Hi, Diane, not here in Westchester County NY.  My school has not been able
to fill my position fully now that I'm retired.  Children are preschool age
and multiply disabled, blind or/and visually impaired.  Anyone in NYC area
interested? Reach out to me off list.Your note also makes me wonder whether
the children with CVI are being recognized, and whether the schools are
assuming that various technology created for kids who can learn via vision
can fill the bill. Looking forward to upcoming posts!  Patti

On Fri, Sep 14, 2018 at 12:31 AM dmoshenrose@ca.rr.com wrote:

As Patti

I too am concerned that a host of VI CVI kids are not being served.
Technology enables them to access the world far more easily to success than
just faring for themselves
DrDenise M Robinson

Denise M. Robinson, TVI, Ph.D.
CEO, TechVision

Teaching Technology that gives you Vision

[image: Techvision logo]
423-573-6413
www.yourtechvision.com

On Fri, Sep 14, 2018 at 8:54 AM Patricia Rosen pkowal52@gmail.com wrote:

So true, but they need help to learn to access the tech.  Short term
thinking not to provide the services early enough so that they are soon
teaching all of us to use the technology.  Your posts are so helpful in
this regard.

On Fri, Sep 14, 2018 at 9:30 AM Dr Denise Robinson yourtechvision@gmail.com
wrote:

Exactly Patti
Right on the nose--must always think long term
DrDenise M Robinson

Denise M. Robinson, TVI, Ph.D.
CEO, TechVision

Teaching Technology that gives you Vision

[image: Techvision logo]
423-573-6413
www.yourtechvision.com

On Fri, Sep 14, 2018 at 9:35 AM Patricia Rosen pkowal52@gmail.com wrote:

While I'm a VRT student, I have classmates who are studying to be
TVI's. So, this post is interesting to me.

Patti, you mentioned whether or not school districts are accounting
for their students havingCVI and if they are assuming technological
advances can cover what TVI's have been doing for students.
Unfortunately, it seems our public school systems seem to be in the
mode of cost cutting, which really does them and their students
all-around in. So, their not taking into considetration the amount of
students with CVI would make sense. Or, some school systems may be
tweeking their classifications of students.

One of the dark downsides of cost cutting in education I s a school
district's mindset toward minimalism. They will do just enough to
handle the caseload of students with varying degrees of visual
impairment so as to meet the "national standards" but nothing more.
Unfortunately, that's happening across the board with all students as
you probably know firsthand.

Where the schools lack in understanding is how much more holistic your
work is as TVI's. It's not just sitting with a student during a test
or making sure stuff's gotten in adaptive formats. My understanding is
that it involves communication with parents/other guardians along with
students. It's providing a wrap-around network that will aid the
student's cognative and behavioral livelihood as he/she progresses
grade by grade toward independence in college or the workforce.
Please, correct my assumptions here if I'm off-base.

On 9/14/18, Patricia Rosen pkowal52@gmail.com wrote:

I definitely agree with you.  Even in my preschool multi disabled private
school, we rely on state funding that has not been increased.  The already
stressed TVI will also wish to try to collaborate with the treatment team,
work with parents and family members,  attend meetings, keep up on medical
changes and most importantly perhaps, train classroom staff so that some of
the time inadequacies can be addressed indirectly.  If the whole team is on
board and is open to the recommendations of the related service staff,
including TVI's and mobility experts the child in effect benefits from a
fully supportive environment and requires perhaps less pull out hours in
the long run. Also many districts do not have the caseload of identified
children with visual impairment to justify a full time TVI.  So they must
work with consultants who might work without the benefits available to a
full time employee. The funding is not being provided to give the TVI an
hourly or by case compensation that accounts for all of the diverse
responsibilities plus (at least in NY) a mandate for professional
development each year to maintain the license. It is far more difficult for
an itinerant TVI to be able to attend team meetings that might be scheduled
during times that he/she must work with other students.  It is largely
about the funding, and unpaid mandates both for the professional staff and
for the school.

On Fri, Sep 14, 2018 at 9:45 AM David Rosenkoetter <
davidrosenkoetter260@gmail.com> wrote:

I have to chime into this conversation.  I'm not a TVI, but I've worked with them in my previous school division in Virginia.  I'm currently a COMS, but in my experience, the school divisions are poorly funded and yes, sometimes students are not accurately diagnosed or identified as being CVI.  CVI is difficult to diagnose. However, the TVIs I've worked with as a teacher of students with severe disabilities have been wonderful.  Their caseload limits them in the degree of student involvement which includes attending meetings as well as interacting with staff and families. The ones I've worked with have been open, honest and willing to assist me as the classroom teacher many times.  Again, I think it comes down to funding.

-----Original Message-----
From: Patricia Rosen pkowal52@gmail.com
To: davidrosenkoetter260 davidrosenkoetter260@gmail.com
Cc: aernet aernet@lists.aerbvi.org
Sent: Fri, Sep 14, 2018 10:23 am
Subject: Re: [AERNet] No longer shortage of TVIs??

I definitely agree with you.  Even in my preschool multi disabled private school, we rely on state funding that has not been increased.  The already stressed TVI will also wish to try to collaborate with the treatment team, work with parents and family members,  attend meetings, keep up on medical changes and most importantly perhaps, train classroom staff so that some of the time inadequacies can be addressed indirectly.  If the whole team is on board and is open to the recommendations of the related service staff, including TVI's and mobility experts the child in effect benefits from a fully supportive environment and requires perhaps less pull out hours in the long run. Also many districts do not have the caseload of identified children with visual impairment to justify a full time TVI.  So they must work with consultants who might work without the benefits available to a full time employee. The funding is not being provided to give the TVI an hourly or by case compensation that accounts for all of the diverse responsibilities plus (at least in NY) a mandate for professional development each year to maintain the license. It is far more difficult for an itinerant TVI to be able to attend team meetings that might be scheduled during times that he/she must work with other students.  It is largely about the funding, and unpaid mandates both for the professional staff and for the school.

On Fri, Sep 14, 2018 at 9:45 AM David Rosenkoetter davidrosenkoetter260@gmail.com wrote:

While I'm a VRT student, I have classmates who are studying to be
TVI's. So, this post is interesting to me.

Patti, you mentioned whether or not school districts are accounting
for their students havingCVI and if they are assuming technological
advances can cover what TVI's have been doing for students.
Unfortunately, it seems our public school systems seem to be in the
mode of cost cutting, which really does them and their students
all-around in. So, their not taking into considetration the amount of
students with CVI would make sense. Or, some school systems may be
tweeking their classifications of students.

One of the dark downsides of cost cutting in education I s a school
district's mindset toward minimalism. They will do just enough to
handle the caseload of students with varying degrees of visual
impairment so as to meet the "national standards" but nothing more.
Unfortunately, that's happening across the board with all students as
you probably know firsthand.

Where the schools lack in understanding is how much more holistic your
work is as TVI's. It's not just sitting with a student during a test
or making sure stuff's gotten in adaptive formats. My understanding is
that it involves communication with parents/other guardians along with
students. It's providing a wrap-around network that will aid the
student's cognative and behavioral livelihood as he/she progresses
grade by grade toward independence in college or the workforce.
Please, correct my assumptions here if I'm off-base.

On 9/14/18, Patricia Rosen pkowal52@gmail.com wrote:

You are subscribed to AERNet, The Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired Listserv.

To post a message to all the list members, send an email to aernet@lists.aerbvi.org.

