Learning

Insight magazine

Summary: The magazine for parents and professionals supporting children and young people with sight problems, including those with additional needs.

• In this issue – July / August 2008
• Contents
• In the next issue
• Subscribe today!
• Buy past issues

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In this issue – July / August 2008

Welcome to issue 16 of Insight magazine. Our theme for July and August is Training. We look at professional development opportunities, what motivates those who work with children with sight problems and consider the support available to parents.

Read two free articles online:

• Learning as we go: A mother of two children aged 11 and 9, who both have a visual impairment, shares her sources of support and information.
• Successful home-visiting: Gill Hislop, a teacher of visually impaired children in Wolverhampton, considers how to make home-visits a success.

Contents

News

• Latest research about children with visual impairment
• Multi-sensory play sessions for children with sight problems
• Find out how your organisation can help to implement UK eye health priorities
• Holiday for blind and partially sighted children in Wales
• Summer reading give-aways at Sight Village exhibition
• Tactile book competition and tactile graphics conference.

Letters

• Braille debate
• Threat to VI services
• Should Unified English Braille be introduced in the UK?
• Take part in the Hear Here! project
• Shape future services.

Training

Best supporting role: working with children who have complex needs

• Four people support workers talk about the rewards and frustrations of their jobs.

Government’s vision for training

• Olga Miller takes a look at the future of specialist training for teachers working with visually impaired children.

Breaking bad news

• Read about the training that ophthalmologists now receive to help them with breaking bad news to parents and children.

Hearing a diagnosis

• Daniel Jack, aged 15, and Jen Bishop, mother of baby Ewan, tell Insight what it was like for them to receive a diagnosis.

My work

• Dr Mary MacRae, a Consultant Ophthalmologist working in Lothian talks about her work with children.

A sporting success: developing coaching skills

• Read about the programme that enabled Barry McDonald (23), who is a wheelchair user and partially sighted to get a sports and leisure qualification.

Early years

• Successful home-visiting - Gill Hislop, teacher of visually impaired children in Wolverhampton considers how to make home-visits a success.

Empowering parents

• Find out about the different ways that Leeds Visual Impairment Team enables parents to support each other, including yoga!

Education

Social competence

• An Educational Psychologist explains how to encourage blind and partially sighted children to develop social and emotional skills.

Exams update

• Read the latest on customised large print exam papers, training for exam modifiers and the challenge of on-screen testing.

Why train in visual impairment or multi-sensory impairment?

• Lecturers at the University of Birmingham answer frequently asked questions about university study.

Book review

• Dr Liz Hodges on Ian Bell’s “Communication Profile for People with Severe Visual Impairment and Additional Disabilities”.

Visual impairment courses

• A round-up of courses for those working in the field of sight loss, including Mandatory Qualifications for teachers.

Health and wellbeing

Getting there with confidence

• Read about events to boost the confidence of young people with a visual impairment and their wish to be more independent.

Why I’m a mobility specialist

• Meet a mobility worker who is passionate about the difference that independence and mobility skills can make to young people’s lives.

In perspective: colour vision part two

• Regular columnist Maggie Woodhouse explains the everyday implications of colour vision defects at home and at school.

Family

My life

• Amy Smith, aged 15 reflects on how her family has encouraged her to develop an independent attitude to life.

Off the shelf

• Get the best out of your local library and find out what’s on offer for children from the RNIB National Library Service.

Learning as we go

• Learning as we go: A mother of two children aged 11 and 9, who both have a visual impairment, shares her sources of support and information.

Holiday fun

• Three pages of fun ideas to help keep boredom at bay this summer.

The Sleeping Beauty at the Royal Opera House

• Find out what nine children with sight problems and their families got up to at Family Performance Day.

Dad’s view: training for parents

• Insight’s regular columnist, Mike Walker talks about training for the experts – parents.

In the next issue

Look out for the September / October issue of Insight. We look at how technology can both include and exclude children with sight problems. Don’t miss the free Curriculum supplement on maths.

Subscribe today!

Subscribe to Insight to receive six issues per year delivered to your door. Insight is available in clear print, audio CD, braille, email (text only) and disk versions. Or try before you buy – order a sample copy for free.

Buy past issues

You can buy past issues of the magazine through our online shop. Further information about articles and resources is available via our past issues page.

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Content author: insightmagazine@rnib.org.uk

Last updated: 22/07/2008 10:47