Annual Census is Open!
time_for_change.jpg
As many of you know, FIMC-VI must conduct an annual census of every student who is identified as being visually impaired in order to participate in the Federal Quota Program at the American Printing House for the Blind.

There are several changes to the information that is being collected during annual census this year. Whether you are new to this process or have participated previously, be sure to watch the recorded Info and Updates Part 2 webinar held December 8.

The annual census will close February 4. If you have questions or need assistance contact Kathee Cagle or Liz Anderson.

Thank you for helping us serve students!
FIMC-VI Staff Changes
Supervisor: Liz Anderson
Liz previously served as FIMC-VI's coordinator for five years and strives to ensure that FIMC-VI is providing excellent services to stakeholders and students with visual impairments statewide.
Coordinator: Tiffany Conrad
As FIMC-VI's newest staff member, Tiffany brings extensive experience teaching students in a variety of districts and agencies across the state, including serving as the vision program coordinator in a district. Tiffany is a certified teacher of students with visual impairments and certified orientation and mobility specialist.
Accessible Media Worker: Gabriel Rumbaut
Gabriel worked with FIMC-VI in the past and we are grateful to have him back on our team. He assists with FIMC-VI's textbook inventory and the smooth operations of our shipping/receiving department.
New Online Course from FIMC-VI
The Impact of Deafblindness on
Learning and Development

The Florida and Virgin Islands Deaf-Blind Collaborative (FAVI) and the Florida Instructional Materials Center for the Visually Impaired (FIMC-VI) have collaborated to create a new learning opportunity using materials developed by the National Center on Deaf-Blindness. These are professional development modules for practitioners who want to improve their knowledge of deaf-blindness and gain practical skills that are essential for working with students who are deaf-blind. The intended audience is teachers from a variety of areas (e.g., special education, visual impairment, deaf/hard of hearing, and severe/multiple disabilities), related service providers, and administrators. Participants may earn 14 inservice credit hours if approved by your school district.

  • Modules are self-guided/self-paced
  • Each module is divided into 30-minute lessons
  • Content within lessons will be delivered in 10-minute chunks of information
  • Fully accessible content
  • Facilitated by FAVI

This free online Canvas course will be available from now to June 15, 2023.
Register Now for Upcoming FIMC-VI Events
Working with the Experts - Visually Impaired
Technology Walkabout
March 30-31, 2023 | Tallahassee, FL
Join experts from the Center for Assistive Technology Training (CATT), American Printing House for the Blind (APH), and Vispero to learn about current and new technologies and practices. For questions, contact Andrea Wallace or Tiffany Conrad.

Webinars
UEB with Nemeth: Bubbles and Beyond
February 14, 2023 | 2:00pm-3:30pm EST
This webinar will be presented by Kyle DeJute, Braille Trainer with the American Printing House for the Blind. We will break down the requirements and the subtleties of using Nemeth Code in this day and age. Specifically, we will describe what categories of material must be within Nemeth Code switch indicators (i.e., “in a Nemeth Code bubble”) and explain why. Similarly, we will point out what material goes in UEB and why. Along the way, we will demonstrate some transcription tips and vanquish some common questions.

FIMC-VI Info and Updates Webinar Series
Part 3 | March 28, 2023 | 2:00pm-3:30pm EST
Join this session to learn about end-of-year procedures, including returning textbooks to FIMC-VI and ordering materials and textbooks for the next school year.

Student and Family Events
Florida Braille Challenge
January-February, 2023 | West FL, East FL, South FL
"Honey Bee Braille" is coming to a hive near you in 2023! Three Florida Regional Braille Challenge events will be offered in 2023. Student permission forms and teacher/family/volunteer registration are available on our website. Teachers and volunteers are always needed to proctor contests, guide students, run activities, and more. Mark your calendar for the event closest to you and generate a buzz to your busy braille bees!

