OCDBE Professional Learning Series – Virtual

This 3-session professional learning series covers a variety of topics of interest to educators and parents. All sessions will be held from 4:00 to 5:30 pm (ET).

Series Description

This series will focus on teaching strategies for learners with deafblindness. These strategies can also be applied to students who are blind or visually impaired with additional impairments. Topics covered will include: experiencing the world through the sense of touch, how to initiate interaction, share meaningful experiences, and co-create formal language with learners who are deafblind. Classroom strategies for developing and evaluating calendars and functional routines that work together to form a holistic system of communication and literacy will also be discussed.

Schedule 

September 5 - Interaction, Communication, and Formal Language with Students who are Congenitally Deafblind
Learning Objectives: 

• Participants will gain an understanding of the tactile learner’s perspective – typical vs. sensorially impaired learners.  
• The Five Steps of Interaction - Participants will gain an understanding of our student’s language vs. our sighted/hearing formal language – How does my student communicate? Am I noticing and affirming? How do I start and maintain a conversation? How do we build a common, co-created language?  Workshop 1 registration. 

September 12 - Developing Functional Routines for Student (and Teacher) Learning   
Learning Objectives: 

• Routines for conceptualization: a framework for life - Participants will gain a conceptual understanding of functional routines that are language rich and meaningful for their students as a concrete teaching tool.   
• The Routine Worksheet/Task analysis tool – participants will learn the basics of creating functional classroom routines based on student IEP and Expanded core curriculum. Organizational and conceptual tools will be shared. Workshop 2 registration.

September 26 - Designing Calendars as a Holistic System for Communication, Literacy, and Concept Development in the Classroom and Home  
Learning Objectives: 

• Participants will gain an understanding of the importance of developing a calendar system as tool for literacy, and concept development; how calendars work as part of a dynamic interactive communication model.  
• The Calendar Evaluation, Guide to Selecting Time frames, and Summary Sheet for Planning, from Robbie Blaha’s “Calendars for students with Multiple Impairments and Deafblindness” - participants will gain an understanding of how to apply these tools to help teams develop meaningful calendar systems for the classroom and home. Workshop 3 registration. 

OCDBE Professional Learning Series Flyer