DISCLAIMER: Raw, unedited transcript from webinar. No guarantees are made for the accuracy of the content. >> >> Thank you for joining us today. We will get started with the presentation in just a few minutes, at the top of the hour. >> Good afternoon. I am showing we are at the top of the hour so I think we will get started. This is Robbin Bull with NCDB. I want to begin by welcoming everybody. I will go through some quick housekeeping items before I handed over to Megan Cote who will kick off today's webinar and introduce the speakers. To begin with all phone lines have been muted to reduce the background noise. The question-and-answer session will occur at the end of the presentation, however you can write your questions in the chat box at any time during the presentation, as it will be monitored throughout the webinar in preparation for the Q&A session. We would like to ask the questions pertain to the general questions about the program and guidelines. Questions relating to eligibility will not be addressed in this webinar and will be best addressed by your local program. >> We want you to know that this webinar will be recorded and archived for future viewing. I'm going to start the recording now and Megan you will hear an announcement and that is your cue to start. >> Hello everyone. I would like to welcome you to today's webinar about HKNC -- iCanConnect . Which is the National Deaf Blind Equipment Distribution Program . My name is Megan Cote and I work at the national Center on deaf blindness. And work on initiatives of family engagement and early engagement and referral and I am pleased to introduce today to talented women. Marcia Brooks who is the director of the National Deaf Blind Equipment Distribution Program . And Carly Fredericks who is the iCanConnect coordinator for New Jersey. We asked them to come today to talk to you about an overview of this program and how iCanConnect works. As Robin said in the housekeeping specific questions about individual children can be directed to your state person and programs. This is just intended to give you general guidelines about the overall program. Without further ado I will turn it over to Carly Fredericks and Marcia Brooks. Welcome ladies and I look forward to having you share your knowledge . >> This is Marcia, thank you very much. It's really a pleasure to be here especially with Carly who has been the most amazing ambassador for this program.. So everyone knows come my role with the program is the FEC certifies one entity in the state and a number of states are in the program. And also has been appointed by the FTC to do the national outreach. It's really a treat to share information about this great program review. And I will turn it right over to Carly. >> Hello everyone, good afternoon, this is Carly speaking. Thank you Marcia and I appreciate your invite to the call today. Previously before my full-time role with the iCanConnect program, I did have the opportunity to work part-time for the program, as well as [indiscernible] engagement coordinator for New Jersey coalition on deaf blindness. In working with families in the state project as well as the iCanConnect program. I'm hoping to share with you today some guidelines of the program as well as how you can help support families within your state. >> Just to give you a little bit of a background about the iCanConnect program, it is also known as Megan shared as the National Deaf Blind Equipment Distribution Program . That is part of the 21st-century communications and assess ability act signed into federal law in 2010. It is administered by the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC. And for the first five years it was a pilot program, and in 2017 it became a permanent program. The iCanConnect program is administered in each state by different agencies, however we all follow policy guidelines. >>. >> This is Marcia. I wanted to mention the founding legislation for this program, the 21st-century act also known as the CVAA , is sometimes referenced as the digital equipment [indiscernible]. A number of federal communication laws including requirements for closed captioning in those kinds of things did but also it mandates specifically that the Secretary provide a clearinghouse for accessible communications service and equipment. That became known as the national deaf blind equipment distribution program. NDBEDP. It didn't take us very long to figure out a shorter name was really great for the program . That's why we call it iCanConnect . >> The next slide. ICanConnect is available to anyone who is living in the US, citizenship is not required. That includes the District of Columbia, Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. The program is available to anyone who meets the federal income and disability guidelines. They must have of course significant combined hearing and vision loss. Just to mention the newest addition to the program, the territories of Guam American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands. Which just came on board July 1 last year when the program became permanent. >> So this is Carly speaking. I will provide you an overview of the program itself. It provides free equipment and training to income eligible people with combined hearing and vision loss. As Marcia mentioned earlier, we quickly realized a shorter name would be beneficial. Most of the individuals that are inquiring about the program may not really identify with the term deaf blind. But having a significant hearing and vision loss would make them eligible for the program. So we started to be able to utilize the language where we can really get the attention of consumers that would benefit from the program. The goal of the program is really to help those individuals who are deaf blind connect with others. This is what I love about this program and I'm passionate about it. The justification is really just social interaction, being able to connect with other people, reducing the isolation. As many of us know working in this community, it can be extremely isolating, for the families, and individuals. We want them to be able to connect to get those resources. Having the ability to connect on the Internet, communicate via email, have contact with friends is the goal of this program. And of course increased independence for our consumers. >> The program purpose and parameters that we will go over a little bit more in depth today. It really is just to highlight the distance communication. It's not face-to-face. Being able to open the door and have face-to-face interaction with someone. That is not the purpose of this program. Really to connect like we are today, to get onto a webinar for being able to interact with people in the community. Some of the parameters, we