[blindkid] 4th Grade Math and introduction of technology

[Andy & Sally Thomas]

I don't think that there is one correct answer to this question.  There are 
kids who are a whiz at setting up problems on the Perkins.  Some kids prefer 
the Mountbatten Brailler or an abacus.  In my opinion (and it's just my 
opinion), a child needs to know how to do the problems for himself (or 
herself) before switching to a calculator.  The calculator should be 
introduced when the sighted kids use a calculator.  That said, I haven't 
gotten buy in on this from the teachers.  It's way easier to switch to a 
calculator and not teach the other techniques.  You have to do what is best 
for your child but don't short change him in learning math facts and 
techniques.

Sally Thomas
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tene Gibson" <g_tene305 at yahoo.com>
To: "BVI-parents" <bvi-parents at yahoogroups.com>; "(for parents of blind 
children) NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 2:36 PM
Subject: [blindkid] 4th Grade Math and introduction of technology


Thanks to NCLB, I am finding that my 9yo is getting caught up in the crunch 
to meet certain benchmarks with his sighted peers. Although I believe my 
child is an exceptionally bright child, I am sensing that he is stressed out 
by long division and multiplication (lining up problems on the Perkins being 
the main culprit). He is a type A personality so perfection is his goal and 
he gets caught up in the nuances of the problem set up instead of getting 
the answer. From a sighted perspective, I can understand his angst when 
having to go up, down, left, right, and sideways on a Perkins just for one 
problem alone and sometimes having to start all over if not lined up 
correctly. All we do with Math is erase with a pencil eraser.

My question I guess is when is the right to introduce technology into the 
classroom curriculum. He is one and half years shy of being in middle 
school. I have the Duxbury software, the screen reader, the notetaker, and 
the embosser. When can we put Perkins down for limited use.

Tene



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