[blparent] Questions on Children's Computer Use

[Thea Eaton]

Hi Eileen,

Yes, this is a big issue, we have had quite a few discussions with blind
parents who are trying to access Flash children's sites too, to help their
children access the sites. Many educational children's sites also have a
parents/teachers section, that should have been made accessible for screen
readers. We are aware that there are very few Flash websites accessible at
all, it is an emerging technology and people are generally not aware of its
potential. We are trying to change that, by writing several case studies,
developing different accessible templates for Flash games, giving workshops
and writing a developer's guide for other developers on accessible Flash.
Flash is notoriously inaccessible, but can be made very accessible with the
right programming.

The survey we sent out has questions specifically on children's early
computer use, children who might be of pre-reading age and children who are
not yet able to use a screen reader, either due to not being able to find
certain keys on the keyboard yet or because of the learning curve that the
screen reader software brings. We were wondering at what age children start
to use assistive technologies and what some of the challenges are that come
with that. We were wondering if there are any children trying to access
Flash sites without assistive technologies by pressing the Tab and Enter
keys, for example.

But if you are a parent, that has had difficulty accessing a certain
website, we would ask for you to write down the experience, and the URL to
that website. With that, we would try to contact the company and inform them
of the ways that their Flash content can be made accessible with the right
programming to parents and children. We are actually doing this right now
with the H-E-Buddy site, the children's site for H-E-B that is currently
inaccessible for both parents and children.

I would like to thank everyone that has already filled out the survey for
their children, the feedback that we are receiving is already helping us
tremendously!

Thea Eaton



-----Original Message-----
From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Eileen
Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 7:51 PM
To: 'NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [blparent] Questions on Children's Computer Use

Can blind parents struggling to help their sighted children use  these
websites, participate in the survey? Roll overs or not I've found
precious few sites that allow me to use the games though my sighted son
was able to figure them out pretty quickly.
-----Original Message-----
From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Thea Eaton (by way of David Andrews<dandrews at visi.com>)
Sent: Sunday, March 29, 2009 12:56 PM
To: blparent at nfbnet.org; pibe-division at nfbnet.org; nobe-l at nfbnet.org
Subject: [blparent] Questions on Children's Computer Use


Hi,

My name is Thea Eaton and I just joined the mailing list. We are an
interactive learning company in Houston, Texas, and we provide services
to educational publishers as well as produce our own children's
software. We make interactive educational materials such as Flash games
and websites, accessible for screen reader users, or for children who do
not use screen readers yet.

We are looking for parents of visually impaired children who would be
willing to help us, by sharing with us some of your child's computer
experiences. This survey has several questions that we have on
children's computer use, when your child started to use screen readers
or other assistive technologies, and other questions on computer access.
Among other things, we are worried that educational content for
preschool children who might not use screen readers yet, might not be
fully accessible when only programmed for screen reader access, for
example, and not have audio rollovers on buttons. The results of this
survey will help us make the right implementations for different age
groups. Are there any parents out there, with children of the ages 3-18
that use the computer, with or without an assistive technology, that
would be willing to help us?

Survey link:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=aSM5gGV_2fTgN8j0gKQz7NaQ_3d_3d

Thank you for your time,
Thea Eaton
www.doodledoo.com


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