Guide Dogs Victoria’s GetAbout – Term 1 2018

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ContentsTips for reading this newsletter...................................................................................1

Ed’s Note.....................................................................................................................2

CMS Group Programs 2018........................................................................................4

Junior Camps:..........................................................................................................5

Senior Camp September 24th – 27th:.....................................................................5

Supercharge Primary Camp & Supercharge Secondary Camp:..............................6

Early childhood O&M mornings:..............................................................................7

Junior Mobility Camp – 3rd-5th April 2018.....................................................................7

Coping with Glare......................................................................................................10

Deafblind Communication.........................................................................................12

Tech time with Michael..............................................................................................15

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Back to school ready – tying shoelaces!...................................................................17

Spatial skills..............................................................................................................22

Pupdate.....................................................................................................................24

Family corner: Ten ways to encourage and develop exploration skills in children....26

Contact us: Client Service Update Reminder – 1800 804 805 for all enquiries.........28

Feedback..................................................................................................................28

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Ed’s Note

Cover picture: Ella and Guide Dog Marty walk through school grounds

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The CMS team welcomes all our readers to this first newsletter of 2018. We have had an exciting and busy start to the year, with many of our students having their first day at childcare, kindergarten, primary school, secondary school and university. It’s great to be along for the ride and doing our best to support children and families as they move onwards and upwards into new education settings. Our cover features one of our students Ella confidently navigating her high school with her Guide Dog Marty.  

This edition is jam packed with interesting articles and helpful tips to assist you in your everyday life. Our newest team member Clare (who is also a trained Tactile Auslan interpreter) shares some interesting information about communication methods used by people who are deaf blind. Khoa our Orthoptist provides some tips on managing glare and, if you are ready to say goodbye to velcro, Krystal our OT has some nifty strategies to help with shoelace tying. Keep on reading for Zoz’s pupdate and much more…  

You will also see our list of planned CMS camps and group programs for 2018, which for the first time includes cost estimates for those on NDIS plans. We have decided to include this information to help families plan for which programs they may want to include in their current or new NDIS plans.  

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We would love to publish some articles from student and parent contributors, we can all learn so much from each other. It could be as simple as a handy tip you have found works really well or an experience you are happy to share, please email me at alicias@guidedogsvictoria.com.au  

Get OUT and ABOUT and enjoy the last rays of sunshine, it will be getting cold again before we know it!  

Alicia San Martin  Editor GetAbout   

By the way, don’t forget to look at our website: www.guidedogsvictoria.com.au

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CMS Group Programs 2018

The Children’s Mobility Service is excited to offer a range of camps and group programs during 2018. Our group programs aim to offer Orientation and Mobility training in a dynamic group setting which also provides children with vision loss and their families’ opportunities to socially engage with their peers.  

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To assist families who are on NDIS and for those who will soon be on NDIS, pricing has been included based on February 2018 prices. Please note that there is no cost to attend for those students who do yet have an NDIS plan. If you would like to discuss any aspects of our planned camp program please contact our customer service team on 1800 804 805.  

Our group program schedule will also be available on our website https://www.guidedogsvictoria.com.au/news-events/?category=group-programs

All camp programs will provide students with the opportunity to develop a range of Orientation and Mobility skills and practice these skills in a variety of different environments considerate of their age and skill ability. 

Junior Camps: three day Orientation and Mobility camps for primary school students with low vision or blindness based onsite at Guide Dogs Victoria in Kew. 

April 3rd- 5TH: More details of this camp can be found in the next section of this newsletter. NDIS Cost estimate: $850. 

July 2nd- 4th:  Details of this camp will be in our next (Term 2) newsletter. NDIS Cost estimate: $850. 

Senior Camp September 24th – 27th:  A four-day Orientation and Mobility camp for secondary school

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students with low vision or blindness. Details of this camp will be in our newsletters closer to the dates. NDIS Cost estimate: $1210. 

