not have used in quite some time. So we have a yoga instructor who comes in and does some really great descriptive yoga. This is a skill that they can take back home and use with a their families or friends. In the evening after dinner, we are going to do a night travel discussion. So for teen summer camp, we do two night lessons. So we're going to talk about some skills, things to anticipate, kind of prep them for that And then in the evening, we'll actually go out and do night travel. For night travel, they are paired together in groups of two. And then we as O&M specialists are aligned to every corner, turn, crossing, things like that. We have radios where we're constantly in communication and there's always eyes on the teens. But they do have kind of some stretches mid block that they're traveling independently they also can use a GPS at this point. Typically, we'll try to introduce them at least a little bit to turn it on and listen. And so it's a really great opportunity to bond with somebody new at camp that they might not have interacted with, but also build that confidence for that night travel. So this is another couple of days. We've got Tuesday and Wednesday here on the table. Tuesday morning, we're going to introduce them to the GPS a little bit more. So we're really going to practice getting the box out. Talk about even what GPS means and how to access it and what information we can get from GPS. We're going to talk about routes and landmarks. I do want to mention really quickly that all of our teen summer campers do go home with a free GPS. It's typically the latest GPS accessible GPS from HumanWare. So last year and this year, it will be the HumanWare Stellar Trek, which is a pretty cool device. So this is the device that every teen will have while here and we'll be teaching them how to use it. So we'll do lots of fun activities. So we'll be out walking around and actively using the device. Most of the day on Tuesday, that's what we're doing. We're also going to have some activities before and after dinner and games. We actually have a group of volunteers who are dedicated to our teen summer camp and they come up with all sorts of different games. Sometimes there's water involved and they have to go with a sponge and into a bucket, you name it, they're doing it. In the evening, we're going to have some more team building activities. Wednesday morning, we're going to start out our day again with GPS. We actually take our teens to a local university, Oakland University, where we practice using the GPS and what would be considered open area. But on a campus, most of these teens are getting ready to prep for college. And so we want to show them how this device could be useful in that environment. So we actually travel on the campus making landmarks at dorms at the union, at the cafe, at the engineering building, at the library. And then we practice traveling those independently. So as instructors, we kind of, there's a big courtyard area and we kind of put ourselves all around and we let the teens go independently or they can collaborate and work with somebody else, but using those skill sets. And it's really, really fun. The kids really enjoy it. And then it starts to think like, oh my gosh, I could see how I could use this in the future. In the afternoon, because we're exhausted, we're heading to the movie theater. Last year we saw Inside Out 2, which is super fun. We partner with a local movie theater so that all of the kids can have the audio description and the headphones if they wish. And before and after dinner, again, we're going to be doing those activities and games with our volunteers. And in the evening, night two of night travel. So we're going to switch up those pairs. Everybody's traveling with somebody different and do a different route to keep them challenged and use their GPS a little bit more independently. And if you're not exhausted yet, I hope not because we're going to keep going. We've got Thursday and Friday still. Thursday is all the kids favorite day. It's dog day. This is the day that we're partnering with Alyssa and their whole team of guide dog mobility instructors. And the teens are actually matched with the guide dog, the GDMIs do a whole matching to try to fit a guide dog for their pace and pull and all of that. And so they're introduced to their guide dog who they're going to spend almost the full day with. They're also paired with a guide dog mobility instructor. So again, kind of a trio. The teen, the dog, and then also a guide dog mobility instructor. In the morning, we're going to introduce the dog, walk on our practice course here, just get a little bit comfortable, ask those questions. In the afternoon, we're actually going to go downtown And put those skills to use on some sidewalks and have to cross some streets and remember some orientation. What's really great about this day is one, of course, the kids get to interact with a dog, which they've been asking over and over and over again to this point of when that's happening. But two, they really get to spend that time with a guide dog mobility instructor and ask all of those questions. At the end of the day, the guide dog mobility instructor can say, hey, this is what I'd really recommend you work on. If this is something you want to pursue. Sometimes kids walk away and they're like, oh, no thanks. Not for me. Very rare. Does it happen? But it does happen. Most of the kids, they will remember for years to come who the dog was that they worked with. They won't remember the instructor that spent 40 plus, well, 80 hours with them that week, but they'll remember that dog. So it's a really, really fantastic day and the kids really do learn a lot. Before dinner, they're actually making their own dinner. We do a make your own pizza night where we take over the kitchen and now the teens get to make their own pizza with all the toppings that they wish. After dinner, again, we're working with our volunteers on those activities and games. And in the evening, more team building. Friday is kind of we're wrapping up all these skills that we've learned and putting it together. In the morning, we're doing an obstacle course. If anybody's participated in a cane quest, it's kind of similar. So those challenges with a cane, different environments. We actually set up a whole route along our hallway here with different things that they have to maneuver and upper protective technique and all of these different things. What's really great about this obstacle course is that a lot of our teens who are maybe more vision or high vision I've been observing our other teens, right, who maybe have way less vision or no vision at all. And so it's a great opportunity for them to also challenge themselves. We often offer different occluders of different vision loss simulators. Or actually just a full occluder and a blindfold. And some of the teens who, again, are more high vision. Want to try it out. Test out their cane skills. It's a very good confidence builder. To be around teens who have less vision and you see them traveling independently and want to give it a shot yourself. Of course, we're here as O&M specialists to help and provide tips and tricks and different things like that in a one-on-one basis for that. But we have found that the obstacle course has been a really, really significant part of camp and really big confidence booster In the afternoon, we are doing a scavenger hunt. Last couple years, it's actually been a zombie apocalypse. And so the teens actually have to save the canine center and all the dogs in the center from some evil doctor and they have to get a potion and so in this whole zombie apocalypse slash scavenger hunt, they're using their GPS that they've learned how to use throughout the week. They're using their orientation skills of the building and where things are and having to build routes to get to different places. And they're also doing that team building. Typically throughout the week, we're kind of in groups of three because that's how we travel on our buses to different locations. And so within those groups, right, they've kind of built their leadership skills. And so they're working on that. And then at the end, whoever saves the canine center as kind of the winner, but they have to put all these different skills to use. And it's a really, really just fun day. We have volunteers or other team members who have dressed up as zombies and kind of come out of the woodwork at our kids. And all around, I will tell you that the entire campus absolutely loves the zombie apocalypse day. In the evening on Friday, we are doing some talent show prep so the teens know about this all week that we're going to be doing a talent show on Friday. We have a piano here. We have a guitar, we have other instruments and things like that. And so The talent that comes through on camp is phenomenal. And so they can practice in the evenings. We get a lot of group Talents or duos and singing It's fantastic. So this is just an opportunity to really prep for that. We do a celebration. So we have like a very fancy dinner. We've had a DJ in the past who's come and played music and we've danced. We have had in the past groups or volunteers come and actually teach how to apply makeup if somebody's interested or how we've had some male mentors come and talk about how to ask somebody to dance and how you would slow dance. And so it's a great opportunity to, you know, some of those soft skills that we don't always get an opportunity to talk about. And then in the evening, we have the talent show. And I think it's one of everybody's favorite parts of the show. We've had comedians, we've had singers, we've had musicians, we've had, you name it, they're doing it. And it's really fantastic to see. So that is teen summer camp. I know that's kind of a lot, but it gives you a really good idea of how much really goes into teen summer camp. And again, just the friendships and relationships that are built During that program, I highly, highly recommend for anybody who's 16 or 17 during that week. And I'm going to hand it back to Alyssa.

