[blindkid] 1st grader can't see the board

[Bernadette Jacobs]

Oh my dear! My Dear! My Dear! My DEAR!!!

Firstly, I have no idea how one could transfer your basic class room
"board," if you will, to an I-pad?  I'm surprised she doesn't herself
do powerpoint or have this stuff on a screen.  However, there are a
couple ways to handle this.  If the teacher can't very simply explain
what she is writing on a board, or for that matter, if it is that much
of a hardship to her to have those materials printed out for his TVI,
(oh Glory)! she has no business in any class room!  If the TVI was
worth her weight, (knows Braille like many of them don't)???  The TVI
could see that ample information was either Brailled out or converted
to another form for him.  My friend, I can't stress this enough!  I've
preached this sermon on here before.  Never thought I'd have to do it
again.  But, here goes.

Abbreviated:  My friend, if all the other technology like the almighty
Ipad, Braille Note, Braille Display, crashes, guess what Darling?  The
Low-Tech Braille-on-paper lives on Darling!  Just like the
old-fashioned print book!  You'll find that it is a matter of life and
death that your dear child becomes L I T E R A T E!!!  Spells freedom
in my book!  Technology can be great but there will some day be a time
when there won't be an organization or entity who can buy that for him
and not all of us can afford it either.  So we must be literate and
guess what?  Once again, I'm so grateful to my mother that she pushed
and pushed and pushed that Braille!  Been nearly fifty years now and I
find it more useful to me than ever!  Just keep pushing that Braille!
Happy reading!

Bernie

On 8/31/12, Leah Pratt Roberts <hikingshoes at gmail.com> wrote:
> My son hasoptic nerve and eye muscle impairment, mild CP, and brain
> differences. Far vision 20/100 and 20/200. Near vision tests as good as
> 20/40 with a single letter - as we know here, reading is very different
> than looking at a single black letter on a white screen!
>
> In kindergarten it was a constant issue to get access to materials for him.
> We asked for a desk copy of everything posted on the walls, and desk copies
> of the picture books the teacher would read to the class each day, and it
> never happened over two years of asking. They would sometimes move him
> closer, but that also blocked access with his not having an upper field.
>
> Now he is in first grade, at a school that has been fabulous with his cp
> and brain issues, but they do not seem to get that he cannot see the
> materials. In May we agreed to reconvene in Sept for a technology ARD to
> work on this. The TVI made a suggestion about an older piece of equipment
> that stands over his desk and by her admission is huge and heavy. It
> sounds, sorry to be negative, awful. What I would like to be able to do is:
>
> 1. Have the overhead projector directly link to an iPad on his desk that
> shows the same view.
> 2. Have a way to transmit the image on the bulletin board (it's paper that
> the teacher writes on with marker; her room has no whiteboard) to an iPad
> on his desk.
>
> That would seem SO easy, but no one on the ARD committee had any idea how
> to make something like that happen. If I can come in with some options for
> magnification and transmission, I think they will happily adapt them. It's
> just that when they don't know what to do, they look helplessly at the TVI,
> and if she doesn't know what to do then we're sunk.
>
> He does have some Braille instruction but no Braille at all in the
> classroom...that is a whole other post though.
>
> When he got to class today, the teacher was writing on the board in a light
> color, and it looked like nothing was set up for him, beyond him being
> seated moderately close to the board.
>
> This child needs physical access to instructional materials at the same
> time as his classmates, not two years, a month, or a week after the fact.
> In this case, I would be happy to provide the iPad, cables, conversion
> boxes, etc.
>
> Leah
> _______________________________________________
> blindkid mailing list
> blindkid at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindkid_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> blindkid:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindkid_nfbnet.org/bernienfb75%40gmail.com
>