SAM: Symbols and Meaning (with Millie Smith) (The Virginia Project for Children & Young Adults with Deaf-Blindness)

Description:

Many learners with severe disabilities including sensory impairments are exposed to symbols referring to things they have never seen or touched and, as a result, have no meaning. SAM is a program to help learners develop solid sensory based concepts about people, objects, actions, and places as a foundation upon which to build use of meaningful symbols. SAM moves students from the sensorimotor stage skills addressed in the Sensory Learning Kit to the symbolic skills that are part of the learning that takes place at the early preoperational stage of cognitive development. Receptive communication skills and emergent literacy are essential parts of this  program.

Cost: $30.00 (cost includes lunch for both days)

Who: This workshop is for teachers, parents, interveners, paraprofessionals, SLPs, OTs, PTs, TVIs, TDHH

About the Speaker
Millie Smith is a consultant for students with visual and multiple impairments. She is the co-author of the AER Warren Bledsoe Award winning book, Visual and Multiple Impairments: A Resource Guide. After nearly thirty years of teaching and outreach consulting at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Millie became a consultant with the American Printing House for the Blind. In that capacity, she wrote the Sensory Learning Kit (SLK) Guidebook and Routines book. Her APH product, SAM: Symbols and Meaning is a program designed to address the needs of students with visual and multiple impairments who have mastered SLK level skills.