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June 2006 |
ImPAct MDVI Seminar - Beyond the Classroom
A Comenius 2.2 European In-service will take place in Italy in
2006. Learn to use this teacher's planning process to facilitate
learning in real life situations for children and young people with
MDVI. Visit
www.impact-mdvi.org or download the
following pdf files:
pdf 1:
Seminar Information
pdf 2:
Supplementary Information
European funding available under Socrates Comenius Action 2.2
Steering Group Meeting in Prague:
The Network's Steering Group met at the High School for
Visually Impaired Students in Prague at the end of May 2006. The key
decisions from the meeting were:
- St Joseph's School for the Visually
Impaired, Dublin, Ireland will attend the ICEVI World Conference
in Kuala Lumpa in July 2006. The School will present the
findings of the School to Resource Centre Project as well as
representing MDVI Euronet. A representative from the Royal Blind
School, Edinburgh, Scotland, will also attend.
- New Workshops:
- Music Workshop hosted by VBS Wuerzburg.
- Physio/SLT/OT Therapist meeting in Italy, hosted by Lega Del
Filo d'Oro.
- Second Assessment workshop hosted by Ekeskolan Resourcentre,
Orebro, Sweden with focus on CVI and MDVI.
- Major Project:
A group will meet in Dublin in September 2006 to develop a new
project which will address the priority areas of new population
and early intervention under the Comenius Action.
Grundtvig 2 Application Submitted:
The Network has submitted its application to the EU for a
Grundtvig 3 project. The project is called MDVI Active (Active
and Creative Transition for Inclusion Through Vocational
Training and Education).
The project will focus on key the areas of:
a. communication, mobility and daily living skills;
b. personal and social skills, relationships, self-esteem and
imagination;
c. work in all its forms.
Workgroups will be formed to explore issues in each of the above
3 areas as the first step towards greater cooperation between
partners through transnational projects.
Nine EU partner countries are involved.
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|
April 2006 |
MDVI Euronet ImPAct MDVI Seminar - Beyond the Classroom
A seminar for teachers interested in learning about the project's
approach to help young people with MDVI become more involved in real
life situations has been announced. The seminar, for which Comenius
2.2 Individual Grants are available, will take place in Italy in
October. More information and registration details can be found on
the project's website at
www.impact-mdvi.org.
Grundtvig 2: Learning Partnership
A preparatory meeting was held in Rome in early February 2006.
Organisations from 8 different European nations were represented.
The aim of the group is to redefine the concept of work.
MDVI Euronet: Annual Meeting in Prague
The annual steering group meeting for the network will be held
in Prague in late May. This will be hosted by the School for
Visually Impaired Students.
Contacts with Other Comenius Groups
In February 2006, representatives from MDVI Euronet were
delighted to be able to meet up with another Comenius 1 group
working in the field of visual impairment. The meeting took place at
Spermalie in Bruges. MDVI Euronet wish the group well with their
project and look forward to hearing more about their work once it is
published.
MDVI Euronet Newsletter
The latest newsletter from MDVI Euronet is now available for
download. |
|
November 2005 |
MDVI Euronet Vocational Education Project
A meeting was held in Paris in September to discuss the
development of a new MDVI Euronet project addressing issues
surrounding employment and word for young people with MDVI. |
| September
2005 |
MDVI Euronet at ICEVI Europe Conference 2005
MDVI Euronet was pleased to be able to present two papers at the
recent ICEVI European Conference held in Chemnitz in August 2005.
Brain Allen from St Joseph's School for Visually Impaired, Dublin,
presented an overview of the work of MDVI Euronet including its aims
and objectives. Iain Prain from the Royal Blind School, Edinburgh,
followed Brian's presentation with an update on the School to
Resource Centre project and ImPAct MDVI.
In addition to these two papers, the network presented a poster at
the conference and met with many professionals from countries with
whom the network has had no contact until now. The network also
distributed the new MDVI Euronet lapel pin which was proudly worn by
many delegates by the end of the conference.
New Vocational Training Project Meeting in Paris
Representatives from Denmark,
Ireland, Sweden, Italy, Poland, Finland and Scotland will meet in
September in Paris to discuss the next MDVI Euronet project which
will focus on the Vocational Training Priority Area. The project
under discussion is called 'Redefining Work for MDVI Young People".
New Contacts - Invitation
Both at the Chemnitz Conference and through this web site MDVI
Euronet has come into contact with representatives from a number of
new countries. These include Croatia, Lithuania and Latvia.
