Michigan Parents of Children with Visual Impairments (MPVI)
cordially invites you to attend
Our 12th Annual Family Retreat Weekend

Working Together and Face-to-Face

Workshops for Parents on IDEA and other laws affecting special education
Workshops for Youth with Visual Impairments
SibShop for Brothers and Sisters of Children with Disabilities

April 22 - 24, 2005
Bear Lake Camp, Lapeer

supported by:
  Hilton/Perkins Program of Perkins School for the Blind
  Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Grand Rapids
  Capitol Region Community Foundation Grant Program
  Lakeview Elementary School PTA, Grand Rapids
  Greenville Lions Club
  Individual Private Donations

Registration Fee: $50 per family - scholarships available

Registration Deadline: April 1, 2005

Tentative Schedule

Friday, April 22
4-8 PM	Registration
6:00 PM	Supper (cold sandwiches)
7-8:30 PM	Parents - "Building a Community" (Kim Pleiness) Fun activities for all kids, childcare provided
9 PM	Bedtime for younger kids Parent Talk and Snacks Games and Snacks for Teens
11 PM	Bedtime for Teens
Saturday, April 26
7:15 - 8:15AM	Breakfast and Registration
8:30 AM	Parents: Betsy Brint - IDEA and IEPs - What you need to know, and Notebook session with administrators and advocates from around Michigan. Students with Visual Impairments: Karen McCulloh or Activities Siblings (age 6 and over): Kim Pleiness - Sibshop Child Care for children under 6
noon - 1PM	Lunch
1:15-4:00 PM	Parents: Workshop Leaders' Panel Discussion and Workshop All student and children's activities continued Child Care for children under 6
4:00 - 4:45PM	Parents and Preschoolers who are Visually Impaired: Special Session with Karen McCulloh All others: Free time!
5:00 - 6:30 PM	Dinner
6:45 - 7:15 PM	MPVI Annual Meeting/Awards
7:15 - 8:00 PM	Keynote Address - Duncan Wyeth, Director of Michigan Commission on Disability Concerns All Parents, Teachers and Students should attend Childcare provided
8:00 - 10:00 PM	Snacks, games, free time
Sunday, April 26
7:30 - 8:30 AM	Breakfast
8:45 - 10:00 AM	Parents, students, and older children and siblings: Non-verbal Communication demonstration with Karen McCulloh
10:15 - 11:45 AM	Panel Discussion: Everything you've always wanted to know about living with blindness
noon	Lunch
1:00 PM	Head for Home

Our Workshops

Working Together
This series of talks and workshops for parents of children with visual impairments will help us understand our rights under the current version of federal law, the problems administrators face in providing for our children's needs, and how to work together to provide the best possible learning environment for our children. We will hear experts discuss the current situation, and have the opportunity to ask individual speakers questions that affect our particular child. A special program with Kim Pleiness is planned for Friday night, a demonstration with Karen McCulloh and our students will be held Sunday morning, and a panel of adults who are blind or visually impaired will answer YOUR questions about living in today's world as a visually impaired person - computers, transportation, cooking, jobs, recreation and more will be discussed.

Face-to-Face
In these workshops with Karen McCulloh, students who are blind or visually impaired will learn how to use their bodies to express ideas, in ways that people who are sighted do naturally. Not only will they learn new techniques, but they will learn ways to remember these new movements. Karen will also discuss with the students why non-verbal communication is so important to their future success, and that they are communicating with their bodies whether they want to or not - but they may not be saying what they think they are!

Sibshop
This activity is for 6-year-old and up siblings of children with special needs and will be led by Kim Pleiness. At Sibshop, brothers and sisters:

• Meet other brothers and sisters of children with special needs
• Have fun
• Talk about their brothers and sisters with others who really know what it's like to have a sibling with a disability
• Make new friends
• Learn more about disabilities and the services that people with disabilities receive, and
• Have some more fun!
• Sibshop is a lively mixture of new games and discussion. Participants should dress comfortably and be ready for action!

For all workshops, students will be divided into appropriate age groups based on the number of children registered. Because of the amount of materials needed for these workshops, no walk-in registrations will be accepted.

Our Workshop Leaders
Betsy Brint, our regional representative for NAPVI, is co-founder and director of the Foundation for Retinal Research. She has been a member of the Family Committee of the Illinois Interagency Council for Early Intervention and Co-President of the Lake County Interagency Council for Early Intervention. She is a board member of Chicago Lighthouse for People who are Blind or Visually Impaired. Betsy lives in Highland Park, Illinois, with her husband and three children, including Alan, who is blind. She is passionate about creating a better world for people who are blind or visually impaired. She has spoken at a number of charity events relating her experience of raising a child with a disability, and finds it challenging to balance her life as a wife and mother while remaining active in working for that better world. She also plays tennis and can be seen walking two big black dogs in her neighborhood. She says, "many nights, we order in!"

Karen McCulloh RN, BS, a researcher, author, program developer and communication specialist for persons who are visually impaired. Karen has had her own business, KAREN McCULLOH & ASSOCIATES, since 1990. She consults with corporations and hospitals on compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act; provides information and referrals to individuals and organizations seeking information on counseling on the adjustment to vision loss; and provides in-service education for hospitals and clinics, primarily focused on cross-disability issues.
Karen began her research in Nonverbal Communication for persons who are sight impaired in 1992. She has presented programs across the country in this field and is writing a teacher's manual to be produced by American Printing House for the Blind.
Karen founded the National Organization of Nurses with Disabilities (NOND) in April, 2003 in Chicago. NOND has 23 volunteer board members located across the United States where the majority of Directors are nurses with disabilities. Please visit www.nond.org which is Section 508 compliant; any visitor using computer adaptation may access the site. She is delighted to share that the first student who is totally blind has been admitted to a nursing program in the state of New York in 2005.

Kim Pleiness is a special education teacher with a special interest in family dynamics. She has helped produce Children's Special Health Care Sibshops for their "Relatively Speaking" conferences.

Duncan Wyeth is the Director of Michigan Commission on Disability Concerns, and is a gifted speaker you won't want to miss!

Scholarships/ Transportation/ Donations
The registration fee for the weekend is $50 per family. Parents or professionals who wish to attend alone may attend for $20, or parents with families of 1 adult and 1 child, may attend for $35. Please feel free to ask for a scholarship if you need one. Our goal is always to have all families participate.

We received 3 generous grants from the Capitol Region Community Foundation. If you live in the Lansing Area (Ingham, Eaton or Clinton County) or a county bordering those three, your family is eligible for a full scholarship to attend this retreat. Please don't hesitate to ask!

If you need transportation, we will try to work out something. Please call either of the numbers below. Please speak clearly and slowly and spell your name.

The actual cost for this retreat is in the range of $250-$300 per family. The many generous grants and donations we have received in support of this event have allowed us to offer this great weekend for such a low fee. If you would like to provide a scholarship for another family, you may make a tax -deductible contribution with your registration. Your help is very much appreciated!

Awards Nominations
MPVI is instituting two new awards this spring, one for Excellence in Education for a teaching professional - a teacher, paraprofessional or other person in the educational system who has done a superlative job in the past year or last several years in service to children who are blind or visually impaired, and a Volunteer of the Year Award for a person who has donated many quality hours of dedicated service to improving the lives of children who are blind or visually impaired. Both awards are for people in the state of Michigan. We feel the time has come to recognize the people who help make our lives and our children's lives richer and full of hope and promise.

Nominations may be made by students, parents, teachers or friends of MPVI.

If you would like to nominate someone you know for either of these awards, please send the following information to:
Gwen Botting
4175 Westbrook Road
Ionia, MI 48846
email: BottingJG@Juno.com

1) Your name, address, e-mail and phone number
2) Nominee's name and position and school district if applicable, or the group a person has worked with in a volunteer capacity.
3) A brief paragraph or two stating why you believe this person deserves this award.
4) Name, address and contact information (phone and or e-mail) for a second person who wishes to support your nomination.

Deadline for nominations is April 1, 2005. Awards will be presented at the MPVI Annual Family Retreat at Bear Lake Camp, Lapeer on Saturday April 23, 2005.

Accommodations
Housing is free in the camp's cabins. Each cabin holds 16 bunks and one bathroom. Due to the family nature of the camp, the bathroom in each cabin will be shared by men and women. There are doors on all stalls and showers. If this arrangement makes you uncomfortable please feel free to make your own arrangements to stay in a local motel.

There is no linen available at Bear Lake Camp - you will need to bring your own bedding, pillows and towels. Please don't forget!!!

Meals
Meals provided: All meals will be prepared by Bear Lake Camp staff. Friday supper will be a cold sandwich bar. All other meals (through Sunday lunch) will be served hot.

Child Care
Please note that any special food, medicine or equipment that your family needs must be provided and administered by you. You are responsible for your child(ren) at all times. Please be sure each one is either under your direct supervision or in a supervised activity.

Unless the weather does not cooperate, the children will play outside for part of the day on Saturday and will be able to go for hikes in the woods and perhaps even boating. Please be sure your child wears appropriate clothing.

Volunteers
We have some child care providers already signed up to help, but we need more. So if you know someone who would like to help us out, please call Gwen Botting at 989-855-2430. High School or college students with an interest in special education or in teaching children with visual impairments are particularly welcome. Childcare volunteers and assistants: please register so we can get an accurate count for meals. Volunteers DO NOT need to pay the registration fee.

Questions?
If you need more information, would like to volunteer, need transportation or a scholarship, or have any suggestions, please call or e-mail:
Gwen Botting, 989-855-2430
e-mail bottingJG@juno.com

Registration Deadline
Your envelope must be postmarked by April 1
Don't delay - do it!

Michigan Parents of Children with Visual Impairments
Working Together and Face-to-Face
April 22-24, 2005
Bear Lake Camp
Lapeer, Michigan