News from NLCSD 07.21.17

The 2017 Consortium - PAC - Scholars meeting dates have been set. Please hold Monday, September 25 and Tuesday, September 26, 2017 on your calendar. Meetings will be held at the Office of Special Education Programs in Washington, D.C.

Enrichment Program

The Enrichment Program is over for the 2016-2017 academic year.

Thank you to all of the Faculty and PAC members who contributed their time and expertise to ensure a successful program!

Congratulations Tara and Genevieve!

NLCSD 2, Cohort 2 Scholars, Tara Brown-Ogilvie and Genevieve Francoeur-Anderson, presented their current research projects at the University of Northern Colorado's Graduate School Research Evening back in May, and both were awarded for their contribution to research.

Tara won 2nd prize (" Identified Needs in Deafblindness: Recommendations for Orientation & Mobility (O&M) Training " ) and Genevieve won 3rd prize ("Determining Educational Services for Students who are Deafblind: Insights from the Field").

Research Evening provides graduate students from across the university the opportunity to present projects from their research classes.

Please click here to read more about Tara.

Please click here to read more about Genevieve.

NLCSD 2 Scholars Attend 16th International Mobility Conference in Ireland!

NLCSD 2, Cohort 1 Scholar, Kevin McCormack and Cohort 2 Scholars, Tara Brown-Ogilvie and Garrison Tsinajinie, attended the 16th International Mobility Conference this past June in Dublin, Ireland, as part of their Conference of Choice funds through NLCSD.

Photo Caption (from left to right): Tara Brown-Ogilvie (Cohort 2), Garrison Tsinajinie (Cohort 2), and Kevin McCormack (Cohort 1) posing in front of the IMC16 sign, at the 16th International Mobility Conference in Dublin, Ireland.

As water droplets from the cloudy sky softly made their way to the cobbled stones of Trinity College in the heart of Dublin, I approached the steps of the International Mobility Conference 16 (IMC16). Upon entering, I found myself looking around, smiling, and eventually joining the tail end of a line. The line looped around the room. The line was composed of students, researchers, and practitioners who specialize in Orientation and Mobility (O&M) from around the world. Once delegates completed the registration process, the line casually dispersed, and IMC16 delegates made their way to an adjacent room for the welcome reception. It was truly an incredible sight to see colleagues and friends alike embrace and reunite. The sound in the room progressed from sporadic pockets of greetings to thunderous, simultaneous conversation and laughter. Naturally, it was not long before my fellow National Leadership Consortium in Sensory Disabilities (NLCSD) scholars, Kevin McCormack, Tara Ogilvie, and I contributed to the cordial boom. IMC16 was well underway.

-- Garrison Tsinajinie

Please click here to read more from Garrison about his experience at IMC16.

I attended the International Mobility Conference 16 in Dublin, Ireland this past June. This was a truly international conference where representatives from all world regions related to the orientation and mobility field for the blind and visually impaired attended and shared information. I was fortunate to be able to present an oral presentation regarding blindness services in Cuba and to give a poster presentation on an International Services and Global Issues Division. It was great to revisit several folks I already knew, including at least three other current and former NLCSD scholars. The unique thing in this conference for me was meeting people from countries that I hadn't met before and to better understand the similarities and differences in mobility issues for the blind. I appreciated hearing languages other than English being spoken among colleagues at the conference, reminding me of the global relevance, diversity, and camaraderie in the orientation and mobility field.

-- Kevin McCormack

Attending the International Mobility Conference (IMC), I was able to share space with some of the greatest minds in Orientation and Mobility (OMS). I personally love to see how OMS, professors, and agencies across the world are handling the same issues that we are experiencing in the United States. The highlights for me being a workshop on working with blind or visually impaired students who are also wheelchair users, a lecture on cane identification for travelers who are deafblind, and the opportunity to present on a pilot study conducted at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) with Dr. Silvia Correa-Torres. Entitled, Perceived Needs of Orientation & Mobility Specialists Who Work with Individuals Who Are Deafblind.

-- Tara Brown-Ogilvie

Please click here to read more from Tara about her experience at IMC16.

DCDD Position Statement - Teachers of Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing: A Critical Resource Needed for Legal Compliance

The Council for Exceptional Children's Division for Communicative Disabilities and Deafness (DCDD) has shared a position statement titled, "Teachers of Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing: A Critical Resource Needed for Legal Compliance."