The network was also pleased to meet teachers from other schools
with students with MDVI who are also participating in Socrates
Comenius 1 projects. The network is currently building a
database of contacts which will be published on this web site in the
coming month or so. If you would like to have a formal relationship
with the network please use the enquiry form and we'll get back to
you. |
| |
| May 2005 |
School to Resource Centre: this three year project is now
entering its final phase with dissemination seminars being held at partner schools. The results of the project will be
available for download from this website shortly. However, a CD rom containing PDF versions of the findings is
now available from St
Joseph's School in Dublin. To ask for a CD, please email St Joseph's
directly using the link on the Members page.
ImPAct MDVI: Project tutors have introduced participating
teachers and other staff to the assessment forms which are the
foundation of this planning system. The results of this year's
work will be evaluated at the meeting of the tutors which takes
place in Osimo in May. Also on the agenda is the launch of the
ImPAct MDVI project website. This is now complete. Please check back
very soon for details on how to find the site.
MDVI Euronet Steering Group Meeting: This will follow
directly on from the ImPAct MDVI tutors meeting mentioned above.
MDVI Euronet Staff Exchange Programme:
The network has established an exchange programme
whereby staff can spend up to one week working with a colleague from
another network member organisation. This programme is low budget in
that host schools make provision for accommodation and subsistence
for the visiting member of staff whilst the home school pays for
transport costs. Staff working in fields as diverse as music
therapy, assessment, craft, design and technology have already
participated in the exchange programme. Applications have already
been received for new study visits which are being processed at this
moment in time. |
| |
| October
2004 |
Update on Activities.
My word, October already! Following the summer holidays MDVI
Euronet members have been busy with their Comenius projects:
ImPAct MDVI: the coordinators of this project met in
September to complete the initial preparatory phase. Here is an
update from Project Coordinator, Isabel Amaral: 'The group reviewd
work that has been done in each country regarding the adaptation of
the 5-step model (the model that the group agreed to adapt). The
group also discussed the difficulties that each member experienced
in the use of the forms designed in Norway and agreed some changes.'
Isabel continues, 'Each participating country will now start
training teachers and gathering data for model evaluation. Such data
also contributes to the development of the final booklet. The group
meets again in May 05 to review results of training and ongoing
support to teachers.'
School to Resource Centre: the partner schools for this
project held their annual project planning meeting. This year it was
hosted by Ekeskolan Resourcentre/Vision, Orebro, Sweden. This
project has now entered into its final year. Activities will focus
on each school examining how one element of the Special School (VI)
National Resource Centre Model could be put into practice. In
addition, a series of dissemination forums have been agreed on.
Battens Conference: changes to the format of the Battens
Conference which is being organised by Resourcentre Vision/Ekeskolan
have been announced. Please visit the conference website for further
information. Click
here to go to the website.
ICEVI Europe: Partners from MDVI Euronet will be attending
and presenting papers at the 2005 Conference in Chemnitz in August.
More information about this important conference can be found at the
ICEVI Europe web site.
Vocational Training Workshop: members of the network met in
Copenhagen in September to discuss the possibility of a vocational
training workshop to be hosted by the ARLA Institute in Helsinki
next spring. Possible topics include:
- sharing experiences: successes and problem
- Models of vocational training Used at ARLA and elsewhere
- Planning, ideas for future activities and co-operation and a
possible Comenius project.
- Future visits.
New MDVI Euronet Flyer: available for download here:
Page 1
Page 2 |
| |
| June 2004 |
First Announcement of Conference on Battens.
Pedagogy 2006: First International Pedagogical Conference on
Battens Disease. Download details
here. |
| |
| May 2004 |
Despite the lack of updates, we have been busy at MDVI Euronet. Here
is a brief summary of what we have been up to over the past 5
months:
February: School as a Resource Centre Project Forums.
The activity for this project focuses on a series of forums which
will examine what services should be developed by a special school
resource centre. In February, the High School for Visually Impaired
Students, Prague, examined the area of ICT and Access Technology.
Later in the same month, St Joseph's School for Visually Impaired
Students in Dublin looked at Family Services and Educational
Resource Production.
March: The forums continued this month with Resourcentre
Vision in Orebro investigating the provision required in the area of
assessment.
April: The final forum was hosted by the Royal Blind School
in Edinburgh in April. The themes under investigation were
Activities for Daily Living (Independent Living Skills and
Orientation and Mobility) and Teacher Training.
April also saw the second project meeting for our Comenius 2 project
ImPAct MDVI. This meeting took place in Norway and focused on the
preparation of curriculum and pedagogical materials which will be
trialled by the project.
