[blindkid] BrailleNote use

[Bo Page]

Hi Bernadette,
In what way does one use Ultra Book?  HOw is it unique for the blind?  I looked 
it up, and it appears that is is a laptop.  Can you say more about it.

Much appreciated.
Bo Page in CT




________________________________
From: Bernadette Jacobs <bernienfb75 at gmail.com>
To: "Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)" 
<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thu, September 6, 2012 7:33:34 AM
Subject: Re: [blindkid] BrailleNote use

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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