Illinois AER

May 1, 2023

IAER generously awarded a mini-grant to me for the purchase of materials for Early Intervention. These items are not available through Quota Funds. I was able to purchase Ambutech canes, roller ball tips, toddler flat floor scooters and bell balls. All of these items are distributed to families and children receiving services through EI. The canes are typically recycled back to me and the child will “graduate” to preschool services with one cane they keep. The scooters are shared with families of toddlers and returned back to me before they age out of services. I will be able to use these with several families throughout the years. These scooters are a great way to motivate little ones who are not yet motivated to walk on their own. Providing the scooters allows the family to initiate movement with the child around the home on a flat surface so the child can explore with assistance. The bell balls I purchase from the Braille Superstore are small, soft balls that are easy for the child to roll, throw and retrieve. The balls are great for indoors and outdoors. Several of my littles use these in a daycare setting and enjoy the balls as a social activity with the other children. Thank you IAER for your continued support of professionals in our state.

Carol Otten, COMS

Low Vision Rehabilitation Across the Life Span

14th International Conference on Low Vision Rehabilitation - July 24-27, 2023

Susan M. Dalton, CVRT

For the first time in over two decades, the United States hosted the International Society for Low Vision Research and Rehabilitation’s International Conference.

This multidisciplinary conference brings together professionals and researchers from around the world to share ideas and learn from each other to improve the lives of people with visual impairment or blindness.  The 2023 conference, held in Denver, Colorado, was attended by over 500 people from 30 different countries.

It was quite a different experience participating in a vision-related conference where I knew very few people.  (I think the exact number was 3.)  But how wonderful it was to meet people from all over the world who have common interests and concerns - and have so much great information to impart!  At my first luncheon there I was sitting with people from Luxembourg, Ireland, Germany, and the Netherlands.  I had some intriguing conversations with professionals from the U.S., South Africa, and Spain.  The concerns for our clients and students with visual impairments were shared by all. Fortunately, the entire conference was presented in English and everyone there was well-versed in our language.  

The session topics were very captivating.  Here are some of the most interesting presentations that I attended:

• Low-Vision Reading: Personal and Scientific Perspectives

• Complicated Questions in Low Vision Rehabilitation

• Functional Vision Across the Life Span

• Strategies for achieving proficiency with low vision apps for visually impaired seniors

• Recognizing & Identifying the Psychosocial Impact of Vision Loss

• Empowerment of young people with a visual impairment

• Equine Assisted Therapy

• Ethical and Legal Considerations of Genetic Testing

I’m so excited to be able to take the information that I obtained at the conference and use it in my courses at NIU.  I also look forward to continuing communication with some of my new colleagues from across the globe!

December 13, 2022

My name is Neem Owens and attending SCI-VIS Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama was one of the most amazing times of my life. This was the first time that I was at a sleepaway camp and I was glad to meet new friends. I was part of the Andromeda group. Each day was a full day of learning and fun. We all worked as a team. I met friends from Delaware, Georgia, Texas, Missouri, and Costa Rica.

I had many favorite experiences. There was a huge Saturn V and Saturn I on the campus. The Saturn V and Saturn I are rockets. The Saturn V was the rocket used for the Apollo 11 launch that landed two astronauts on the moon. The Saturn V hall was probably my favorite place on the campus. I specifically liked that you could see the connections where the different parts of the rocket were separated into stages to fall off during orbit entry. There was so much information on the different missions of Apollo and people that worked on the program. To see the rocket you have to walk under it. It was a little bit nerve racking because I thought that the rocket might come off of the supports and fall on us!

Another thing that I loved was Moonshot, a simulator that simulates the experience of taking off and landing including the pressure. It was a tower that had a platform connected to it and there were seats on the platform that had squishy harnesses that wrap around you. When you sat in the seats and got the harness around you the loudspeaker said, “Please keep your head back against the headrest and your feet out in front of you.” I tried to do that but I had to put my feet down because the machine shot the chairs up along the tower and back down again really, really fast. It was really disorienting but I really liked it because I was floating in the seat and it felt like I was levitating.

One of the things that I found challenging was the Multi Axis Trainer. It is a machine that spins you around in every direction possible. I loved understanding the geometry of the trainer but when it was my turn to try spinning, I had to get off early. I was very scared because you had to hold on to bars over your head and not let go. I started to wonder what would happen if I accidentally let go.

The whole week was such a great time. My family and friends back at home were very excited to hear about my stories. Thank you for the opportunity to come to Space Camp. I hope to go again one day soon.