May: The annual meeting of MDVI Euronet's Steering Group was
hosted by Eberhard Fuchs at the Blindeninstitutsstiftung, Wurzburg,
Germany. Topics discussed included:
- The development of new projects to address the area of new
population and vocational training.
- The establishment of a staff exchange programme.
- New workshops
- Presentation at the ICEVI Europe Conference in Chemnitz 2005.
- Expanding membership and facilitating ways in which new members
can participate in activities. |
| |
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School to Resource Centre Project
The Department for Education and Skills in England and Wales
have been examining the future of special schools. They have
published the executive summary of the report which outlines the
findings of the consultations. It is a worthwhile read for those
interested in this topic. The report can be downloaded from:
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations2/04/ |
| |
| NOVEMBER
2003 |
Project ImPAct MDVI
The Royal Blind School (Canaan Lane Campus) hosted the first
meeting of the ImPAct MDVI group between 6 and 8 November 2003. Work
is now well underway for preparing the first tutor training course
which will be held in Norway at Easter 2004. |
School to Resource Centre Project
St Joseph's School organised the second year planning meeting
for the Comenius 1 project. The final model of a European School for
the Visually Impaired Resource Centre was agreed. Each partner will
now develop one or two elements of the services identified for
presentation at a study forum. As well as the project partners, Paul
Holland of the West of England and Jude Thompson of Dorton House
schools also participated.
The project also features in Comenius Now, a publication by the
British Council as well as in a new Web site developed by the
Council for the Department of Education and Skills (England and
Wales): (http://www.globalgateway.org.uk/).
Catch up with MDVI Euronet in ICEVI Europe's latest newsletter at:
http://www.icevi-europe.org/enletter/issue25.html |
| |
| September
2003 |
Project
ImPAct MDVI
We have received the excellent news that MDVI Euronet's flagship
project ImPAct MDVI has been approved by the EU for Comenius 2
funding. We are obviously delighted about this. Brief details
about this project can be found on this website under the link
Themes and Projects, but more details will follow.
School to
Resource Centre Project
We were also equally pleased to receive the news during the
summer that our Comenius 1 School Development Project has been
approved for a second year's funding. Details of the first
year's activities are now available for viewing on the Scottish
Sensory Centre's website
here. The SSC website is a great place to find articles on
issues related to the education of deaf and/or visually impaired
young people.
This project will also feature in the forthcoming issue of
Comenius News which is produced by the Central Bureau in the UK. |
| |
| June 2003 |
School to
Resource Centre Web site
We have published details of the first year of work on our
Comenius 1 project. Of special interest for those working with
young people with Batten's Disease is a short report prepared by
Royal Blind School staff visiting Resourcentre Vision/Ekeskolan
which is to be found under the link to Project Activities for
Year 1. Click
here to access the Web site directly.
School to
Resource Centre Project
Confirmation that the Comenius 1 School to Resource Centre project has been approved for renewal by the
Swedish National Agency.
International Conference on Computers Helping People with
Special Needs
This conference will take place in 7-9 July 2004 in Paris.
For more information visit
www.icchp.org |
|
| MAY
2003 |
Annual Meeting
MDVI Euronet Coordinators held their annual planning meeting in Prague with members attending from the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Sweden with contributions received from England and Portugal.
The meeting provided the opportunity for members to be updated on progress on the Network’s 2 Comenius projects as well as the chance to preview the new Web site. Future work plans agreed at the meeting include continuing the programme of workshops started last year with a second session focusing once again on assessment issues. Other workshops which will be developed will address vocational training, active learning, leisure activities as well as MDVI and computer technology. In addition, the Network has committed itself to examining the practicality of establishing a lecture circuit as well as an additional project to address the priority theme of Early Intervention and Family Support.
Athens Youth Declaration
Read the declaration made by participants of the European
Youth Conference "Towards a Barrier Free Europe for Young People
with Disabilities"
here.
