Unknown Speaker Thank you. Unknown Speaker Thank you. K Banks Sorry, I was muted For a second there. Unknown Speaker I was like, why? And I can't get everybody to unmute. Other than the three of us. K Banks Think I'll be fine. We can can we allow them to unmute during question and answers. I see some people unmuting themselves now. Okay. Unknown Speaker Thank you. Um, hi, everyone, I'd K Banks like to welcome you to 14. It's a magical age. This is a session on transition. Um, I just want to let everyone know right at the beginning that we are recording this session. So if you're not a fan of that, feel free to sign off now. And the session will be available on our website later. Tonight, I believe. We're all going to be muted at the beginning of the workshop, they'll there will be a question and answers portion of the session. At the end, you can raise your hand by pressing star nine if you're on a phone. Or if you're if you're on the computer, there's a button that you can hit to raise your hand. You can also ask questions in the chat and I can I can get those to the speaker. If not, you're welcome to unmute yourself in just wait, just make sure you do raise your hand so that we can we can call you. Unknown Speaker Um, K Banks I'd like to introduce Mr. Maurice paray. He is the he's an OMC, national orientation mobility specialist and the coordinator for career mentoring programs at the NFB. I'm the floor is yours, Mr. Gray. Unknown Speaker Thank you, Kimberly, I do want to thank you. In our esteemed host, Beth Hurst, my colleague, and particularly the board of directors of this great organization, I think the national organization of parents of blind children is it's hard to say that there is a more important division in our organization. Because when we say your children are our children, it's really true. You know, we we see the work of our families and in the Federation or our children, as our future as an organization and inspiring people. So it really is an honor to speak on the wonderful topic of transition. A magical age 14 or miserable age depends on how you look at it. And just to say this in preliminary way, I'll offer some, some thoughts and some ideas, but I think the experts are all of us, not just me. And so I think the fun of the conversation and the productive part of the conversation will be just that a conversation. So I look forward to hearing some input and some questions from from everyone. Before it to me, it seems like before we can talk about transition, or before that magical age of 14, I like to say you know, think of it as a pound of prevention is worth more than an ounce of cure. In that preparation is so important. Unless your child your children have, you know, lost vision quite recently. No matter how much vision they may or may not have low vision, or no vision, it's important to make sure that some of the important blindness skills are in place, as soon as early as possible. They can get around fine, visually no problems. That's not a reason not to learn cane travel. If they learn how to use a cane, that doesn't, they're not going to forget how to use their vision. Braille is an important tool as young as you can teach it to them. The fun of Braille again, if they learn Braille, it doesn't mean they're going to not learn how to read print. And it's it's always so wonderful just to have all those tools. I say that because the other thing I would say is keyboarding. As important as you know, people use touchscreens nowadays and they use devices and all kinds of things. But those keyboard skills until things change drastically are critically important. So as young as they can learn those skills. That's part of it. literacy as well. So when we get to that magical age of 14, a lot of changes are happening, right? It's, you know, it's puberty, friends are changing it, we're getting into a more concentrated number of those rite of passage moments in our lives. It's not going to be too long before, we're going to be thinking about learning to drive, it's not going to be too long before we're thinking about and that changes everything. Suddenly, then, meals aren't taken at the same time as the rest of the family all the time. extracurricular activities can can change our schedule, so that we're not always home at the same time, maybe not even by dinnertime. So everything's changing. And this is a time when children are learning those soft skills learning to prepare meals for themselves, even if it is just in the microwave to start with. So we have to always think of our blind children, even on low vision, children, always thinking about age appropriate skills. So hoping that these lot of these essential blindness skills are in place. So that they they have these, there'll be learning to, to cook make learning to, to be more independent in their travel and accompanied by an adult as again, age appropriate. So they're 14 years old, usually they that means they're in eighth grade, or they're a freshman in high school. And depending on the state, because, and we're going to start talking about now, services that are available to your child, once they are in that magical transition, which is from 14 to 21. They're going to be eligible for VR or vocational rehabilitation services. Unknown Speaker In Maryland, not only it's not just 14, they also have to be a freshman in high school. But I always advise our parents to begin the process anyway, to begin the paperwork. Because it's a little bit of a process, it can be done some of it online, but there's a process and getting your child enrolled with your local rehabilitation services could be under the Department of Education. Usually, we're a separate Commission for the blind, different states have different setups. But what happens, what does that make them available for? So we want to also be emphasizing self advocacy skills for our 14 year old so they really not only need to be present at their IEP or individual education plan meetings. But they should start taking an active role in those meetings, what they want from their from their education, what I'm starting to think ahead. One of the things the struggles that we have in IEP meetings, is not just thinking about what's going to get us through this class or this year. But long term, what are the going to be the best strategies and tools? I mentioned that because that's what VR is going to look at their goal. You know, bottom line is always for the rehabilitation counselor, whether it's transition or adults, his work, job career, and what steps are going to be needed to support that goal. So if it's further training, comprehensive rehabilitation training, or whether it's some kind of a skill license, skill, or trade school, or college or university training, now is the time to begin thinking about that. So what are those? What are those services? There are a number of transition type of services. A lot of times these are youth programs that take place in the summer, where they can learn some of these skills that I've mentioned, soft skills, they can learn some some cooking skills, they can start learning to to be more independent in their travel, indoor and outdoor, familiar and unfamiliar. They begin to socialize with other young people their age, who are also blind or low vision. It cannot be emphasized too much how important this is, as we're moving into that adolescence. teenage years, were starting to, you know, really identify with a group or, you know, identity becomes extremely important. And so where does our blindness fit in with that, you know, we say in the National Federation of the Blind, the blindness is not the characteristic that defines us or our future. Everyday, we raised the expectations of blind youth, because a low expectations creates obstacles between blind people in our dreams. And in order for them to believe and to know, not only intellectually, but emotionally, that they can live the life they want, that it's not blindness, that will hold them back. They need to be socialized, they need to be exposed to peers, who are going through some of the same things they're going through. But also, especially adult role models, who've gone down this path, who can help them through instead of having to reinvent the wheel, many of our children might be the only blind or low vision student in their class or in their school, or maybe even in their county, or, or they might attend a school for the blind. But But there's still an extremely important role to play by blind adults to help Unknown Speaker model high expectations model what's possible. A lot of times when youth are thinking about this, I remember when I was, you know, my question I always had was, what jobs can I do as a blind person? What what kind of jobs are there for blind people? And that's always an unfortunate place to start. Because you want to start with what do you want to do? What is what is your dream, and then, so everything from the IEP meeting to the meeting with the VR counselor, should should focus on that dream, that goal, and don't let anyone talk your child out of that dream. They want to be a medical doctor. We know blind doctors, they want to be, you know, a law enforcement, there are roles that blind people can play in law enforcement, and even in, in the military, maybe not yet. But the day will soon be upon us when I mean, I think for all practical purposes, many of the skills that one needs in careers like that don't necessarily require efficient things are so digital now and automated now. And with drones and everything. That's the key. So and don't let anyone including the VR counselor, minimize that goal. Now, having said that, you know, we can be talking about being an airline pilot. And somebody is not particularly, you know, good at the skills that are going to be necessary to become an airline pilot, for example, the sciences or things, you know, that really to study in aviation, we need to recognize our own skills, and we need to recognize and know our talents and abilities and those of our children. So we want to be realistic and those goals but we don't want blindness or vision or low vision to be really anywhere part of the equation that determines where we want to go with that. So the services again, there'll be some summer programs that have all kinds of different focuses, it could be job readiness, career exploration type of programs, they could be a lot of times it could be recreational and trying to build in those skills, or hide them so that our children don't know that they're learning. They could be socialization, they could be centered around specific skills like technology, or Braille. Braille camp for the summer is a great way to, to really get a head start to build it up. Those build skills are building up speed, reading speed, they could focus on travel skills, and really, you know, getting a head start with them becoming more independent in their travels. So these are the different kinds of things and we're also thinking about tools, equipment, technology. What kinds of things are we looking at PC skills are still critically important. So many times with the young people that I work with, are great with technology, great with technology become and when you when it really comes down to it, what they're saying is they know how to use their phone. And they know how to text with their phone, emails, not so much. You know, word processing, not so much. So we want to make sure that they are getting those computer skills, desktop skills. What other so so making sure that they have the tools to, to support that. If If Braille is their primary reading medium, want to find out what's going to be the best tools for notetaking and Braille. But also what is gonna serve their needs in the long run. So an example might be young people often get introduced to Braille note taking devices. Unknown Speaker But without critical computer skills to sort of use in tandem with those. If you go off to college with your sort of Braille note or Braille touch or something like that, it's getting more advanced all the time. If you don't have computer skills, or know how to, you know, create documents in the format that's going to be expected by the professors. Because all you have this, you know what you've been using in high school, there's going to be quite a learning curve there. So making sure that the type of tools equipment is very expensive, that we want to make sure that our kids are learning our children are learning on equipment that's going to serve them not only in high school to get through the coursework, but beyond high school, so that they can integrate into what's going to be expected of them in an integrated environment in college where there are no IEPs. And our children are going to have to have very strong self advocacy skills to know what to what accommodations to ask for with their college professors, with the disability services office. And, and that sort of thing. Those are some things that come to mind that we should be thinking about, I hope I haven't overloaded the discussion too much with all that information. But I am curious to know what is on your mind and what questions you might have. Unknown Speaker If anyone has any questions, if you would, please raise your hand. And then we'd be happy to unmute you. And then you can ask your question. Thank you. Unknown Speaker Thank you thinking about that, I should give you a little bit of background of you know, me, I most of my career has been as a as convention, a teaching cane travel skills, orientation mobility instructor, I went through the structured Discovery Program that the NFB came up with by you know, challenging the notion that blind people couldn't teach cane travel. That was the that was the prevailing belief. The before the NFP said, Wait a minute, we've been doing this for decades. But I grew up as a well, the term they used to they used to use with meals partially sighted. And I thought that's great, partially sighted, I figured that meant more sighted 10 blind. But I was really quite mistaken. And by the time I turned 13, I was informed that the little vision that I did have would, would be grabbed gradually, you know, dissipating, which which happened by Thomas in my early 20s. So when I say changes that take place in our children's lives around this time, it could be changes in vision, it could be changes in, you know, all kinds of things as they're moving into that new stage of life. Unknown Speaker Maurice, Karen has Yes, her hand is up. Unknown Speaker Hi, Karen. Have to unmute yourself. I think Karen Unknown Speaker Yes, please. Oh, yeah. Unknown Speaker All right. But I hit the button. It didn't work. So I have a couple of things. First, why is 14 the magical age. I'm one of our frustrations has been accessing things that will help my daughter in the future. She's 13. Now she will be turning 14. But because there's this like gateway that 14, it's been, we can't help you until she's 14, we can't help you until she's 14. And all these things that would have helped her in her education, she cannot access until she is 14. Why is why is that gateway there? And why aren't we getting this access to children who are younger, so they can start gaining these skills earlier? Unknown Speaker So one question, I'm glad you asked. Thank you, Karen. Two ways that I want to answer that it is a little bit arbitrary. But the reason I had to pick a number transition, you know, part of the reason is because there's a little bit of a tussle between the rehabilitation industry, let's say, an education system. We don't want to let the education system off the hook and providing necessary skills and an equal and quality education. It is a struggle, because we all know, I can I think I can say this fairly that, you know, the education system in terms of serving our blind children is wholly inadequate, wholly inadequate. But they are still responsible for providing those skills. However, we can make that happen. The VR system comes in at a certain point, to complement education, their job isn't to provide education, but it is to support the goals, you know, through education in college and so forth. Now, I would say this, that I know that our NFP training centers around the country in Louisiana, Colorado, and Minnesota have programs that you don't have to wait until 14, I think there are programs for the younger children, pre teens, even I think the buddy program, I don't know what they call it in all of the training centers. But you don't have to wait until until 14. Our belt Academy is also a great example of how we start with with kids or children as soon as they can walk all the cane and and you know, put their hands on a page. So, you know, working through your NFB chapters and affiliates and helping to navigate you know, the, the labyrinth of these a little bit of a turf war? Where does the education system, their responsibility and in VR start so there tries there has to be some overlap. And that's, we've decided, at least by law that that starts at 14 to 21. Unknown Speaker Maurice hdts has their hand up. Hello, there. Unknown Speaker Hi, there. My name is Hi. Hi. Thank you. Um, I have a question to my son is 14. Um, he, I just kind of just learned that he should be looking into transition services. But I wanted to ask Unknown Speaker a couple of things. First of all, Unknown Speaker he's not exactly 14 in his head, I guess the polite way to say it, he's a little bit behind. So first of all, how do I help him navigate into something that might scare him? Because it's, you know, he's going to be thinking about going to high school and going away and things like that. So how do I help him through that? What should I what kinds of things should I tell him? That won't scare him? And number two, what I wanted like to know what kind of pitfalls we should avoid? Because state agencies are known to kind of try to skirt things force you into things that aren't necessary or wanted and how do we avoid those pitfalls? And what do we say to those people when we when they try to force us into a direction? Unknown Speaker Sure, Haley? No. Would you say force? Can you give me a little bit of an example of what you mean by that? Unknown Speaker Well say they say they want to, they will pay for you to go to their program. But they won't pay for you to go to an NFP program. Unknown Speaker Right, right. There is a provision and VR law called informed consumer choice. And it takes a little bit of finagling, but you can make the argument if you can make the argument that At the training summer program or something like that can provide them something that is not is qualitatively you know, not what is offered in the state that you live in, then they are, it can be a little bit of a struggle. But they have to honor that the people that know how to do this and best are leaders in your affiliate and your chapters, often you might find educators, some somebody in your affiliate can find somebody that can help you advocate for that, as far as how to sell this to your son, and I can certainly relate to being emotionally immature. I was hoping you could laugh at that my wife Unknown Speaker is being respected. Unknown Speaker You know, when the summer programs, you could just you can pitch it, because it's not all just scary hard work, there is a bit of that, but it's the socialization it's getting to know other kids his age and making new friends and being able to relate to him in ways that other you know, socialization can be very difficult, particularly, you know, some of that maybe emotional delay can really come from feeling alienated from not being quite like the other kids or, you know, I know, I was, I mean, I didn't share a lot of things in common that that let's say boys my age did. And so I had a lot of trouble making friends and you know, bullying and that whole thing. But being in a summer program with other children, his own age, that he can share things in common with, I believe me, he's not going to be the only one who's who's, you know, doesn't doesn't present as being, you know, at that same emotional age that it may be expected at 14 years old. You know, that kind of so the socialization is so important that these summer programs offer and they make lifelong friends. Unknown Speaker Maurice Marysol. Unknown Speaker Yes, hello. Unknown Speaker Hi, this is Marisol. How are you? Unknown Speaker Good. How are you? Unknown Speaker Good. Thanks. Um, so I'm joining from the Boston area. And I'm in a bit of a unique position where as I'm not, I'm not a parent, but I am blind have been blind from birth. And I am very interested in finding ways to get involved with parents acknowledging that there's a lot of support that's needed, and using my experiences, you know, personal and professional to sort of help guide and coach parents along the way. And I realized that this magical age 14 is a pivotal age, on many levels of, as you mentioned, and one of the things that I'm really curious about is sort of when we look at the importance of an IP and setting measurable goals and goals that will help line students up for post post secondary success. Are there does the NFB or anyone offer advocates or supports that can help parents advocate for the needs of students? In the IPS? Unknown Speaker Oh, excellent question. And I can say unequivocally Yes. But there might be people on this call who were members of the National Association of organization, parents of blind children who might want to address that. But you can. Families can invite anyone they want to the IEP meeting, I guess theoretically, as many as they want, has to, you know, should be arranged ahead of time. But you don't have to be a parent to be an advocate. That's for sure. Does anyone want to add to that? K Banks Hi, Marisol. This is Kimberly banks. I'm the second vice president of the PBC. If you want to get involved with advocacy, I would strongly suggest that you reach out to your state affiliates. Usually the first contact that a parent makes when they're having an IP issue is with their state affiliates president and then that that person will put that parent in contact with a state advocate and that's in their area and local them. You can also reach out to us at the LPC. We do have a group of people that we use for like distance advocacy that can go to IEP meetings over the phone or via zoom Now, which is what we've been doing a lot of here in the last couple months. But um, yeah, be sure to reach out to us and we can get you some more information on how to, on how to do how to help advocate, we would love to have you. Unknown Speaker Chris day has their hand up. Unknown Speaker We don't have time for Chris. I'm just kidding. Hello, Chris. See? Unknown Speaker there? I am very sorry. So hi, Unknown Speaker how are you? Unknown Speaker So we know each other some affiliate? But um, so K Banks I have a question. And I hope it's not too specific. Unknown Speaker And if it is, maybe we can talk about it off, you know, off the call. But um, so Derek is now 14, and Meredith is 12. And I was specifically asking Unknown Speaker about shaving because, like, do I get him a an electric razor? Or there? K Banks I'm sure there's ways to shave traditionally? Or like, Unknown Speaker What? How would you tackle that? From a man's point of view? And then if you have any insight, from a female's point of view from as far as legs and that sort of thing? Unknown Speaker Um, great question. I just put on sort of my mentoring hat. Yeah. The cool thing about shaving is that it is inherently a tactical activity. In terms of what's the best thing to start off with, you know, electric, or disposable or something like that really, is preference, you might have to try some things out. So, there's a little bit of experimentation, but but just sort of showing some very basics, you know, how you're holding the razor, how you're going against the, you know, the way that the blade needs to be facing? And how you check that, you know, being careful not. So I mean, in a way an electric might be a little bit safer in terms of locating the blade, but I wouldn't, I wouldn't. I really do think it's a preference. And he's just going to have to kind of experiment with with different kinds of techniques. But it's, it's absolutely a I would go so far as to say that, as a blind person, I could be more effective, that shaving just because the things that I can feel into my fingers might not even be seen with the eyes. I don't know. Does that answer the question, Chris? Notice I didn't answer about shaving the legs. Unknown Speaker Maurice. Karen has Yes. Hi, Karen. Unknown Speaker Hi, I'm back. Unknown Speaker Following on my previous question, you touched on self advocacy and having your child in the IEP meeting you also touched on the inadequacies of our education system. I have noticed with my daughter that having her attend if you knew she's she's been an IEP meetings for the last three, four years, um, that has actually exacerbated her depression and her own. I don't know how to put it but her own self depreciation. Why am I blind? I hate being blind. Why do I have to be blind? And while I tried to put a positive spin on, you know, being blind is not the worst thing in the world? Um, what is your advice there? And how can you help your child with their mental or their emotional well being while still trying to teach them to self advocate? Unknown Speaker Oh, thank you so much for asking that. I'm so sorry that she's struggling with those feelings, but they're not. I would say those are fairly normal feelings as she's, you know, coming into a world and seeing herself as different. You know, everyone else doesn't have an IEP meeting. Why do I have an IEP meeting? I remember those feelings, too. But what we want to do is, is help her to understand that something that can seem more different than anything and more outsider than anything. We need her to feel empowered. So rather than seeing her so how does she see herself at the IEP meeting? The first thing that came to my mind was, hey, you're at a board meeting. You know, you might one day become an executive, or Chief Executive Officer of a company. This is good practice, you know, you need to see yourself as sitting at the head of the table. And all these people are here to support your goal. So in, you know, in a way she she calls the shots. Now, of course, there's other skills like negotiating, you don't always get what you what you ask for, you don't always get what you necessarily want. And if you're advocating for getting out of stuff, that could be a problem. But helping you to understand that there's a team there that's there to support her, but is the center of that team, she's the CEO. And that that practice is important through her senior year, because once she goes to college, that's all gone. She gets to be who she gets to be, as she's walking around the college campus. If you, you know, skills, training, socialization with other blind people, that sense of empowerment. Can. It's ironic, and I tell people, I'll give you a little quick example, as a cane travel instructor, people say, Well, I don't want to carry a cane, because it makes me stand out. You know, I don't want to stand out like a sore throat. And what I always say to people is, what you have to understand is, once you master this, this skills with a cane, you blend in the cane becomes actually invisible. It's in that awkward, new, I don't know what I'm doing with this thing, that it seems weird. But not traveling with a cane when you need one looks way more weird. So it's mastering those alternative skills and owning them, to where they become background, and not the first thing you see. So your daughter needs to be seen and appreciated for who she is as an individual, and not the blindness or low vision as the first thing that people notice. But it's a process that she needs to come to understand. Just like we have to understand ourselves as young white woman or young man, or if you know if we belong to a certain nationality. Those are all identity, things that we have to become comfortable with, particularly if we are one of only a few are the only one like that. So it's it's you know, taking some pride in that being around other people like hers, I can't emphasize that enough. And, you know, then that'll allow her personality to shine beyond the disability. It's not easy. It's I don't it there's no way I could make it sound like it's, you know, it'll be done by Thursday. But it is a process. And so I don't know if you can appeal to her in terms of maybe the IEP team could set aside some time where she starts the meeting, laid out her goals, what she would like to see come from it, and where she could have the last word at the end of the IEP meeting, so that no matter what happens in the middle, she can have the first word and the last word. K Banks Maurice, I have something to add. Sure. One thing that helped my daughter and her IPS is having a blind adult mentor present. The attitudes of the IEP team can sometimes be just not the best. They can be a little your children, we they talk a lot about strengths and weaknesses and they seem to only focus on the weaknesses. And I've noticed that kids can be infantilized in these meetings as well. Um, what I've personally noticed is when you put an adult blind mentor in the room, people's attitudes about blindness change significantly. So if that's something that you have access to, or if you'd like, help finding a blind mentor in your area, feel free to reach out and we can help you with that. Unknown Speaker Fortunately, we do have a blind mentor that comes to our meetings. And I have found that our team does not change their attitude and in fact can be quite rude. Oh, who are blind mentors? I've actually had Melissa riccobono attend a meeting by phone and they hung up on her. Unknown Speaker Oh, no. Unknown Speaker Yeah, yeah, that's a thing. Unknown Speaker Oh, K Banks well, I would suggest maybe having her spend some time with Melissa. And you know, maybe they could spend some time together and that would help her to just know a story. I'm a strong enroll mentor. That just makes up breaks my heart. And I'm so sorry to hear Unknown Speaker that. And we have we have our local president attend every meeting, who is a strong blind adult, and I do absolutely like I, I find that that is so important to have her as a great mentor. But it is so disheartening when they tend to infantile, like, I can't see that word. I'm sorry. I hope you know what I mean. Unknown Speaker Yeah, Unknown Speaker they do that to Debbie herself. And she is a blind adult. And I'm just like, I want to grab these people and shake them and be like, you can't treat people like this. Unknown Speaker Yeah, um, Unknown Speaker no, no, no, K Banks no, you're gonna had I was I was moving on to another question Unknown Speaker was okay. I just, I don't want to be remissed. And in mentioning that we have a career mentoring program that is available to your children, if you're caring if your daughter's in Maryland, she she can sign up to become a mentee. And what that will do is offer to her blind adults that can work through some of these things with her, as well as other mentees. There's a online application, it's an epi.org slash mentee application. Unknown Speaker Number one, Maryland, where Pardon? Is that Maryland because we're not. Unknown Speaker It's right now it's in Maryland, Nebraska, and Mississippi. But we are hoping to expand to other states like Illinois. And there's some things that we're going to be adding to that so that we will be expanding the program. Yeah. And I would love to be more in touch with you and see if there's some some things that we can do, I guess, while you're in Maryland. Also, if you're blind, like the zit Haley from Massachusetts, you can be a blind mentor. We're always looking for good blind mentors as well. And that's an epi.org slash mentor application. It's one more way that we help support our young our young people and help them develop those advocacy skills and help to see themselves as blind people who are normal that this is this is normal. K Banks Okay, Maria, I'm Kathy Dyson made a comment. My name is Kathy Dyson. And I'm a transition counselor, state of Illinois. Prior to an IEP meeting, I meet with students and we prepare a PowerPoint. And when it is time to address transition in the IEP, the student becomes a leader and addresses their transition goals. If the student struggles, I assist the student. This gives the student summary on responsibility and ownership of the IEP. Unknown Speaker So that's awesome. We need you in other states. That's a good approach. That's the approach. K Banks I I have one question. Before we anything we noticed when we started transition that VR, like, like to have like a one size fits all approach to transition. And we quickly learned through blind mentors and other parents that have gone through transition, you could ask for things that VR doesn't offer willingly. Um, what are some things that a parent can ask VR for that you may not think of right off the bat, like for example, we we asked VR to pay for the step program in Louisiana for our daughter and with a little bit of women with a little bit of finagling we got that done. Um, they've also paid for some technology for her. But what are some other things that VR might help a family with? If they just ask Unknown Speaker the question and it's definitely going to be unique to the child and the child's needs. But any of these programs, these transition programs, or these summer youth programs are going to be worth every every cent spent. Because they do transform lives. You know, the changes you'll see, maybe gradually, but but they, they they are transformative. So services, that's one thing in terms of equipment, and again, it's hard. It can't give a one size fits all answer, but anything that supports literacy, so it's Braille. It's keyboarding skills, computer skills. One good rule of thumb is what are the other classmates do to the Using How can you get your child access to that same technology? Have Be it? You know, is it software that needs to be purchased? Is it a screen reader? Is it you know, so making sure that they're on par age appropriate and that they are having the same access to the same to the materials that their classmates are having. And if their classmates are given a, you know, a Chromebook, or, or iPad or whatever it is, you know, making sure the technology is there that makes course in iPads already accessible, but but make sure that they have are have access, it's on par with their classmates. That again, that might be software that might be hardware. Yeah. K Banks Awesome. Well, I'd like to thank you, Mr. Pray Unknown Speaker for K Banks the participation and, and being here for our families. I think you answered a lot of our questions and made a lot of folks feel better about transition. I know I Unknown Speaker appreciate it. I'm on staff with the NFB. I'd love to talk with anyone offline if that if people would like to do that. And I sincerely hope that the next time we do this, it will be in person. K Banks Oh, me too. And would you like to share your email list or pray or wait, Unknown Speaker I would be happy. Sure. I am at m as in Maurice. paray. That's p e r. e t and then tom@nfb.org. There's another parade that works is john parade. He's the good looking one. Don't make that mistake. Says MPR et@nfb.org. K Banks Okay, well, thank you so much. Unknown Speaker My pleasure. Thanks, everyone. Enjoy the convention. K Banks Just so everyone knows. In op bc general session will start in the the room that you came from. Before you came into this session, I don't have the number. I'm sorry, I should have written it down. But I didn't. But um, that session starts at three o'clock. So I thank everybody for coming and enjoy the rest of your convention. Thank you, Kimberly. You're welcome. Thank Unknown Speaker you. Thank you, both of you, Unknown Speaker everybody. Unknown Speaker So when you're solving for one Transcribed by https://otter.ai