>>Alyssa: Awesome. Thank you. So I want to talk a little about the application process. So if either of those programs at Teen O&M or that teen summer camp sound fantastic or our regular orientation and mobility training that is for people that are older than teenagers or our guide dog program. They're all fairly similar. So the application kind of has three main parts. First off, we can either send this application to somebody's email, we can send it to them via snail mail or it's always found on our website. So that's also an option. If somebody doesn't have the assistance in filling something out. We can always have one of our volunteers assist with that as well if somebody needs. So really, whatever format works best for each individual is how we can get you that application. So the first part is forms that are completed by the applicant. So this would be things such as providing the instructors, whether it be for orientation and mobility or for our guide dog program with information about themselves. So we're talking their age, what they do throughout the day, maybe any previous training that they've had. What are they interested in? Like what program are they interested in? Where do they feel that they want to increase their skills? What type of environment they either travel in or work in, if they go to different social events. Really, we're just trying to gather as much information about them as we can. To help kind of guide what we're going to do with each individual. And especially for our guide dog clients or those that are interested in working with a guide dog. All of this information is what a guide dog mobility instructor will use when they're trying to pick the perfect dog for each person. So every dog is unique, just like every individual is unique. So we try and look at what one person does and find a dog that will enjoy and be successful in doing those things. As much information as we can get on that front end, the better. We also ask a lot about their home environment, any previous training they've had, whether that be for O&M or for a guide dog. And then we also ask for some release forms and waivers. So this is simply so that we can contact the references, which we ask for references as well. So this just gives us the ability to contact them. We also have some forms that are meant to be filled out by other people. So we ask for a medical packet from your medical provider that just says that you are healthy enough to go through training. We look at any sort of seizure history, anything like that. We take all of that into account. We want to know if somebody's diabetic, a little bit more about their diabetes. So any sort of medical packet is filled out by the physician. And then we also have a vision evaluation. So from an eye care professional. We want to know maybe what remaining vision this individual does have. Maybe they don't have any remaining vision. That's fine. Most of our clients do have some, but we work with people on all different, on a wide range of vision loss. So just a little bit more information about that vision loss. How they use that remaining vision as well as something that we like to find out. We do not ask for this if they are a returning client. So if they've come for a program with us before, we don't necessarily ask for a vision report. But if something crazy has happened or changed with their vision, of course, the more information that we have on the front end, the better. And then we also ask for an application video. So this does look different depending on which program you want. But overall, what we're looking for is an interview with that individual So asking those people the same kind of questions that we asked on the written portion of that application. But why are you interested in this program? What type of environment do you travel in? And then if it is for a guide dog or a potential guide dog client, we also like to get a tour of their home environment. This is because we want to make sure that wherever our dogs are going is somewhere that we feel is safe. So we like to make sure that there's not chemicals sitting on the ground or that there's an actual space for the dog. Our clients don't have to all live in massive mansions with fenced in backyards. That's not what we're looking for on this video. We are simply just looking for a safe environment for our dogs. It also helps us to know what kind of dog again that we want to put in that household. And then we also ask to see your travel. So depending on the program you're applying for, if you're applying for orientation and mobility, some of the clients that come to those programs maybe have never had training in the past. Maybe they've never used a white cane in the past. So we just kind of want to see how they travel currently. It's a really good starting point to see where we can end up after that week of orientation and mobility. And for our guide dog clients, they do have to have those independent travel skills prior to coming to getting a dog. And so we want to see that they can travel independently. This includes street crossings up and down stairs, as well as just knowing their home environment. So it's a really in-depth application, but it's all for good reason. It's all so that we can best serve each individual however they need to be serviced. And then