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News from District 7

District 7 – Lakeland office, would like to announce that Marc Grosskopf, VR Counselor, has received great news- Marc has passed the CRC exam and now has the distinguished honor of the title of Certified Rehabilitation Counselor, effective 11/1/2010.  He has also received his Masters Degree in Rehabilitation Counseling, from the University of Arkansas, Little Rock.  He graduated May 15, 2010.  Marc has been employed with DBS for 24 years.  Moving to Central Florida from the Miami area, Marc has been providing vocational rehabilitation services to our clients in Polk, Citrus and Hardee Counties for the past 18 years.  Congratulations on your accomplishments. We are proud of you!

Update on Hadley

By Randy Morgan and Kate Streit

Since the last article in the DBS Newsletter, there have been a few changes that I would like to bring to your attention:

  1. The Finding Employment course is not only available for free CEUs from ACVREP, but it has also been approved for 8 continuing education hours by the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification.
  2. Seminars@Hadley currently has 6 archived seminars available for one CEU each approved by ACVREP and Hadley has decided to waive the $25 fee for those who live in Florida.  New Seminars will be added as well.
  3. Hadley is in the process of developing a School of Business and Entrepreneurship.   This should prove to be of great interest to the field of Vocational Rehabilitation.  One course of interest in particular is called, “Self-Employment with a Minimal Investment” with a goal of assisting those people with a visual impairment who have self-employment as a goal. 
  4. Hadley has received two grants for the Development of Braille Music Reading courses.
  5. Hadley is developing a course in Personality Psychology. 
  6. Several courses are in development and will be available in January, 2011.  These are courses to provide training for those who rely on speech output, and are described below. 

Training to Improve Access Technology Skills for Screen Reader Users:
These are three new, structured and practical online courses designed to improve user access technology skills for users of screen readers.  Each course consists of two lessons:
The first course, “Screen Readers:  Listening Skills,” trains users to increase their speed of listening to a screen reader.  This provides training to help promote listening skills such as being able to listen and comprehend a screen reader at 300 words or more a minute.  It also provides lessons on being able to listen to your screen reader and listen to another person on the phone.  This skill lends itself to success in most work places. 

The second course, “Screen Readers:  Web Browsing,” is about navigating websites.  This course has lessons that provide tips and advice on the best methods to navigate very accessible websites as well as those that present more accessibility challenges.  Having the ability to navigate the web efficiently and skillfully is crucial to educational and workplace success.

The third course, “Screen Readers:  Editing and Formatting Word Documents,” is aimed at sharpening the user's skill in Microsoft Office 2007.  It provides training on improving ability to recognize the formatting of documents while using a screen reader and editing the document in a professional manner.  Often the skill to recognize editing issues with a screen reader can be difficult, but this could be the difference in success on the job or in class.  These courses begin in 2011.  Please visit www.hadley.edu to register.

Stocking Stuffers

The Florida Center for the Blind, in Ocala, is pleased to announce a Valentine Luncheon at the Hilton on February 14.  Tickets will make a wonderful stocking stuffer.  Good Food and entertainment are planned.  Everyone is invited to bring the ones they love for the theme, “Love Is.”  Tickets are $25.00 per person.  For more information call FCB at: 352-873-4700.  The luncheon will be from 11:30 to 1:30, and includes a raffle for many great prizes, door prizes, as well as entertainment.  Lunch will be served at 12 noon.

End Zone

We hope you found this month’s newsletter interesting and enlightening.  Remember, we need your submissions each month.  Let us know what’s going on in your district or facility.  The publication date for the Inside DBS newsletter should be the tenth of each month.  The deadline for submissions is the fifth of each month.  Comments, suggestions, and submissions should be directed to:

Ashley Evans
Email:  Ashley.Evans@dbs.fldoe.org
Phone:  (850) 245-0310

Additional useful links and telephone numbers:

MIS Help Desk:
Phone:  (850) 245-0360
Email:  DBS.HelpDesk@dbs.fldoe.org

AWARE Help Desk:
Phone:  (850) 245-0395 or 1-866-841-0912
Email:  Aware.Support@dbs.fldoe.org

Division of Blind Services Website:  https://dbs.fldoe.org


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