Welcome 2023!
With the start of a new year comes and an exciting line-up of new professional learning opportunities and resources to share. Let’s check out what’s new at OCALI:
The Outreach Center’s Learning Hub
The Outreach Center for Deafness and Blindness is excited to announce that its new Learning Hub is available! If you’re looking for a flexible learning experience with FREE on-demand, accessible training, this is a great resource. The Learning Hub offers:
- Free PD certificates and CEUs
- Unique user profile to track your progress
- ASL interpreted and audio described learning
Online Modules: Supporting Learners Series: Students Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired
When learners are healthy, safe, engaged, challenged, and supported, they are more likely to enjoy learning, develop positive social skills, and achieve greater success. Find out how teachers of the visually impaired are working with teams to address the whole child. Check out the module in the Learning Hub.
Curriculum Kits
The Teaching Diverse Learners Center at OCALI has new Curriculum Kits for teachers, educators, and intervention specialists…for FREE from OCALI’s Lending Library. The Curriculum Kits cover a variety of subjects and themes, including: fairytales, desert habitats, 50 states, pets, Dr. Seuss, and more! Each Curriculum Kit includes different books, resources, and manipulatives like stuffed animals, measuring devices, books on CD, and figurines. Take a look!
AIM Courses Added
Register for new Autism Internet Modules (AIM) courses through April 7, 2023. Earn graduate credit online with no face-to-face meetings! Register today.
OCALI’s Lending Library
#DidYouKnow that OCALI’s Lending Library offers more than just books? Explore new accessible materials, assessment tools, curriculum kits, children’s books, DVDs, and more! If you live in Ohio, materials can be shipped to you free. Check it out!
New Podcast Episode
Take a listen to our newest Inspiring Change podcast episode, There Is Strength In Every Community: A Conversation about Special Education in Rural and Urban Settings. Listen now.
ID Early
Finding information, resources, and training to meet your unique needs when it comes to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can take a different path. The Center for the Young Child’s learning pathways support each person’s journey towards earlier identification. Check it out!
Registration Deadline is February 17
Ensuring access to the right materials and technology for students who are blind or visually impaired is a priority for the Assistive Technology and Accessible Educational Materials (AT&AEM) Center at OCALI.
“It’s essential for students with visual impairments to have their materials at the same time as their classmates,” explains one central Ohio teacher for the visually impaired. “It’s an issue of equity. It’s an issue of allowing them to be engaged in their learning. If you don’t have your materials in front of you, how do you engage? It lets students be active learners in the moment and gain the most out of the lesson that’s going on.”
Each year, the AT&AEM Center at OCALI conducts the Federal Quota Registration of Blind Students on behalf of the Ohio Department of Education, Office for Exceptional Children, to qualify for the federal quota allotment of funds to purchase accessible educational materials. These include textbooks and equipment available from the American Printing House for the Blind, Inc. (APH) for each registered student.
Dating back to the 1800’s, the Federal Quota Act was created for the “specific purpose of ‘manufacturing and furnishing books and other materials specially adapted for instruction’ for students who are blind in the United States and its Territories. As the first law enacted by Congress to support the education of students with visual disabilities, it has become a landmark.”
“The Federal Quota program provides supplemental funding for materials and technologies to ensure access to the curriculum for blind students,” said Jen Govender, AEM Specialist. “Braille textbooks, devices such as the Refreshabraille or the Perkins Brailler, table and handheld magnification devices, and instructional materials are some of the accessible educational materials produced by the American Printing House for the Blind for eligible students through the program.
In December, a letter with instructions from the Ohio Department of Education was emailed to superintendents and/or directors requesting them to register each student who is legally blind and attending school in their district. Braille and large print textbooks and other specialized materials are expensive, so it is important to register each eligible student. The deadline to submit registration is February 17, 2023.
Once registration forms are electronically submitted and signed, the AT&AEM Center then administers the allocation based on the number of registered Ohio students who are legally blind. As early as March, teachers can start requesting materials for their new students. The Center encourages teachers to be proactive and request materials for the following year. Once requests come in, the AT&AEM Center processes and fulfills those requests. Then, teachers receive their materials and can start using them right away with their students.
2023 Eligibility Requirements
View the complete 2023 eligibility guidelines and more on the Obtaining AEM Federal Quota webpage https://ataem.org/obtaining-aem/federal-quota.
Questions?
Contact us at fqaemsupport@ocali.org,
What’s New at OCALI
OCALICONLINE 2023: Early Bird Registration Open
Connect with your peers and colleagues at OCALICONLINE 2023 – the premier autism and disabilities conference – November 14-17, 2023. Early Bird registration is now open. Secure your spot today!
February 12, 2-5 p.m.
Band Together: Autism Open Mic
Join ASCO, OCALI, and The Gahanna Sanctuary to celebrate the talents of our Central Ohio autism community. We invite those with disabilities to share their gifts on stage at The Gahanna Sanctuary, 82 North High St., Gahanna, OH. Our next Autism Open Mic is Sunday, February 12th at 2pm. If you are a musician, poet, comedian, or have another art you would like to share, please join us!
February 15, 4 p.m.
The Audiogram: An Introduction
Join us on to learn more about this assessment tool and how you can use that information to ensure access and unlock the secrets that you feel may be hidden in this technical document.
February 16, 4 p.m.
InspirED: PBIS Lessons Learned Part 3
Explore implementing PBIS at the high school level and hear how teams have overcome challenges unique to the high school environment, including supports for students’ wellbeing. Additionally, learn how to incorporate student voice in PBIS implementation across all grades.
February 27, 2:30 p.m.
The Journey: Effective Practices: Supporting Youth In School, Community & Work
Explore the Transition Framework Effective Practices Tool and how to select and evaluate effective practices for individual students.
March 22, 4 p.m.
The Eye Report: An Introduction
Eye reports provide information about a person’s vision that can be used to provide needed supports and home, at school, and in the community.
Monthly Meet-n-Eats with the Outreach Center
Starting in January, join the Outreach Center for Deafness and Blindness for monthly, 30-minute Zoom sessions designed for SST consultants and those supporting districts to provide a quick overview of the Center’s resources.
10 Minutes with Barb and Ron and #UDLChat
Join Barb and Ron for 10 minutes of light and fun chats infused with a perspective on Universal Design for Learning (UDL). These YouTube videos are geared toward parents, educators, college students, and administrators. Also check out the #UDLchat, which occurs every 1st and 3rd Wednesday at 9 p.m. Eastern on Twitter.
OCALI’s Resource Crosswalk
Looking for professional learning, tech assistance, evidence-based practices, or implementation supports to enhance experiences and outcomes for all learners? Check out OCALI’s NEW Resource Crosswalk.
OCALI Now 