Acknowledgements
Our special thanks to the following outstanding professionals:
Dr. Rod Beattie, for his significant encouragement and support for the completion of this project. Dr. Beattie is Head of Graduate Studies, The Renwick Centre for Professional Education and Research, Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children / The University of Newcastle;
Dr. Charles White, for his invaluable assistance with organizing the production of this web site. Dr. White is Vice President, Information Resources and Administrative Affairs at Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas;
Ronnie Swanner and his staff at the Center for Learning and Technology, Trinity University, for the months they spent in intense effort in web site creation. The project could not have been possible without their wonderful efforts;
Dr. Breda Carty, for her thorough reading and review of the chapters on Hearing Impairment, in support of Dolly Bhargava's Master's Project. Dr. Carty is Lecturer in Hearing Impairment, The Renwick Centre for Professional Education and Research, Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children / The University of Newcastle;
Mike Offord, at the Elmwood Visual Resource Centre, in Christchurch, New Zealand, for sharing invaluable information from the Centre's web site for teachers and parents of students with vision impairments. The site's address is http://www.vea.org.nz;
The many Trinity University graduates of the Special Education program, classes of 2004 and 2005, who conducted research, interviews, and wrote numerous chapters for the handbooks;
Benjamin Harris, Reference Librarian at Trinity University, who selflessly spent countless hours instructing graduate students in best research practices as they wrote chapters for these handbooks;
Dr. Phil Hatlen, Superintendent,Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and his faculty, who shared extensive curricular and teaching knowledge with graduate students from Trinity University in support of the students' completion of their chapters for this handbook. The web address for TSBVI's extensive site is http://www.tsbvi.edu;
Robin Feder, Executive Director, Central Institute for the Deaf, St. Louis, Missouri and her faculty for the extensive interviews and discussion concerning best practices in teaching students with hearing impairments;
The administrators and faculty at St. Joseph's Institute in St. Louis, for sharing enthusiasm and dedication, along with important information on instructional strategies for the hearing impaired;
Trinity graduate Laurie Hemberger, who completed numerous interviews in support of this project and collated the chapters of fellow graduate students in completion of handbooks on vision and hearing impairment.
Dedicated educators who supported Dolly Bhargava as she wrote chapters for the handbooks:
- Andrew Willis, Assistive Technology Consultant from Word of Mouth Technology;
- Karina Badcock, Early Childhood Trained Teacher of the Deaf (Oral Deaf and Auslan user);
- Margaret Haenke, Manager of Deafness Resources Australia;
- Staff at Cochlear Ltd.
