It is pronounced vē ber, and it is an acronym for Vision integrated in Brain & Reading.
While its emphasis is reading, its application does not need to be limited only
to developing reading skills. For example, ViiBR™ can be used as a tool for
visual training, amblyopia therapy, sensory integration therapy, or perceptual therapy.
But don't think of ViiBR™ as simply a set of computer software for therapy
activities. ViiBR™ is a therapy management system. It can be used to create
a structured, systematic and sequenced lesson or treatment plan. It can track what
has been accomplished and mastered. It can accommodate monitoring new activities
delivered through a computer as well as any other activity delivered in a traditional
manner. ViiBR™ can be used to prescribe homework and re-instruct/ remind home
users on proper technique once they get home. It can be used to track completions
and compliance for coaching purposes. ViiBR™ can be used as a tool for collaboration
between professionals, for example while an educator tracks educational progress,
an optometrist can track visual skills progress. While all of that is wonderful,
let's actually walk through the steps of using ViiBR™.
The first step is to choose an assignment.
An assignment is the instructional content or "stuff" of the learning experience. One example of an assignment might be
a set of three letter CVC words. Another
assignment might be a set of four directional arrows. Yet another example of an assignment might be a Brock string. From a library of objects, images, sounds, symbols, numbers, letters, or words a new assignment can be posted to a student's list in a matter of only a few clicks of the mouse.
The second step is to choose an activity.
For each assignment, there might be countless ways of working
with the materials. An activity is the action part. It is what is done with the
assignment. For example a Brock string can be held to the nose as it is for vergence
work, or it can be stretched out horizontally for work with saccades.
A challenge is a more precise description of exactly how to do an activity. There
can be many challenges for a single activity. Challenges can be arranged in a sequence
from easy to hard. In ViiBR™ this arrangement of challenges is called a series.
The third step is to do it. After you've chosen an assignment, activity, and challenge
just click "GO" and the activity begins all loaded
with the assignment material.
Homework. Suppose you train the student in the office how do a particular
activity and you want to assign it for homework. Simply click on the "home" button
and now when the student signs on with their ViiBR-Home™ subscription, they
are able to practice the same exact activity they did in the office.
When the student returns to the office the next week, the teacher can review all the sessions completed at home. Then, to check for mastery, the teacher clicks once to reactivate the same activity in the office and review actual performance.
As you can see, ViiBR™ does so much more than just a few activities online. In fact, ViiBR™ will constantly be growing and evolving based upon the contributions and feedback from subscribers. New activities will be published monthly. Try them out
and if you feel ViiBR™ has a place in your therapy tool kit, include it in your list of favorites.
The T.E.A.M. Theme
A core theme of the ViiBR™ T.E.A.M. Letter is inter-professional collaboration. Not only collaboration between professionals, but a larger circle of teamwork that includes parents and students. The word 'team' probably evokes thoughts of a group of people working together toward a common goal. That's a wonderful concept, but success in vision therapy often involves more than just cooperation and joint efforts.
Time is the "T" in the T.E.A.M. acronym. Parents, children, teachers, therapists, and doctors all have to devote time for learning. There is only so much time in the day and there are so many things we all want to do. If time for learning is not made a priority it doesn't matter what activities are in the educational plan. We've all had the experience of excitement to start a new learning experience such as learning a musical instrument, starting an exercise plan, a new hobby, or learning a new language. We might get off to a good start, but our efforts soon fizzle. Other life demands start taking a higher priority and we simply can't find the time. What is it about motivation, priorities, setting goals, following through, and getting reenergized that makes for success? In the ViiBR™ T.E.A.M. Letter we will explore some of the issues related to family systems and personal motivation that help prioritize the time needed for successful learning.
"E" is for engagement. With time, you show up at the door of the learning center. Is the learning center an empty room? Probably not, even though an experienced teacher could probably make good use of empty space if need be. Most likely a learning center is full of all sorts of interesting tools and potentially engaging activities. Engagement, in the T.E.A.M. approach, is about setting the stage. Isn't that what the teacher really does? The teacher sets up an environment for the student, but it is the student that has the experience within the environment and learns something. If the student is already thoroughly familiar with the environment – already a master of it - then there is no challenge present. The student might say the environment is boring. On the other hand, if the environment is too foreign, overly stimulating, and demanding of skills the student does not yet have, then the experience may be frustration. Some students may say this frustration is boring too, but not because they are a master of the environment but rather because they want to escape it. As teachers all know, somewhere in between the two borings is the learning environment. Challenging enough to engage the student, but not overly challenging to shut them down or scare them off. Engagement is about the creative process of setting up an environment. Engagement involves having a variety of tools and materials. ViiBR™ will introduce new activities regularly, but sometimes an old activity can simply be done in a new way, or at a different level. The T.E.A.M. Letter will explore all the various ways to find engagement for the student. "A" is for attendance (or attention). A student may have the time to show up for their session, and you may have a full tool box of engaging activities, but if the student had a bad day at school they might not really be in attendance. Instead their mind can be working on feelings and emotions, withdrawn and not able to engage in the activity. "A" can also be attitude. Think of the teenager who has been dropped off by parents, but not at all wanting to be there. These kinds of situations require of the teacher skills to connect to and motivate these kids to come into attendance in the learning environment. The ViiBR™ T.E.A.M. Letter will address issues of motivation and emotions in learning environments.
And "M" is for mastery. When all the other letters come together, when there is time, engagement, and attendance, learning and development occur, skills are mastered, and the child is ready to move onward to a new challenge. Mastery is about recognizing accomplishments, knowing where one has come from, and where one is going next. The ViiBR™ T.E.A.M. Letter will introduce sequences and mastery maps that help the teacher chart a course toward goals.
All of these elements of success involve a TEAM – student, teacher, parents, and professionals.
FEATURED ACTIVITY: CLOCKGAME
Students, start your visual engines. Stand in the middle of the dance pad. You will see a word in the center surrounded by a series of numbers. Notice that opposite numbers on the same. If #1 is at 9:00 it is also at 3:00. The metronome beat is set at 60 bpm. If you can set your metronome for a 5th beat accent cycle do it.
On each beat call out 1, 2, 3, or 4, and move your arms from the center, outwards toward the sides as you call out each beat. Move them outwards towards the numbers corresponding to the beat you are calling. If you are calling “ONE” and the #1's are at 12:00 and 6:00, then move one arm from the center upwards and the other arm from the center downwards.
On the fifth beat, call out the word you see in the center and at the same time you move one of your feet forward to hit the forward arrow on your dance pad (or without a dance pad the teacher hits the key on the keyboard for the student). This action will refresh the screen with a new arrangement of numbers around the clock, and a new word in the center. Keep the beat going if you can!
Control Panel:
On the control panel the teacher can set parameters to fit your particular situation and needs. Size controls the font size of the word and numbers. Diameter sets how far out in the periphery the numbers are. Diameter is limited by the size of the monitor you are using since you want to make sure the whole clock game can be seen on the screen. Scroll is a special parameter to set so that whenever the student hits the refresh button on the dance pad the next presentation will be in the exact same position as the prior and won't shift up or down. The default scroll value is roughly what you need, but you may need to adjust the number for your particular monitor, especially if you are using a big screen TV. Once you get used to using ViiBR™ you will have a good idea of what values to enter right from the start. You can also choose from a variety of fonts and control the background color and font color.
I've just shared with you only one particular challenge you can do with Clockgame. Countless others can be dreamed up. Add Clockgame to your list of favorites to start using it with your students. Then, when you think of new ways of using Clockgame, use the customization feather to create your own customized series of Challenges. When you've worked out the bugs, consider submitting your custom challenges to the whole users community and your challenges can become part of the ViiBR™ Library!
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