do not purchase equipment such as cochlear implants, hearing aids or any brand accessory. That are not permitted within the guidelines of the program. It should not really take place of schools and employer's obligations in the classroom or workplace. The program can provide a student with devices for home use to carry over some of the skills they learned in the classroom, or for mobile use outside of the classroom. >> Okay, this is Marcia. A little bit more about the program structure. I mentioned the FCC certifies one entity per state or territory to leave the program. The certifications were most recently, excuse me originally granted for the first five years of what I should say is the pilot program. No. The program was existed in five years as a pilot. The Secretary made the program permanent on July 1 2017. And that is the first time they actually designated a period of five years for the certified entities to be authorized in that state. In the pilot program the certified entities, it was a year-by-year basis for the pilot. There were some entities that were not able to continue to manage the program, and by virtue of the permanent program certifications being issued for five years, that hopefully provides a lot more continuity for the program. Each state receives an annual allocation based on the population. The allocation tends to change from year to year, but not significantly. The important thing is that iCanConnect is a reimbursement program. The allocations are not distributed in advance. That's part of the reason why some of the earlier entities were not able to participate because there were maybe smaller agencies that were unable to come up with the money in advance. But I believe most of the certified entities from the pilot program have been recertified in the permanent program. >> This is Carly speaking. Who is eligible for the program? There are two criteria that make a person eligible for iCanConnect . The first is the disability. The person must have a significant combined vision and hearing loss that causes difficulty in attaining independence in daily life activities. So we do follow the Helen Keller definition of deaf blindness. For many of the state projects on the call today, you may find many of the students that are found eligible for your [indiscernible] can be eligible for the iCanConnect program. However there is a second criteria that makes a person eligible. That is either the household or family income must be 400 percent less of the annual federal poverty rate. So there is every year, iCanConnect program does release that range so we know what the household income you cannot go above. And as long as you are within those guidelines, they will be found eligible for the program and going to the next step of the program. >> This is Marcia speaking. So the two prongs of the eligibility are both the income eligibility and the disability eligibility. And as we mentioned before, significant combined vision and hearing loss that causes difficulty in attaining independence in daily life activities. Again, the definition that the program used is based on the Helen Keller national act. In terms of somebody being eligible for the program, they have to be able to use or learn to use equipment and as Carly mentioned, it is for two-way distance communication, not for face-to-face. >> The Secretary as you might imagine has very specific guidelines about proof of disability eligibility. Each person who is applying to the program must submit a signed disability attestation from a professional familiar with the consumer's hearing and vision loss. It doesn't have to be a doctor or medical professional. Again that person is attesting that the applicant meets the program's definition of deaf blindness. New for the permanent program, the person signing the attestation has to include the basis of their attestation, that addresses the combined hearing and vision loss. Earlier in the program, especially because you have so many different organizations that are responsible for their particular state. You were seeing that some states were providing attestation from a vision specialist and a separate attestation from a hearing specialist or something like that did the idea in the permanent program is that the person has to address the combined hearing and vision loss. >> This is Carly speaking. To provide an example to that. Here in the state of New Jersey our iCanConnect program is done by three agencies . Funded through the commission for the blind and visually impaired. I am at the college of New Jersey and we utilize a program called advancing opportunities who does a lot of the assessments and training. For me doing the applications and the consumer relations, it was a very unique perspective being the family engagement coordinator for the deaf blind project. Through our process for doing those verifications to servo students. We were really able to tap into the professional, deaf blind professionals, specifically already working with the students to provide those attestations. And again because there are so many different medical professionals serving the individuals, they may have an audiologist, attesting to the hearing lost and ophthalmologist for the vision lost. But showing the significance of the combined vision and hearing loss, we took the reins on tapping into the deaf blind specialist to provide those attestations bit especially if they're providing technical assistance as well. Because they were able to show that they did have the ability as Marcia mentioned, to be able to utilize the two-way equipment. And be able to benefit from the training on that as well. >> So this is something that the Secretary has given guidance to the state programs about. To make sure that people feel comfortable, the people who are doing the attestation feel comfortable with their attestation. You may find someone who is not a medical professional necessarily, but is a professional in a related field. And they are reviewing the applicant's records, or medical records or evaluation records. They may have known and observed, or provided services to the applicant for X number of years. And certainly by observation over a period of time, have the ability to attest to that person's hearing, combined hearing and vision loss meeting the programs definition. You will find that there may be a hearing specialist or a vision specialist, who is not testing for both. They may be testing for one of the two sensory losses. And so an acceptable way to attest, to make that attestation, is to say that they tested one of the applicants sensory losses and observed the other. That way you are not going to have a medical professional who is uncomfortable because they didn't test on both sensory losses. That