[blindkid] Technology and Little Kid

[DrV]

Quite a few of the teachers hold the belief that the slate & stylus should 
not be formally introduced and worked on until 3rd or 4th grade (& those are 
the one's who are even open to teaching it). They feel it is to technically 
difficult & "confusing". It seems like the new TVI graduates are likewise 
being taught this. One certainly wonders how good & efficient the 
"penmanship" of sighted children & adults would be if pencils, pens, crayons 
and markers were not introduced until 3rd or 4th grade...

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Carrie Gilmer" <carrie.gilmer at gmail.com>
To: "'NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)'" 
<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2010 12:47
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Technology and Little Kid


> Or..put another way, how many sighted children could or would want to draw
> or write if they never so much as touched a pen, pencil, marker, or crayon
> ever-at all--until age 8 or older and they learned to write solely on
> keyboard. And then only did it maybe 10 or 15 minutes at a time.
> Well it is creeping into the sighted world too somewhat; already time in
> classroom spent on cursive writing has dropped dramatically. Kids are 
> often
> are no longer graded on handwriting. And it is showing, the discussion 
> there
> has begun. Does any parent or teacher of a sighted child even consider
> though dropping early writing and waiting to introduce it until 3rd or
> fourth grade, no. Will they ever? I doubt it will be dropped totally in my
> lifetime.
> Carrie
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of David Andrews
> Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2010 12:13 PM
> To: NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)
> Subject: Re: [blindkid] Technology and Little Kid
>
> Richard:
>
> Thanks for the ideas.  Not to be argumentative but I don't
> necessarily agree with your placement of slate.  Most kids today are
> not good slate and stylus users because it is downplayed by
> professionals, and they get the Braille Writer first.  I started with
> slate first, at six and didn't get a Braille Writer until 2nd or 3rd
> grade, so I am very good with slate.  To do it the other way around
> guarantees that the slate will always be a second class citizen.
>
> Dave
>
> At 11:42 PM 2/17/2010, you wrote:
>>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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