Supercharge Primary Camp & Supercharge Secondary Camp: Both of these two-day programs will help students with further developing their understanding of

their body in space, road and traffic concepts, self-orientation strategies use of sensory information to draw meaningful

conclusions about their environment.

This program is a great opportunity for students who are blind or who have very low vision to learn in an environment that facilitates exploration of ideas and skills unique to a traveler who is blind. Students can also work with our Occupational Therapists during the program, to continue to develop daily living skills including individual pre-determined goals. Students may choose to work on self-care, meal preparation, money identification or organisational skills depending on their goals and interests. Please contact our customer service team on 1800 804 805 to register your interest to attend these programs and discuss if you child is suitable to attend. NDIS cost estimate: $545.

Early childhood O&M mornings: Suitable for parents with children aged 0-6 years. Come and learn 6 | G e t A b o u t – T e r m 1 , 2 0 1 8

more about what Orientation and Mobility is by joining in with fun O&M based activities. Find out how you can support your child’s skill development during every day activities alongside more formal O&M training. Programs will occur once a term and will provide you with the opportunity to meet other parents and their children who have a vision impairment. Please contact our customer service team on 1800 804 805 to register your interest to attend these programs and you will be contacted with dates and details. NDIS Cost estimate: $45 per session or $180 for all four sessions.  

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Junior Mobility Camp – 3rd-5th April 2018 Safe travel skills within the community is an integral skill for students who are blind or who have low vision. This includes understanding an environment, planning a travel route and the ability to make safe decisions about travel. On this junior camp, students will have the opportunity to participate in a range of fun activities that will build their experience and skills required to travel safely in the community and then put this learning into action out in the dynamic environment of the Melbourne CBD and suburbs. 

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This program will look at the following mobility skills:  Decision making about personal safety when

travelling at an age-appropriate level of independence 

Problem solving and orientating yourself to an environment – identifying landmarks and clues to assist your travel

Safely negotiating complex environments (shopping centres)

Self-advocacy – asking appropriate people for assistance/information  

Public transport use to activities  Road crossings strategies 

 Staffing: Orientation & Mobility Specialists and an Occupational Therapist from CMS will staff this program.  Costs: This program has been made possible due to the contributions of the Shine On Foundation. 

The program will be delivered at no direct cost to our client. Where possible we will access fee for service funding (NDIS – see below) to support the program and Guide Dogs Victoria will cover all additional costs.  

All students will require a travel pass or Myki card with $15 credit for travel during the program. 

NDIS - For students with an NDIS plan, we will charge approx. $845 to the plan. NDIS funding covers the service delivery of O&M and OT skills

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during the program and does not cover meals, accommodation or overnight costs which will be paid for by Guide Dogs Victoria. Accessing NDIS funding where a client is eligible allows us to provide more services to people in need.

 Feedback: A brief report will be provided to families regarding the program outcomes and student achievement. Families will also be invited to provide feedback via an anonymous survey.  Further Information: This three-day program will begin Tuesday 3 April 2018 at 10am and conclude on Thursday 5 April at 2pm and is based on site at Guide Dogs Victoria in Kew. If we have more applications than places available on the closing date, 12 students will be selected. This selection process will take into consideration the number of programs previously attended and the appropriateness of this program to the student’s age and O&M goals.  For an application package please contact Customer

Service ASAP on 1800 804 805  

*** To be considered for this mobility program, completed application packages (all paperwork,

including medical forms) must be received by Tuesday 13 March 2018 *** 

 

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Coping with Glare

By Kate Clark and Khoa Nguyen (Orthoptists) 

Just a reminder as you get ready for the new school year to review how you are managing with glare.  Glare is excessive or uncontrolled brightness.  It can affect you directly (from a lamp or the sun) or indirectly (reflection from a tabletop, or water).  Either way, it can be very uncomfortable and greatly affect how well you use your vision to do the things you want to do. This is why it is so important to consider how you are managing this. 

Photo: Sun glaring through a window

These tips will help you reduce the effects of glare and get the most out of your vision.   

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INDOORS:  Try to always sit side on to a window. This will

ensure you make the most out of the light coming in without it shining directly in your eyes. Do not face direct glare. 

Be mindful of the colour and material of surfaces – glossy white walls or shiny kitchen benches can be very reflective and cause glare discomfort. 

Wear a hat/visor indoors to keep direct glare entering your eyes 

Wear fit overs/sunglasses that are most suitable for your eyes – everyone is different and it is best to try them on to see if they are helpful for your eyes 

If using a table lamp, make sure that it is positioned below your eyes and positioned closely to what you are looking at 

A review of your school/classroom/home can be requested if you are finding glare in this environment too uncomfortable to work in.  An Orthoptist can visit your school to assess the space and make recommendations on how to reduce the impact of glare on your vision. 

 OUTDOORS: 

Wear a hat/visor to keep direct glare entering your eyes 

Wear fit overs/sunglasses that are most suitable for your eyes  

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Remember, glare can be problematic even when you are inside and it isn’t bright!   Return to contents

Deafblind Communication

By Clare O’Sullivan

What does the term deafblind mean? Some people think that the term deafblind means that a person can’t hear or see at all. Sometimes this is the case but often somebody may identify as deafblind but has some hearing or vision.

How do people who are deaf and blind communicate? There is no one set answer. In Australia, the sign language is called Auslan and all different countries have their own sign language. Even the alphabet can be different! Everybody is different and every communication method can be different. It’s best to not assume someone’s communication method.

Sometimes when someone is deafblind they might use tactile Auslan. This means that a person puts their hands over the top of someone’s hands to receive communication. When talking to someone using tactile Auslan, you take turns in conversation, just like in spoken conversation.

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This photo directly below shows someone using tactile Auslan to communicate.

Another way to communicate is social haptics.

The word haptic comes from the Greek word ”Haptomai” meaning touch. Haptics is not a language but touch signals that give a person who is blind or deafblind extra information about their environment. A light tap on the right shoulder could indicate that you need to turn right or you can draw a map on someone’s back to give a layout of a room and where the tables, doors and people are.

Perhaps you use some haptics already in your life with your family, friends or Instructors. It is important that the person using haptics asks that you are happy to receive communication in this way.

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This photo below shows someone using social haptics to explain a layout of a room.

You can even tell someone that there is cake on the table!

(This is a photo of me letting Jenny know that there is cake on the table)

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Tech time with Michael

By Michael Evans

Technology is a passion of mine. I look forward to sharing a series of articles about technology that can be used to support Orientation and Mobility (O&M). Using particular pieces of technology can make O&M sessions more interesting, engaging and fun.

Today, I would like to introduce you to a QR code (pictured a couple of paragraphs down).

A QR code is a square barcode made up of pixels (square shaped dots) which hold different types of data and information – similar to a barcode on a supermarket item. QR stands for quick response and anyone can create, use or scan a QR code.

There are many websites available for you to create your own QR codes. To scan a QR code you need a QR code reader/scanner App for your smartphone and there are many available, BlindSquare is equipped with one also. You can find QR code readers/scanners that work well with voiceover. If you don’t have a reader or scanner, maybe you would like to download one now, and, if you already have a QR code reader/scanner,

scan the following QR code to see what information it holds.

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(Picture: QR code)

For individuals with vision loss, QR codes are a great way to label items such as clothes, or even locations, for identification. To give you an example of how you could use QR codes to support O&M I have created a tactile street map using QR codes (pictured below). The QR codes are used to identify significant locations on the map, such as a home address, tram stop, restaurant, park and shopping centre. Upon locating the QR codes, you can scan them and receive information relevant to that location, such as tram timetables, restaurant website, google map location, the list goes on.

(Picture: Tactile street map using QR codes for locations)

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QR codes are an affordable and user-friendly piece of innovative technology; they even work when run through a PIAF (Pictures in a flash) to convert into a tactile image. It’s just a matter of thinking how they can be used practically, even creatively!

Can you think of ways in which you could use a QR code? Or do you already use QR codes in your day to day life? Let us know by emailing alicias@guidedogsvictoria.com.au, and we can share your tips and experiences in the next issue of Get About.

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Back to school ready – tying shoelaces!

By Krystle Prenter – Occupational Therapist

Tying shoelaces is a common request coming to us at the moment in the OT Team so we thought we’d share a few of our tips and tricks to help get you (or your kids) back to school ready!

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Tying shoelaces can be a particularly tough task to tackle, and one that can easily be put on the backburner because of the variety of slip on shoes available. But please don’t despair, the OT’s are here!

Depending on if you/your child has low vision or is using non-visual strategies, there are a number of ways the task of tying shoelaces can be broken down into manageable chunks.

Practicing:

Practice with the shoe up on your lap rather than on your foot to begin with

Try ‘shoeless’: wrap the lace around your upper leg when you are sitting and practice the bow, so you don’t have to worry about the shoe moving around on your lap

Take things one step at a time – become confident in tying the knot before moving onto the bow

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(Image of a person with a shoelace wrapped around upper leg trying a knot)

Teaching someone?

Make sure your child is orientated to the shoe before you begin teaching. How are the laces thread through the eyelets?

Use consistent language when teaching. Will you be using the language “toe” and ‘heal’ of the shoe? Or ‘top’ and ‘bottom’?

Once you and your child have decided on which technique to teach, be consistent in this approach. There is no right or wrong technique to choose, just whichever makes more sense to your child.

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Use laces that help!

Start with nice thick laces to help with gripping them – then progress onto thinner ones as you master the skill

Add contrast! If you have Black shoes practice with white laces. White sneakers? Use black laces.

Try having the right and left side of the shoelace different colours – this allows you to see which lace is coming from which side instead of a jumbled mess in the middle!

My personal favourite shoelace ‘Life Hack’…Use pipe cleaners!

Replace shoelaces with pipe cleaners when first learning concepts. This can be particularly helpful when trying to understand all the tricky steps of getting the bow to go in the right hole and around the correct loop. This means you can stop at any point of the process and explore what the shoelace looks/feels like. Just remember to replace them with your regular shoelaces before you head down to the shops!

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(Image of Black shoe with white pipe cleaners replacing the shoelaces)

Remember, this skill can take time. Try to practice regularly if you have decided this is the right time to work toward shoelaces. And as always, the OT team is always here if you wish to make a referral. Just give us a call!

Happy Term 1

Krystle and Alyce aka The OT Team!

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Spatial skills

By Danielle

Spatial skills help us understand where we are in relation to the objects around us, whether we can see them or not. Information from our eyes, ears and sense of touch all contribute to our ability to form a spatial understanding of our world. Vision does play a major role in the development of spatial skills, but experience and a “natural ability” also contribute. In O&M, spatial skills help us to be able to read maps, use landmarks and clues effectively, learn a travel route and move around our homes just to name a few.

Spatial skills can be trained and developed. Some ideas for improving spatial skills include:

1. Encourage active, physical exploration of the real world (the opposite of “look but don’t touch”)

2. Use spatial language to encourage spatial thinking (left, right, up, down, taller than, wider than, next to, underneath etc)

3. Use everyday opportunities for spatial thinking and spatial talk (which way does the sheet fit on the bed, how many groceries will fit in the bag, what shapes can I cut my toast into, can you put the cereal away on the middle shelf on the left side of the cupboard)

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4. Provide toys and play that develop spatial awareness – blocks, puzzles, construction and matching games and create enthusiasm by playing along too

5. Encourage children to create and use maps

6. Encourage children to use gestures when solving spatial problems, giving directions and explaining ideas

Tangram puzzles, magnetic building blocks and “rush hour” games all help to develop spatial skills

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Pupdate

Written By Zoz (aka Zoron)

If you are dreaming of having a Guide Dog in the future, you may be interested to read that there are some things that you can do right now to increase your chances of that dream becoming a reality.