is meant to accommodate the fact that they can speak specifically to one, and by observation of the other. >> So the second part of determining eligibility is the income. As we shared, to qualify you must provide proof of household income that is 400 percent less of the poverty level guidelines. Or they may be eligible for a federal program such as SSI, Medicaid, public housing, food stamps or snap. Any one of those programs. It's not just limited to those programs but any federal program that utilizes the FPG with devices is eligible for the program so and eligible person receiving SSDI, working as well, they need to provide the whole household income. In New Jersey, whatever a consumer is providing documentation, we follow it up with a letter stating this is their only source of income. So we can ensure to the Secretary that they are indeed eligible for the program -- >> Here on the slide you will see these are the 2018 federal poverty guidelines. It does go off of household income. You will see it increases for each member of the household, about $17,280. It can also be found on the website at iCanConnect .org. It's important to be mindful that the guideline changes annually. You will see many of the local state programs will update their applications on a yearly basis, to ensure that it reflects the New Year's guidelines. As far as consumers, a question that comes up and something you might be thinking, is what if they already applied for the iCanConnect program . We are talking about a consumer who has received equipment from the program and is interested in a new devices. Or something not considered in the past. They would have to update their financial eligibility on a yearly basis. If the consumer wants additional training on a device already provided, we would not have to collect that. Like I said you will refer to the local program to make sure you're using the updated application. >> This is Marcia speaking. I wanted to take a moment to talk about the application process. Again there is a fine balance between having common elements to the program, and specific roles to the program. And then because it's a distributed implementation with different certified entities in each state, would be with the consumer application there is no one single application everyone would use across the different states. There are specific pieces the FCC must have in each of the states application. That includes the signed consumer attestation. Which basically the FCC supplied new language for a consumer attestation beginning with the permanent program which started last July. And it really indicates the kinds of responsibilities that the consumer has, not to sell their equipment, those kinds of things. A signed consumer attestation with that specific language from the FCC or similar to their language, has to be a component of every states application. We went over the signed disability attestation as well. So the a tester is saying the applicant meets the programs definition of deaf blindness. New for the permanent program in the application is an indication if the applicant has been served by the program in any other state. I did mention that the program has a privacy notice. That must be included either in the application, or provided to them separately. It is very specific language for the privacy notice. >> And regardless of the other information the consumer may have included in their application, they cannot be considered eligible until these components of the application from the time the consumer with the [indiscernible] the two-pronged individually pieces in the, and the financial information is provided. >> This is Carly speaking. To add to that, it is really important to set up and expectation for individuals you may be sharing the program with a lot of individuals, like experiences myself, they are so eager and desperate to apply for the program. They know they can really benefit from it. They will provide the application that has been provided however they won't provide the support documentation that is needed to attest to the disability and financial portion. Unfortunately this really sets up a bad case for a disaster. As a consumer they think I filled out the application and I haven't heard anything. Or I haven't received any information or what is happening. They feel lost and they really, the expectation for the consumers from the beginning you want them to have a positive experience. As you will see in later slides it can be a lengthy process with the goal at the end is to get the appropriate equipment for the consumer that the right amount of training and to make sure they were really have a positive experience through each part of the process. >> What does the process look like? As mentioned it's run by a different agency in every state. However each state is following these steps in order to fulfill the whole process of iCanConnect but the first and foremost , we are doing a lot of outreach. It is really about setting up the expectations. We are looking to community partners, especially those throughout the state we know are serving deaf blind students. To share information about the program. Here in the state of New Jersey we have really tapped into the deaf blind counselors through the commission for the blind. We have reached out to the independent living service coordinators that have newly diagnosed seniors with a combined hearing and vision loss. We are really making sure all of our state agency partners, that there is in the individual across the state, that they are aware of this resource. In the intake. As we have consumers come in it is our goal to again make sure applications are completed making sure they have the supporting documentation. We cannot proceed to the next steps without that. Once we have all of that supporting documentation the eligibility is determined and then the expectation is set up, what will happen next. First and most important is the assessment. The assessment is done and personalized to each consumer. You may experience that consumers reach out to you first. You may be the first person that they heard about from another family. The looking to see how they can get an application. They really don't know what to expect. Like my friend got this device and I am interested in that. We don't take a lot of recommendations off of what they heard in the community. We really want to customize this to that individual person. So I get excited with them and I say you are right. There is equipment out there that can provide you the accessibility you need to have a positive experience with your equipment. However we want to look at what you are working on now. Our technology specialist will make a recommendation that's right for you and what your needs are. I