also for our teen summer camp, we do have those individuals write an essay. So next we have our dates and deadlines for those programs that we talked about. So for teen orientation and mobility, I know Leslie said that it's one week in June, one in July, and one in August. So this year, the June dates are June 8th to 14th. July is July 13th to 19th. And then August is August 10th to 16th. And we accept applications for that until those programs are full. And then for our teen summer camp, it is generally, again, that last week in June. So we have June 22nd to June 28th. And remember, somebody does have to be 16 or 17 during those dates. And the application deadline for that is April 4th. Of this year. Next are some of our virtual learning resources. So on our website, leaderdog.org, under the resources tab, we have some virtual learning options for individuals. So we've kind of separated these into four categories and I'll explain just briefly a little bit about what lives in each. So our first category is for our potential clients. So the photo on the screen that depicts our potential clients is one of our orientation and mobility clients wearing a face mask. Circa 2020, holding her white cane next to her face. And in this section, we have a lot of good videos. So our goal here is to ease the nerves that some people might have prior to coming onto campus. So we have a campus tour. We have more of what to expect. We have some client testimonials. We have just sharing information about our facility. I know I personally love as much information as I can prior to going somewhere new. So that's what we try to do here. We also talk about what to expect when arriving on campus. Then we have a section for our graduates and the photo that is used here is a photo of one of our female graduates sitting in front of a brick wall. And next to her is a yellow lab in harness. And in this section, we have videos about support groups that we have, our alumni group. We also have videos about how to work your dog in inclement weather, maybe some other helpful resources that they can use once they are home with their dog or once they've returned home after orientation and mobility training. Then we have a section for family and friends. And the photo here is we have four adults sitting on the couch and then sitting on the floor in front of them is one young woman. And on each side of her, she has a yellow lab and a black lab, both guide dogs. And here we have just videos. What we were finding was a lot of family members were sending off their family to LeaderDog to get that training and didn't really know where they kind of fit in or how they could really help that person once they arrive home. So in this section, we have client or family testimonials about, you know, oh, I send my husband went to leader dog and has come back. And these are some things that worked great for us or This is how everything changed for him. So really just how to best support an individual once they come back home. And then lastly, we have a section for our blind rehab professionals and the photo here is in a blind rehab professional under blindfold working with a yellow lab in harness. And next to her is at the time an apprentice guide dog mobility instructor and one of our supervisors who is also a guide dog instructor. And here is where you can gain more continuing education credits for free. So feel free to check those out. We will send a certificate. Once those are complete. And then this is also just a really good opportunity for anybody who's working with individuals that have vision loss. It's a lot of good videos to watch there as well. So we try to update these as often as possible. So feel free if you guys do kind of want to tinker around in there and you say, hey, this is something I'd like to learn. Always feel free to reach out because we are always trying to update those to the best of our ability. And lastly, the last thing I'm going to bother y'all with is our podcast. So I personally am a huge fan of both the podcast and the logo. The logo on the screen here, we have three cartoon dog heads, a golden retriever, a German Shepherd, and a Labrador retriever. And they're all wearing those big sound booth headphones. Underneath it, it says taking the lead and that's underlined by a long white cane. And here is an opportunity that we take to dive deeper into the blindness community. So we are talking to volunteers at LeaderDog. We are talking to clients at LeaderDog, team members. Sometimes we just talk to ourselves about the programs and services that we offer. But we have many, many seasons of this. And you can find this wherever podcasts stream. Right now we're on a break between seasons. But that's great opportunity to go and listen to all the other ones that we've done up until now. So you can listen to these on YouTube. We have links on our website. I personally listen to them on Apple podcast. So really anywhere. And those come out every other Thursday normally. But again, right now we are taking a break. And on the screen here, we have Leslie and my contact information as well as our titles. So it's first name dot lastname at leaderdog.org. So we have leslie.hoskins and then Alyssa.otis. But I'm sure that Donna can help pass along any information or we can put it in the chat if anybody needs anything.

