Speakers

Abigale Stangl, Research Assistant and PhD Student- ATLAS Institute at the University of ColoradoIn this session Abigale will discuss the trade-offs and use cases for using 3D printers to make tactile pictures. Abigale and her research team have investigated the opportunities associated with using digital fabrication methods to make accessible tactile materials.

Aksinja Kermauner, PhD., assistant professor at the University of PrimorskaWith what elements of tactile image can the reader get into interaction, what attracts her or his attention, what is the order of touching the tactile image, how do the composition and different materials affect it? Aksinja have carried out a research where she focused on the tactile semiotic code with tactile illustrations.

Anders Rönnbäck and Kia Johansson, advisors at The Swedish National Agency of Special Needs Education and SchoolsIn this session you will learn how to strengthen tactile decoding by using a certain training program. How you as a teacher can use this program to change students reading behavior and attitude.

Ann Blokland, Senior Curator of Education at The Van Gogh MuseumIn 2015 the Van Gogh Museum launched Feeling Van Gogh, a special programme for blind and partially sighted visitors and their sighted friends, family and companions. In this session Ann will talk about how they worked with setting up the programme.

Ann Cunningham, owner at Sensational Books, art teacher at the Colorado Center for the Blind and tactile artistIn this session you will learn about techniques to reach beyond the glass: How to use an iPad to make information more accessible. How to interact within the space to explore the objects on display and how to make raised line images of the objects as you experience them.

Ann Cunningham, Tactile Artist and Educator and Abigale Stangl, PhD StudentIn this session you will learn how you can create opportunities for people with visual impairments to create their own tactile learning materials. The speakers will also present universal design strategies for teaching multimodal composition to people with visual impairments.

Ann Jönsson, Project Manager at the Nordic Centre for Welfare and Social Issues”To be able to see a little bit, like I can, means that you are living in a kind of borderland. You are neither blind nor sighted.” In this presentation Ann will tell you about her life experiences and the challenges you face when you have two written languages.

Ann M. Conefrey, independent graphic designerIn this session Ann will demonstrate how multi-disciplinary collaborations and engagement with visually disabled can increase the quality for design. You will learn about materials and techniques, such as embossing, screen printing, laser, 3D printing and digital applications and how they can lead to new interesting tactile design solutionsAnneli Embe, Special education teacher at the National agency for Special Needs Education and SchoolsIn this session you will learn about the possibilities and difficulties in including art education. The findings from this qualitative study reveals how creative tasks in art can support the memory and the acquisition of knowledge among students with visual impairment. Anneli will also discuss the consequences for students when art teacher lacks further training.

Anneli Veispak, Ph. D.Anneli Veispak is currently a postdoctoral research fellow in the faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences (Parenting and Special Education Research Unit) at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven) in Belgium. Anneli defended her doctoral dissertation at KU Leuven in 2012 having previously studied cognitive neuroscience at the University of Amsterdam and special education at the Tallinn University in Estonia.

Ans Withagen, Dr. at the Royal Dutch VisioOn the basis of what our senses tell us we build ‘concepts’. These help us understand the world. Conceptualization, as this process is called, does not take place in quite the same way in blind children as in sighted children.

Astrid Kristin Vik, Senior Adviser / Ph.D. and Jorun Hauge, Senior Adviser at StatpedThis presentation will focus on experiences from how pupils are introduced to braille and supported in their literacy development.The presentation will also focus on the pupils’ legal rights to extra lessons for instruction in braille and the possibilities and challenges related to instruction in an inclusive context.

Benjamín Júlíusson and Helga Björg RagnarsdóttirBenjamín and Helga will present how they have made it possible to teach math for blind students in the same way as for other students by using the same study material. The blind 1st graders in Iceland are now able to work independently with their math book.

BJ Epstein, M Arch. at the LightHouse for the Blind and Visually ImpairedIn addition to braille and computer literacy, students need a firm foundation in tactile literacy.There is a great need for a general tactile literacy curriculum with supporting tactile graphics training materials. We will cover what works and what does not with tactile graphics, and briefly talk about how to read, comprehend, and create graphical information using the language of lines.

Boguslaw Marek, Ph.D., Order of the British EmpireEvidence from analysis of drawings made by learners with a visual impairment from different cultural backgrounds. In this session you will become acquaint with a set of educational resources facilitating understanding of the relation between 3-dimmensional objects and their 2-dimmensional representations.

Cay Holbrook, Ph. D.M. Cay Holbrook, Ph.D., is Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC, Canada. She is also co-founder of the “Getting in Touch with Literacy” conference.

Colette Pelt, MA, developer at Pelt Tactile Reading and Picture Books PlusIn this session Colette will show a method to be used in the classroom enabling interactive reading for children despite sight loss. All children’s literature should be available for children with a visual impairment, including picture books. This method will show how mainstream popular picture books can be made accessible and how equivalent interactive reading can be achieved.

