[blindkid] On the Future of Braille: Thoughts by RadicalBraille Advocates (Bookshare)

[Richard Holloway]

I have to agree with Jim on the Apex or similar Braille note taker. This is absolutely our first choice, go-to solution for Kendra. It is unobtrusive and can go almost anywhere our daughter goes. For now, nothing else gets so much Braille reading and writing potential so close to our daughter, especially in such a portable package. 

Yes Denise, PC's are where all of our kids will end up (or with whatever replaces our current PC's in 5 or 10 or 20 years) but speaking for my daughter who had her own PC with JAWS by age 4-- After learning basic Braille skills on a Perkins Brailler, she learned 90-percent-plus of her more advanced Braille skills on a BrailleNote. Now that she has excellent Braille skills with her Apex, we see that translating very smoothly to her PC and iDevices through Braille keyboards/displays and since there was no great rush to learn qwerty, she has also learned to use a traditional keyboard at a relaxed pace. (We keep a Braille keyboard and a standard qwerty on her PC all the time and she moves between them at will.) Kendra is no doubt faster with a Braille keyboard, but she can still out-type most kids her age on a qwerty keyboard too. 

We've used a PAC Mate with display, a Braille 'n Speak, an mPower, an Apex, a PC with JAWS plus a Braille display and keyboard, an iDevice with a Braille Display and keyboard, and of corse, a plain old Perkins Brailler. An Apex is absurdly expensive but absolutely the best overall tool for our 10-year-old's needs at this point. 

Our daughter is a very successful student. Not just "on grade level", but a high achiever in her mainstream class; well ahead of most of her (typically sighted) peers. She got where she is because of two main reasons. First, she is a bright student who works very hard, but second?... She has had the right technology to support her scholastic needs from the start. We pressed for what she needs through the school and we spent a lot out-of-pocket buying technology for the house as well. If I had to, I wouldn't hesitate to spend less on a car or a home to facilitate supporting access for her to have a good note taker. It is that important. But as Jim points out, there are probably simpler ways to afford such needs. 

I do agree with Denise that starting early is key. Our daughter was "scribbling" on a Briller and learning her alphabet by age three. She was working with a Braille 'n Speak by age 4, and had a note taker with a Braille display by age 5. 

I do believe that kids (or adults) can be successful with Braille technology at any age, but starting early makes the learning come with much more ease, and often helps kids achieve the maximum possible speed with reading and writing. 

Mind you, some things do still require a Perkins or even a slate and stylus, but without her Apex, my daughter's life at school would absolutely be a LOT more complex....

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 15, 2013, at 11:03 PM, jim at riversedgehomes.com wrote:

> Tammy and Darci,
> 
> I agree with Dr. Robinson that PC/MaC is critical but I also believe that
> Braille literacy is mandatory.
> 
> Your kids should have a screen reader that they can afford. But our
> experience with our daughter is that nothing can replace the fluent
> Braille literacy that one can attain from a Braille Note or other similar
> device. We sought and received the help of our local Lions Club for
> Lauren's first Braille Note.
> 
> The school finally saw the wisdom in it and followed up with replacement
> versions as needed (and took all the credit). VOCRehab never argued; they
> were happy to help.
> 
> Yours,
> 
> Jim Beyer
> 
> 
>> That would be awesome and amazing for a child to have that kind of
>> technology available to them like that. It  would certainly start to help
>> close the gap between them and their sighted peers.
>> We're currently in the same boat as Darci. At what point do you go in debt
>> to provide your child the same technology as their siblings and peers.
>> Especially when the school won't help qand others tell you it's going to
>> be out dated.
>> HIMS did tell us at the NFB Convention that their braille sense was made
>> to not go obsolete, because of the cost they wanted it made to last a long
>> time and any thing from here on out would just be a matter of downloading
>> updates and/or new programs not buying a new machine. We thought that was
>> awesome news and their part.
>> 
>> Tammy D. Parson
>> 
>> On Jul 15, 2013, at 7:53 PM, "Deborah Kent Stein" <dkent5817 at att.net>
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> 
>>>