>>Leslie: Perfect. Thank you. And Donna's already putting it in the chat. This is Leslie again. I'm going to go ahead and stop sharing the screen here.

>>Alyssa: Fantastic.

>>Leslie: And then we certainly welcome any questions or Alyssa and I can always continue talking about Leader Dog. It's one of our favorite subjects. But I did see we got one question in the chat and it says, I have had many students express interest in receiving a guide dog. Some of these students do not use their cane on a regular basis because it is not needed for safety or detection. What a student with these characteristics be a good candidate for a guide dog? So technically, our standard is legal blindness. So if they reach that standard or meet that standard of being legally blind, then they technically do qualify for a guide dog. Would it be something that our guide dog mobility instructors would be inquiring about? Probably. So typically what we would do is if we got an application and we're seeing a video of somebody traveling completely visually and they're not relying on any kind of mobility aid. We'd probably give a call and have that conversation of why do you need a guide dog, right? If you're not relying on one mobility aid. Chances are you probably don't need another mobility aid, but we certainly do have those conversations. And again, legal blindness is typically our standard. Also, we've had a lot of conversations about functional blindness. So maybe even not meeting that legal blindness standard. I would still give us a call I know I personally worked with somebody who had CVI and his vision like came and went. It was very unreliable. And so he only needed to use a cane when his vision kind of shut down on him, basically, or when he was overstimulated. And so we taught him and how to use it for Just those purposes. So like I said, we're pretty flexible. Again, we don't receive that state or federal income. So we do have flexibility on who we can serve and how we serve. So I definitely recommend kind of giving us a call. But to answer your question. Technically they would qualify, but we'd probably inquire a bit more to learn more about that situation. All right. And we certainly welcome any other questions. Let's see.

