SOMA 2016 SCHEDULE AND SIGN-UP
Below is the SOMA 2016 schedule. Everything listed here is included with your registration fee. Click here for the sessions listed by topic.
Some of the preconference sessions are limited and/or require that you sign up in advance.
If you want to sign up to attend one of the limited sessions or be on the waiting list, you can use the form at the bottom of this page after you have registered and paid for the conference.
Click here for the list of folks who have signed up for limited sessions.
CODES:
- (HT/EE) -- O&M Hot Topics / Emerging Issues which were added to the program in November
- (A) -- Assessment
- (C) -- Canes and AMDs
- (CT) -- Collaboration / Teaming
- (D) -- Deaf-blind / Dual sensory loss
- (GD) -- Guide Dog Mobility Instructors
- (H) -- Hearing / auditory training
- (R) -- Recreation / fitness / sports
- (S) -- School-aged students, infants and toddlers
- (SC) -- Street Crossing
- (T) -- Technology
- (W) -- Wayfinding / GPS
NOTE: You are encouraged to bring a cane and blindfold or visual simulator to the conference, because they will be used in several sessions.
SATURDAY March 12, 2016
10:00-5:30 -- ALL-DAY PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS
- (W) Overview and field practice using the Trekker Breeze+ to create routes and establish a position in space --
Craig Phillips, MS Ed. COMS (Room: Carta)
- (SC) Crossings with no traffic control -- what do I do now?
-- Dona Sauerburger, COMS (Room: Finley Lecture Hall)
SIGN-UP BELOW (If you want to attend just half of this workshop, indicate this in the comment box of the sign-up form below.)
- (S) Early O&M and beyond
-- Marjie Wood (Room: Centennial Lobby)
2:30-5:30 -- HALF-DAY PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOP
SUNDAY March 13, 2016
8:30-11:30 AM -- HALF-DAY PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS
- (A) (S) Efficacy in O&M and the new O&M Skills Inventory for children ages birth through six years of age from New Mexico
-- Dr. Dawn Anderson, Dr. Rob Wall Emerson, Julie Maner and Loreta Martinez-Cargo
- (D) Teaching deaf-blind people to communicate with the public
-- Dr. Gene Bourquin, COMS; Tara Brown-Ogilvie, and Dona Sauerburger, COMS
- (T) Hi-Tech O&M: iPhone, BlindSquare, GPS, iBeacons, etc. Part I & 2
-- Diane Brauner and Ed Summers
NO sign-up is required (this session is different from Saturday's all-day version.)
- (C) Make and take session: Easy and quick method for making AMDs of various shapes, sizes and configurations
-- Lynn Gautreaux, COMS
- (SC) Traffic signals: Understanding and dealing with traffic signals from an O&M perspective
-- Christopher Cunningham and Janet Barlow
- (S) Early O&M and beyond -- Marjie Wood
NOTE: This session is a condensed version of the all-day "Early O&M" workshop Saturday but it will not be confirmed until Saturday evening, March 12.
This session is filled! You can add your name to the waiting list by signing up below)
1:00-3:00 GENERAL SESSION
- Welcome! -- Lynn Gautreaux and Mary Phagan-Kean, SOMA 2016 Conference Co-Chairs
- SOMA Celebration! -- Dona Sauerburger with guests Tom Wood, Stephen Sanford, and Mike Corbett
- "Chair Yoga" exercise -- Susan Austin
- Keynote: Keeping the O&M profession alive and healthy -- Mickey Damelio
- Exhibitor Highlights: What's new? -- Bernice Meyer, Exhibit Coordinator
3:00-3:45 -- TIME TO BROWSE EXHIBITS
3:45-5:00 -- CONCURRENT SESSIONS
5:00-7:00 -- RECEPTION in Exhibit Hall (included in registration)
MONDAY, March 14, 2016
7:00-7:45 -- Yoga in the morning -- Susan Austin
7:00-8:30 -- BREAKFAST in Exhibit Hall (included in registration)
8:30-9:30 -- CONCURRENT SESSIONS
- (C) The development of the Dakota Disc Tip
-- Paul H. Olson and Gord Hudek
- (HT/EE) O&M Instruction for clients with the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System
-- Daniel R. Simmons, M.Ed., COMS, TVI, Invision Services, Inc., Raleigh, North Carolina
- (SC) Guidelines for evaluating the accessibility of crosswalks at roundabouts and channelized turn lanes - Results from NCHRP Project 3-78b
-- Janet Barlow and Chris Cunningham
- (T) American Printing House: Low tech, hi tech, and everything in between
-- Maria E. Delgado
- (HT/EE) Uber rideshare app, one of the most powerful travel tools of this century for blind people
-- Mike May
- (S) ROUNDTABLE:
Strategies for youth self-advocacy and independent orientation to new environments -- facilitated by Nancy Parkin-Bashizi
- (GD) Leader Dog program: Guide Dogs for Clients with Dual Sensory Loss
-- Keith McGregor, GDMI, and Jennifer Sanderson, GDMI, from Leader Dogs, Michigan
9:45-10:45 -- CONCURRENT SESSIONS
11:00-12:00 -- CONCURRENT SESSIONS
- (S) Early childhood motor development: Where do children with visual impairment struggle and how can we support the process of motor development
-- Mickey Damelio
- (SC) Crossing streets with no traffic control -- simplifying our instruction for strategies and safety analysis
-- Dona Sauerburger, COMS
- (R) Teaching yoga to the visually impaired
-- Susan Austin
- (HT/EE) (A) O&M Evaluations for Children with Visual Impairments: Who’s The Gatekeeper -- the TVI or the O&M?
Marjie Wood, M.Ed., COMS, Chris Tabb, M.A., COMS, Susan Langendonk, COMS
- (HT/EE) (SC) Autonomous Vehicles -- they're coming! Implications for safety, ethics, policy and pedestrians with visual impairment
-- JoAnne Chalom, COMS and Dr. Gene Bourquin, COMS
- (R) ROUNDTABLE:
Sit on Your Hands and Bite Your Tongue: Allowing Our Students to Problem-Solve -- facilitated by Tiffany Paschal
- (GD) Guide Dog Instructors - Doing what we do: An exploration of motivations
-- Mike Goehring, from Guiding Eyes, New York
12:00-1:30 -- HOT BUFFET LUNCH in Exhibit Hall (included in registration)
1:30-3:00 -- CONCURRENT SESSIONS
3:30-5:00 -- CONCURRENT SESSIONS
5:15-6:15
- BLINDFOLD WALK
-
Keeping our own skills fresh -- a blindfold / simulator walk
-- Dorothy Morris and Kitty Burnett Cress
- Bring your cane or other mobility aid and a blindfold or vision simulator
- This ACVREP-approved activity is intended to last about an hour and ends at a restaurant -- you can start any time between 5:15 and 6:15.
- (GD) For Clean Walk – Preventing Emptying During Guide Work
-- Sam Tawada, from Japan Guide Dog Association, Japan
TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 2016
7:00-7:45 -- Yoga in the morning -- Susan Austin
7:00-8:30 -- FULL BREAKFAST in Exhibit Hall (included in registration)
8:30-10:00 -- CONCURRENT SESSIONS
- (C) Quick and easy methods for repairing, refurbishing, and modifying canes
-- Lynn Gautreaux, COMS
- (S) Meeting the Needs of Students with Cortical Visual Impairment: A Review of the Literature
-- Cynthia Greenacre
- (H) (D) Auditory skills and strategies in O&M for those with hearing impairment
-- Lelan Miller
- (W) Global positioning systems, environmental literacy, and the traveler with visual impairment: "Who?" "What?" "Where?" "Why?" and "How?"
Craig Phillips, MS Ed. COMS, Vision Services, LLC, Lenexa, Kansas
- (R) Quiet please. Play!
-- Sue Glaser & Andrea Wallace
- (A) ROUNDTABLE: Assessing and working with students with severe disabilities -- facilitated by Judy Morris
- (GD)
"1916 -2016 One Hundred Years of Guide Dog History"
-- Lukas Franck COMS, GDMI, from The Seeing Eye, New Jersey
The Changing Face of Guide Dog Services
-- John Byfield, GDMI, from Freedom Guide Dogs, New York
10:15-11:00 -- CONCURRENT SESSIONS
- Private contracting for O&M services
--
Karen Walker, TVI/O&M, President, Allied Instructional Services, Ashland, Virginia, and John Higgins, COMS, CEO, Invision Services, Inc
- (S) Wearable Mobility Devices – A mobility device for walking learners with visual impairments who are unable to maintain a continuous grasp on a mobility device
-- Grace Ambrose-Zaken, Ed.D. O&M Specialist, Safe Toddles, LLC, Wappingers Falls, NY
- (A) (S) Bringing the NOMA (National Orientation and Mobility Assessment) to SOMA
-- Sheena Manuel
- (W) What makes a GPS system for a user who is blind
-- Heather Kennedy-MacKenzie
- (HT/EE) 3-D Printers for O&M -- Daniel Simmons
- (GD) Communication Technologies for Working Dogs
-- Dr. Melody Jackson, PhD, Georgia Institute of Technology
- (GD) Adapting to a Changing Educational and Professional Landscape
- Audrey J. Smith, Salus University, Elkins Park, PA; Anisio Correia, Center for the Visually Impaired, Atlanta, GA; Laura Bozeman, Ph.D., COMS, CLVT,
UMass Boston
11:15-12:30 -- GENERAL CLOSING SESSION
Sharing a summary of the conference: what did we learn, and how can we put it to use?
-- Facilitated by Eileen Bischof
SIGN-UP FORM
Thursday March 10 -- Sign-up form for limited sessions has been closed.
If you want to sign up or cancel something or have a question, please email Dona Sauerburger
To check and see if you are listed, look at the sign-up sheets.