Dannyelle Valente, Post-doctoral researcher and Edouard Gentaz, Professor at the University of GenevaDannyelle and Edouard will present the first results of a research project that focuses on the development and study of Haptic-Books. This session will give you knowledge in the field of haptic perception and embodied cognition. The speakers will also provide you with new methods and design models of multisensory illustrations in tactile books.

Dorine in ‘t Veld, Product manager at Dedicon EducationalIn the Netherlands students hardly ever read math from printed braille. The math notation they use for reading and writing, is not a braille code, but a kind of (standardized) ‘calculator-language’.

Dr Barry Hughes, Lecturer in Psychology at the University of AucklandBraille reading, like print reading, is a complex skill, engaging but simultaneous perceptual, linguistic, cognitive and motor processing. In this session Barry will describe these differences in order to highlight important modelling issues that they raise.

Edouard Gentaz, Professor at the University of GenevaThe haptic perceptual system integrates cutaneous, proprioceptive and motor information related to exploration movements. We’ll show that this system plays a critical role in cognitive development and the development of the knowledge of their environment in sighted and visually impaired children.

Elena Gastón, teacher at the National organisation of the Spanish blindIn this practical session Elena will present an inclusive method for the teaching of Braille. This presentation should be specially interesting for participants from countries where children with visual impairments are integrated in sighted classes.

Eric de Quartel and Thessa Stevenson-Doosje, teacher at Bartimeus EducationIn this session the speakers will present the BrailleStudio, It´s a unique piece of software, developed to enable people to learn Braille in an interactive and intuitive way. BrailleStudio utilises text to speech technology and a Braille Display, allowing users to read and write Braille independently.

Frances Mary D’Andrea, Ph.D., Educational Consultant and member of the IBraille Challenge teamIn this session you will learn about the iBraille Challenge App. Frances will demonstrate the features of the app. This app will be a great tool for both teachers and parents.

Gro Aasen, Senior Adviser and PhD at StatpedThis presentation will focus on descriptions and evaluations of how tactile symbols and schedules are used among seven children and adolescents who are blind. A special focus will be on how the children read their tactile schedules.

Gun Olsson, Special Education Teacher, Swedish Agency for Accessible MediaWhen a child is born with severe visual impairment the family is in need of support. To give these children the opportunity to become acquainted with books and tactile pictures in early age The Swedish Agency for Accessible Media offer the mini Braille Bag and the Braille Bag. In this presentation you will get an overview of the Braille bag and some thoughts about it.

Gwyneth McCormack, Director at Positive Eye LtdUsing a holistic theme-based approach during the emerging stages of literacy development is an important strategy for children with visual impairment. Gwyneth McCormack will demonstrate how to incorporate pre-braille skills within the child’s emerging stages of literacy development.

Gyntha Goertz, Braille specialist at the Royal Dutch VisioAs a teacher we all know that correct reading and reading speed is important. That also include braille reading. Gyntha Goertz will teach you special skills that helps young Braille pupils improve their reading speed.

Hoëlle Corvest, President of DUGTA AssociationHoëlle have developed training programs for many blind persons and professionals for 20 years. She can testify that the acquisition of the principles of graphical representations brings a palpable joy while discovering the ‘sense’ that is transmitted by tactile images.

Janja Plazar, Ph.D at the University of PrimorskaIn this session, you will learn how you can use tactile science education tools in your education and how it can be beneficial for all children in your class. How a combination of tactile physical model and picture book induces synergistic learning.

Kim de Verdier, Lic. psychologist and PhD student, at SPSM and Stockholm UniversityIn Sweden most braille reading students attend inclusive educational settings, but the support they receive is not yet equal. Kim has carried out a longitudinal study that aimed to describe the students’ experiences of pedagogical support, general school achievement and reading development during compulsory school (grades 1 – 9).

Kim T. Zebehazy, Associate Professor at the University of British ColumbiaIn this session you will learn about the variations in strategies used by students with visual impairments when reading simple to more complex tactile graphics at different grade levels. You will also learn and discuss ways to help students improve problem solving around tactile graphic reading.

Kirsten Rassmus-Gröhn and Charlotte Magnusson from Lund UniversityIn this session you gain knowledge about common accessibility problems with apps and what to look for when evaluating them. What to think about when designing apps for children with visual impairments and examples of how to design app exercises using touch, gestures and sound.

Kristina Elisabeth Steinbock, teacher at IBOS; The Institute for the Blind and Partially Sighted in CopenhagenKristina will talk about her work with young visually impaired pupils and how the implementation of art, poetry and sound opens up for new reflections on their identities and self-perception.

Leona Holloway, Research Assistant at the Monash University3D printing offers a new but relatively unexplored medium for presenting graphics to people who are blind or vision impaired. In this session Leona will present the result of a series of exploratory studies that was made at the Monash University.

Leonoor Soet, Educational Editor and Mieke Urff, Educationalist Special and Inclusive Ed. at Dedicon EducationalIn this presentation you will get an insight in the current situation within the Dutch educational system. The Dutch system allows schools to choose methods and course materials which are suitable for their preferred pedagogy.

Luis González-García, Ph.D. Psychologist at the National Organisation of the Spanish BlindIn this session Luis will present the results of a comparative study on the performance in reading speed and comprehension. The results show that, although the reading speed of the blind group is two-three times slower than that of the sighted people, both groups show similar levels of reading comprehension in braille and ink, respectively.

Mandy Lau, Design engineer & founder of Reach & MatchMandy Lau have carried out a study of the global trend of braille applications, resources for braille learning, and social, physical and cultural barriers that blind children are facing in mainstream settings.

Marc Angelier and Marie Oddoux from the French organization PEP-SRAIn this session you will get best practice of how France work inorder to adapt the French national pre-school curriculum for blind students. Marc and Marie are developing an instructional method, for children in the ages of 2-6, that explains how to use a cell in several different ways in order to develop pre-braille skills.

Ms. Skye Jones and Mrs. Sharon Rattray at South Australian School for Vision ImpairedIn this presentation you will take part of the Braille Butterflies program. How a whole school approach to reading, spelling and writing for Braille and print readers have been developed. Sky and Sharon will demonstrate the importance of delivering a comprehensive literacy program to Braille and print readers simultaneously.

Ole Erik Jevne, Senior Adviser and Oliv Klingenberg, PhD, Senior Adviser at Statped midtSpatial concepts are integrated in our language, as they are vital in both mobility-route training and in mathematical thinking. The speakers will present an educational experiment conducted as a course in mobility and mathematics for pupils who read braille in the sixth and seventh grades.

Philippe CLAUDET, Teacher, founder and director of Les Doigts Qui Rêvent and founder of Typhlo & TactusIn this session you will learn all about tactile illustrated books (TiB) the user experience, the value of using TiB in your education, the complexity of designing a TiB and what new technologies can provide to TiB and your education.

Richa Gupta, PhD Scholar, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, IndiaIn this session Richa will talk about the tactile perception of height variation and their effectiveness in the context of statistical tactile diagrams. You will learn about technologies and techniques that can be used in making three dimensional tactile diagrams.

Riitta Kangasaho and Tuija Piili-Jokinen, Consulting teachers at the Valteri Center for Learning and Consulting, OnervaIn this session you will learn how you can limit the production of tactile images and create sets of images which can be used with books of the same subject. This will facilitate the selection process of tactile images when teachers are picking images for their specific subject and it will also save costs of production and deliveries.

Robert Englebretson, Assoc. Professor of Linguistics, Rice University, USA.Much of the professional and pedagogical literature treats braille as a ’code’, i.e. a rule-based transliteration system for print. However, recent research has suggested that braille is better conceived of as a native ’writing system’. Therefore a disconnect likely exists between many teachers and their students.

Sirli Lellep, special educator-teacher at the Tartu Emajõe SchoolThis session focus on teaching braille to children. Sirli will present a study that might be particular helpful for teachers in pre-schools who have no previous experience of teaching visually impaired children but have a blind child in their class.

Thessa Stevenson-Doosje, teacher at the BartiméusschoolIn this session you will get an overview and in-depth analysis of the potential application of tactile images for educational purposes. Thessa will discuss how the impact of tactile images on learning results was investigated and how tactile images contribute to acquire knowledge of concepts for blind students.

Torbjörn Svensson and Sarah Remgren, project managers of the project KännbartIn this session you will learn how people can meet through art when vision or hearing is not needed. The speakers will talk about their personal experience of deafblindness and how fear comes by ignorance. They will inspire you to have the courage to think outside the box and develop new methods.

Torø Graven, Dr at the University of OxfordIn this session you will learn about the strategies people describe using when discriminating (1) braille characters and (2) shape features, including their ranking of target-discriminating features in order of importance. Torø will discuss how specialised these discrimination strategies are.

Ulrika Vanhoenacker, special education teacher at the National Agency for Special Needs Education and SchoolsUlrika will present a study that aim to highlight how paraeducators work with adaptations in mathematics for 7-9 year old braille reading students. It was a qualitative study where three paraeducators were observed and interviewed.

Yvonne Eriksson, Ph. D.Yvonne Eriksson Professor holding the chair in Information Design at Mälardalen University, Eskilstuna, Sweden and research director for Innovation and Product realization. She received a Ph.D. in Art History at Göteborg University 1998.