>>Donna: Great questions.

>>Alyssa: Yeah, so we have another one that said, I have seen people get a dog and then it not work with them. Very often is that common. So I wouldn't say that it happens every day, but it is definitely a part of the guide dog industry. And it can happen for a few different reasons. Well, for many different reasons, really. Sometimes it is that the individual maybe thinks that they want a dog or are ready for a dog. And then once that dog is actually in somebody's hands, they realize Wow, this is actually a lot of work. It's not a robot that you can just pick up that harness handle and say, forward, find Starbucks. But that's so much more goes into it. Sometimes it's not the right match. So as a guide dog mobility instructor myself. I've spent countless hours watching videos of potential clients and trying to pick the right dog for them and then doing some practice before finalizing that match. And still maybe not getting it right. So that does happen. And I know, you know, I can speak for leader dog, but when that does happen. We will always try and find another dog and see. We always try and train more dogs than we have people coming in so that hopefully we do have a few that are not matched with somebody originally. That are still fantastic dogs. We just didn't think it was the best match. So if we do get the match wrong, we do have options to try and find the right one. Sometimes we don't have the right one and we may have to send somebody home and then bring them back or take a dog to them in the future. Sometimes the dog can just say, you know what, I really enjoyed training. And now that I'm in the hands of somebody, there's a lot more responsibility than I thought. I don't really know if I want this job. So it can happen for a variety of reasons. Overall, we try and make it work, of course, between we want the dog to be happy and we want the client to be happy and we want them both to be successful. So I know that most organizations will work with somebody who's having difficulty with their dog, but it does happen.

>>Leslie: Wonderful. Thank you, Alyssa. Somebody else asked about the cost of the programs for teens. Everything is free. And I know people don't believe us when we say that, but everything is completely free. For all of these programs. And we never asked for credit card information. The only expense would be if you get here and you want to buy something from the gift shop, which often happens. To be decked out in leader dog gear. It's quite cute. But otherwise, completely free. So Leader Dog covers the airfare. Leaderdog covers the, while staying here on campus, or if they were to stay in a local hotel, depending what the year and the program is. The food, everything is completely covered. The expenses are covered for the parents as well. So I do want to clarify the adult supporter is typically a family member, not usually a comms. It's going to be an adult supporter that's in their family, like a grandparent or a parent or an older sibling. It's not typically for the comms It's an opportunity for that adult supporter who's not in the industry to learn about it, right? And to learn how to support their teen When not with a professional such as an O&M specialist or eye dog mobility or somebody within the field. So we typically want it to be a close relative who really interacts with that team Regularly. The other part about that is too, is like I said, this year in 2025, everybody is staying on our campus here in Rochester Hills. So everybody will have their own room. It's like kind of what's like staying in a hotel, but everybody would have their own room and bathroom. Some years or in previous years and maybe future years, we can't accommodate our teen programs on campus. So we would put them up in a hotel, in which case the teen and adult supporter would share a room. So most times that wouldn't be appropriate as an O&M specialist to share a room with a teen I'm working with. So another reason as to why it needs to be a close relative.

>>Alyssa: And also just to clarify on that, the comms that that teenager and that supporter are working with that week are actually team members at leader dog. So we have a group of certified orientation mobility specialists. That is who they are working with. Just in case that was not understood.

>>Leslie: Thank you. Thank you, Alyssa. I think that's a really good point. Yes, we actually have, I believe.

>>Alyssa: 12?

