[blindkid] BrailleNote use

Thu Sep 6 14:19:03 UTC 2012

Bernie, 

The comments you offer are well taken, however even slightly forward-thinking school systems should have access to a spare unit or two if they have a number of notetaker-using students, and with data regularly and properly backed up, even a catastrophic failure or loss of a machine can be overcome by restoring a backup to a new machine. We have had to switch machines before ourselves, more than once, but we've never been totally without a machine for our daughter for more than a few days. Should that happen, we're be back to a Perkins for a while. That and an adapted computer at home.

Service contracts on machines can also be bought for exchange of a failed unit with a refurbished one which should take the multi-week (or month) repair time concern down to a few days.

Yes, the machines are overpriced, and yes, there is probably a better solution down the road, but a notebook of any flavor plus a Braille display, and Braille keyboard (many of our kids function better with Braille keyboards, especially a younger age) is nowhere near the quality of a solution as a notetaker. It is very possible to have a responsible student as young as first grade carry their own notetaker over their shoulder or around their neck from class to class, or around home and out in the real world. Notes can be taken and other work done on the fly. This means potentially on a school bus, or certainly in a moving car, train, etc.

QWERTY solutions seem to work better for some adults, especially one's who already knew qwerty before Braille. My daughter can type on both keyboard styles, but is nowhere a s proficient on qwerty as she is on a Braille keyboard, and she needs a Braille display to have proper access to actually READ her materials. On her computer at home, she uses a Braille display and keyboard plus a qwerty keyboard when needed.

Since our kids must be able to use a Braille writer for certain work, I would suggest that the priority must be to offer them Perkins-style solutions first and qwerty can come into play if and when they are ready.

Until i become aware of an alternative solution a small child can reasonably carry about with Braille input and output, which can be safely used while walking down a hallway to record information as well as in a classroom or car, I'm going to find a way to keep a quality notetaker available to my daughter. 

Just the notion of her changing classes every hour or so at school while trying to schlep along even a small laptop and Braille keyboard setup as well as multiple Braille books, an abacus or two, and so forth makes that a totally impractical solution. I would also submit that a laptop screen in a typical classroom environment with many young kids sitting about would invite a pretty big lack of privacy for the blind student with her work on display to many other students nearby. With older kids of which many have their own screen to view, it might be less of an issue. I want my daughter blending in, working quietly and discretely with a Braille display available and her sound turned off whenever possible.

One other thing-- I weighed my 4th grade daughter's backpack when she got off the school bus yesterday. With 3 Braille books and her BrailleNote plus a few sundries, it was 15 pounds. Surely an ultrabook and display plus cases possibly a couple of chargers would make her pack even larger and heavier; not good.

One thing that is needed is absolutely an available windows or Mac OS based solution that can be operated like a BrailleNote, but remember, that many applications are not entirely compatible with having no visual interaction at this point, so it isn't like the more common OS fixes everything. That's much the same concern as working with JAWS on a PC, for example VoiceOver on an Apple product.

Computers like ultrabooks offer more power, but also (in my opinion) many more ways to get hung up in the general operation of the machine. Even in first grade, our daughter could effectively produce and word process documents on her mPower. The chance of her doing that unassisted in MS Word on a PC with any style keyboard would have been much smaller indeed.

It is also worth remembering that a Braille keyboard and display will add a couple grand to the cost of a solution and it also means a second unit to charge as well as carry about and manage. Also, JAWS or a similar solution, if needed, adds on up to another $1000. This brings us fairly close to notetaker cost...

Seems like at convention this past year there was also talk of a new upcoming much lower cost notetaker, but even once released, it will have no track record. Cost is important, but no more important than functionality and reliability.

It is a complicated situation at best, but I have to recommend what I know has worked the best for many young blind students for a number of years.

Sent from my iPad

On Sep 6, 2012, at 7:32 AM, Bernadette Jacobs <bernienfb75 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Firstly, I'm one who's been burned by the world of notetakers.  I,
> myself, will never, ever have another notetaker.  I've found the
> drawbacks are as follows:
> 
> 1.  The turn-around time if your notetaker should have to be in for
> repair can be a whole six months.  I've heard others' tales of woe
> that sometimes even when people have gotten their notetakers back,
> they weren't even in the same condition they had previously sent it.
> 
> 2.  In my instance, for example, I had upgraded the software on mine
> two years in a row.  Then when I went online to upgrade for a third
> time, I was told that there was a serious hardward upgrade problem.
> When I called the outfit, they of course informed me that they had
> failed to tell me about hardware upgrades that I needed and until I
> paid out mukobucks for the hardware, I couldn't even touch the
> software.  In essence, the hardware upgrades, in addition to the
> software upgrades I needed would cost me three-fourths the price of a
> whole brand new machine!!!  NEVER AGAIN!!!  NEVER AGAIN!!!
> 
> 3.  Good news, however, I talked with the folks here at the National
> Center and they've informed me that something new called the
> "Ultra-Book" has come out.  One can get them through Amazon and almost
> anywhere one can purchase computers.  Yah--windows based and all!  You
> can use it like your personal PC or laptop.  As for the price, even
> that's not too bad!  You can get 'em for around $1300.00ish or so.
> Far less also than a notetaker!!!  You don't have to worry about your
> machine sitting in some shop on the other side of tim-buck-two for six
> months to a year only to have it come back to you Lord knows how.
> It's far easier to upgrade software on a PC, laptop, or "Ultra-Book"
> and you can connect with any printer or PC VIA usb connection or
> whatever.  One could do the same with a netbook.  Just like having a
> laptop.  I do know many parents right here on the list whose counties
> purchased this equipment, (notetakers and all), for their
> blind/disabled students in order for them to continue to compete in
> their class rooms.
> 
> That's my take for whatever it's worth!
> 
> Have a great day!
> 
> Bernie
> 
> On 9/5/12, Carly B <barnesraiser at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hello all!
>> 
>> I am hoping to get some thoughts/advice regarding my son's school
>> situation. My son is 10 and he just entered 4th grade at the state academy
>> for the blind. He's been there since 1st grade. At his IEP meeting last
>> spring, I asked that he be provided with a Braille Note for his home use. I
>> thought I had requested it starting at the beginning of the summer (2012)
>> but that it would be something he would use at home during the school year.
>> Somehow this was misconstrued and it was entered in his IEP that he would
>> be provided the Braille Note for the summer only. Sadly, the instructor in
>> charge of technology (even though I had communicated with him *months*
>> prior to the IEP meeting and had gotten his "buy-in" then) did not have the
>> Braille Note ready for our son's use until the end of July. It was really
>> frustrating to be put off for 4-5 months after our initial request, but
>> since I thought that once we had it, we would have it indefinitely, that
>> helped.
>> 
>> Well, we've had the use of it for 4 weeks and I just received a request to
>> return it. Reading the IEP a little more carefully (yes, I glossed over
>> portions, including that one) I realize now there was a misunderstanding
>> about it.
>> 
>> But my question is: how many of you have technology at home provided by the
>> school? I mean, how unusual a request is or isn't this? Early on in this
>> process I encountered several TVI's who said they provide Braille Notes to
>> their students for use at home and school from an early age. So I got the
>> idea that it is somewhat standard.
>> 
>> Should I request another IEP meeting and make the request again, being
>> clear this time what I want? Should I expect to receive it? I mean, the
>> Braille Note is available to my son at school for *maybe* 30 minutes a day.
>> The amount of Braille material we have at home is quite limited. The
>> Braille Note is like a Kindle for Braille books... my son is part-way
>> through two books he downloaded from BookShare that he would not be able to
>> finish. He needs the extra practice time to increase his proficiency and
>> his reading speed. Of course I'm afraid they will say that he doesn't need
>> that...
>> 
>> Anyway, any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I just need to figure
>> out what to do from here...
>> 
>> Thanks in advance!
>> 
>> :) Carolynn aka Brian's mom
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> 
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