Region 14/Hopewell Center

5350 W. New Market Rd.  Hillsboro, OH 45133

Free Conference for Family Members of Individuals with Disabilities

Lunch is provided

Door prizes

$25 stipend for Family Members (must register by Oct. 15)

 Keynote Address:  Positive Behavior Supports

Breakout Sessions:  IEP, OCALI, and Leisure Time Activities and Games

To Register:  Contact Sherry Campton at 937-393-1904, ext. 126 or

scampton@ohioregion14.org

Manchester:  Amy Lofton, Debbie Morrison

Eastern Brown:  Charlotte Barnes, Sarah Kohler

Fayetteville-Perry:  Shayna Hansel, one vacancy

Georgetown:  Sally Mount, one vacancy

Ripley-Union-Lewis-Huntington:  Michele Eichner, Rhonda Freidhoff

Western Brown:  Ricquel Stinson, one vacancy

Washington C.H.:  Amy Evans, Mark & Jill Sestina

Miami Trace:  Nora DeBruin, one vacancy

Blanchester:  two vacancies

Clinton-Massie:  Bonnie Hankey, Patty Johnson

East Clinton:  Stephanie Blessing,  Amy Luttrell

Wilmington:  Roberta Naylor, one vacancy

Bright:  Bruce & Susie Frazer, one vacancy

Fairfield:  two vacancies

Greenfield:  Heather Gibson, Karen McGuire

Hillsboro:  Kristy French, Ana Lopez

Lynchburg-Clay:  Tracy Boler, Dia Tipton

• Session Handout (PDF)
• Web Accessibility Improvement Plan Template (PDF, DOC)
• Presentation Slides: PowerPoint Format
• Presentation Slides: OpenOffice Format
• Presentation Slides: Flash Format (viewable in browser)

Links to Resources:

• For Windows
  • JAWS 9
  • JAWS 11 (32-bit, 64-bit)
  • ZoomText 9
  • Web Accessibility Toolbar (for Internet Explorer)
  • WAVE Toolbar (for FireFox)
• For Mac
  • WAVE Toobar (for FireFox)
  • Assistiveware Products
• Video Resources
  • “CurbCuts” Episode 2 (.mov format) – JAWS User
  • AssistiveWare – Various Users

Session handout (single page) [PDF, 108KB]

Introductory Video [MP4, 10.2MB]

Concept Mapping

• Inspiration software (free trial available): http://www.inspiration.com
• FreeMind (free to use indefinitely): http://freemind.sourceforge.net

Summarizing and Note-taking

• Using “AutoSummarize…” in Word: AutoSummarize [PDF, 88KB]
• Enabling Readability Statistics in Word: Readability_Statistics [PDF, 88KB]
• Working with Forms in Word: Working_with_Forms [PDF, 92KB]

Web Cataloging

• Diigo: http://www.diigo.com

“First Five Presidents” Materials

• The First Five Presidents from Grolier’s “American Presidency” series [DOC, 79KB]
• Presidents Concept Map Template [PDF, 40KB]
• First Five Presidents Concept Maps [PDF, 320KB]

The keynote address was presented by OCALI (Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence) representatives, Julie Short, Donna Owens, & Heather  Bridgeman. They explained their web site and the resources they provide.   Many useful assistive technology  items were displayed and may be borrowed through OCALI’s lending library. 

Topics for the afternoon breakout sessions were: Post-secondary Transition, Stress Relievers, and  Postive Behavior Supports.   

Post-secondary Transition was presented by Sue Beck.  She provided attendees with a folder printed with an outline to track goals from graduation backward .  This will be helpful when setting goals for planning and at the IEP meeting.  Ms. Beck discussed the requirements of the Post-secondary transition plan and the advantages to the student to have an effective transition plan in place. 

The Stress Reliever session was presented by Jinnifer Daugherty.  She provided many useful ideas and tips to relieve stress.   Ms. Daugherty discussed the effects of stress and how to measure one’s stress level.  

Cathy Heizman spoke on the benefits of Positive Behavior Suppports and the many ways the supports can help students succeed in the school.  Ms. Heizman discussed the differences between punishment and discipline and their characteristics.  She also gave valuable information on Behavior Intervention Plans.

Presented by the Ohio Coalition for the Education of Students with Disabilities

To Register & for more Information:  1-800-374-2806

November 10, 2009

9:00 – 2:00 p.m.

OSU

Ohio Room – Collins Center

1804 Liberty Ave.

Ironton, OH  45638

December 3, 2009

10:00 – 1:00 p.m.

Ford Training Center

1155 Bible Rd.

Lima, OH  45801

Region 14/Hopewell

6:00  -  9:00 p.m.

