[Pibe-division] Pibe-division Digest, Vol 40, Issue 11

Mon Sep 19 17:59:14 UTC 2011

Hey Cindi,

I am also a big fan of BOP for struggling readers. Many of our students whom have not had good foundation reading skills--phonics, sight words, etc.--can memorize the code but fail to be successful readers because they lack word attack skills. Too many of these children are simply memorizing as many words as possible; thus, you will see them attempting to guess at words far too often. BOP teaches from all literacy points--phonemic awareness, phonics, grammar, language, writing, etc. 

The stories can be a little silly at times if you are presenting it to an older student, but you can make it fun. There is one story about a child that went to recess without his or her cane. We put the student's name in for the character; this make the lesson light and jovial, but the student mastered all the signs.

You can easily use the parts of each story that you need and eliminate other sections. You can also make simple test for each story that will assess word recognition, recall, and comprehension each week. I have also begun to give my student a speed and accuracy check each week for a random page in the story. This gives me her wpm and accuracy. 

You do not need to start with BOP K, as that is mostly letter recognition and whole word contractions. I suggest starting with BOP 1. Take a look at the units and see where your student lies. If she is too high for some units, skip ahead. There is an assessment at the end of each unit.

In addition to BOP, I also put all class work in completely contracted braille and signs are introduced as they occur. If she struggles with signs from class, I reinforce those during my VI minutes. You will be surprised how many "new" signs they will pick up from just being immersed in contracted braille. 

Lastly, I have begun brailling AR books that are at my student's reading level and mandating that she read at least 2 braille books a week. While the books are very simple, she has begun to read braille for pleasure. I make sure that the books are in our AR system and can earn her points toward her AR goals. I bind the books with a pretty picture--since she is a dual reader and, let's face it, I'm bribing her, lol--covers, and comb. And, the book is placed on a library shelf where all other students get their books, too. Truly, she is probably reading 4 to 6 LARGE print books and 2 braille, but it's a start!

I hope this helps!  

Krystal Guillory, NCLB 

,Kry/al ,guillory

Teacher of Blind Students
Ouachita Parish School System
Phone: 318-432-5481
Fax: 318-432-5599
Cell: 318-245-8955
Email: kguillory at opsb.net

----- Original Message -----
From:<pibe-division-request at nfbnet.org>
To:<pibe-division at nfbnet.org>
Cc:
Date: Monday, September 19 2011 12:06 PM
Subject: Pibe-division Digest, Vol 40, Issue 11
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Today's Topics:

1. Re: Seeking Advice & Concrete Suggestions on School    District
E-Accessibility (Dr. Denise M. Robinson)
2. Magnification with your Technology (Dr. Denise M. Robinson)
3. Re: Any suggestions? (Marianne Denning)
4. Use of the SVGDraw01 drawing program in STEM courses
(David Andrews)
5. Creating Math Timed Speed Tests with Duxbury
(Dr. Denise M. Robinson)
6. Re: Any suggestions? (Kristen J Sims)
7. Re: Any suggestions? (Kristen J Sims)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2011 11:22:16 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Dr. Denise M. Robinson" <dmehlenbacher at yahoo.com>
To: Professionals in Blindness Education Division List
    <pibe-division at nfbnet.org>,     "braille-n-teach at mlist.cde.ca.gov"
    <braille-n-teach at mlist.cde.ca.gov>
Subject: Re: [Pibe-division] Seeking Advice & Concrete Suggestions on
    School    District E-Accessibility
Message-ID:
    <1316370136.24427.YahooMailNeo at web130207.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Please post to reply all, as I would really love an answer to this also. I am in many many districts and have not found any compliant and most district have many parts of their sites inaccessible to our kids. When I discuss how to make the sites accessible...they say they are working on it.

?????? Denise 
?
Denise M. Robinson, TVI, Ph.D. 
Teacher of the Blind & Visually Impaired
TechVision-Independent Contractor
Specialist in blind programming/teaching/training
509-674-1853??? ?deniserob at gmail.com

