Transition Institute Meeting Minutes

9 a.m. CST, February 12, 2014

Participants (in alphabetical order):

Edgenie Bellah, TX

Danna Conn, TN

Jessica Edmiston, AL

Mike Fagbemi, NCDB, HKNC; Presenter

Liz Grantham, MS

Toni Hollingsworth, MS; Presenter

Gail Leslie, NCDB; Presenter

Emily Taylor-Snell, FL; Presenter

Dottie Snyder, NC

Cindy Vail, GA

Martha Veto, GA

Jana Villemez, AZ

Sandra Warren, NC

Joni Whitener, AZ

David Wiley, TX

Note: South Carolina was unable to participate due to inclement weather but contacted Toni Hollingsworth prior to the meeting to provide feedback.

Emily Taylor Snell, Florida:

Emily approached the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind (FSDB) to determine the feasibility of conducting the Transition Institute within the school, sending correspondence and expectations to FSDB for their review (

FSDB indicated that weekend dates would not be feasible, instead suggesting weekdays would be workable, proposing the week of June 23. Upon polling each member individually, the Southeast Teaming Group consensus was that family participation in the summer, during a weekday was viable, suggesting the latter part of the week –conducive to a 2 and 1/2 –day format— might be better.

FSDB also communicated that Security, Dormitory and Cafeteria personnel costs would be budgeted and proposed. Once Emily receives the budget, she may suggest that FSDB consider absorbing these costs as not only co-hosts, but co-sponsors of the event.

Additionally, the University of Florida, where Florida’s deaf-blind initiative is coordinated, will not provide proof of liability insurance. Emily plans to speak with the Florida Department of Education liaison to determine if they wish to collaborate and provide coverage.

FSDB will not be able to provide transportation to and from activities; Emily indicated this would not be an issue.

Likewise, a potential FSDB presenter was discussed who is a FSDB instructor, well-versed in Self-Advocacy and who could possibly present if the Transition Institute was conducted on-campus. Emily will provide potential module information within (

Mike Fagbemi presented on the Transition Tool Kit located on the NCDB website, Divided into five parts, each provided in PDF-format for easy-access.

  1. Pre-Institute Planning
  2. Provides up-front, loaded materials including template budgets, agendas, etc., that will aid an entity in the logistics to host a Transition Institute and/or Parent Weekend.
  1. Communication Access
  2. Provides information related to all the varying types of communication required to ensure effective involvement and access to information from all participants. Examples include visual and tactile interpreters along with sighted guides, large print, Braille and technological accommodations.
  1. Mentors
  2. Building competent and confident young adults who are deaf-blind includes the participation and influence of successful, established young adults who are deaf-blind whether in college or employed. Information is provided to facilitate this integral component.
  1. Institute Content
  2. Built on self-determination, action plans have been developed and are provided with families and appropriate services/activities in mind that will carryover to the Post Review component, which follows.
  1. Post Review
  2. Connecting with young people who are deaf-blind and service providers to determine how their individualized action plans devised during the Transition Institute are being implemented while tracking/reporting outcomes.

With the surplus of information contained within the Transition Tool Kits, an effective “marketing plan” to share the information and their applicability –whether as a Technical Assistance Tool –or as a means to share information regarding state/multi-state projects –needs to be devised. Jessica L. Edmiston, Alabama, offered to put some thoughts together and share with the group.

Mike and Toni also shared that Transition Institute video footage participant and family testimonials exist from 2005 to the present, roughly 30 hours in length. Southeastern Transition Team members have been asked to sign-up to review footage to determine what can be edited, open-captioned and translated into Spanish to post on state/multi-state projects’ websites along with that of NCDB. South Carolina members, who could not attend due to inclement weather, have already signed-up to review footage as have some of the members present.

An idea related to the footage was suggested by Alabama via email, after the meeting, and was approved by the Team:

Regarding the raw video testimonial footage from individuals who are deaf-blind and their families from the Transition Institutes, each roughly 1-2 minutes in length, AIDB’s the Alabama School for the Deaf (ASD) is currently working on space to accommodate $200,000 worth of state-of-the-art video editing equipment. It is our hope that the equipment will be purchased and in place by the end of the academic year. Training will be conducted throughout the summer so that instructors are comfortable with the equipment, with the space fully-operational in August. We were curious if the group might want to send some of the video footage to ASD for students to edit as one of their first projects?

ASD will have the capability to allow any video format to be converted and integrated into one fluid video. That means that if you have VHS, DVD, MP4, etc. we can use whatever you have in the video. This is a huge benefit in that we can use archived video in some updated publications.

Our initial thoughts were to determine the parameters of the group as far as how they wanted the video edited, open-captioned and then take one testimonial to practice on (copy made first to preserve the initial footage) to determine if they liked the edited version and then start with another, etc. or, if other schools/states have similar capabilities, it might be a means to collaborate with others and get more video footage produced at a faster rate, ensuring consistency, of course. I also think the videos and story behind the editing would be one of many unique means to market the Transition Tool Kit.

The logistics involved in coordinating and facilitating the above idea will be discussed in future calls/ADOBE Connect meetings.

Emily, Florida, also reminded the Team to look at the differing Transition Institute topics and blogs from years past created by Angel Perez.

Gail Leslie gave an overview of the Southeast Teaming Group space located within NCDB, ( the goal of which is to provide a group workspace for multi-state collaboration, sharing information with people of common interests.

One must first create a profile within the above link and log-in to continue. Gail explained the various means by which individual can contribute, whether by posting information within the Group Forum, Group Events or Group WIKI tabs/pages. One can upload documents, contact members, and introduce a question/discussion topic. Video cannot yet be uploaded; members are encouraged to share video via DropBox or other similar mechanism.

Toni gave examples of the documents/information currently available within the Southeast Teaming Group space including the Memorandum Of Understanding; Transition 2014 FSDB Correspondence; Parent Conference Call Status; Past Meeting Minutes/Materials; Transition Tool Kit PowerPoint Materials and a Blog Spot.

Gail explained that this web page within a web site can provide a means to share, create and produce data locally to be shared broadly.

The meeting concluded with the next assembly scheduled for 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., February 25 either via Adobe Connect or Conference Call. Emily, Florida, will provide a status report on the feasibility of conducting the Transition Institute within FSDB and if so, Committees and Tasks will be established.

Likewise, since, Toni has uploaded the Transition Institute Pre-Planning Checklist into the Materials section of the NCDB workspace for download. This document will help everyone get started into the various "committees" and allow review the actions and responsibilities of each group ahead of the February 25 meeting so that you are ready to "claim" your role, and ask questions!

Please send any corrections/additions/suggestions for change to these minutes to Toni Hollingsworth, or Jessica L. Edmiston, , and thank you for your support.