 Network News
OHOA Production Nears Completion
For the past four years, NCDB has been working closely with nearly 180 partners in the national deaf-blind network to create, field test, and revise the Open Hands, Open Access (OHOA) Deaf-Blind Intervener Learning Modules. On October 1, 2016, we anticipate the release of the final nine modules (numbers 19 – 27) that constitute this national resource which is aligned with the Council for Exceptional Children's (CEC) Knowledge and Skills Competencies for Interveners. This is indeed a celebration! At the time of this post, there are 4,546 registered users in the OHOA modules representing adult learners from all 50 states. Both state and university partners are hosting learning groups in OHOA to provide enriched learning experiences and to accomplish specific personnel development goals based on state and community needs. A description of each of the modules and an informational flyer have been created and are available to share.
E-Portfolio System Will Offer Opportunities for Interveners
NCDB has partnered with state deaf-blind projects, practicing interveners, and university experts to design an online e-portfolio system to support the demonstration of interveners' knowledge and skill sets. We have worked with our partners to build a system that supports the use of digital artifacts, such as pictures, documents and videos from an intervener's practice, that demonstrate nationally recognized competencies. We have also been testing a scoring protocol that may be used by trained reviewers to create a reliable and valid system of national certification for interveners.
This fall, NCDB will launch the National Intervener Certification E-portfolio (NICE) system in partnership with the Paraprofessional Resource and Research Center (PAR2A Center) at the University of Colorado in Denver. NCDB's role in the partnership will be to provide technical assistance to interested state and university collaborators who wish to host groups of interveners to use the two NICE modules. These two modules will support trained interveners in creating and describing artifacts from their practice and in using the online e-portfolio platform to build a complete portfolio to submit for evaluation. The PAR2A Center will operate the scoring, review and award process. They will manage the NICE Review Board, a group of trained experts and advisers from the field of deaf-blindness, who will assist in scoring portfolios based upon a field-tested rubric and protocol.
 Tools for TA
Families Matter
NCDB is very excited about the continued production of our Families Matter stories.
In early July, the second of these stories was posted to the for Families section of the NCDB website. Meet Soliz and Camila Magdelano is the story of two young children from Arizona, ages 7 and 8, who each have combined vision and hearing loss due to Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome. Along with their loving parents and the family dog, they embark on a road trip from Arizona to California to camp out with their extended family. The videos capture their adventures and demonstrate sensory experiences, communication, and movement in the context of everyday family life. This beautiful story is a must see. Click on the photos of Soliz and Camila to go to their story.
Soliz and Camila
Annual Deaf-Blind Child Count
This September’s publication of the 2015 Annual Deaf-Blind Child Count will mark the report’s 30th Anniversary. When it is published later this month you will see a new web based version of the report. This format offers greater accessibility and provides an opportunity to organize the results in new ways. The traditional PDF format will still be available and the child count mapping application will also update to the 2015 data. Watch for the publication announcement soon.
 Mark Your Calendars
EI&R to Focus on New Webinar Series
The national Early Identification & Referral (EI&R) initiative will offer a series of national webinars that each focus on one of the following systems: Medical, Part C, EHDI, and Community Programs. Practitioners will present on the innovative solutions that they’ve created to improve identification and referral efforts.
The schedule of dates will be posted to the NCDB website and provided in announcements to your email.
Transition – Conversations That Matter
The Transition presentation at Deaf-Blind Summit left all of us feeling excited about possibilities for collaboration in the immediate future. We would like to follow up with a Transition web discussion to pick up where we left off in Washington DC. Together we can explore where the interests, needs, resources and expertise of individual projects fit in to the national work. This web discussion will take place on Wednesday, October 26, 2016 at 12:30 Pacific time. Watch both the NCDB website and announcements to your email for additional information.
 Make Note
State Project Survey on the Horizon
Later this fall, state deaf-blind technical assistance projects will be requested to respond to a national needs assessment survey. NCDB hopes project input will help to provide perspective on what technical assistance efforts best meet the needs of children, families and service providers
FCC Distribution
In August the Federal Communications adopted an order making the National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program permanent. Also known as iCanConnect, the program serves a wide range of people from different backgrounds and sensory needs. This is significant news. Read the News Release: Word | PDF
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