have to say, every consumer that has gone through this process in New Jersey, there has not been one situation with consumers that has been exactly the same. I would like to really set up the expectation, you are excited about something and I am just as excited about we will get what is right for you. From that assessment, arrangements are made. Once the recommendations are approved and that they are meeting the justification and guideline of the program. Then the equipment is ordered and integrated. And then you provide the installation of that equipment. All assessments just to make note, are done inside the home. We want to see where the equipment will be housed. How the consumer will be able to access the equipment, and how are they gonna be most effective utilizing the equipment. The assessment, installation and training, all happen in the home. I have to say it's a breath of fresh air for a lot of our consumers. Because transportation is quite difficult. So the first question they asked me is where are you? You don't have to worry about that. We are coming to you. They get really excited about that. Especially for consumers newly diagnosed, that are not aware they would need the equipment. And once we provide the training and that consumer is set and ready to go, we do provide some technical support. When they are having difficulties with their equipment they may reach out. Fortunately most of us are purchasing warranties on the equipment, so we are able to provide them with the information they need to inquire about a warranty. And sometimes, if I'm having difficulty in my vision has changed, maybe they need the technology specialist to go back out and visit that consumer. To see if there's any additional accessibility features on that device that can be explored. >> Carly can I jump in, this is Marcia. That was a really excellent overview of how these decisions are made. On an individualized basis. I really just want to reiterate and stress these are really custom solutions for people. As Carly said, where will this equipment be in the house, how might they be interacting with the equipment they already have. Very often it is a question of managing people's expectations. You are going to find somebody who already knows about equipment. And they may have actually done some research on what they want. Again as Carly mentioned, often they hear there is like the latest and greatest of any particular device and they want that. But it really boils down to what is the best solution for them. If you have people that need a whole lot of training on equipment, and others that don't need a lot. If there is a simple solution for them, sometimes it is better to give them a couple of different options. Often during the assessment there is demo equipment presented. And seeing which kinds of equipment the person seems to have more of an affinity for. It always really boils down to some very specific use cases. Sometimes people might think they need a certain kind of device but it is more about what would you like to do. We hear these great things like I want to Skype with my grandkids. I want to be able to email my family. When I am traveling or, it all really stems from what are the kinds of uses people want. And then the equipment decisions are made based on their particular disabilities, and abilities. Thank you. >> This is Carly, thank you Marcia. That is a perfect segue into who can benefit from the program. As Marcia shared a lot of times we are finding seniors out there who are experiencing hearing loss and macular degeneration. And they're not able to travel as much. They have to stay in touch with grandchildren, even if they are just one town over. Traveling may not be as easy. In this day and age all of our kids use technology, and grandparents want to keep up with that. Or a college student who wants to communicate remotely with professors. Other students, they want to work on projects remotely. They are able to be able to communicate and engage. And of course with the family back at home. Maybe a person wants to remain independent and engage with the world and connect with others. Many individuals who have applied for this program with Usher syndrome. And some who have a lot of children that want to communicate outside of school. Many kids are attending a school for the deaf and communicate via American sign language. That is not the primary language spoken in the home. A lot of these kids want to stay in touch with their friends and schedule play dates and communicate through ASL. Or just a person seeking employment that they want to be able to get on the Internet, they want to see opportunities out there and reach out for a job interview. All really important. It is great to really consider. A lot to consider, what will this equipment be used for, what will this person do and how can the iCanConnect program fit into those justifications. >> So we do love to profile a lot of our consumers at iCanConnect. I have to thank Marcia for all of her early years of the program doing national outreach and trying to highlight these stories. One of our experiences, she reached out to me in the state of New Jersey and said hey, we want to profile some consumers. Can we pull some stories together. I said sure, when. How about next week, I said whew, okay. This is really exciting. I have to say that was a perfect professional development for me, to visit those homes and being able to see the outcomes of this program. And Chuck Ferrara who is on the screen now . He was a social butterfly, very outgoing. However it was difficult to be able to continue that lifestyle with his hearing and vision loss. For him it really helped him redeem those human connections. One of his quotes was my new equipment help me get out of the isolation that I faced as a deaf blind man. Seeing that whole process come full circle was so rewarding at so many levels. Not just for us as professionals but for iCanConnect and the consumers. Just reaching out to me and saying hey it is me, my equipment is working and I'm grateful for it. At the end of the day that makes every part of this process well worth it. >> This is Marcia. I wanted to also add, when we collect these stories to share, it helps other people see themselves in the solutions that the program provides. So they could see themselves, or perhaps somebody they think might be eligible and wants referred to the program. It is one thing to talk about free equipment and training to those who qualify. But when we have these different kinds of stories that really helps people see themselves in the solutions. >> Thank you Marcia, it is so true. Here is another story about Annette Rogers. You can see a lot of these profiles on our website at iCanConnect .org. We pride ourselves in sharing the different types of stories, so that any family member or individual out there that receives information can really consider how this may impact their life. >> Okay. So having said all of that about how we are enriching people's lives with equipment, what does that really mean in terms of equipment that enables two-way distance communication. We have a number of different categories. I always try to stress with people out there doing the work, with the people in the program, that the program provides a variety of equipment. Again managing people's expectations, it is not like every piece will be right for every person. We try to come up with categories. Computers that would be Windows as well as Apple. Desktops and laptops. Large monitors if needed. We very often try to provide a desktop solution as well as a mobile solution. Again those decisions are made at the state level. These are the kinds of equipment that the Secretary will reimburse for -- FCC reimburses far. For Windows and Apple we give a lot of consideration if they have a experience on a PC. Where there is enough benefit to the kind of challenges that changing an operating system might pose. Are there enough benefits to make the change. In some cases there are. So computers, mobile devices. That includes cell phones, smart phones and tablets. >> One thing, let me finish, one thing I also want to say is each state program, it is really up to them to pick the right equipment for each consumer. But no state program can exclude a category of equipment. If you get a computer in one state, you shouldn't go to another state and not be able to receive a computer as well. Thank you >> This is Carly speaking. One thing I wanted to add Marcia, in regard to mobile devices. It is the responsibility of the consumer to pay the monthly fee for that device. Something again about setting expectations for families and individuals, they have to be able to afford the monthly payment. Considering a lot of the families, or individuals, they are eligible if they meet the income guidelines, however they have to know what front they do will receive a mobile device, they have to be responsible for that. They can pick any provider they like. For instance if they go to AT&T versus Verizon or Sprint, the program does not promote one provider over the other. We provide an appropriate device that will be compatible with that provider. Something initially in setting up the expectation. >> That is right, this is Marcia. For cell phone service, speaking for the programs we operate. I think the majority of the others, we would not give a phone away unless we had evidence that the person either has, or was in the process of acquiring the cell phone service. For mobile device with Internet access, the program also does not pay for Internet access. We consider whether the person has regular access to Wi-Fi. If it's at a neighbor or a family member. Or at a library or whatever. We do consider some cases where the person isn't paying for cell phone use in the home. But as access to it for a mobile solution. >> -- Has access to it for a mobile solution. >> Some of the other categories again. We try to find both home and mobile solutions. Landline phones obviously, amplified speakers, cordless, and related devices to that. Signaler's. We are obligated to provide signaler's that are fulfilling a distance communication purpose. In other words, can somebody be notified of a phone call or incoming email, different kinds of signaling devices that would provide audible, visual and vibrating notification. You occasionally will find people who want to have a signaler for a doorbell. That is not distance communication. There are opportunities to buy certain devices where they were bundle a lot of services, kinds of alerting in them. If there are non-distance communication related uses, that are bundled into a product and it is a not a lot more money, that would be permitted. >> Again, a different category of the kinds of devices and software that we would provide, would be screen readers and screen magnifier programs as well. >> For braille devices I want to mention that we would provide a standalone braille device, or know that can be paired with another device. For instance, a phone, and iPhone with a braille display for instance. The Secretary -- FCC does require requisite skills, they cannot teach braille or typing are those kinds of things. For somebody to be eligible for a braille device, they have to have ASIC braille skills at grade one level. That is something that would be addressed in the assessment. Carly and I talked about the landline phone or mobile service and the parameters around that, and the access to Internet service. We have a number of these different categories on our website. There is an equipment page. Where it is the website at iCanConnect .org/equipment. We have examples of the equipment iCanConnect provides . We do advise, first of all the list is updated quarterly. At the least. We do advise people that just because there's a piece of equipment listed there, it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be the right piece of equipment for any given purpose. Or any given person. We do also advise that not every single device that is available through the program is listed there but there are a number of opportunities if you are a braille user and you want to see what kind of braille equipment is available, it is a great tool to see the kinds of things the program provides. >> I think I have skipped ahead a little bit in terms of the parameters, in terms of braille proficiency. And the Internet and phone service. I do want to actually make sure to cover AAC equipment . This is something that often comes up with younger kids. The FCC has considered a variety of kinds of AAC equipment and has come up with a couple of guidelines that can really help manage people's expectations. There are a lot of parents who are eager to have an iPad with a AAC program that would promote language development. That is really not something this program covers. But the program will cover AAC equipment or software that would give a voice to literate people who cannot speak. It is really important that people have an understanding of that, so that when conversations are happening with parents or caretakers, that it is really we are not disappointing people, when that in some cases is the only reason they are applying for the program. We always like to say for persons eligible for the program, let's get that assessment done and see, all of the opportunities that we might have to serve the person. In the worst-case scenario we might assess somebody and find there is an a ready solution for them. But it is better in that case to at least have tried