>>Leslie: 12 comms on our team now at LeaderDog. Some are kind of dual qualified. So guide dog mobility instructors and certified orientation mobility specialists. Some are TCVIs and GDMIs and comms some are Also certified interpreters for ASL and comms. I mean, the qualifications that some of these people we work with are incredible. Alyssa and I, I guess, need to step up our game. We need more letters.

>>Alyssa: Yeah.

>>Leslie: We don't at the moment have any NOMCs, but certainly would be open to it. Would a student graduating this school year qualify for the O&M camp? For the, I know it's confusing for the teen summer camp, they have to be 16 or 17. So if they're graduating and they're still 16 or 17, Absolutely. For the teen O&M, Typically, we'd want them to be returning to high school in the fall. However, we have made exceptions in the past for that. So I would certainly inquire. If they don't qualify, let's say they're not coming or going back to high school in the fall and they're 18 or older. We do just have our typical O&M week that they can come. So they wouldn't be coming with an adult supporter. But they could still receive that full one-on-one O&M time in our typical O&M week. If you're not familiar with LeaderDog, again, our programs are that guide dog program. We also just have a standard O&M program for adults. Where they come and stay on campus and receive one-on-one instruction. For a week. So again, that Monday through Friday, working one-on-one with an O&M specialist. During that week, it ends up being anywhere between 25 and 35 hours of direct instruction. So it is just me working with a client one-on-one on their goals at their skill level. In environments that mean something to them. So it's a really, really great program, whether the teen program or the adult program.

>>Alyssa: And also the handout that I know Donna put in the chat If you were to open that on there, there's a really handy dandy chart if you're getting kind of confused between our teen O&M and our teen summer camp. So on there, it has a little checkbox of, you know, which one comes with an adult supporter and which one doesn't and you know a few different things. So it's a super hopeful handout if you're kind of looking between those two programs. Thank you. Any other questions?

>>Donna: Looks like there was another question in the Q&A. Do you have any resources to become an orientation and mobility dog trainer for someone who is already a comms?

>>Leslie: Sorry. Oh, great. So to become a guide dog mobility instructor, actually I'll let Alyssa handle this.

>>Alyssa: I was going to say i was going to say Unlike becoming a comms, there's no actual master's degree in being a guide dog mobility instructor.

>>Leslie: For qualification.

>>Alyssa: So it's very on the job training. So what you would want to do in order to become a guide dog mobility instructor is you want to look at guide dog organizations all around the United States. That are IGDF accredited. So International Guide Dog Federation accredited. That's just a group that basically looks and says, yes, you're doing everything okay. Your dogs are being treated well. Your clients are getting the correct instruction. So you want to find an organization that is accredited by them. And then you would have to apply to be an apprentice. And it is a three-year apprenticeship program so your major in college doesn't have to be anything specifically related to dogs. We have people with education backgrounds, biology backgrounds. Mine is psychology. So we'd like to see some sort of continuing education, but it doesn't have to be directly related to working with people with either visual vision loss or with a dog. And then it's a three-year apprenticeship and this goes for Pretty much all of those guide dog organizations. And then once you have finished those three years. Then you test out and you become a guide dog mobility instructor. And then there's continuing education that you have to do as well. It's a great, great career if anybody's interested and having the the comms behind it is always very helpful.

>>Donna: Have some great questions coming in there. As we're starting to transition to the next phase. Where you get that. Lovely code that everyone is waiting for. Keep getting those questions in. It'll take me a moment to get everything sorted here.

>>Leslie: And please feel free, this is Leslie, to reach out to Alyssa or I directly if you have some of those more one-on- weird case scenarios that you want to talk through, we're happy to do that. Or if you want to learn more about any of our programs. We do these types of presentations all the time. If you have a group of teens that you want to just have a presentation on guide dog readiness and what it takes, all the O&M skills that you have to have in order to be accepted and then successful with a guide dog. We do a lot of guide dog readiness presentations virtually. You can also just, if you want to connect, if a teen wants to connect with a guide dog mobility instructor, Alyssa is available to answer those questions. Please use us as resources. Feel free to share our contact information with anybody who you think could benefit. But we are always available to take those calls.