Welcome back to the podcast, my friend. I'm so glad that you're here. Today we're going over a few takeaways from the symposium. I wiggled my hands in a five, but it's really six. I have six best takeaways for you. And I'm sharing this with you specifically for selfish reasons. Because when I share what I learned, I like to hear what you learned. After you listen to this episode, send me a DM on the Instagrams @alliedindependence and just let me know what were your key takeaways from the symposium. Did what I shared make you think of anything in particular? I'm recording this today, the Friday after the symposium ended so it's been a week. And I've had a lot of really great time to think about things. 

In this podcast episode:

• Sixth, Melody Brown’s Intersection of O&M and Psychometry

• Fifth, Diyana’s Middy-Gait-88

• Fourth, Erin Buckley’s Way with Teenagers

• Third, Hillary Keys with Active Learning

• Second, Frank Vandepool’s Tips and Strategies for Beginning Itinerant COMS

• First, Dona Sauerburger’s Interactive Presentation

• What did you take away from the O and M Symposium?

Transcript of the Episode:

We also, here in Austin, had an ice storm. And I did not know, I did not know that ice is like real not good. I had a little PTSD from 2021. When we had that big, we call it snowpocalypse here, this time, it wasn't as bad for me. But it could have been much worse for other people. It was last time two years ago. We lost power for a week and I didn't have water for four or five days or something like that. And I could shovel snow and bring it in and I could boil it. And this time, it was just ice, so we couldn't do anything with anything if things were to break.

So our family made out, okay, I felt really, really, really, really lucky. Like, I looked around my house. And I thought, Man, this is too big of a house for one person with electricity. I offered to my friends who didn't have electricity, which is just about everybody. And nobody came. So here we are on the Friday after the symposium and I've had a lot of time to really slow down.

I enjoyed the rest last week, it was the first week of my cycle. And honestly, if you know anything about me, I like to plan my productivity around it. But January and December and November, that just doesn't happen and I had honestly gotten away from it. So in the time that I've been thinking about how incredible the symposium is… man, it's just magic.

We've really honed in on three specific areas within the symposium that I think make it exactly the magical, amazing experience that it is. And there's a lot that we do not allow to come through so you don't even see it. And that is one of, I think, my greatest joys is being in such deep connection with you to know that this isn't gonna fly, oh, we don't want to see that. Like, there are some things that I just don't care about. And I think that you don't care about them either. And maybe I don't care about them because you don't care about them.

Like data specifically, you know, survey data or when people go for their PhD, their dissertation data, things of that nature that don't wouldn't really affect us yet or now, or there's not a strategy behind it, or there's no heart or soul to the message that gets really dry. And we try to avoid that within the symposium. And I think we do a good job.

The innovative strategies that come through because it's so curated are impeccable. But mostly, the best parts about it are learning from other people. And being in the chat when you're there live and getting to see everything that people are saying, or their takeaway is, as it happens, is so absolutely phenomenal. So I'm going to share mine and we're going to share a little clips of each presentation. And then I'm going to hear yours. What did you take away? Let's do this drumroll please. Dada, dada, Baa Baa, baa, baa baa.

Sixth, Melody Brown’s Intersection of O&M and Psychometry 

She calls psychometry, the study of crazy, or it just tells you how crazy you are. I think it's funny when she says it that way. Of course, I'm not saying it nearly as well as she does. Because it really has nothing to do with being crazy. It's just a personality that came out so well during her presentation, when she had us making gingerbread houses. And by that, I mean, I just wanted to eat the gingerbread house that she was making, because I did not make my own, but I will be.

But there's so many areas of O and M that we often ask these high academic skills of our learners to step directions, reading, writing. And we honestly have to know where they are with their reading and their writing, in order for them to do what we're asking successfully. And I think that she really drilled that and like sent that message home that if you don't know what your learner's levels are, she equipped us with different tests that we could ask for, that we could look at, and how they relate to O and M.

So now, I know, here are the skills that I'm going to be looking at in my O and M class. Can I go into that learners file, and look at where their Jones scores were? Or what… you know, where they scored on this test, or if they even were given that test, or maybe I need to ask for it… it really gives me a leg up.

Now, if your contract staff and you don't have access to the software, here is another reminder that you need to ask for it. Please do yourself a favor. I went a few years during the beginning of my contract staff years, where I just didn't want to rock the boat. And when this special ed director would say, No, we can't give you access. I just listened to them. That's so bogus, like you cannot do your job if you don't know the student's reading level, or if you don't know what their speech and language evaluation says it's hard for you to do your evaluation and Melody really hit that home for me.

Melody’s Clip:
As orientational abilities, we're not drilling academic, but what we're looking at places that intersect in interlace, and where we can provide support. Now when I say write a goal on this, and we're going to raise their IQ. No, no, no, no, no.

What we did is we get up under the hood with our relationship with our kid. And we make that work to their advantage. We figure out how we can wait and get in there and teach these things because we have a greater understanding of what say a simple activity may build up into or may mean. So that's what we do. But as far as writing an orientation mobility goal around some of these things, not unless you can count it, not unless you can write it clearly, and it's measurable.

But when you're planning and you're thinking, in your mind is orientation and mobility specialist, and you see these results, or you see these tests, or you see these gaps in knowledge, you're like, what… Like why is he not getting this? Why doesn't she understand that? Sometimes these tests can help us understand what's going on.

Also looking at the medical information, if you see damage on the right or left side of the brain, understanding how that might cause a processing issue. You know, not we're not just talking about CVI. But CVI is a great example of that. You know what part of the brain is being impacted can also help clue us into, you know what strategies we need to move forward with, or why those gaps exist, even if we can't meet that need.

Fifth, Diyana’s Middy-Gait-88

I knew just from the description of her presentation, when we got it in October/November, that it was going to be amazing. I really wanted it. I'm so glad that you guys did too, because it really was amazing. And it's always interesting learning from somebody else in another country, because they do think so differently that a lot of times, we, as Americans often ask, How can I apply this to myself? or we might say, I'm already doing that, I've already done that, or I know how to do that. And we just don't listen as well.

And it really seemed like in her chat, and then her presentation, a lot of people were listening, which is great. But this Middy-Gait-88 brings your hands to midline. Using objects that we have, like a lot of us could probably find those objects around the house, we might have to break some things in order to get it. But we could find it or you can order it probably on Amazon or go to your craft store. And that I was just like… that's ingenious. She made this up out of her head. She had this thought and she did it. And now she shared it with the world.

And I've had learners who I want to bring their hands to midline, but they have this big belly and I don't know what to do or how to get around that situation. And an L bar doesn't work. I love using Y bars a lot of times but they don't need it all the time. So what do we do then? The Middy-Gait-88? Bam, I love it.

Diyana’s Clip:
All right. Okay, so despite of the issues, I actually… I'm aware that even though they… In learning the white cane and having additional disabilities and all the issues, I was aware that my children, they have their own strength which is very useful for the fundamental white cane training. And for both boys, their gross motor skill and muscle strength will add for other skills, while the girls even though she was quite left behind in terms of gross motor skill like walking, she walk really slow… She still can focus on my instructions even for a short period of time. And beside that she had good muscle strength at the wrist in her both arm and she has good proprioception sensory. 

It just came into me that the issues that I was facing actually, some things that could be controlled, or I could minimize a shorter period of time compared if the shoulders would have been mtor difficulties. But the key is, I need to think of some things that could help me to control the widest swinging issue that is all. So what happened, Middy-Gait is a device which is similar to a belt with a set of buckle and a hook where the leg could be adjusted. The is the very… if you can see on the slide is the very first versions that was used by the children. So it looks like a bell so they shouldn't just wear it and buckle it up and it’s going to give guidance to their wrist to stay on the midline.

Fourth, Erin Buckley’s Way with Teenagers

She reminded me that teenagers are just tough. It's just so hard. I remember how many years ago sitting in the vice principal's office shoot. Vice principal’s my boss. And we were doing my year and review and she asked what I wanted to learn about the next year and I specifically said teenagers with low vision because they are my kryptonite. I was gonna say were. They were they were my kryptonite. Give me a student with multiple impairments. I'm fine. Give me a student with low vision, who's typically acting teenager, so hard! So hard.

And I came into that class. But presentation… really wanting to learn a lot more about how to help my learner, who I have a learner right now who's in his senior year and I've been with him since he was eighth grade. This is the longest that I've ever worked with one student. In my previous job. I had students for two or three years, three being the max. And now getting to see what you guys, a lot of you have had the same learners their whole career and getting to see what that relationship can be. Like, and actually overcoming those multi year long obstacles. And then, you know, being with them, as they move forward into the rest of their lives has been really, really, really enriching for me, specifically, because I have a good relationship with this learner.

But the week before the conference, he asked why I wasn't going to be there next week. And I reminded him about the conference. And I had been telling him about the conference every year because I have to take that week off. And he finally got it. He’s like, Oh, you're not just my teacher. Because all he thought about me was like, I come once a week. And we have our lesson.

And, you know, he… I started working with him when he was in eighth grade. So when we started working together, he wouldn't talk to me, he wouldn't do what I asked. He was never mean about it ever, ever. This person is just never mean. But he would often tell me what I was doing wrong, even though he had never had O and M before. And sometimes he was right. Then his expectation for me. It was sometimes a little too high, where I would be like, what… I'm not failing right now. But he would have a very strong criticism for me.

And when we were in the car driving to our destination, the week before last, when he shared this with me, he said, Wow, you don't seem like you want to impress anybody. And I was like, what? I tried to impress you every week. Who are you kidding? I don't seem like I'm trying to impress anybody. And then he responded with, I know, I don't tell you this enough. But God couldn't have given me a better O and M specialist. He didn't call me specialists. He said, teacher. Oh my gosh, my heart was just like exploded in that moment.

So when Erin showed videos of her learner, basically saying, Oh, I gave my O and M teacher so much grief, or I would talk back or I wouldn't do what they asked, or it just reminded me of this moment with this learner, and we're still getting through to them. As long as we're being respectful to them, we're still getting through. And they may not like it and that's okay. That kind of just made me feel like maybe I'm not as bad at this as I thought I was. Teenagers are just tough. And maybe that's just the way it's supposed to be.

Erin’s Clip:
Every kid wants to be just like everybody else. Right. Those mobility instructors… What a poor thing… I would… I would you know, I was nice about it but big grump. So like, on our lessons, I wouldn't talk. I would just answer questions. I would do what I have to do. I would walk really fast so it could be done and over with. And then she would come home, drop me off. And you know, she would pulled my mom to the side to have, did he have like… is everything going okay? Did he have an okay day at school? I have to reach back out to her one day.

But yeah, I would just be… I was so grumpy about it. I hated going to mobility lessons. I used to fight with my mom, I'm not going just all based on not wanting to feel different. And I think a big lack of you know, identity as a visually impaired person.

Third, Hillary Keys with Active Learning

She reminded us that active learning is not passive. It has to be a team decision. It has to be team implementation. The TA can't take the time off, they can't be on their phone. Even though the learner is the one actively moving and doing things. We all adults have to be all in on those moments. However, this is the key point. This is it. That the learner resting or seeming like they're not doing anything, is them integrating. They need time to integrate the information.

Don't you feel like that sometimes, too. Sometimes I feel like I take two steps forward and one step back. That one step back isn't actually one step back. It's me integrating. And I know that you do the same thing. If you have a thing that you're learning about. It's not in that moment where it's like all going to click. It's when you're walking your dog or taking a shower or driving in the car or doing something else or resting, that it all can integrate.

And when she said that I was like, oh, bam, you know, that's it, we all do that. We all need time for that. And at the same time, while your learner's resting and integrating, the TA still cannot be on their phone.

Hillary’s Clip:
Active learning is not the equipment. It is the approach to learning and just the idea, and just grasping the ideas behind it. And being able to leverage those into helping students with… who are visually impaired with complex needs. And adult input is limited.

It's important that we are there, that we ensure we are watching what's going on. This is not break time for the paraprofessional or for the O and M. It's time to see what the student is doing and how you can progress them forward, based on the data that you're taking while they're learning. And that it's important that you do not interfere or interrupt the learning when they are exploring independently, when it's their time. There is a time for interaction but it's important that when they're being independent, moving, that you don't interrupt.

And lastly, failure is a pathway to learning. I'd venture this relates kind of to all of us and I would just say fail forward and learn from mistakes.

Second, Frank Vanderpool’s Tips and Strategies for Beginning Itinerant COMS

Frank Vanderpool reminded us, me specifically, I feel like he was talking to me, because you may do this already, to write an indoor and an outdoor goal. Like duh! I've been so focused on writing my goals in a way that parents could understand them, and they are… so I can take data on the goal in one period, that I have not been writing an indoor and outdoor goal.

If you live in a place that has like, quote, unquote, extreme temperatures, like we have a rainy season, we have a really hot season, we have a really cold season, there are going to be weeks throughout the part of the year where you can't go outside for multiple weeks in a row. And it's good to have something that you legally have to work on. So I thought that was actually really cool, an indoor and an outdoor goal. Duh!

Frank’s Clip:
Wanted to finish out with was… you know, really just seeing the job as an opportunity and not a burden. Yesterday in one of my districts, I, you know, I have a student that's coming in, I have my schedule set. And, you know, he's got, you know, 90 minutes a week of direct services and 30 minutes a week of indirect. And, you know, I just, I really, you know, see it as an opportunity for this student, you know, and I think that's really the, you know, the best way to look at it, you know, all of us are going to be like I said, we're going to have our schedule down, especially us at work in the school system. And then you know, students are just going to come in, you know, it's going to be you know, it's going to be a lot for your scheduling. But you know, I really, I can't really stress enough that, you know, just seeing it as an opportunity to, you know, to be a part of these students’ lives.

First, Dona Sauerburger’s Interactive Presentation

Her presentation was so interactive, oh my goodness, I loved it. It was her just… her personality just comes out. We just love her for being who she is. She reminded me not to set the expectation on my learner, for my learner to have the expectation that their cane is going to work 100% of the time from the moment they start using it. Because they don't do so well yet.

Again, hashtag Duh!

But what we often do, as we tell our learner, Use your cane. Use your cane. Use your cane. Use your cane. Use your cane. Use your cane. Use your cane. And then when it doesn't work 100% of the time, because they are not at 100% proficiency. They start to distrust us or not believe us. Of course, they don't believe us. We haven't been 100% truthful with them. Adn you’re gonna work a lot, because you're not very good at this yet. But you still have to keep doing it. You still have to keep trying.

And we take it back to what Erin and Kim also said in their messaging around teenagers. Like, you have to just practice with it. You don't have to use it all the time everywhere you go. Each teacher is going to be a little different with that. But I think setting our learners up for success with the expectations, correct expectations, that's going to be the kicker. And that's going to help them get so much better, so much faster. And be able to trust us because it's not gonna work all the time. And that's gonna be okay, you're gonna learn from it. And you gotta keep going.

Dona’s Clip:
I think that this is the core of what we do when we teach, is to make our challenges such that it's interesting. They don't, you know, they have to rise to achieve it. It's not too easy, like, oh, you know, can do that in my sleep, and not insurmountable. Like, oh, my God, that's more than I can handle. So that's part of what we do. I think that goes without saying.

The next one, I found fascinating. They are motivated when they have a clearer understanding of where they are in progressing toward their goal. Can anybody think of a way where they talked about like, you know, when you're trying to fundraise, and there'll be like a little thermometer and it shows you where toward the goal you are, we found that things like leaderboards can actually be extrinsic motivation, it can suppress. And I'm guessing it's because of its competition. It's not really an understanding where you are in your goal, but how you compare to others. So leaderboards is not a good idea.

But any any ideas how you could help your student understand where they are in progress toward their goal in teaching a cane?

Use a teacher created Likert scale in which students can grade their own efficiency?

Beautiful, beautiful. Have them understand where toward the goal are you now. Good. What else?

A checklist.

A checklist. Yeah and maybe… yeah, go ahead.

Oh, I was just gonna say self-reflection. And now they're really come in and ask why questions on the New Mexico inventory for measuring progress. Wonderful, guys.

What did you take away from the O and M Symposium?

So here's my question to you. We went through those six, I keep saying five, went through those six, which one resonated with you? And/or was there something else from the symposium that you took away that I haven't thought of? I want to hear from you. Send me a message @alliedindependence.

The dates for the 2024 symposium have been posted. January 24-26th of 2024. Do you want to get on that waitlist just go to alliedindependenceonline.com/symposium, alliedindependenceonline.com/symposium and you can get on the waitlist. We are also pursuing a TVI conference that'll be happening at the end of spring time. So that one doesn't have a waitlist up just yet. We're still in the midst of trying to figure out is it something that you even want seems to be something that people want, which is great. So we are going to be looking into that.

So if you're interested, send me a DM on Instagram, or Facebook and I will get you that information as soon as it comes out. All right, friend, I hope that you can take this information and use it to take a step forward in your life and into your teaching. Next week. We're coming in hot with a special episode for Valentine's Day, all about falling back in love with teaching, and I spill the tea on a lot of stuff that's been happening in my dating life, which is kind of funny, and you definitely won't want to miss it if I do that.