to say you are eligible for the program. Let's see what we can do. I think in the case of the AAC there is a clear distinction. That is sort of the balance we are looking to strike between managing expectations and inviting opportunity to serve. >> This is Carly speaking. This is where it all goes back to the investment -- assessment. [indiscernible] a lot of the referrals that may come from a deaf blind specialist sometimes there are cases where we may ask them to participate in the assessment. If you are providing technical assistance to a student, for those on the call that work for the state deaf blind project, and you're working with a student and you observe their ability to utilize the equipment. And you feel the AAC equipment would fall into the guideline , permitting them to give a voice to that student. And they are able to navigate that device, that is a clear justification on providing that equipment for that student. Again it goes back to the program. To tapping into the resources that may be available, to set up and manage those expectations. That is something in the state of New Jersey we really try to collaborate on. I know Marcia can share some of the remote assessment that her programs have done for a particular student. >> This is Marcia. There are times where we really don't necessarily have the kinds of expertise for these kinds of situations in every state. Not all of the trainers that we would have would necessarily have this area of expertise. In those cases, we had set up a remote assessment, with an expert. And we like to see as part of the assessment, with the child who is being assessed, obviously the parents. We like also to see somebody else from the team of providers, that might be a speech pathologist or a teacher. They are also very familiar with the kids. There may be a situation where the teacher might be able to say that nonverbal acknowledgment is our recognition that the person who is being assessed is able to, for instance, be able to recognize and have some communication with someone they know in person, that they can also recognize on an iPad through face time or the like. We like to be able to have a pretty solid team approach to those kinds of assessments. I also wanted to reiterate when we are talking about a student, this cannot be for use in the classroom, but it can certainly even to the extent that there is something the student uses in the classroom, that we would like to provide for home or mobile use as well. Just a couple of examples they are. >> The best of their. >> This is Carly speaking. A lot of professionals on the call working with these children, we know we have a lot of kids with emerging language skills. It's really important to know, even if you're making the referral, some of those things for that student could be recognized as them being aware of the communication that is happening. So again, it's important to have the collaboration. To manage those expectations and to share what you know specifically about that student. Thank you Marcia, I appreciate that. >> This is Marcia, one more thought. It is just flowing today, what can I say that every state program has the opportunity to consult with the FCC if they are in doubt about something and the FCC will make a careful consideration. Again it is a reimbursement program. If states are in a position where they are spending money on something they are not going to be reimbursed for, obviously that is a challenge for them. But moreover, the FCC is incredibly honest about being a partner in making sure that everything this program can provide be provided. I have to say personally, I have just been amazed time and again at how they try really hard to put themselves in the shoes of the person who is running the program. The parent, the person being assessed, and it's a really remarkable partnership. So if the states have any doubt about this, the Secretary -- FCC does a really great job of supporting them . Thank you. >> This is Carly speaking. We will ask Megan to help us take a tour of our website so we can help you locate your local program. >> Hi everybody. This is Megan. If you would like to, I am now sharing my screen and in the share pod if you're on Adobe connect, you will see in the upper right-hand corner, there are four arrows, directions pointing in different directions. If you click on that it will maximize the screen. The share pod. Then you can see it in larger form if you would like. When you are done looking at it you hit that same spot that will shrink it back down. >> Excuse me Megan, before you start. Carly and Marcia can you see her screen. I am seeing it still scrolling. >> I do not see the website. >> Okay. >> Megan I think, I will share my screen. It is up now. I am sorry. >> It took a minute. Okay. My apologies. Maybe a little drag. >> Okay. If you want to make it bigger again, you can hit the four directional arrows in the toolbar in the share pod. So Marcia and Carly wanted us to show you all a few things. First of all how to find your local contacts. You will notice there are several slots on the landing page of iCanConnect. In the upper right-hand corner you can see a blue rectangular bar that has it. When you scroll a little further in the image. You can also click in the center to find a local contact. And if you scroll down further, in the black bar, to the right of this gentleman in the purple shirt you can find your local contact that way. There are several ways right from the landing page where you can find your local contact. The other thing they wanted you all to see is when you scroll down. Underneath the image of the phone you will see something here in blue that says income guidelines. Click on that and it will take you to the iCanConnect income guidelines. If you have questions and need to look those up they are right there on the website. >> Also, the other way you can find it from the homepage, I will take you back to the homepage. When you are on the homepage here, you can actually then, I think under how to apply. Or see if you qualify ladies? >> This is Marcia. Let me take a step back if I could. First I want to say the overarching goal of all of our outreach, including this website, is to connect people with their state program. You will find that throughout the site. We relaunched the website right at the end of the pilot program. We had a lot of experience. What are the kinds of basic questions we keep getting. Let's make it really easy. So to see if you qualify, click on that. And scroll down. That is going to talk about the disability eligibility, combined hearing and vision loss. If you keep scrolling down. You will hit the income guideline. So right there, see if you qualify. Most people, it's like is this program for me. You have a two-pronged eligibility requirements of the program, right in the see if you qualify tab. And if you go back to the how to apply. Now I figured out I am eligible, what do I do now? Here is where we specifically want to drive people to their state. Every state has a page on this website. There are a number of different ways to find it. If you click on the find your local iCanConnect contact . It is a pulldown list of each state. A quick way to do it is to also type iCanConnect dot org /and the name of the state. For New Jersey you need a hyphen. That is the whole goal, to send people back to their state page on the website. That is the contact information for every single state program. We also encourage the states to give us their application. Again there is not one specific application. We have made hours available to any other state that wants to use it in whole or part. But the applications in most cases are available for download. And the states, 22 states we lead, we have both standard and large print applications available, in Spanish and English you will find that varies from state to state. Again, do I qualify, and how do I apply. >> And then we have been talking about the equipment. That's where you see the different categories of the kinds of equipment we provide. There will be examples for each. It starts out with accessories and braille devices, computers. And when you drill down to any of those you will see more specific examples. And again it's not a shopping list. We try to manage people's expectations and say, you are going to get an individualized assessment to make sure you have the kind of equipment that is right for you. We have really tried to make it pretty easy, from the tabs at the top. When you hit the news. That's where we have collected a number of our consumer profiles. We have a fantastic story here I hope you will have a chance to take a look at. It is really a compelling story. And other things we have on the website are informational videos. We have done them both in English and Spanish, as well as American sign language. Again the short information, here is the 800-number. The 800-number will refer people to their state program. And the website will also refer people to their state. That is kind of the gist of what we are trying to do with the website. >> We were talking about some of the success stories. I want to invite Carly to share a few recent ones. It stole my heart, I will say right there. Carly. >> You are unmute. >> My apologies. Thank you Marcia. Thank you Megan for taking the time to do that. It is important for us to have the ability to share the website with everyone. To show the topics and engage and get an idea of the iCanConnect program as a whole. Something I thought would be appropriate for today's webinar would be to highlight a consumer. This is the most recent consumer we have purchased an item for in the state of New Jersey. Her name is Molly. A beautiful picture for those on the call, it's on the screen. It was about a few weeks ago and she is holding a year ball. An item I purchased for the program. She got a kick out of it. Her mom shared when she told Molly to get her ears, she picked up the ear stress ball. It was really cute. I did a profile here on this slide about Molly. She is currently five years old. She does have the ideology of charge. About 14 surgeries being diagnosed with the charge syndrome. The column Bouma's affect her eyes. She has balance issues. She uses bilateral cochlear implants. And the primary mode of communication is ASL. She is one of our students with emerging language as well. She attends the state school for the deaf. She uses about 500 signs both expressive and receptive. However does not fully benefit just yes -- yet from an interpreter. She loves to play with her friends but that was important to the assessment to know. We do say she is a future Insta Graham fashion diva. You can tell from her bow. She loves close and bows -- her clothes and her bows. >> To get a sense of who Molly is. >> This is Marcia . for those that don't see the picture, I am pretty sure the bow on her head is as big as her forearm. [laughter] >> Who's on Molly's team? This is where it's really important to highlight the collaboration. I've been working with Molly and her family as the family engagement coordinator to the deaf blind projects and she was about one. I really had a sense of who Molly was, where her communication skills are at. And I had the opportunity to observe her even with technology. It was really important with me to share my experience interacting with Molly. With the team when we found her eligible for the program. For some of the people that participate in early stages, her mom and dad. Myself as the iCC coordinator. We had the technology specialist utilized to the advancing opportunities program. And we did interact with the state deadline project to support that attestation and to provide a sense of where Molly's skills were headed as well. >> Including all of those people, in the beginning of this process, it was really important for the technology specialist to get a sense of what is the purpose of this assessment. I just highlighted some of the language that was used during the assessment process. So the purpose of was to show Molly's primary mode of communication was ASL. That she attends the captain back school for the past three years. She has used an iPad at school and the evaluation to determine if that was appropriate for home use. So during the evaluation, it took place in the home. The observation was that in the living room her mother has an iPad. Molly uses that iPad. And she does love her play dates. She likes to call and see if they are available to play. They communicate via ASL. And Molly did demonstrate during the assessment that she could utilize the iCanConnect independently. How to select the app, and how the parents said they taught her how to answer and reject calls as well. Even though she doesn't verbally communicate or sign, the technology specialist at the time of the assessment, she was able to show she could manipulate the device. So the technology specialist felt confident and comfortable that if Molly had her own iPad she would be able to navigate that independently. And she is five. Her parents needed to support her through this process and she needed training to support the app and we would be happy to provide that as well. So again. The equipment recommended was an iPad Pro. Because that would provide a larger screen area for Molly. So she could see her friends when they talk on her face time. And an OtterBox. Not only because she is five, that because it's a heavier device and she is little did we felt that would protect the device from breaking. As far as training recommendations, they thought Molly would benefit from some training. Using the iPad accessibility features. The family didn't know just yet but they were open to teaching her the skills early on. She is five. We were able to provide her some guidance and training and we are confident she could learn to do those independently. Even though she is very young, her parents felt confident that the iCanConnect program could provide the training to her and she would be able to understand the training. So the hours requested from the technology specialist were about five. However we revisited at the end of that first set of hours. >> And here on this slide, there is a picture for those on the line. A picture of me and Molly. Incidentally I'm wearing the same dress and I did not plan that today. That was a month ago. Molly and I actually presented at the first ever charge regional conference in the state of New Jersey. It was a really exciting moment for Molly and myself. Molly's self empowered, self independent, she was verbally communicating to her appears, she was turning the iPad around and showing everybody. She was really excited to be there. She understood and I asked if she liked her iPad. She vocalized over the microphone and was excited about that. She kept signing she loved it. Again it is so important. I am so grateful for the opportunity. We did have families from four different states attending. We had families from all over the East Coast that attended the conference. I was able to share the information for their local contacts. Like today, providing the overall guidelines of the program, and things to consider for families. They were able to go back and really connect to the local programs. That was so important. So why was this so successful? For one it was understanding the needs of the consumer. Like Marcia said earlier we do have a lot of consumers that aren't so savvy with equipment. They have a ton of experience, or they are interested in multiple devices. And then some are very new to the world of technology. They have capabilities to navigate the devices. Each one of those assessments is really going to be customized it is really important to understand the needs of the applicants that you are sharing this information with. The collaboration, I know in this special area of the community, we all know who benefits and what positive add that mesh outcomes -- positive outcomes through collaboration. And again managing expectations. Having the conversation early on. The open communication during the assessment. Having key players involved during the assessment. With the team, setting up the expectation for that family and that child to be successful. In the end. >> So what is so important here. Marcia and I really appreciate the time and opportunity to share all of the guidelines with you today. We hope that we covered and manage your expectations about attending the webinar. Marcia will share a little bit about connecting with your local program. >> This is Marcia did I have found over the course of time, states are different on a case-by-case basis. There are some who have networked very thoroughly with all of the different kinds of both agencies and people, who might be able to either provide a disability attestation, or actually referring people in their caseload to the program. And other cases, there are states where not all of the different agencies may necessarily be aware of the program. It varies from state to state. I presume not about any specific one. I just always want to encourage the collaboration. If there is one that can be strengthened or a new one forged. We have told everybody on the national call for the program, about the other folks with NCDB, and really want to help people refer people to the program. There may be an opportunity to do outreach together. If you don't know your iCanConnect estate contact , it would be a beautiful thing to connect. -- Your state contact, it would be a beautiful thing to connect. >> This is Carly speaking. Here are some additional resources that you can find. The iCanConnect .org as we shared has really been revamped to be easy to navigate, to find information that would be beneficial to both professionals and individuals about the program, and to really again get you back to the local contact. The FCC and the NDBEDP , that pages listed as well that covers the roles of the program. For those that are interested in reading some of those roles and guidelines, that is shared there as well. You can find more information about the Helen Keller national Center act definition. Connected to that page as well. And the 21st century act, the CVAA . We included a couple of links there that are provided. And Marcia if you are comfortable we can open the floor for Q&A. >> Let's do it. >> So you guys, this is Megan Cote . First of all thank you for your awesome presentation. The information is very clear and I know it will really help families and consumers. And service providers down the road. We are really grateful. This is a time, a little bit of time remaining for any questions. You can hit*and six to unmute your phone, or you can write your question in the chat pod. We will get Marcia and Carly to answer your questions. Again as a reminder, questions need to be more about the general guidelines of the program, and not specific questions about individuals or consumers, they should go to the state contact. >> Great, this is Carly. I want to note in the chat pod, Robibin Bull shared that these materials will be available in a few days in the national library. You can always refer back to the power presentation -- PowerPoint presentation there. >> Again if you would like to start and six, we are happy to answer any questions. >> I will take the silence as maybe we did, we answered all of the questions. >> Here comes Jane. She says great presentation, very helpful. >> Okay. With that nice long pause, I want to thank again Marcia and Carly for their time today. Providing clarity about the iCanConnect program guidelines . I know this is really needed information. And that families and providers will be using this in the weeks ahead to help support consumers. I also want to thank the attendees for joining today, taking time to learn more about iCanConnect . As a reminder, this webinar and the materials for it will be archived in the NCDB website in the next few days. And Robibin Bull put the link . You can go to watch the webinar to clarify any future thinking you may have, or feel free to share with anybody who may benefit. With that, a big thanks to everybody again. I hope everybody has an opportunity to enjoy the rest of their day. Goodbye everyone. >> Thank you so much. Thank you for having us at >> Thank you so much. >> [Event concluded]