Feed your pet. If you have a pet at home, start to take some responsibility in caring for it. You can be the person that feeds the pet every day. A Guide Dog has a specific diet and cannot be fed from the table or anywhere other than from the dog’s own bowl. Practice preparing the meal and, if your pet is a dog, make sure they are well behaved when you put the bowl down.

Bath and brush your dog. A Guide Dog needs to be in tiptop condition so brushing your dog’s coat every day is a daily routine you will need to get used to. A Guide Dog is bathed regularly and this is something you can practice on your dog. If you don’t have a dog you may be able to help a friend bath their dog. It’s a great skill to learn before you get a Guide Dog.

Clean up after your dog. Dogs poop and as a Guide Dog owner it is 100% your responsibility to clean up after your dog. If you own a dog learn how to do this necessary task.

Practice independent travel routes. As a Guide Dog handler, you will need a number of independent travel

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routes to ensure the dog has a job to do. The truth is, if you don’t have any independent travel routes, you don’t need a Guide Dog. If you think you need to increase your independent travel skills, talk to your parents and your O&M to discuss how you can get ready for Guide Dog mobility. You don’t need a dog to practice mobility skills and this is a very important part of preparing for you future of being a Guide Dog handler.

Send me a photo of you and your pet and we will put your photo in the next edition of the Get About Newsletter!

Meanwhile, I’m ready for my dinner. Better remember my manners…

.

Wait Zoz….

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Ok, now you can eat, good boy.

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Family corner: Ten ways to encourage and develop exploration skills in children  Are you wondering how to encourage exploration skills with your child? Try implementing some of these suggestions from the CMS Team into your everyday routines:   

1. Show interest with your child in different objects that you find in the environment. 

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2. Model your interest by verbalising that you are looking at something, smelling something or touching something. 

3. Use describing words such as large/small, heavy/light, rough/smooth, flat/curvy. 

4. Ask your child questions about an object they are touching – what are its properties or characteristics (e.g. weight, size, smell, colour, width). 

5. After you have done shopping at the supermarket practice matching fruit and vegetable and other groceries according their properties (e.g. fruits or vegetables, dairy or frozen, junk or healthy, heavy or light, large or small). 

6. When your child contacts an object with their cane explore it with their hands and find out more about it. 

7. Have a basket of objects, ask your child to pick out two and then help them to compare and contrast the objects (e.g. how are they different and how are they the same?). 

8. Encourage your child to ask questions. 9. Encourage students to find their own answers to

problems. If they ask you what something is, reflect the question back to them – what do they think it is? 

10. When cooking allow time to taste different foods, to weigh and measure items for recipes and to feel each ingredient. 

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Contact us: Client Service Update Reminder – 1800 804 805 for all enquiries

From now on, this one number – 1800 804 805 – should be used for ALL client enquiries – CMS, O&M, OT or Guide Dog. We will be able to make sure that your query gets through to the right person faster and is always followed up.

You can also contact us in writing: Children’s Mobility ServicePrivate Bag 13, KEW, VIC, 3101csadmin@guidedogsvictoria.com.au

Or visit our website at:www.guidedogsvictoria.com.au

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FeedbackIf you have anything to contribute to this newsletter, please feel free to contact us with your piece. We welcome all contributions. Please either contact or email our client services administration team with your contributions as below: csadmin@guidedogsvictoria.com.au or Phone: 1800 804 80528 | G e t A b o u t – T e r m 1 , 2 0 1 8

GetAbout is now coming to you in a digital format. Going digital means our newsletter will be accessible, timely and environmentally friendly. The content of GetAbout has not changed: we will continue to let you know about our upcoming camps and group programs. GetAbout is also available on our website www.guidedogsvictoria.com.au

Alternative formats are still available in audio CD, large print and braille. Please contact us at CSadmin@guidedogsvictoria.com.au or via phone 1800 804 805 to request these formats.

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