• October 26, 2009
• January 25, 2010
• March 22, 2010
• May 17, 2010

Contact:  Amy Luttrell  937-393-1904, ext 142

http://aluttrell@ohioregion14.org

“Many districts around the state of Ohio have struggled to reach high levels of proficiency among students with disabilities, but a small percentage achieved steady improvement between 2004 and 2008. The Universal Education Project was designed to identify district-level strategies and practices among these schools that led to consistent improvement in math and reading proficiency test scores for students with identified disabilities. Because every district participating in this study described the importance of breaking down barriers between special and regular education, this report is titled Universal Education in an effort to unify two previously separate cultures into a single, high-impact education for all students.”

This brief article identifies major findings and some key practices regarding increased achievement for students with disabilities, and closing the academic achievement gap that typically exists between students with disabilities and their non-disabled peers.

The Region 14 State Support Team will be developing and conducting professional development in our region (Adams, Brown, Clinton, Fayette and Highland Counties in Ohio) regarding the major findings and key practices identified in this report

Congratulations to Bright Local Schools and Superintendent Dee Wright for being identified as a model district for this report!

View the report [PDF, 228KB]

Young Abraham Lincoln reading by the fire - Library of Congress image

“When Abraham Lincoln was a boy, there were very few books in the cabins of the backwoods settlement where he lived. There was no school-house in the neighborhood; but it was not long before the people made up their minds that they must have one. So one day after harvest the men met together, chopped down trees, and built a small, low-roofed log cabin to serve as a schoolhouse for the children of the settlement….
Such was Abraham Lincoln’s first school. After a few weeks the term came to a close; and the lad was again as busy as ever about his father’s farm. After that he attended school only two or three short terms. If all his school days were put together, they would not make a twelvemonth.
But he kept on reading and studying at home. His stepmother said of him: ‘He read everything he could lay his hands on. When he came to a passage that pleased him, he would write it down on the wooden shovel or on boards, if he had no paper. Then he would copy it, commit it to memory, and repeat it again and again.’
Lincoln’s father was too poor to furnish lamps, or even candles, for his family to burn at night. However, they had a big fireplace at one end of the log house. There was wood in plenty, and Lincoln brought in piles of dry logs for the fire.
The bright blaze shed a strong light over all the room, and the boy, lying flat on the floor with his books in front of him, spent his long evenings in reading and study. In this way he read the Bible, ‘Pilgrim’s Progress,’ and Æsop’s Fables many times over.”
–    Baldwin, James, “Abraham Lincoln’s School Days,” 1806

Today’s classrooms have a lot more to offer in regards to variety of material, but the underlying concept remains the same – for a student to have any chance of making progress in education, access to the material is essential.  One way to greatly increase student access to information is the availability of digital text.

“Digital text” simply means that the text in question is available in an electronic format (for instance, as a Word document, a tagged PDF file, or a simple text file) that is machine-readable.  Many modern textbooks come with, or are alternatively available in, electronic formats.  When text is only available in an 11-point print format, numerous accommodations
have to be made for students with various disabilities.  Digital text makes many of these accommodations much more easily, and cheaply, available.

• Large-print version.  Digital text makes the production of a large-print version as easy as changing font size, or using a screen magnifier.  No more waiting two months for the special-order-large-print-version to arrive!  Digital versions also allow text to be changed to a more readable font.
• Assisted Reading version.  Specialized software to assist with visual tracking during reading (highlighting words or lines to draw focus) relies upon a supply of digital text to present to the reader.  Also, text color and/or background can be changed to produce a lower-contrast version for individuals with eye strain, or whose eyes tire quickly when reading high contrast black-on-white text.
• Spoken version.  Text-to-speech software can take the digital text and “speak” it, or create an audio file that can be taken anywhere on a portable media player or a CD.  Some free text-to-speech software for Windows is available.  Two particular programs of note are ReadPlease and WordTalk.
• Summary version.  Summarizing utilities (such as the Autosummarize tool built into Microsoft Word) can automatically produce a summarized version that is 50% of the length of the original.  This shorter version can make a wonderful adapted or introductory version for slower readers, or a refresher study version for any student.

Digital text is the first step in a wide range of possibilities for improving access to curriculum materials for students with various disabilities.  The ability to produce customized versions as outlined above in-house can save thousands of dollars  over the cost of special orders for large print or audio versions of materials.  Many curriculum publishers are already moving towards making digital versions of textbooks available when a print version is purchased.  Ask your curriculum director or curriculum publisher about the availability of a digital version of textbooks!

• Presentation slides (Flash version)
• Presentation slides (PDF version)
• Link to AssistiveWare Videos – ALS patient using switch, switch users and games, etc.
• Link to Central Coast AT Center “Curb Cuts” programs