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This brings up another couple of concerns of mine.  I'm concerned that without enough TVI's there is the problem of expecting the TVI's who are currently working to make do and not be able to give significant instruction to each student.  With the expanded core curriculum, it is not necessary for TVI's to just teach students to use technology. It is necessary for them to have the time to teach daily living skills, socialization skills... And that doesn't even cover that if a student could lose more vision and find that the use of Braille will be critical to be educated,
TVI's may just teach them to use print because of the lack of time.  Also, I have observed that students who are totally blind have not been taught to use a slate and stylus to write braille.  Not every person can afford a Braille writer or a notetaker to write.  To me, it's like saying that it is not necessary for a student who is sighted to learn to use a pencil or pen and paper because they can use a lap top computer or a tablet to write.  And learning to use an abacus is learning to do math because it is not like using a calculator where you just enter in the numbers and don't actually do the math yourself. Do they even teach it any more?

Also, I have found that low vision students have not been taught to use assistive technology such as Zoom Text because they have just been taught to use the magnification on their tablets. I am of the opinion that everyone should be taught to use anything that will make it easier to access the information they need to learn and to be successful in this world.

Marcie Brink-Chaney CVRT CATIS
Visually Impaired Services
University Health Center
Detroit Receiving Hospital
Detroit Medical Center
Address:  4201 St. Antoine
Detroit MI 48201
Phone:  (313)745-4131
Email:  mbrink-c@dmc.org
-----Original Message-----
From: AERNet [mailto:aernet-bounces@lists.aerbvi.org] On Behalf Of David Rosenkoetter
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2018 9:45 AM
To: Patricia Rosen
Cc: aernet@lists.aerbvi.org
Subject: Re: [AERNet] No longer shortage of TVIs??

While I'm a VRT student, I have classmates who are studying to be TVI's. So, this post is interesting to me.

Patti, you mentioned whether or not school districts are accounting for their students havingCVI and if they are assuming technological advances can cover what TVI's have been doing for students.
Unfortunately, it seems our public school systems seem to be in the mode of cost cutting, which really does them and their students all-around in. So, their not taking into considetration the amount of students with CVI would make sense. Or, some school systems may be tweeking their classifications of students.

One of the dark downsides of cost cutting in education I s a school district's mindset toward minimalism. They will do just enough to handle the caseload of students with varying degrees of visual impairment so as to meet the "national standards" but nothing more.
Unfortunately, that's happening across the board with all students as you probably know firsthand.

Where the schools lack in understanding is how much more holistic your work is as TVI's. It's not just sitting with a student during a test or making sure stuff's gotten in adaptive formats. My understanding is that it involves communication with parents/other guardians along with students. It's providing a wrap-around network that will aid the student's cognative and behavioral livelihood as he/she progresses grade by grade toward independence in college or the workforce.
Please, correct my assumptions here if I'm off-base.

On 9/14/18, Patricia Rosen pkowal52@gmail.com wrote:

You are subscribed to AERNet, The Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired Listserv.

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Address list requests to:  aernet-request@lists.aerbvi.org

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This is why I do not work in the school system's as a TV I. There are too
many rules and regulations and they are not teaching children properly, not
teaching them to use a slate and stylus, not teaching them ZoomText and all
the other technology items that they need to use in real life.

I work with adults. I can teach them anything that I think they need to
know and that includes slate and stylus, ZoomText, JAWS, and anything else
that they need to know including Travel Training.

Adults are often left out in the grand scheme of things, so I personally
chose to work with adults, people usually over 55 or 60 years of age, who
have lost vision due to medical issues or age-related conditions. I work
for a private nonprofit agency and we teach people what they need to know
not what the regulations say that we have to do.

I agree with your comment on not showing a sighted student how to use a
pencil and paper because they can always use technology. This is totally
wrong, so blind and low-vision students must be taught to use a slate and
stylus.

I agree with you 100%.

Holly Kaczmarski
Columbia River services for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Samsung Galaxy S7 smartphone

On Fri, Sep 14, 2018, 10:53 AM Brink-Chaney, Marcie A MBrink-C@dmc.org
wrote: