[blindkid] IEP Document Accessibility

Bonnie Lucas lucas.bonnie at gmail.com
Sun Oct 18 21:01:48 UTC 2009


I would love to know what other blind students or parents did to more 
clearly read the IEP with all the check marks and such. I will ask  the 
teacher just what program is used for the IEP's that this district does.
Bonnie
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Holloway" <rholloway at gopbc.org>
To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)" 
<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2009 3:14 AM
Subject: Re: [blindkid] IEP Document Accessibility


> That isn't terribly surprising-- I can't imagine how even the Kurzweil 
> would intuitively know one particular square is a blank check box  while 
> another with an "X" is a checked box, meanwhile on a menu or  product 
> package, similar shapes are just decorative and should be  ignored. And no 
> doubt one time it is check boxes and the next radio  buttons, and on and 
> on...
>
> The problem needs to be resolved from the school's end or more 
> specifically by the software creators. I'm really surprised to learn  this 
> has apparently not been resolved already. We are, however,  relative 
> newcomers to IEP's (about 5 years into this). Maybe these  electronic 
> forms are fairly recent or not so common elsewhere?
>
> One other thing-- it could well be that there are alternative output 
> formats with some of these packages and that some software users  aren't 
> aware of them. All it would have to do is generate a text-only  document, 
> inserting code that prints something like "A check box is  checked 
> indicating the following selection has been chosen:", or "The  following 
> option has been rejected:" Then it could just be treated  like any old 
> document to be brailled.
>
> Can others with older children comment as to what was provided for  their 
> children once they were involved with their own IEP's?
>
> Are there any people here who actually use that software themselves  and 
> who could look into that?
>
> Richard
>
>
> On Oct 17, 2009, at 10:01 PM, Bonnie Lucas wrote:
>
>> I was using Kurzweil to read the PDF of Aubrie's IEP and it was  somewhat 
>> of a pain to get through the whole thing. Part of the  problem may be 
>> that I haven't figured out how to adjust everything  or nevigate 
>> documents like that very well. for me, word is much  easier. Aubrie's 
>> teacher thinks that if she just write the goals out  in a document that 
>> this is good enough. Quite frankly, it wasn't  until recently that I 
>> began to understand how IEP'swork. By the time  she graduates, I'll 
>> finally know what's going on!
>> Bonnie
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Carol Castellano" 
>> <carol_castellano at verizon.net
>> >
>> To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)" 
>> <blindkid at nfbnet.org
>> >
>> Sent: Saturday, October 17, 2009 5:37 PM
>> Subject: Re: [blindkid] IEP Document Accessibility
>>
>>
>>> I wonder if Kurzweil could handle the boxes and checks.
>>> cArol
>>>
>>> At 12:40 AM 10/17/2009, you wrote:
>>>> I'm guessing the big deal in some cases is that this is not a simple
>>>> text document we are dealing with.
>>>>
>>>> Our IEP's have a good number of boxes and check marks and then  text is
>>>> added in various places to explain why one thing or another is
>>>> checked. I don't mean to suggest that braille readers can't  understand
>>>> that, but automated translation of these forms could jumble some of
>>>> the content, so proper translations (at least with the forms they  use
>>>> in our schools) might require a fair amount of manual intervention.
>>>> Our 7-year-old isn't really ready to be involved in her own IEP's  yet
>>>> but this will be interesting to deal with for her in a few years...
>>>>
>>>> It sounds like an issue that for some will turn into agreement  that it
>>>> "must" be done but in reality it won't be done, at least not with a
>>>> good clean translation...
>>>>
>>>> One thing seems clear-- if future software design & purchase  decisions
>>>> for IEP packages had braille compatibility in mind from the start,
>>>> things could be smoother in these matters, but where would one go to
>>>> promote that sort of change? I haven't a clue where one should even
>>>> start.
>>>>
>>>> Richard
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Oct 16, 2009, at 11:04 PM, Barbara Hammel wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Our school sends them electronically for me.  Sometimes we have to
>>>>> hound them but I have gotten them.  My husband has also scanned  them
>>>>> into the computer before.  They're already on the computer so what
>>>>> should the big deal be?
>>>>> Barbara
>>>>>
>>>>> Snow is God's way of reminding us that beauty can be found even in
>>>>> the coldest hearts.
>>>>>
>>>>> --------------------------------------------------
>>>>> From: "DrV" <icdx at earthlink.net>
>>>>> Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2009 12:22 AM
>>>>> To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind  children)" 
>>>>> <blindkid at nfbnet.org >
>>>>> Subject: [blindkid] IEP Document Accessibility
>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi Everyone,
>>>>>> Our elder son is now in 7th grade & we would like for him to  take a
>>>>>> more active role in his IEPs.
>>>>>> We get print copies of the reports, goals, & final IEP document.
>>>>>> He can't read the print.
>>>>>> If we didn't speak English, is it standard practice for these to  be
>>>>>> translated into the family's native language?
>>>>>> If so, then along that line of reasoning, it would seem like the
>>>>>> district should be required to provide these in an  understandable/ 
>>>>>> accessible format.
>>>>>> Providing an electronic Word/Text version would be a little extra
>>>>>> work, but certainly seems do-able.
>>>>>> I would appreciate some insights into how others have approached
>>>>>> this.
>>>>>> Thanks
>>>>>> Eric
>>>>>>
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>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
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>>>
>>> Carol Castellano, President
>>> National Organization of Parents of Blind Children
>>> 973-377-0976
>>> carol_castellano at verizon.net
>>> www.nfb.org/nopbc
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
> 





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