January 27, Tampa
February 10, Orlando
February 24, Ft. Lauderdale

Florida Festival of Families
April 14-15, 2023 | Gainesville, FL
Join us for "Game Day" at this family-focused event for students with visual impairments or dual sensory impairments of all ages throughout Florida. A Friday evening "tail gate" reception will kick off the weekend. Saturday, guest speakers will present to parents and guardians on various topics related to self-advocacy, literacy, assistive technology, etc. while students and their siblings participate in fun, educational sessions with teachers and volunteers. Resource and service-providers will share information throughout the day. Breakfast, lunch, and refreshments will be served for pre-registered guests. Save the dates on your calendar and check our website for updates and registration.
Dates, locations, and registration details for all FIMC-VI trainings are distributed via email and posted on our website. Past webinars and recordings can be found on the Past Events page.
FIMC-VI's 'Sharing is Caring' Corner
Learning and Growing Together
At a technology smackdown session during the recent Southeastern Orientation and Mobility (SOMA) Conference, a participant shared about the iOS app, Clew. Clew is a navigation app that relies on the rear facing camera to record and reverse simple indoor routes. Going through the tutorials built into the app and watching this video will be very helpful when first using the app. It is self-voicing and accessible with VoiceOver. For newer travelers this app can be used to help reinforce spatial, positional, distance traveled concepts and so much more. It can also help the user gain confidence in traveling independently. For more experienced travelers, this app could be used in unfamiliar areas where they only need to know a route temporarily. As always, this app is not meant to replace a cane as it does not detect objects, barriers, or drop offs! Additionally, it was shared that the developer is very open to feedback and wants to hear from users to continuously improve the app. The best way to learn more about Clew is to download and check it out!

The same developer created an app called Musical Cane Game which requires the use of a sensor. To obtain the appropriate Bluetooth sensor and easy attachment system for a mobility cane, please contact the developer at clewapp@gmail.com.

To see what else was shared at the tech smackdown session, check out the collaborative GoogleDoc and add your ideas!

Be sure to check out these resources and share them with anyone else who may be interested! We also welcome any examples of how you incorporated these resources into your own practice.
Visual Aid Volunteers of Florida Scholarship Opportunity!
Deadline: March 1, 2023
The Visual Aid Volunteers of Florida, Inc. (VAVF) awards educational scholarships to qualified high school seniors who are legally blind, Florida residents and continuing their education.

Other available scholarship opportunities:
A Florida TVI Attends the APH Annual Meeting
Greetings! I am Karen Reno, a TVI in Citrus County. I was honored to be nominated as an APH Scholar in 2020 by FIMC-VI's previous supervisor, Kay Ratzlaff! APH Scholars are nominated by Ex Officio Trustees across the country each year. An APH committee then reviews those applicants submitted by the Trustees and chooses the final 3-5 applicants to be named as that year’s Scholars. The APH Scholars are presented to the participants at the APH Annual Meeting. The Scholars serve on committees at APH during the year of their scholarship.

The big event, APH’s Annual Meeting, was held virtually in 2020 and 2021, so scholars who had been chosen in those years had the opportunity to attend face-to-face in 2022. The meeting was hosted by The Hyatt Regency Hotel in Louisville, KY.

On our first day, the APH Scholars and other meeting participants had the opportunity to tour APH! This included an eye-opening experience about the way products are produced and a visit to the APH Museum that houses a variety of artifacts related to our history as well as a detailed timeline of the development of braille and the tools we use today to access and teach. I highly recommend going for a tour if you get the chance! I also attended presentations on new technology, how digital books are created, and toured the product displays. I had an opportunity to network with people from across the country and around the world, including those from right here in Florida!

I have used APH products since the beginning of my career, nearly 20 years now (as have most TVIs I know). That has been my primary connection with APH all these years. Now that I have attended an APH Annual Meeting, I have a new and deeper understanding of the scope and mission of APH. The leadership at APH strives to provide multiple pathways of access to education for students who are blind and visually impaired. In the past, the focus was more on products. Recently, the focus has shifted to increase the number of services. During the pandemic, they launched the Connect Center for vision professionals, parents, and students to serve as a place to locate resources. They offer a variety of courses presented as webinars in the Hive, especially related to areas of the ECC. APH continues to look for new and innovative ways to serve our community.

I am truly honored to have been chosen as an APH Scholar but the assets of APH are offered to all of us. I would encourage all TVIs to attend an APH Annual Meeting someday, to tour APH, and check out the offerings on the APH website on a regular basis. I learned during my time in Louisville just how dynamic and fluid an entity APH is. I made new friends and met colleagues in the blindness profession from all areas of the field. Our world is so much bigger than what I ever knew before experiencing APH’s Annual Meeting!
APH Forms
The American Printing House for the Blind (APH) regularly conducts field tests of new products that are under development. APH uses the comments and recommendations gathered from experts in the field to refine and improve products before actual production. If you would like to be considered for field test opportunities during the 2022-2023 school year, please complete and submit this form.

The Product Ideation Committee considers dozens of new product ideas each year, and the decision-making process can take several months. APH is accepting new product ideas in the following categories: low-vision technology, STEM, braille literacy (children and adults), braille technology, and O&M technology.

APH is constantly trying to improve their products and services and they need your feedback to do it. Please take a few moments to let them know what is and what isn’t working.
Assistive Technology Industry Association and Code Jumper Pre-Conference Camp Opportunity
ATIA and APH are partnering to host a FREE in-person Code Jumper Pre-conference Camp at ATIA 2023. This is open to anyone who is registered to attend the ATIA 2023 conference, which is being held January 31 - February 4, 2023. If you are already registered for the conference, follow the proceeding instructions to submit your request to attend the camp.

If you have not yet registered for ATIA 2023, you may receive a 20% discount off a full in-person conference registration if you are approved to attend the Code Jumper preconference. This is for new ATIA 2023 conference registrations only.
 
All attendees will receive a free Code Jumper kit. ACVREP credits are available.
The Camp Code Jumper session will be in-person on Wednesday, February 1, 2023 from 8:00 am – 4:00 pm ET. The Camp is broken up to in four sessions and concludes with a one-hour panel discussion. The sessions include:
  1. A hands-on overview of Code Jumper (hosted by APH and the Center for Assistive Technology Training (CATT)/Alabama Institute for the Deaf & Bind (AIDB)
  2. The Code Jumper Curriculum and New Code Jumper Puzzles (Hosted by i2e, Code Jumper curriculum developers)
  3. Code Jumper and the ECC (hosted by Julie Hapeman, COMS, CVRT, CATIS, TVI, and Kaitie Schlehr, Central Florida Light House)
  4. The Code Jumper Accessible Escape Room (Hosted by APH Regional Outreach Representatives)
Seats are limited for this event, so you must request an access code to register. Please complete this form, and a member of the APH team will follow up on your request. If you have any questions, please email CodeJumper@aph.org.

*Please note, there are no refunds or retroactive discounts for existing registrations for the conference or for an ATIA Pre-Conference Seminar.

See the many sessions being offered at the ATIA 2023 Conference and Register today for the package that works best for you. Remember the vendor hall is always free.
SE Deafblind Webinars
The SE Deafblind webinar series is continuing with sessions from 2:30-4:00pm EST on January 26 and February 16. Presenters include Kate Beals, Myrna Medina, and Jana Villemez.
Project INSPIRE Spring Courses
Project INSPIRE is recruiting for six spring 2023 courses that will begin on Monday, February 20.

This includes a new course, Nemeth Code Symbols Used in High School and Strategies for Supporting Math Learning.
We are offering the opportunity for you to take ONE of the courses. You may choose from the following courses:
  • Course 1: Nemeth Code within UEB Contexts and Strategies for Supporting the PreK-1st Grade Student in Building Math Skills
  • Course 2: An Introduction to Nemeth Code Symbols Used in Grades 2 to 5 and Strategies for Supporting Elementary Students in Building Math Skills
  • Course 3: Grades 2 to 5: Nemeth Code Symbols for Fractions and Spatial Problems, Instructional Tools, Materials and Technology
  • Course 4: Geometry and Tactile Graphics for Students in Grades 3 to 8
  • Course 5: Nemeth Code Symbols Used in the Middle Grades and Strategies for Supporting Math Learning 
  • Course 6: Nemeth Code Symbols Used in High School and Strategies for Supporting Math Learning
Please see the flyer for information about the courses. Due to popular demand, we will have optional Happy Hour sessions via Zoom this spring!
The link to the online sign up form is https://uofsc.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9LETR41INnEqX54 
Please also feel free to share this email with others who may be interested.
If you have questions, please let me know!

Tina S. Herzberg, Ph.D.
Professor and Coordinator of Special Education – Visual Impairment Program
USC Upstate; School of Education, Human Performance, and Health; HEC 3039
800 University Way
Spartanburg, SC 29303
Office: 864-503-5572
Fax: 864-503-5574
Use this form to be notified of future Project INSPIRE courses and other activities.
Grow Your Own TVIs and O&M Specialists
ONLINE TVI PROGRAM (Master of Science Program) 
  • Next cohort begins August 2023 (application deadline July 1st) 
  • Designed for general and special educators, paraprofessionals, and alt certified TVIs who want to refine or learn the specialized skills necessary to effectively teach children with visual impairments 
  • Tuition support may be available for eligible students
  • https://education.fsu.edu/visual-disabilities-grad 
 
O&M SPECIALIZATION (Master of Science Program) 
  • Next cohort begins August 2023 (application deadline July 1st) 
  • Now offered in hybrid format 
  • Grant money, tuition support, and books available for eligible students
  • Designed for anyone with a BS degree (with or without TVI or related experience) 
  • https://education.fsu.edu/visual-disabilities-grad 
  
ON CAMPUS TVI PROGRAM (Combined Bachelor/Master of Science Program) 
 
Questions? Contact Eileen Bischof at bischof@fsu.edu 
Thank you for reading!