The purpose of this statement is to share evidence supporting the model to meet the language, communication, academic, and social needs of students who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Please click here to read the position statement.

IES Research Funding Opportunities On-Demand Webinars

The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is launching a series of webinars for individuals interested in learning more about IES and Fiscal Year 2018 funding opportunities. Hosted by staff from the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) and the National Center for Education Research (NCER), these webinars are pre-recorded and can be accessed through the IES Webinar Series website.

Questions may be submitted on or before July 31.

Answers to the frequently asked questions will be posted on the webinar website. Applicants are encouraged to e-mail any questions specific to their individual project directly to their program officer for the relevant funding opportunity.

ETS Seeks Candidates to Score NJ Praxis Braille Exam

The Educational Testing Service in Princeton, NJ is seeking qualified candidates for on-site scoring of the Praxis Braille in 2017 and 2018 at their ETS Rosedale campus in Princeton, NJ.

Scoring dates are scheduled for September and November 2017 and March and June of 2018. (The September 2017 date for scoring is Friday, September 15, 2017 ).

Please click here for more information.

Survey on COMS and Braille

Northern Illinois University is conducting Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved research from the field to determine whether practicing Orientation and Mobility instructors and O&M students think that knowledge of uncontracted, contracted, and/or UEB braille should be an integral component in preparation programs leading to O&M certification.

For more information, please click here.

Dissertation Research Participants Needed!

Staci M. Rensch, a doctoral candidate in the Leadership in Higher Education specialization with the Schools of Education at Capella University, is recruiting participants for her dissertation research. Her research involves uncovering and identifying effective actions and strategies taken by Deaf faculty and administrators in addressing audism in higher education.

For more information, please click here.

Foundations for Literacy is here!

The Center on Literacy and Deafness is pleased to announce the dissemination of its pre-literacy curriculum, Foundations for Literacy, a 25-week/1-hour daily intervention for young DHH children. The intervention has a solid evidence base of its effectiveness in a variety of areas and comes with a 390 page manual and over 700 pages of original materials to be used to implement the program. Online professional learning activities are also available. This summer we are offering free professional development workshops. Workshops will be available for a fee in future summers.

For more information, please see the brochure and the website.

U.S. Department of Education Seeks Comments on New Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Website

The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) is seeking input from users of the IDEA.ed.gov website as part of their effort to provide updated, easy-to-navigate IDEA resources to children with disabilities and their families, teachers, administrators, advocates, and other stakeholders.

To help facilitate this effort, OSERS has posted a blog for users of the IDEA website to provide comments. OSERS continue efforts to improve their online resources as part of their commitment to ensure that infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities and their families have the supports and services they are entitled to under the IDEA.

PAC Internship Opportunities

Conference of Educational Administrators of Schools and Programs for the Deaf (CEASD) seeks an intern to do research and develop fact sheets on issues affecting deaf and hard of hearing students and schools for the deaf. Specific topics to be determined. CEASD is an association of schools and educational programs involved with the education of deaf and hard of hearing individuals. Founded in 1868, CEASD is committed to the promotion of excellence within a continuum of equitable education opportunities for children and adults who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Applicant requirements:

Enrollment in graduate program
Ability to collect, evaluate, analyze, and interpret data
Excellent writing skills
Ability to work independently

To apply:

Please send a cover letter, resume, work sample highlighting research and analysis, and copy of your latest transcript (unofficial transcript is acceptable) to Barbara Raimondo at [email protected].

------------------------------------------------------------------------------The National Research and Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision (NRTC) at Mississippi State University invites applications for a research internship opportunity. The mission of the NRTC is to enhance employment and independent living outcomes for individuals who are blind or visually impaired through research, training, education, and dissemination. Interns will have the opportunity to conduct research related to employment for people who are blind, visually impaired, or deafblind by working with NRTC researchers on one or more projects.

Please click here for more information.

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If your PAC organization has an internship opportunity that you would like included in the newsletter, please email Emily Vasile, NLCSD Coordinator, at [email protected] with the details of the internship.

Employment Opportunities

Jackson State University Department of Special Education seeks to hire a program coordinator for the Deep South Synergy (DS² ) Training Teachers of the Visually Impaired Project.