MEMBERSHIP OF TASK FORCE ON BLIND STUDENT ACADEMIC AND VOCATIONAL PERFORMANCE
Assisted by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Office of Special Education

Blind Task Force Website: https://dese.mo.gov/special-education/advisory-panels/blind-task-force

Meeting Date: Tuesday, August 8, 2023 

Minutes taken by Regina Miller, Administrative Assistant, DESE

Meeting called to order at 10:05 a.m. by Chairperson, Carla Keirns

Welcome and Introductions: C. Keirns
Chairperson, for the benefit of new student representative introduced members and explained focus of this task force as follows: 
Membership represents leaders from education, employment of persons with blindness and visual impairments, parents, TVI’s, teachers of special education students, school administrators, school principals. The focus is making sure that the members of the Blind Task Force are collaborating between ground-level and leadership on how we can improve services to our blind/visually impaired students in Missouri.

Roll call and introduction of new members and visitors: Gwen Deimeke, DESE, OSE; Samantha Scott, MO RSB; Carla Keirns, Parent; Robert Woerther, Public School Special Education Administrator; Angie Yorke, Employer, Lighthouse for the Blind Industries; JoNita Scarbrough, Institution of Higher Education; Jessica Hall, Blind Skills Specialist, NE RPDC; DJ Butcher, Blind Skills Specialist, Region 7, Springfield, Missouri; Geoffrey Barney, Missouri School for the Blind (MSB); Louise Whitworth, Teacher of Blind/Visually Impaired; Anthony Blades, Blind Skills Specialist, Region 7, Springfield, Missouri

Welcome new student representative, Terra Coccovizzo.
 
Absent: June Lenk; Jenny Carmichael; Sheila Wright; Rose Ereshman, Kerry Boehm  

Review and Approval of August 8, 2023 Agenda: C. Keirns motioned to accept agenda; DJ Butcher requested that discussion of COVE group be added after DESE Update. G. Barney motioned to accept, Robert Woerther seconded. Motion carried

Review and Approval of May 9, 2023 Minutes: C. Keirns motioned to accept minutes without changes; L. Whitworth made motion; S. Scott seconded and motion carried. 

DESE Update: G. Deimeke, Coordinator, DESE, OSE
•	2023 Annual Determination - Under Section 616 of the IDEA – placed in category of “Meets Requirements”. Only had four districts rating as “Needing Assistance” category in Determination. All other districts throughout the state meet requirements. 
•	Behavior Intervention Specialists - DESE adding BIS staff to the RPDC Regions. Currently, six of the nine have been filled. We are having our first meeting in late August and Project Access will be providing some of the training.
•	Summer Conferences - Two successful conferences wrapped up; Transition Training Institute in June and Special Education Directors Academy in July. Both were well and attended and favorable feedback was received.
•	Virtual Learning Platform – continuing to make improvements and OSE is presenting at several conferences to raise awareness of these resources. 
•	New Modules - Recently added modules in Effective Teaching and Learning; Introduction to Gifted Education; Social Emotional Learning Academy; Developing Assessment–Capable Learners; META Cognition; Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support – Teaching Expected Behavior. In the Leadership section we have added Building Leadership Teams, Instructional Leadership; Leadership for Effective Implementation of on Districtwide Evidence based practices – In our Standards, Curriculum and Assessment section – Common formative assessment – dese enforced – Modules 1-7 and also in the near future we will be adding Formative Assessment for Literacy. 
•	Advisory Group – January had first meeting on June 22. Had 25 in attendance. Stakeholder survey results in parental involvement – breakout sessions where they shared what worked – things to be approved on and other IEP and educational process that raised concerns. October 12, 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. Subject will be on Transition. Email Gwen Deimeke and she will make sure you are invited to participate.
•	DESE Literacy Staff - Continuing to work with staff as they develop reading success plan resources (Q & A and Guidance) Guidance will suggest what will be the best option for the students they are working with. (RSB alone; with an IEP; or an IEP alone). 
•	Compliance Section – Educational Benefit Reviews – taking a look at students and where they are from the beginning and making meaningful process that can be proven on the next IEP. Pilot program looking at IEPs through this lens and what they learned this year is that we need to standardize the process and protocol to move toward integrating Educational Benefit Review as part of the self-assessment for a cyclical monitoring instead of using it as an off sight model. We are working on training, defining our processes and a better option for the districts involved for next year. 
•	Teacher Recruitment Retention – Renewed Blind/Low Vision Scholarship contract with the University to encourage students to work toward certification in this field. Following completion of the program, recipients would be required to serve in a Missouri school for three years. 

COVE Group - DJ Butcher – Community-of-Vision Educators (COVE) This year the theme is helping everyone fill out their own portfolios. I can put this in for February meeting. Anything relative to TVI and O&M’s – I would be happy to disseminate this information. 2nd Friday of the month – 2 to 4 – Zoom links. 

Open Discussion Topics
•	Services – What would you find most useful in being able to make sure you are serving the students that need your help?
o	TVI training discussion
o	Secondary disability question
o	Data to include students with hearing issues that are not reported for services.
o	A good system (annual or semi-annual event) for screening children for vision and hearing would be an excellent precursor to open the door for a team to come together and begin the process toward special education or the 504 route.
o	Helping districts have a foundation to start an effective process. 
o	Involve the parent in the loop if their child fails a vision/hearing screening. 
CVI’s should be considered in the screening process.
o	Autism can also be diagnoses later in the process. The wait involved in finding an appropriately credential Autism professional diagnosis was 18-24 months during the pandemic. If it’s hard in vision/hearing what does it look like in Autism. Early access is needed. The lack of information/knowledge in the poor community means they might not realize some of the milestones that haven’t been reached. 
o	Definition of Autism and what counts as Autism has changed over the years. There are definitely developmental delays and indicators to look for. Some states are RTI. That evaluation process can take up to a year before a diagnosis is reached. Best-practices can affect percentage of disabilities. How they pull the data or how they are using the diagnosis data also make a difference.
o	First Steps – Some Service Coordinators don’t know what to look for. Once the student enters the school district – district is unprepared. Early intervention is important. Have children with disabilities – prevailing disability that makes someone aware of an issue – behavioral and vision/hearing may be overlooked as a result. 

•	Do we have things that we want to recommend to DESE; take back to our sub committees? 
o	Some factors to consider
o	Struggling with getting an accurate count of the number of individuals that are serviced through schools that have a specific diagnosis or secondary diagnosis of vision
o	Universal screening that has an effective loop around process (Baltimore screening link article)
o	Lack of Early Childhood Intervention
o	Secondary diagnosis and pulling data from the system that you currently use. How can we make that data more accessible so that you can know who in your district needs to be assessed?
•	DESE – students who are eligible under a student with a VI (eligibility category); OHI – students that are also receiving VI services. We would need that as well as hearing to be pointed out. We don’t get those numbers.
•	APH – students who receive funds and those students are legally blind. They are not counted.
•	A student with VI – APH funds – counted twice (DESE and APH) I don’t how it can be solved
•	DESE is pulling their data based off the primary disability. I don’t know that districts do secondary disabilities. There is the special considerations form. Does that student have vision loss? – Districts use different data systems. Can we use the special consideration form to pull more accurate data? Another tool would be the FORM A for vision. They would have to open up the Form A if they answer the vision question. I would pull the special consideration forms for VI and see if those numbers match for Form A. I can get with our Data section and see what data is pulled or look at form to see what other data needs to be gathered. 
•	Question: Are they on the APH registry? Then, when we ask for the data, we have a column that says APH quota funds and we would know they are getting that service. Every November report what we give seems meaningless because they seem double counted. How would you check what’s on APH and what is on DESE? Nervous about adding to Form A. 
•	Not all schools have the training or background to fill this information out accurately. Monitoring perspective – opens conversation with a district as part of a file review to flag in the process. A factor to consider. 
•	RSV – We look at DESE data, blind literacy data (doesn’t match up). How do we offer services if the numbers don’t agree?
•	Talking with EP and Compliance directors and data – what concerns there are and how can we make this data more meaningful for you. 

Other items of discussion that were discussed at the last meeting?
•	Identification of Students
•	Quality of Service
•	Literacy
•	TVI
Training and Education discussion from May
Positive - Universities
•	Read, write, and teach braille
•	Basic instructional strategies
•	Knowledge of disabilities and age-appropriate intervention
Still lacking - Needed
•	How to adapt if you have additional disabilities
•	Instructional strategies
•	Auditory skills alone instead of combined effort with multiple resources
•	Writing Behavior plans – Access our Behavior Intervention Specialists
What is needed?
•	Adapt materials to help students access curriculum (Braille Blaster)
•	Assistive Technology training
•	More training in assessment
The next step is to go to Department of High Education and looking at what we at DESE have said is needed. We are going to start pulling – (SEAP panel also) Areas of special education and where we can improve on the college coursework side. We will be asking for information from SEAP, BTF, Higher Education to make this a collaborative effort to see what we can improve. 

Other Member Concerns
•	Testing – Provided in an accessible format
•	Access for students using accessible readers – everyday this is the tool they use – switch to large print – need to be more consistent with the type of modality is being used by the student and what they are used to. 
•	High test anxiety – thrown into using something that they haven’t been using – high expectation for success on the test. Doesn’t really paint a clear picture of what our students can do.
•	Higher Ed - post-secondary outcomes can be much better than they currently are. We haven’t done enough training for scope and sequence and how to individualize that journey for the benefit of the student. Transition is also lacking. Testing accessibility – Accessible Education Materials (AEM) helps provide guidance. That project is going on with Kristin Funk and her work with David Baker. Students using primarily auditory experience difficulty in learning other reading formats (Braille and large print).  They need to be literate in more than just auditory books. 
Dyslexia and Blind Students
•	Wilson is available in braille for the first three units through the American Printing House for the Blind
•	No Wilson-specific braille training (Wilson Print Training) Being used for a lot of students – area that has been less appreciated – presentations on national level in Dyslexia in blind students
•	Didn’t realize how many students have decoding issues until we starting look at it more deliberately
New Members/Vacancies and Updates
Introduced Tara Coccovizzo as the newly appoint student representative. Is there anything you would like to tell us on how we might better prioritize and meet the needs of blind students? What has helped you the most? 
•	Calculators especially in Math
•	Software – Computer with Jaws access for speech – assignments in faster
•	Worked with TVI throughout your first 12 years – how has that helped you prepare as you move into a college environment:
o	Navigate independently
o	Boosting my confidence to go to college 
o	Learn more about the computer and accessing the internet
o	Looking forward to theater, choir, writing plays, voice actor
Propose BTF Meeting Dates be Changed
Currently, meetings are scheduled for the first week of the month. Can default dates be moved to the second Tuesday of the month? If approved, will begin February meeting will begin second week scheduling. 

Center for Braille and Narration Production
Committee members would very much like to participate in a tour of this facility. Special planning and time is required. February and May will be considered for the tour. 

Subcommittee Meetings
Propose that thirty minutes be set aside during the in-person meetings for subcommittees to meet. 

Children’s Vision Summit Update
Toured Special Olympic Center in Jefferson City, MO in the summer. Pictures were taken. Great space with great rooms for breakout sessions, gym area, track and field and space to do outside adaptive sports. Rose will give more detail during the November meeting. 

Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities
Check these links for dates, times and contact information if you are interested in participating.
o	Lighthouse for the Blind – St. Louis: https://lhbindustries.com/events/
o	Missouri School for the Blind – St. Louis: https://msb.dese.mo.gov/outreach-services/pro-development.html
o	National Federation of the Blind - https://nfb.org/get-involved/national-convention
o	Rehabilitation Services for the Blind - https://dss.mo.gov/fsd/rsb/
o	Other State Resources -  https://dese.mo.gov/special-education/effective-practices/state-resources

Motion to adjourn -- Geoff Barney motion; JoNita seconds

Meeting adjourns at 11:48 a.m.

Next meeting is scheduled for in-person on November 14, 2023. More information will be shared with members at a later date.