[blindkid] The Relationship Between a Visually Impaired Child and the iPad 2

[Bonnie Lucas]

I truly think it is wonderful that the iPad works so well for Zoe. I hope
that as she reads with it, that she is reading at the same speed as do her
peers. As long as her vision does not continue to deteriorate, perhaps,
using this equipment will be just what she needs. However, if the time comes
that her vision gets worse, not knowing Braille is likely to void the gains
made by using this technology. I'm sure that the staff and parents will take
all of this into consideration. Of course, as I'm sure that others have
mentioned that as children grow into adults, it become so much harder to
learn Braille. I know from personal experience with members of my family.
Very best of luck!

Bonnie Lucas. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Hai Nguyen Ly [mailto:gymnastdave at sbcglobal.net] 
Sent: Monday, November 07, 2011 8:38 AM
To: (for parents of blind children) NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List
Subject: [blindkid] The Relationship Between a Visually Impaired Child and
the iPad 2


http://liaison.com/blog/blank-blog-page/liaison-blog/2011/10/13/the-relation
ship-between-a-visually-impaired-child-and-the-ipad-2

The Relationship Between a Visually Impaired Child and the iPad 2

Zoey's right eye works some. The left eye not at all. She walks with a cane
at school. Her teachers enlarge worksheets so the text is 16-point font, and
she has large print editions of some other books. She uses the iPad 2 for
everything else at school.

At the start of the school year, there was very little information available
about how a child like Zoey can succeed with the iPad 2 as her primary
adaptive technology at school. This note attempts to fill that gap.

Zoey's Condition: She is legally blind. She was a "24-week micro preemie",
meaning she was born too early and too small. She has never seen well. Her
one working eye has a blind spot, its acuity varies so her glasses cannot
keep up, and her eye has other problems as well. For what she cannot see,
she wants to hear and touch.

She also has perfect pitch. She says that without her piano, she would die.

Other Adaptive Technology: Zoey has several magnifying lenses of different
strengths and weights. To read a book, she often put a wedge into her lap,
held the magnifier close to her eye and slowly read. To read music, until
she got her iPad, she would put music on the piano, put the magnifier close
to her face and lean towards the music until she could see it. This approach
let her read most notes, but she was unable to tell the difference between a
natural and a sharp, read dynamics markings, etc.

She also used a 3.2 megapixel AVerVision document camera attached to a
32-inch HDTV on her desk at home. The two together work as a CCTV. They
allow her to read print books, maps, worksheets, etc. It allows her to see
bugs and other small items. In first grade she carried the document camera
to school each day and had a monitor on her desk. Starting in second grade,
she found other approaches worked better because the technology was too
cumbersome.

Her iPad arrived the week before school started. She glommed on almost
instantly, wanting to learn everything about using it. Her first use was
taking pictures of everything in sight - every stuffed animal in the house,
her sisters dressed in costumes, all her friends, everything which mattered
to her. This is the first time that the screen of a camera was large enough
for her to use (as others have noted in numerous blogs and articles). I also
suspect that she also could see things for the first time - they stood still
enough, and were large enough, for her to study them.

A Typical Day with the iPad 2: Each morning before school, Zoey unplugs her
iPad from the charger and puts it into the carrying case she chose. The
carrying case is colorful, and its bright colors contrast with the school
dress code, allowing her to easily locate the case. She also carries a
hand-held telescope in the case.

In english, science and other subjects, her textbooks are in different apps
on the iPad. She uses a DAISY reader (DAISY is an audio book format which
can also display words in large font sizes), iBooks and Kindle. Her teachers
email information sheets and other materials directly from the school's
photocopier or from a computer, and the iPad receives the documents via the
3G connection, so that Zoey has the materials in class.

She has difficulty keeping up while taking handwritten notes in class. Thus,
she now practices typing most days. She has a fold-up bluetooth keyboard. I
use (and am writing this note using) the Apple wireless keyboard. However,
that keyboard was not designed to be carried along with the iPad (for
instance, if the keys are pressed, the iPad turns on if the iPad has
bluetooth enabled). She has a smaller keyboard which folds in half. The key
spacing is not standard, and the keys have to be pressed harder. Once her
typing speed is good enough, we will try keyboards until we have a workable
situation.

For piano music, I use a notebook application (Notebooks, but others would
probably work too) to take pictures of the music two lines at a time. We
make a book for each piece of music, and number the pictures by measure
number. She sets the iPad sideways on the piano, flips between photos like
with a swipe similar to how other pianists turn a page of music. She, of
necessity, memorizes all her music. She is far more physically comfortable
learning music this way than with hand-held lenses, and she is able to
expand the image enough that she can even read the fingering hints.

Also, when watching piano instructional materials in the web, or working on
lab exercises over the web, Zoey is able to expand the screen size and
navigate the sites. When she plays music samples, the iPad speaker is
sufficient for simple lab exercises, but she uses an Apple AirPort wired to
a stereo system when she needs to hear the music more clearly (the iPad lets
you send audio to the AirPort instead of to its own speaker).

Collaborating with the School: The school staff at Archway Veritas, a
charter school in Phoenix, AZ, has been fantastic. The school located
electronic copies or large print copies of most books used in the classroom,
and has either acquired or made large print copies of most workbooks. Zoey's
email address has been entered into the school photocopier so teachers can
easily scan materials during the day if needed so she can have them in the
classroom. There is much more we could say.

How It's Working: Parents want to see their children succeed. Zoey has
options and flexibility we never thought she would have. The teachers and
staff at Archway Veritas, with some support from the Phoenix-based
Foundation for Blind Children, have given Zoey the chance to succeed there.
Zoey's piano teacher, at Music Works Academy in Phoenix, has adapted to
Zoey's needs and capabilities. We are deeply grateful.

When asked about the iPad, she said "It is much better than it was before,
that's for sure."

Other parents have warned us that the iPad is a superb source of
entertainment. It can be addictive. Thus Zoey has no games on her iPad.

As Marc Andreessen recently wrote, software is taking over the world. A
single general-purpose software-controlled tool has now become the primary
adaptive technology for a blind child, providing her options that no
previously existing set of tools could provide.

That is amazing.