APH News

Rehabilitation Teachers Conference Splash

APHers Jane Thompson, Terrie Terlau, and Elaine Kitchel made a splash at the November annual convention of the Mid-America Conference of Rehabilitation Teachers and the Association of South-Eastern Rehabilitation Teachers in Nashville, Tennessee. Professionals involved in the rehabilitation of people who are blind and visually impaired came from all over the midwest and southeastern U.S. to learn about and resolve issues facing the field of rehabilitation.

Terrie’s workshop session, "Getting Organized: Some New Tools for Some Old Tasks," presented new APH tactile, auditory, and visual tools that store and retrieve phone and address lists, appointments, schedules, financial and medical records, travel directions and more.

Elaine’s session focused on the use of creative writing as a pathway to building self-esteem. The multimedia presentation was paired with interactive writing activities allowing participants to respond to auditory or visual stimuli. The writers then read their work to the entire group, garnering major applause.

Jane Thompson, Director of ATIC, planned the joint conference with the skilled assistance of Nancy Bayens.

APH InSights 2005 Art Competition and Exhibition

Artists of all ages who are blind or visually impaired are invited to submit artwork for the thirteenth annual international art competition, APH InSights 2005. Last year, 542 entries were received. From these, jurors selected seventy-nine pieces for the exhibition, which was shown in Louisville in October.

Artists may enter artwork created in any visual art medium, including (but not limited to), painting, drawing, printmaking, fiber, metal, or wood. Award winners receive a cash award and a ribbon. They are invited to come to Louisville to receive their awards at the October meeting of Ex Officio Trustees. Last year, sixteen award-winners attended the presentation. (While APH cannot pay the full travel cost of those attending, a stipend to assist with travel is available.)

There are two deadlines: April 1 is the deadline for entries from students in preschool through high school; April 15 is the deadline for entries from adult artists.

Competition rules and forms that may be printed and filled out will be posted on the web site by the end of February (sites.aph.org). Artists may also contact APH to request a copy of the entry form and rules of the competition: 800/223-1839, ext. 357 or rwilliams@aph.org

Babies Count Keeps Growing!

APH’s Burt Boyer was flying over many of you in December. Burt started his travels in Nevada on December 10, 2004, where he conducted training on Babies Count and brought the state on-line. Nevada has been interested in this project for quite sometime thanks to the efforts of Franchesca Soriano, a TVI in the southern part of the state. We also appreciate the enthusiasm and support of supervisor Carla Javies.

Burt then traveled onward to Albuquerque, New Mexico to bring the New Mexico School for the Visually Handicapped, Early Childhood Education Program, on-line. He then flew on to Chicago to bring the Chicago Lighthouse and Vision and Hearing Connections on-line.

After a few bugs in the database are resolved, the data will be sent to Dr. Deborah Hatton for her report.

THANKS to all participants—-you are doing a fantastic job!

National Family Conference Coming in 2005!

The planning committee of the National Family Conference met by conference call on December 16. The program, scheduled for August 12-14, 2005 at the Galt House Hotel (on the Ohio River) in Louisville is shaping into a GREAT conference. Registration information will soon be available on the APH, NAPVI, and Hadley websites. Help us promote this opportunity for families!

APH Directors Unite While Pigs Fly

At 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 27, 2004, at Louisville’s Galt House Hotel, APH Field Services Director Janie Humphries became the bride of APH Communications Director Scott Blome. After an adventure on the coast of Mexico, the happy couple reluctantly agreed to come home to Louisville and back to work.

Congratulations and best wishes can be sent to Janie Blome, at jblome@aph.org, and Scott Blome, at sblome@aph.org

APH Flea Market Updated

A new listing of overstocked and discontinued APH products is now available at the APH Flea Market. All reduced pricing runs from January 1 through March 31, 2005. These inventories are available while supplies last. Take advantage of these savings today!