http://blindgeteducated.blogspot.com/

From: DrV <pumpkinracer at gmail.com>
>To: braille-n-teach at mlist.cde.ca.gov; Professionals in Blindness Education Division List <pibe-division at nfbnet.org>
>Sent: Sunday, September 18, 2011 9:09 AM
>Subject: [Pibe-division] Seeking Advice & Concrete Suggestions on School District E-Accessibility
>
>
>Hi Everyone, 
>We are trying to be
proactive & would like for our district to take into account accessibility
issues up front as they more forward with further web-designs & as they
move into the next phase of the electronic era. I have already shared the 2
Dept of Ed & Dept of Justice letters & FAQ. The district has expressed openness
to discussing how to move forward. 
>Towards this goal, I have
an initial meeting with our district in the near future. 
>To facilitate the process,
rather than having the district get frustrated with expectation of having to
try to figure it out on their own, I would like to be able to specific recommendations,
leads, & contacts. 
>I am thus seeking your advice. 
>I?m working under the assumption that few individuals hired to
do mainstream tech support & manage websites for school districts have much
experience or training in how to best assure full accessibility. 
>Is there a ?Model School
District? somewhere in the country that has already effectively achieved
compliance with the guidelines? If so can you share their website? 
>Can you share examples of ?Model
Websites? (any type of website) that are both visually-attractive &
fully compliant & functional? 
>Do you have recommendations
for a specific website(s), business(es), or individual(s) that could guide the
Tech developers in our district in how to create a website & links that are
both visually-attractive & fully compliant & functional? It would be ideal to be able to connect the web-designers with
an individual or group that knows how to do this well. 
>Teachers will eventually also need to be informed/trained on
e-accessibility issues as well. Is there a website, PDF, or YouTube-type video
that can do this well? 
>Some teachers have their own websites & blogsites. Is there
a ?Build-A-Compliant-Website? tool or easy step-by-step instructions that would
be understandable/useable to the average teachers who hasn?t been trained in
the more complex techno-speak? 
>How have you locally have
approached this with your districts? 
>If you represent or know of
an organization, business, or individual who would be willing to invest the
time & resources into partnering with a willing school district to create a
?Model District? with respect to compliance please let me know.? 
>Any additional insights
& suggestions are very welcome. 
>Sincerely, 
>Eric Vasiliauskas 
>_______________________________________________
>Pibe-division mailing list
>Pibe-division at nfbnet.org
>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/pibe-division_nfbnet.org
>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Pibe-division:
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>
>
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Message: 2
Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2011 15:25:33 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Dr. Denise M. Robinson" <dmehlenbacher at yahoo.com>
To: 2010 Teacher of Tomorrow Support List
    <2010-teacher-of-tomorrow at nfbnet.org>,     "pibe-division at nfbnet.org"
    <pibe-division at nfbnet.org>
Subject: [Pibe-division] Magnification with your Technology
Message-ID:
    <1316384733.89759.YahooMailNeo at web130205.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Magnification with your Technology 
See http://blindgeteducated.blogspot.com/
for many options to increase the size of your information on your computer without additional software

?????? Denise 
?
Denise M. Robinson, TVI, Ph.D. Teacher of the Blind & Visually Impaired
TechVision-Independent Contractor
Specialist in blind programming/teaching/training
509-674-1853??? ?deniserob at gmail.com

http://blindgeteducated.blogspot.com/
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Message: 3
Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2011 19:19:30 -0400
From: Marianne Denning <MDenning at finneytown.org>
To: Professionals in Blindness Education Division List
    <pibe-division at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Pibe-division] Any suggestions?
Message-ID:
    <9B532E6200B75D4A9D930A471029FA9B75800CA7F3 at EX1.hccanet.priv>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Cindi, I looked on the APH website and they are currently at unit 7 of grade 1. This would get her into the first grade reading level but will not introduce all contractions. You could talk with someone at APH about when they plan to begin producing Grade 2 units. That will cover contractions covered in Paterns level 2 and 3 so once those have all been released it should cover all braille contractions. I would suggest you could begin with Grade 1 Unit 4 to start somewhere in first grade reading level. There are supplemental materials you can purchase from APH. Check out the "handy list of new products."
Marianne Denning
Intervention Specialist, Visually Impaired
Finneytown Secondary Campus
mdenning at finneytown.org
513-931-0712
________________________________________
From: pibe-division-bounces at nfbnet.org [pibe-division-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Cindi Eskew [cindine at yahoo.com]
Sent: Saturday, September 17, 2011 5:34 PM
To: Professionals in Blindness Education Division List
Subject: Re: [Pibe-division] Any suggestions?

Kristen, et al,
Thanks for the suggestion! I have only seen the Kindergarten level of BOP and she is beyond that, but in many cases lacks the phonetic and grammar skills. Does BOP continue after the First grade level and does the first level complete the code or would I have to go into the old Patterns to finish the code? She has very little reading background despite being in fourth grade. Would using the First Reader Level of Patterns (which the district has) be a good idea until I can get my hands on BOP or would completing that put her past BOP? Using the 2nd grade textbooks from the school presented the issue that she was lacking in the knowledge of much of the code. Does this help? For those who suggested the Braille Note, could a similar effect be obtained by using a refresh able braille display and JAWS (or if the Sped Dir decided to purchase them) and Ipad? I have been helped by all the suggestion and am so thankful for this great list!!
Cindi

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

-----Original Message-----
From: Kristen J Sims <ksims at opsb.net>
Sender: pibe-division-bounces at nfbnet.org
Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2011 09:56:32
To: Professionals in Blindness Education Division List<pibe-division at nfbnet.org>
Reply-To: Professionals in Blindness Education Division List
<pibe-division at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Pibe-division] Any suggestions?

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Message: 4
Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2011 22:01:41 -0500
From: David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com>
To: napub at nfbnet.org,nabop at nfbnet.org,
Subject: [Pibe-division] Use of the SVGDraw01 drawing program in STEM
    courses
Message-ID: <auto-000028076717 at mailfront4.g2host.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; Format="flowed"

>From: Richard Baldwin <baldwin at dickbaldwin.com>
>Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2011 16:29:46 -0500
>To: BlindMath Mailing List <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
>Subject: [Blindmath] Use of the SVGDraw01 drawing program in STEM courses
>
>This message is intended mainly for teachers of blind or visually impaired
>students in STEM courses. Of course, this is a public forum and everyone is
>welcome to read the message and provide comments as appropriate.
>
>Having been the sighted teacher of a blind student for several years, I
>firmly believe that making it possible for blind and visually impaired
>people, and particularly blind and visually impaired students in STEM
>courses, to communicate using accurate printed and tactile graphics will
>improve the quality of life and the likelihood of academic success for those
>students.
>
>I have written a computer program that makes it possible, for the first time
>in history, for blind and visually impaired people to create such graphics
>in an accessible and user-friendly way.
>
>Version 0.0.8 of my drawing program for blind students is now posted and
>available for free and immediate download at:
>
>http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/SWT-SVG/SVGDraw01.zip
>
>Three components are necessary to accomplish the goal of widespread graphics
>communication among blind and visually impaired students and their teachers:
>
> - Availability of a robust and universally accepted graphics standard.
> - Availability of a robust, accessible, and user-friendly drawing program
> that allows blind people to take advantage of the SVG standard.
> - Availability of high-quality, economical, and readily available
> graphics embossing equipment.
>
>A robust graphics standard - SVG
>
>A robust and universally accepted graphics standard is already available in
>the form of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). See Scalable Vector Graphics
>(SVG) 1.1 (Second Edition) <http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/>
>An accessible and user-friendly drawing program - SVGDraw01
>
>I have written and provided, free of charge, a drawing program that blind
>and visually impaired people can use to draw pictures. To the best of my
>knowledge, no other existing program provides that capability. (If such a
>program exists, it is a well-kept secret.) Thus, for the first time in
>history, your students can express themselves using graphics.
>
>While many drawing programs exist, they are written for use by sighted
>people and not for use by blind people. My program is designed and written
>specifically for use by blind and visually impaired people.
>
>Even though my program is still under development, it already provides the
>capability for STEM students to create graphics that mirror many of the
>figures and diagrams typically found in STEM textbooks.
>A graph board on steroids
>
>As a teacher of blind or visually impaired students, you might think of this
>program as bringing the old-fashioned graph board into the computer age.
>Students and others using this program can create both printed and tactile
>graphics using many of the same thought processes that they would use when
>constructing a "drawing" on a graph board using pushpins, rubber bands, a
>protractor, and a measuring stick.
>
>For example, one student might use this program to create and send an SVG
>file to a friend with the message "Take a look at the cool floor plan of my
>new apartment."
>
>Another student might use this program to create and send an SVG file to a
>college professor with the message "This is a free body diagram showing the
>magnitude and directions of forces F21 and F23 caused by the interactions
>among charges q1, q2, and q3."
>Getting an immediate visual output
>
>I will be adding new capabilities over time. However, I probably won't add
>capabilities that would not be useful to blind and visually impaired users.
>For example, the program does not, by default, produce an immediate visual
>output. The primary output is intended to be a printer, a graphics embosser,
>or both. But, if you are sighted, or if you are blind and using the vOICe
>sonification software to view the progress of your drawing, you can use a
>procedure described in the attached file to view your drawing as it
>progresses.
> High-quality, economical, and readily-available graphics embossing
>equipment
>
>This is the area where we fall short relative to achieving our widespread
>graphics communications goal. Although high-quality embossing equipment is
>available in the marketplace, it is not economical (by computer standards)
>nor is it readily available for the personal use of most blind students.
>
>I view this as a supply and demand problem. Prior to the release of my
>program, there were no robust, accessible, and user-friendly tools that made
>it possible for blind people to create accurate graphics for use with a
>high-quality embosser. Thus, the demand for such embossing equipment has
>been very limited. My hope is that by making it possible for all blind
>people to create accurate graphics, the demand for such embossing equipment
>will go up and the costs for the equipment will come down.
>
>Even today, however, many schools, colleges, and other organizations own
>high-quality graphics embossing equipment that they can make available to
>their blind and visually impaired clientele on some basis. In those cases,
>there is no reason for blind people to hold back from learning to
>communicate using graphics.
>
>My drawing program is freely available for you and your students to use. As
>a teacher, it is up to you to connect your blind and visually impaired
>students to those available hardware embossing resources.
>
>The attached HTML file is the User-Instruction file for my drawing program
>named SVGDraw01.
>
>Richard Baldwin
>Professor of Computer Information Technology
>Austin Community College
>baldwin at austincc.edu
>http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/
>
>Content-Type: text/html; charset=US-ASCII; name="Instructions.htm"
>Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="Instructions.htm"
>X-Attachment-Id: f_gsp41hv40
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Message: 5
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2011 07:04:35 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Dr. Denise M. Robinson" <dmehlenbacher at yahoo.com>
To: teacher of tomorrow <2010-teacher-of-tomorrow-request at nfbnet.org>,
    Professionals in Blindness Education Division List
    <pibe-division at nfbnet.org>
Subject: [Pibe-division] Creating Math Timed Speed Tests with Duxbury
Message-ID:
    <1316441075.65117.YahooMailNeo at web130222.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Creating 
Math Timed Speed Tests with Duxbury 
Math 
timings in elementary school are big: The teacher hands out a math sheet to all 
the students with the math drills they have been working on. The teacher times 
the students to see how fast they can complete a certain number of math problems 
within a given amount of time.

Enter the blind student. The blind student 
has the exact same problems, but his are brailled out on an 11x11 piece of 
braille paper. He reads the problems with his left hand and prints the correct 
answer with his right hand (or vice versa depending on hand dominance). He races 
across the braille page at record speed to finish as high as his peers do, or 
higher depending on his skills. Hence, another reason why it is so important for 
blind students to learn their print letters and numbers also. 

Nemeth 
lessons (braille math) can be created very quickly using Duxbury Nemeth mode. Duxbury is a 
print to braille, braille to print translation program. I have had para 
educators who were just learning braille be able to create the perfect braille 
document using this software program. I have people taking distance education 
classes by 6-key brailling their lessons and emailing it to their teacher. 
Duxbury is truly a gift to the blind world and its power to create a brailled 
lesson quickly for anyone. 
?more instruction at: http://blindgeteducated.blogspot.com/
?????? Denise 
?
Denise M. Robinson, TVI, Ph.D. 
Teacher of the Blind & Visually Impaired
TechVision-Independent Contractor
Specialist in blind programming/teaching/training
509-674-1853??? ?deniserob at gmail.com

http://blindgeteducated.blogspot.com/
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Message: 6
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2011 10:56:19 -0500 (CDT)
From: Kristen J Sims <ksims at opsb.net>
To: Professionals in Blindness Education Division List
    <pibe-division at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Pibe-division] Any suggestions?
Message-ID: <32622791.340114.1316447779298.JavaMail.SYSTEM at mail>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Building on Patterns the distant cousin of the Patterns Series! We got to pilot the 1st grade stuff 2 years ago and it is pretty great when you are busy preparing stuff for older braille kids and don't have time to invent a curriculum. Very good for teaching reading and works with most 1st grade curr. addresses same standards for reading but in a progression that makes sense for braille. The contractions are presented at the same time as the phonics sounds they represent.
Kristen J. SimsTeacher of Blind StudentsVision Services OPSB318-432-5400Only the educated are free. Epictetus
----- Original Message -----
From: Wagner, Gail Katona Y <wagner_g at aps.edu>
To: Professionals in Blindness Education Division List <pibe-division at nfbnet.org>
Cc:
Date: Saturday, September 17 2011 12:14 PM
Subject: Re: [Pibe-division] Any suggestions?

OK, can't believe I don't know, or maybe just having a senior moment, but what is BOP??

Gail
From: pibe-division-bounces at nfbnet.org [pibe-division-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of Kristen J Sims [ksims at opsb.net]
Sent: Saturday, September 17, 2011 8:56 AM
To: Professionals in Blindness Education Division List
Subject: Re: [Pibe-division] Any suggestions?

As Eric stated, we are big fans of BOP. I have used it with older students who already know how to read. To do the Units as a whole can be time consuming when a student already has phonemic awareness and grammar skills. If the student already knows the
alphabet and whole word contractions, you could start with 1st grade. With the 1st grade BOP, I reproduce the new contractions worksheet, the vocabulary, and the story. Often I will include comprehension questions to go along with it.

I have done it the other way, too. Using the classroom text or reading leveled books along with Mangold and teacher-made contraction sheets. Often I would need to retype the books to keep from introducing too many signs at once. Having too many contractions
was very frustrating to the younger academic students who were struggling to remember everything in reg ed too.

I found that my older students, who were already good print readers (or used to be) prefer the latter. You can move quicker and use material that they are interested in. I had a senior who read heavy metal music lyrics and Rolling Stone articles.

I have to say though, I have a middle school student who did not have good reading skills, I tried the do it yourself way and she struggled. