This week the first of the web-based seminars from Down Syndrome Education International given at a time easily accessible to NSW members have started. This a great opportunity for parents, teachers and therapists to attend the excellent training sessions given by Sue Buckley and her colleagues without having to go around the world. The webinars consist of a presenter (Sue Buckley, Julie Hughes, Gillian Bird are a few) who delivers the presentation via a video link into your web browser. Slides are shown alongside a box with the speaker speaking. There are notes that can be downloaded before the presentation and the session is recorded and will be available for participants to view later. There is time for questions and a place to type those in as the speaker speaks so that you don't have to remember later what it was you wanted to ask.
In the session I attended (What does research tell us about the specific learning needs of children with Down syndrome (5 to 11 years)?) the talk was for approximately an hour and there was half an hour for questions. It is a bit different asking questions over the computer rather than in a conference room. In a way, it is easier to just type in a question rather than have to stand up in front of everyone, but it is also harder as you are typing while you are listening and can't easily reform your question or follow up something said while you were typing. Also, it may have been the lack of my experience setting up my session, but I couldn't see the questions that others were asking or the question that the presenter (Sue Buckley in this case) was answering although usually she made that clear.
To sign up for the seminars, you can either choose an entire course (a session a week for 10 weeks) or single seminars. There is a 20% discount if you sign up before the end of Feb. This works out to be GBP24.00 or $US40.00 for each seminar session and a further discount if you sign up for the entire course. This block of seminars is scheduled at 9:00am GMT which is 8:00pm Australian Eastern Daylight Time. You can choose courses for early childhood (0-5 years), childhood (5-11 years) and speech and language. The weekly seminars that make up each course can be purchased individually. Topics range from specific learning needs, speech/language & communication, reading, number skills, social development and behaviour plus more. There are plans for these seminars to be held again in April and May at 5:00pm AEST although these cannot yet be purchased.
I found attending the web seminar to be excellent. Setting up was very well explained and the technology was well done. The video and sound quality were good and there was provision for staff to troubleshoot any problems I may have had. There is also an option to listen to the seminar by phone if you do not have the capabilities for video. There is a provision for video and microphone input from the audience but this was not used. I am looking forward to attending more seminars and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested.
Down Syndrome Education International is also putting out videos of conferences which will be in the library in the next month. This will most likely be the same talks, however the web seminars give an excellent chance to ask questions of the experts.
New this week in the library are more titles from the See, Sign & Say series of books. These books have a photo/picture, word and sign on each page. The new acquisitions of this highly popular series from Tara Hearne & Aileen Ryan include: Transportation, Places to go, Baby's 1st words, Sports, and Colours. Aileen's Hands Can Talk website is now back and updated so these books and other signing resources can be purchased from there. They are also available to be borrowed from our library. In addition to these new titles, we also have Emotions/Feelings, Objects, Opposites One & Two, Directions, Food, Pre-school, Primary School, Alphabet, Animals, Baby Animals and Teen Feelings. Just email or call us if you'd like to borrow these or anything else.
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