Test Accessibility Workshop To Be Held in California in Conjunction with the California Transcribers & Educators of the Visually Handicapped (CTEVH) Conference

On March 3, 2005 APH Test Consultant Dr. Carol Allman and APH Test and Assessment Project Leader Barbara Henderson will conduct a CTEVH pre-conference workshop for assessment personnel entitled "Making Tests Accessible for Students with Visual Impairments." The workshop will be held at the San Francisco Airport Marriott Hotel in Burlingame, California. The purpose of the daylong instruction is to provide information on test development to ensure accessibility for individuals with visual impairments. Critical issues in providing braille, tactile graphics, large print, enlarged graphics, and recorded test materials will be addressed.

Come with your assessment team, test questions, and concerns. While there is no registration fee for this workshop, attendees must be registered for the CTEVH Conference which has a basic registration fee of $80.00. Instructional materials and meals will be provided at no charge to workshop participants. For additional information or to register, contact Nancy Bayens at APH, 800/223-1839 (ext. 470), nbayens@aph.org

Visit www.ctevh.org for the 2005 CTEVH pre-conference and conference schedule. Information on this workshop is on page 14.

The APH workshop will be limited to 30 participants so an early registration is recommended.

APH Textbooks on Demand:
Did you know…

• Ordering textbooks early guarantees timely delivery?
  ATIC is accepting orders for new braille transcriptions now. All you need to do is send two clean copies of the book, the Textbook Order Form and your Federal Quota or Purchase Order Form. You can download a copy of the Textbook Order Form on the ATIC page of the APH website archive.aph.org
• When purchasing textbooks from APH you only pay for embossing and binding?
  APH has set aside federal funding to pay for the translation of ATIC Textbooks. This means that you only pay for the embossing and binding. Everyone pays the same price and no one is burdened with the huge translation cost! Remember, however, that funds are limited so order early! Make your federal quota funds stretch — order a textbook from APH today!

The Hall of Fame for Leaders and Legends of the Blindness Field Accepting Nominations Through March 11

The Hall is now soliciting nominations for 2005 to join the 32 initial inductees.

Criteria for Hall of Fame Nomination:

• Persons who have made significant contributions to improve the lives of persons who are blind or visual impaired.
• Persons are eligible five years after departure/retirement from the profession in which their significant contributions were made.

Individuals from North America are eligible for nomination. (North America is defined as US, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean).

If you are interested in learning more about the process and/or submitting a qualified nominee, please visit the following link on the APH web site:
archive.aph.org/hall_fame/nom_letter.html

If you’re interested in the history of our field and 32 of those who shaped it, please read the biographies of the legends on the Hall of Fame virtual site.

National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute Offers a Survey on the Performance of Youth Who Are Blind/Visually Impaired in the areas of Math and Science

NFB invites you to participate in an important research study, the intention of which is to build on previous research and identify more precisely the resources required to improve the participation and success level in science and math of students who are blind or visually impaired. Summaries of the survey data will be available to other researchers and will be reported on the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) Jernigan Institute web site and other appropriate venues. It is not necessary to identify yourself when submitting this survey, and individual responses will be handled confidentially.

For additional information and to complete the survey, please visit the following link: archive.aph.org/edresearch/nfbsurvey.html

We Welcome New APH Ex Officio Trustees

Please join us in welcoming the following new Ex Officio Trustees:

• Carrie S. Johns, Virgin Islands Department of Education, replacing Belinda West-O’Neill
• Katrena Traut-Savino, Rhode Island Department of Education, replacing Susan Mitchell
• Kelly L. Davis, The Governor Morehead School (North Carolina), replacing Judy Plymale
• Charlene Dolgos, Delaware Department of Education and Delaware Division for the Visually Impaired, replacing Robert Goodhart
• Donna Earley, South Carolina Commission for the Blind, replacing Margaret Duncan
• Susan Feldman, Gracewood State School and Hospital (Georgia), replacing Dianne Sturgis
• Shawn Mayo, Blind, Inc. (Minnesota), replacing Joyce Scanlan

For full addresses, visit the Trustee Directory.

APH Milestones

25 years ago (1980)

• A 2 million dollar addition to the manufacturing area was completed.
• The recorded edition of World Book was completed.
• A design and development department was added to the educational research department.

50 years ago (1955)

• Completion and formal opening of the new administration building.
• $1.00 per hour minimum wage was adopted.

75 years ago (1930)

• The use of interpoint braille was approved for all non-technical books for grade 5 and above.

100 years ago (1905)

• The number of pupils in the various institutions for the blind was 4,422 with an appropriation of $2.26 for each pupil.
• The APH annual budget was $18,072 with a payroll of $6,988.79.

125 years ago (1880)

• There were 2,245 blind students receiving $4.45 per capita.
• First meeting of the Ex-Officio Trustees of the Board of Trustees.
• Publication Advisory Committee was appointed.

APH Travel Calendar

January 11-12, 2005
Public Policy Committee-NCLVI;

Baltimore, MD

January 13-14, 2005
Babies Count Data Entry;
Denver, CO

January 17, 2005
Babies Count Online Training;
UT School f/t Deaf & Blind
Ogden, UT

January 17-19, 2005
NIMAS Pre-Conference and ATIA Conference;
Orlando, FL

January 21-22, 2005
CVI NIP Event: What You See Is Not Always What You Get;
Portland, OR
Note: Only 27 spaces remain-get yours now!

New Title Report Form for Louis and the APH File Repository!

We have posted a new form for submitting Intentions and Completions to Louis and for submitting files for the APH File Repository. The same form may be used for all and replaces the form we have been using for the last few years.

When using the form to submit files to the APH File Repository, please include the title page of the transcription in a Word or text file. This will help us catalog those files and add them to the Repository more quickly.

Thank you so much for your continued support of Louis and of the APH File Repository! You will find the new form at: archive.aph.org/intcomr900.doc

Louis Search Tips for January!

• How do I search for a title when I am not quite sure of the title, as with singular and plural?
• How do I truncate a search to increase the number of possible "hits" (number of records) returned?

In Louis, simply use the * as the truncation symbol.
For example, if you are not certain if the book you need has the word "test" or "tests" in the title, you can retrieve all variations of that title by doing a title search that includes "test*". Place the asterisk after the last letter you are certain is included in the title.

In the search for box on the textbooks, recreational reading, and downloadable files search page in Louis, select title in search by box, braille in the choose a format box and select American Printing House for the Blind in the choose an agency box. Type the word test in the search for box. This search returns only one title: Test preparation.

However, if you add the asterisk to the search, that is search test* in search for (and leaving all other search options the same, you find eight titles that include test* One of these is Test preparation, six of them include the word tests, and one includes the word testament (A parsing guide to the new Greek testament).

Note that searching test* finds all titles of braille books by APH that include test as part of the title, including testament.

Warning: please use this feature with care! If you truncated after the first t in test, (t*) or after the first few numbers in an ISBN, you could retrieve so many records that your search session could time out. This is because, for example, searching for t* looks for every instance of a word beginning with an initial "t" (including very common words such as "the").

In general, you do not want to do a truncated search unless your initial search provided you with either no results or you are uncertain about the number or spelling of one of the key words in the title.

Sense of Science: Animals

APH introduces the newest module in this tactile/visual "hands-on" science series!

Sense of Science: Animals joins Sense of Science: Plants in this unique series designed to make the world of science accessible, understandable, and enjoyable. It is recommended for visually impaired students in grades K-3 and for other students who may benefit from a multisensory approach to learning.

Sense of Science Animals activities comply with the National Science Education Standards, especially the three major areas of Life Science Standard C:

1. Understanding the characteristics of organisms.
2. Understanding the life cycle of organisms.
3. Understanding organisms and their environments.

Activities incorporate a learning objective, a list of vocabulary and needed materials, an initial inquiry, a step-by-step procedure, an extended activity, a visual adaptation, math and language connections, and a "science tidbit." Activities are also provided using the accompanying overlays.

Overlays include:

• Ant
• Bird (side view and top view)
• Butterfly and Life Cycle of a Butterfly
• Fish
• Mouse
• Spider and Spider Web Construction
• Snake
• Turtle
• Life Cycle of a Frog
• Animal Tracks

The Sense of Science: Animals kit includes:

• A large print guidebook (braille edition available separately) with easy-to-follow activities, a glossary, list of resources, and bibliography of related children’s books.
• A variety of visual and tactile overlays that can be used alone or with the APH Light Box or Mini-Lite Box. (Light boxes sold separately.)
• Two accompanying trays designed to slip snugly under a light box ledge and provide a secure working area for using the overlays.
• An attractive, durable storage container.

To Order:

Sense of Science: Animals (complete kit): 1-08990-00 — $212.00
Replacement Large Print Guidebook: 7-08990-00 — $38.00
Optional Braille Guidebook: 5-08990-00 — $23.00

Sense of Science: Plants (complete kit): 1-08980-00 — $110.00
Replacement Large Print Guidebook: 7-08980-00 — $30.00
Optional Braille Guidebook: 5-08980-00 — $21.00

Related Items:
Light Box: 1-08660-00 — $366.00
Mini-Lite Box: 1-08661-00 — $160.00

Did You Know We Offer…
A Hand-Held Cassette Tape Recorder/Player?

Use the Handi-Cassette II Stereo Tape Recorder/Player to record notes in class or to play Talking Books while you’re on the go!

Features:

• Plays and records either 2-track, 1 7/8 inches per second (commercial tapes) or 4-track, 15/16 ips (Talking Book speed).
• Digital Pitch Control increases or decreases listening speed without changing the pitch.
• Built-in mono speaker and microphone, with stereo playback through the included headphones.
• Tactile symbols on controls and touch checking of tape movement.
• Dimensions: 6 3/4 x 4 3/8 x 2 1/4 inches, 1 1/2 pound.

Included with the Handi II:

• Stereo headphones
• AC power converter/recharger
• Rechargeable battery pack
• AA battery clip (batteries not included)
• Manual in print and on cassette
• Quickstart instructions in print and braille
• One year limited warranty

To Order:

Handi-Cassette II: 1-07085-00 — $170.00

Related Items:
Two-Year Extended Warranty: 1-07087-00 — $50.00
NOTE: Must be ordered within 90 days of purchasing Handi II.
Optional Carrying Case: 1-07084-00 — $18.00
Replacement AC Adapter/Recharger: 1-07091-00 — $9.00
Replacement Nickel-Metal Hydrite Battery: 1-07082-00 — $12.00
Replacement Battery Clip: 1-07086-00 — $8.00

Additional Accessories:
Private Phones (stereo headphones with fully enclosed earpads): 1-07088-00 — $21.00
Remote On/Off Control Microphone: 1-07160-00 — $10.00
Cassette Circulation/Storage Containers (4 cassette capacity): 1-02620-00 — $1.50 each
Cassette Circulation/Storage Containers (6 cassette capacity): 1-02630-00 — $2.00 each
Blank C-90 Cassette Tapes (5 tapes): 1-08561-00 — $6.50
Blank C-90 Cassette Tapes (25 tapes): 1-08560-01 — $22.00
NOTE: Cassette tapes are not available on Federal Quota.

APH Unveils a New Look for the APH Booth!

APH has a new display that will be premiering at the spring 2005 conferences. The center panel is a large, brightly colored poster that is lighted from behind. Photographs of children and adults using APH products illustrate APH’s focus on "Products and Services for Education, Rehabilitation, Daily Living, Technology, and Recreation." Shelves on either side of this panel will display APH products.

Look for our new display and stop by the APH booth to see new and classic APH products!