Message from Patrizia Ceccarani of the Lega del Filo d'Oro
Since 2002, the Lega del Filo d'Oro has been taking part in the "Gendeaf" project on genetic research which has been financed by the European Union. The project involves doctors, care assistants and institutions in all the European countries. The Lega is part of the working group "Patients Associations Network" whose objective is to establish collaboration and exchange of information among doctors, researchers, patients and their families through the on-line creation and publication of the "Gendeaf News" bulletin. The bulletin, which is translated into English, French, Swedish and German, is aimed at increasing knowledge and awareness of the causes of hereditary deafness and the syndromes linked to it in order to establish a foundation for future treatment and rehabilitation programmes. You can read no. 0 of the Bulletin and the other issues to be published during 2004 at the address:
www.gendeaf.org (are also available in a form accessible to those with sight and hearing problems). I would be grateful if you would pass the information on to other people or institutions you think could be interested and I would also be interested in having your opinion on how we can improve the exchange of information on the topics covered by the Gendeaf Project. |
|
| APRIL
2003 |
| The Network received confirmation that the Comenius 1 School to Resource Centre project has been approved for renewal by the National Agencies of Scotland and the Czech Republic. We await the decision of the Swedish and Irish agencies. |
|
| MARCH 2003 |
Download
Newsletter #5
(PDF) |
School to Resource Centre Project: Third Preparatory Visit
The third study visit was hosted by Resourcentre Vision/Ekeskolan in
Orebro, Sweden. The themes under investigation were: Early Intervention, Pedagogical Assessment, Visual Assessment, Family Support for Children with Batten's Disease, Orientation and Mobility for Children and Youth with MDVI. |
MDVI Newsletter
Read our latest newsletter with full details of the December 2002 MDVI Euronet workshop. |
MDVI Euronet Meeting Date Announced
The next meeting of MDVI Euronet has been scheduled to take place between 21-25 May 2003 in Prague. |
Project ImPAct MDVI
The application was submitted to the European Commission in time for the 1 March 2003 deadline. |
|
|
FEBRUARY 2003 |
Download Newsletter
# 4 (PDF) |
School to Resource Centre Project: Second Study Visit
The project's second study visit was hosted by the High School for Visually Impaired Students in Prague. The focus of this visit was to examine potential resource centre provision in the areas of: orientation and mobility, ICT, Visual Assessment, Teaching of Art and Early Intervention |
Newsletter 4
Read our latest newsletter which includes a report on our work in Lisbon last February. |
Accessing the Environment Project: Second Preparatory Visit
A second preparatory visit was held in Lisbon with delegates from participating organisations meeting to finalise the application. Isabel has kindly agreed to coordinate the project with organisations from Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Norway and Portugal represented in the project. The project has been renamed:
ImPAct MDVI. |
|
|
JANUARY 2003 |
Download Newsletter
# 3 (PDF) |
School to Resource Centre Project: First Study Visit
The Royal Blind School hosted the first study visit. Delegates from Ireland, Sweden and the Czech Republic spent one week at the school learning about the school's activities in Early Intervention, Staff Training, Family Support and Assessment Procedures. |
|
|
DECEMBER 2002 |
Download Newsletter
# 2 (PDF) |
Accessing the Environment Project
First preparatory meeting for MDVI Euronet's second Comenius project. This new project will address the theme of Accessing the Environment for children and young people with MDVI. The meeting was hosted by Patrizia Ceccarani of Lega del Filo d'Oro in Osimo, Italy. Attending the meeting were Isabel Amaral (Portugal), Iain Prain (Scotland), Audrey Farrelly (Ireland) and Bengt Elmerskog and Jon Tellevik from Norway. |
First MDVI Euronet Workshop
December saw the first network workshop which was held at the Resourcentre Vsion/Ekeskolan in Orebro, Sweden. The workshop examined the assessment of children and young people with MDVI providing an opportunity to meet and share good practice in relation to the aims, methods and practical consequences of the assessment process. The workshop was attended by delegates from 9 different European countries. Further details are given in MDVI Newsletter number 5. |
|
|
NOVEMBER 2002 |
Download Newsletter
# 1 (PDF) |
|
First planning meeting for School to Resource Centre project held in Edinburgh. |
|
| JULY 2002 |
|
First planning meeting for School to Resource Centre project held in Edinburgh. |
|
MDVI Euronet Poster Presentation at ICEVI 2002 in the Netherlands |
|
| JUNE 2002 |
|
More Approval For School to Resource Centre Project |
|
MDVI Euronet's first Comenius 1 project has now received national approval from Ireland. Great
news. |
New Email Address
For general enquiries regarding the work of MDVI Euronet you can use our new email address
info@mdvi-euronet.org |
|
| MAY 2002 |
Meet MDVI Euronet at the ICEVI Conference in The Netherlands
MDVI Euronet members will be presenting a poster at the 11th ICEVI World Conference in Noordwijkerhout in The Netherlands between the 27 July and 2 August 2002. We will be delighted to meet you there to discuss the work of our group. |
Resource Centre Project Gains National Approval
MDVI Euronet's first Comenius 1 development project has now gained approval at national level from the UK, Sweden and Czech Republic. We are still waiting to hear from the fourth national agency, Ireland, but we are confident that this project will commence next August. Read about the aims of this project in the Network Themes section of this Web site. |
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