7th Annual Statewide Symposium for Vision Professionals in Kansas
This collaborative event with a low vision focus includes several breakout sessions for COMSs and TSVIs (including those in university training programs), instructional assistants and braillists, and other professionals working directly with students with a visual impairment. Space is limited so sign up early!
Event Details
November 8, 8 am – 3 pm*
*Deafblind Pre-Symposium Training on November 7
Drury Plaza Hotel Broadview Wichita
400 West Douglas Ave
Wichita, KS 67202
Additional Information
~FREE! Includes lunch. Hotel expenses not included
~This is an ACVREP RPPLE approved event and participants will be eligible for continuing education points. Add this event to your calendar now and watch for more information coming soon!
~Sponsored by: KSSB, Kansas Instructional Resource Center, Kansas Deaf-Blind Project
Chris Tabb is an Orientation and Mobility Specialist working to advance the independence of students and clients, provide training opportunities and knowledge exchange for professionals and families, and bring accessible information to the community. He is presently employed at Montana’s Blind and Low Vision Services in Great Falls as an Orientation and Mobility Specialist. Chris has worked as an Orientation and Mobility Specialist in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, Texas, and Montana providing services in residential programs, as an itinerant, an outreach specialist providing technical assistance, and as a private contractor. He enjoys working with all age groups, including infants and toddlers, school age students, adults, and older people. Chris’ greatest professional interests are all things Orientation and Mobility, as well as Assistive Technology.
Donna McNear, M.A., COMS, is a career teacher/independent educational consultant specializing in services and supports to children with visual impairments. She provides on-going technical assistance/professional development to educational agencies, organizations, and families nationally and internationally. She is an author, researcher, and frequent presenter at conferences. She is a recipient of the Outstanding Leadership Award, Council for Exceptional Children and Holbrook-Humphries Literacy Award, Getting In Touch with Literacy 2023.
Dr. Kendall Krug received his Doctor of Optometry degree from the Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, TN. and completed additional training in Low Vision Rehabilitation at the New York Lighthouse for the Blind. Krug is a Diplomate of the American Board of Optometry. Dr. Krug has provided low vision rehabilitation in KS since 1987 in hospital based clinics, outpatient clinics and for the past 30 years in his private practice in Hays, KS. He retired from full time practice in August 2022. He is Past Chairman of the KS Advisory Committee for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and lectures on eye topics for the Lions Club, Fort Hays State University-School of Nursing and the KU Area Health Education Center. Dr. Krug is a collaborating optometrist with the KS State School for the Blind KanLOVKids regional low vision program and has been involved since its development in 2005. Dr. Krug has been honored with many awards including:
- Kansas Optometry Association: 2018 Kansas Optometrist of the year, Legislative Service Award, Distinguished Service Award
- Envision Wichita: Visionary Award
- Kansas Lions Sight Foundation: Claude DeVorss Fellow
- Kansas State School for the Blind: Distinguished Service Award
Stephanie Mundinac, MA SMD, TSVI ATP– Stephanie has been an educator of students with disabilities for the past twelve years, both as a special education teacher and a teacher of students with visual impairments, serving students in grades Pre-K-12 of all ability levels. She completed her Bachelor’s degree at Missouri State University in 2012 in Special Education and in 2016 received her Master’s degree from West Virginia University, specializing in the area of Severe and Multiple Disabilities. She went on to complete an additional graduate certification in the area of Blindness and Low Vision at Missouri State University in 2021. Stephanie is also a RESNA-certified Assistive Technology Professional. Outside of the school setting, she works with families through MOSPIN, Missouri School for the Blind’s outreach program that helps support families with children with visual impairments. Stephanie loves making learning accessible for all individuals and recently created AccessAble Learning Solutions LLC in order to help provide professional development training, teacher and parent training, and to offer specialized solutions for creating adapted learning activities for individuals of all ability levels.
Kathee Scoggin, is a sought-after trainer on topics relating to children with multiple disabilities including students with combined vision and hearing loss, both Washington and nationally. She holds a B.A. in Deaf Education and M.Ed. in Special Education with an emphasis on sensory disabilities and other disabilities. Kathee has 40+ years experience as a teacher (12 years), assessment specialist, principal (10), Co-director for the Deaf-Blind Project in Washington state, and educational consultant with children (birth to 21) with combined vision and hearing loss including deaf-blindness and students with multiple disabilities. Upon retirement in 2013, Kathee has consulted and trained within the United States. She currently lives in Arizona.
Vince Cianfrone – Vice President of NanoPac, Inc. in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has spent the last 30 or more years matching assistive technology to the needs of people with various disabilities, training and supporting AT solutions as well as programming solutions when not previously available. NanoPac supports a number of states in our region and Vince is a valuable resource offering product application and support for users and agencies in our community.
2024 Vision Symposium Agenda
This one-day FREE training will focus on the research and practice in effective specialized instruction for students with a visual impairment.
Sample Agenda:
7:15-8:00 KIRC Directory Headshots Available
7:30-8:00 Friday morning registration
8:00-8:15 Welcome
8:15-8:45 Keynote: Developing Family Capacity in Supporting the ECC
9:00-10:00 Session 1
10:15-11:15 Session 2
11:15-12:15 Lunch & Vendor Fair
12:20-12:40 10 Minute Spotlights (you pick two)
12:45-1:45 Session 3
2:00-3:00 Session 4
3:00 Conference End
NOTE: The content and presentations of the Vision Symposium are intended to address the specific needs/interests of TSVIs/COMSs in Kansas. Other district employees are welcome to register/attend with the understanding that the focus of the event will be geared toward certified professionals in the field of vision.
Sponsored by:
