[blindkid] What Blind-VI Children Need in School TODAY

Dr. Denise M Robinson deniserob at gmail.com
Thu Oct 20 12:49:47 UTC 2011


Teachers and Parents often ask me what their child needs for school. Here is
the basic rule of thumb. Look around in the world today and see what is
everyone else basically using. What are they using in class today? Educate
today, what they need tomorrow <http://www.yourtechvision.com/>.

First, to compete in the world and be able to do what every else is doing,
blind, visually impaired children must learn the computer inside and out,
Excel, <http://www.yourtechvision.com/products/beginner/microsoft-excel>
PowerPoint<http://www.yourtechvision.com/products/beginner/microsoft-powerpoint>and
Word <http://www.yourtechvision.com/products/beginner/microsoft-word> are
the main programs. Having an adaptive laptop (such as a Braille
Note<http://www.humanware.com/en-usa/products/blindness/braillenotes/_details/id_236/braillenote_apex_qt_32.html>)
is incredibly valuable, but if schools only have enough money for 1 piece of
equipment, go with the computer, as it will do everything the Braille Note
will do, but the Braille Note can NOT do what the computer can do. They must
learn how to do email and socialize on social networking sites like
Facebook<http://m.facebook.com/>.
There are many other things off this, but those are the main points. If
using talking software<http://www.freedomscientific.com/downloads/jaws/jaws-downloads.asp>,
they need to learn how to control it and make it do what it needs to do for
them. If visually impaired, use magnification where possible BUT also ask,
"if my eyes cannot do as much and as quickly as my peers around me, then I
need to learn blind skills also."

One thing for sure, you will never go wrong if you teach many tools. The
child will get into big trouble if they do NOT have enough skills in their
toolbox of learning. Get the education and
lessons<http://www.yourtechvision.com/>they need and parents anything
that is taught at school, backup at home, or
vice versa. Get everyone on the team involved in the
education<http://www.yourtechvision.com/>of this child, and you will
have someone who can meet tomorrow's challenges.

-- 
Denise

Denise M. Robinson, TVI, Ph.D.
CEO, TechVision
Specialist in blind technology/teaching/training
Email:  yourtechvision at gmail.com <deniserob at gmail.com>
Website with hundreds of lessons: yourtechvision.com



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