All About Me Mystery Party

How do you describe your child to others? During our December 7th Mystery Party via Zoom, we shared ways you can create an “All About Me” book about your child, from a simple one-page snapshot to a book you can publish on your computer.   Here are some ideas from the parents who attended. Download our one-page template HERE. 

Silver Award Girl Scout Troop #60035

We’re thankful for Girl Scout Troup #60035! For their Silver Award, they made 10 sensory boards, 10 toy bars and 11 book bags and presented them to A Shared Vision’s families during the troop’s December 4th meeting in Aurora, CO.

A Shared Vision parents were touched by these gifts. “This brought tears to my eyes. What a sweet and thoughtful project!” Useful, too! Very young children with blindness or a visual impairment learn using all their senses. The sensory boards and toy bars encourage them to reach out and interact with their environment. Book bags include the book and objects related to the story so they can understand the words by listening to the story and/or touching the objects.

Click HERE to view more pictures!

Girl Scout Troup #60035 with (front row, left to right) Emerie and Lashawn, Maggie Tutt (teacher), Janet Anderson (teacher), Jozie, Kyle, Sara, and siblings.

It's a Horse, of Course!

A Shared Vision's families met the miniature horses from McNicholas Miniatures on Saturday, September 17, 2022.

2021 Annual Impact Report

This 2021 Impact Report is dedicated to the 215 families in Colorado whom we supported last year. While our operating model flexed, these families were our constant, our raison d'être. We held to our mission of educating, inspiring, and empowering families to nurture the development of their very young children who are blind or visually impaired so all children may discover their brightest future. Click HERE to learn more!

Vision Screening 2022!

EI Colorado awarded A Shared Vision the contract to update the state’s vision screening protocol as we begin returning to in-person evaluations.

The updated protocol for 2022 supports evaluations conducted in person, via telehealth, as well as a hybrid approach. Training for EI Evaluators, as well as CCB professionals and providers, is now available! To review modules and upcoming dates, click HERE.

During the pandemic, we greatly increased the awareness of the number of children with unidentified visual impairments. From 2019 through 2021, the occurrence of vision concerns for children in early intervention increased 49%! This compares to a 1% decline in the occurrence of all other services during the same period including developmental intervention, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology.

Still Unidentified and Under Served

From a benchmark study with our sister states, we know Colorado identifies and serves far fewer children with visual impairments than our sister states in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. This training is another big step forward to help all pediatric professionals find and serve these children.

Podcast with Paula Landry, Co-founder and EI-TVI

Episode 12 (Coast to Coast Series): Paula Landry, "Let your child write their own story without your preconceived ideas of what they can do."

BEST Together's April 4 podcast featured A Shared Vision's co-founder Paula Landry, who shares her journey as a parent of a child with a visual impairment and her leadership with A Shared Vision and the early intervention community in Colorado.

Click to Listen

Adult Learning in Early Intervention Webinar
Teaching a Child's First Teacher

How do you teach a child's first teacher?! While the focus of early intervention is to improve a child's developmental outcomes, a provider's energies and efforts focus on the child’s caregivers. We are teachers and coaches for parents, not teachers and therapists for the children. Our goal is to enable caregivers to be effective first teachers – to be consciously competent about how to support the unique needs of their child.

How can providers become more effective at teaching adults who have different learning styles and preferences? A Shared Vision’s co-founders Paula Landry and Steven Lindauer share answers during a March 3 webinar sponsored by the Western Regional Early Intervention Conference.

83% rating

“Great information shared in a short amount of time. The handout is invaluable!”

Click the button below to view the 2-hour webinar and to download the webinar slides, handouts for providers' ongoing use, captioned text, and participant chat, as well as a synopsis of the webinar and learning objectives.

Click to View Webinar

Vision Screening via Telehealth

How is Colorado identifying and supporting children who are blind or visually impaired during the pandemic?

A Shared Vision’s co-founders Paula Landry and Steve Lindauer, along with Tanni Anthony, shared vision screening best practices during an Outreach Coffee Hour session presented by the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired and the Western Regional Intervention Conference.

View Recording

A Shared Vision's Kimala Rein Teaches Infant Massage

Malachi's Vision Therapist passed along information last week about daily learning opportunities for kids with vision impairments, parents and providers through the organization 'Paths to Literacy.'

Today, we both joined a class on Infant Massage -- something I've wanted to learn for a while now. Because of Malachi's paralysis, we do leg massage and stretches daily, but now, I have better technique! Malachi also seemed to enjoy it 💛"

Let's Make Music Together!

A Shared Vision hosted its first music therapy class on March 7. The families who attended banged a big drum, shook egg maracas and strummed guitars. They sang simple rhymes with Amanda Bryant, the music therapist leading the class. They learned how music stimulates all their senses, sometimes calming them down or making them more curious. While we have cancelled future in-person classes for the time being, stay tuned for other music offerings this year. Click HERE for more pictures of the event.

PUMPKIN PATCH FRIENDS!

A Shared Vision hosted 30 family members - children, parents, grandparents and siblings - for a fun sensory learning experience in Washington Park, Denver on September 28. Parents donned sleep shades and explored the world of their children with visual impairments.  Children with visual impairments and their siblings also practiced orientation and mobility concepts in an impromptu pumpkin patch.

Special thanks to The Allstate Foundation for their financial support that allows us to host these wonderful events.

This was our first time coming to an A Shared Vision Family Fun Day and our family loved it!"

This event was awesome. I really like how we had to describe things without being able to see them!"