[blindkid] Technology and Little Kid

DrV icdx at earthlink.net
Thu Feb 18 17:53:12 UTC 2010


I had similar concerns/feelings about the manipulation/ dexterity issues, 
though the more I think about it more, the more I think that perception may 
be inaccurate. Most kids don't pick up a pencil or crayon for the first time 
& write or draw perfectly - sometimes it is not even recognizable - that 
comes with practice. When I think of some of the toys my kids play with, 
there is a lot of fine-motor manipulation they learn to do amazingly 
efficiently - that comes with time & desire/motivation. If they are able to 
do those types of fine-motor manipulations, they should be able to 
manipulate a Slate & Stylus.

Long before we got married my wife worked with a social worker at a Physical 
Rehab Institute in Detroit; the social worker was a very proficient 
note-taker - she was blind & relied on the Slate & Stylus. I know times have 
changed & I am a avid proponent of the benefits of early introduction of 
technology, but I have seen the clear benefits of a Slate & Stylus in 
action. Some people are VERY fast. My older son has started to use it to 
label & keep track of print papers that he gets from time to time in school 
& to label assignments he prints at school, for he still needs to keep track 
of these. Alas, I truly do wish the concept had been pushed strongly 
earlier.  Electronic notetaker batteries do run out of steam from time to 
time & the turn around time for sending in an electronic notetaker can be 
several weeks.

California is the first state to adopt formal Braille Reading Standards - 
teaching of the Slate & Stylus is a part of that. While this is a 
philosophically a great step in the right direction, the reality is that few 
teachers take teaching the Slate & Stylus to heart.

I recall hearing the story of a lady by the name of Kim Boshart in Nebraska 
who started teaching preschoolers to write with the slate and stylus 
"because she didn't know they couldn't learn it" that young. Guess what? 
They did learn! That comes from Ramona Walhof's 1993 NFB National Convention 
address entitled "BRAILLE: A RENAISSANCE" - it is definitely worth reading 
(www.nfb.org/Images/nfb/Publications/bm/bm93/brlm9310.htm).

Eric V



----- 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: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 21:42
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Technology and Little Kid


> Certainly the slate and stylus (as someone else mentioned) is not a  bad 
> idea, but a child in this age range is probably not going to have  the 
> fine motor control to master the tool's use easily or likely be  ready for 
> the whole mirror image concept.
>
> A child of nearly any age can begin using a Perkins Braillewriter-- I 
> know we were using one by at least age three. At the very least a  braille 
> novice can "scribble" on a braillewriter, just like my sighted 
> almost-4-year-old scribbles on paper with a crayon all the time. 
> Braillewriting skill with a young child emerges at least somewhat like 
> writing emerges with a sighted child-- not all letters at once and at 
> first, just like penmanship is typically pretty poor-- this after the 
> child has first just pressed the keys at random-- indeed "scribbling" 
> just like sighted kids. Getting the feel of the tools to use is an 
> important first step. It is hard for small hands to properly press and 
> form braille mechanically with a Perkins, but you are building hand  and 
> finger strength and forming braille concepts all along the way.  Many 
> schools can provide a second braillewriter for the student to use  at home 
> for free once the child is in school.
>
> I think that often the way to go is to immerse the child within all  the 
> options that can be gotten as the child appears ready to take to  them--  
> at least that was our theory when our daughter was born, and in  fact, it 
> continues to be the same way to this day, then we focus on  what she seems 
> ready to take to-- she'll ultimately use most all of  these things. There 
> is also an entire range of tactile graphics  solutions and manipulatives. 
> You can produce these with pipe cleaners,  and a bottle of glue, or you 
> can use a multi-thousand dollar  thermoform; quite a range of options 
> exists.
>
> Now at age 7, Kendra uses a BrailleNote and PAC Mate daily but still  uses 
> a Perkins often, as well as an abacus for her math, JAWS on her  computer 
> and so forth. She also works well with refreshable braille  and that can 
> be a really handy option. The next big challenge I see  for her is needing 
> to learn a qwerty keyboard, so there can be a lot  of technology in use by 
> an early age.
>
> It is also really important to expose the child to braille as much as 
> possible. A sighted child sees print everywhere. Make certain this  child 
> runs across braille often. Now in first grade and a proficient  braille 
> reader, our first grade daughter still runs across the braille  stickers 
> on things all over the house-- refrigerator, dishwasher,  table, drawer, 
> oven, door, bed-- you name it. This will cause the  child to ask 
> questions-- just like a sighted child-- "what is this"  and later "what do 
> these letters say?-- what do they mean?" Also, use  twin vision books--  
> sighted kids look at letters while parents read  most every time. Blind 
> kids can do the same-- that's why it is best  when adding braille to a 
> print book to always put the braille below  the print-- a sighted reader 
> can still read while small hands are  exploring the braille.
>
> Screen readers can be used at that age as well as a victor reader.  Things 
> like Mt Battens are expensive but potentially useful, but be  careful that 
> an electronic (and expensive) solution like a Mt. Batten  or a PAC Mate is 
> not learned at the expense of being able to use a  mechanical 
> braillewriter as that need will almost certainly come up  all of this 
> child's life, at least from time to time.
>
> I'd like to rework this link, and our site is about to get a facelift 
> overall too but here are some technology ideas that you might direct  her 
> towards. Let her see a range of options and then she can decide  which way 
> she wants to proceed.
>
> http://www.gopbc.org/gopbc_technology.htm
>
>
> Richard
>
>
>
>
> On Feb 17, 2010, at 10:01 PM, David Andrews wrote:
>
>> I got asked a question, the other day, and since most of my  experience 
>> is with blind adults -- I didn't know quite what to say.   A woman said 
>> she had a four year old totally blind daughter, and she  wanted her to 
>> keep up with her peers in technology, so what  assistive 
>> technology/technology is there  -- should she start using  with her 
>> child?
>>
>> Dave
>>
>>
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