[blindkid] Of the Slate and Stylus

Fri Feb 19 03:55:12 UTC 2010

Carlton,
Great comments here!  I personally learned on the slate & stylus and I'm pretty good, too.  I keep it with me in my purse and can always jot down a phone number or add to a grocery list, etc. - on-the-spot!  I carry 3X5 cards on a ring and use a card slate.  I don't have to worry about having something so huge (like a Perkins) or even my BrailleNote to carry around all the time.  Even my daughter, from China, learned on a slate & stylus - WHILE IN CHINA - before we adopted her.  I teach my students (and my daughter) the slate and stylus and the abacus... These are great tools!!!
Merry-Noel, TVI and NOMCT

--- On Fri, 2/19/10, Carlton Anne Cook Walker <attorneywalker at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Carlton Anne Cook Walker <attorneywalker at gmail.com>
Subject: [blindkid] Of the Slate and Stylus
To: blindkid at nfbnet.org
Date: Friday, February 19, 2010, 1:08 AM

Just my two cents being thrown in . . .

I, too, know many blind adults who are wonderfully proficient at the slate
and stylus.  As a new teacher of students who blind/visually impaired, I
have not seen the same level of proficiency in our youth.

I believe that the slate and stylus are invaluable tools to secure
independence and self-sufficiency for individuals who read braille.  One of
my students, who just turned 16, is a proficient braille reader and writer.
She learned on the Perkins brailler and moved to a BrailleNote around 4th
grade.

Unfortunately, this student absolutely hates the Perkins brailler (I'm not
certain why, but it seems to have something to do with being "forced to
carry one around school and between mom's home and dad's home.  Whatever the
reason, it is almost impossible to get her to use the brailler.)  This
student became COMPLETELY reliant on her BrailleNote.

Like many students, she had never been introduced to the slate and stylus.
I secured several different kinds of slates (Janus, postcard, 4-line,
Brown), and we got started.

Guess what?  She LOVES the slate.  She carries around 2-3 at all times and
is even coming up with new and more uses for the slate -- like most
teenagers, she accepts ideas better when she comes up with them :)

Now, her previous TVI is a great teacher -- she thoroughly taught this
student the braille code.  She provided up-to-date technology for this
student.  But she did not take into account building a reliable toolbox for
her student.  (This student is also learning to sign her name now -- she had
no concept of print or cursive letters or of print numbers when she became
my student this past August.)

As a parent of a child who is blind, the future is always on my mind.  Would
this tool be useful to my student?  How can I make the instruction
meaningful for my student?  How can I best prepare my student NOT to need me
anymore?

We must take care to refrain from withholding any tools just because we
might not like/understand them.

Carlton

-- 
Carlton Anne Cook Walker, NCLB
105 Creamery Road
Boiling Springs, PA    17007
Voice: 717-658-9894
Twitter: braillemom
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