Assessment, Communication, and Routines: Building Blocks for Calendar Systems for Children with Deaf-Blindness and Multiple Disabilities

The Virginia Project for Children and Young Adults with Deaf-Blindness is very excited to announce that on March 31 and April 1, 2011 9:00 AM-4:00 PM we will be offering a two-day workshop with Robbie Blaha. This workshop is offered free of charge (first come, first serve) to professionals, paraprofessionals, and families in Virginia. Participants from our neighboring states may register for a small fee, please contact Julie Durando at  jdurando@vcu.edu  or call 804-828-8252 for details.

 

Participants will learn: strategies for assessing a student’s access to communication and his or her environment; strategies to formalize your student’s existing routines to reinforce learning, improve communication, and reduce frustration; strategies for implementing object calendar systems.

 

The discussions will apply to students who have not yet begun to explore his or her environment, resist participating in daily care activities, are in the early stages of communication development, or seem passive during daily routines. Strategies presented will address how to make day-to-day activities predictable routines that can promote communication, procedural memory, anticipation, and emotional comfort.   

 

Ms. Blaha is a renowned specialist in the field of working with children with deaf-blindness. She works with the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired and the Texas Deaf-Blind Project. She has authored articles on routines, communication, and calendar systems in addition to the book, Calendars for Students with Multiple Impairments Including Deaf-Blindness.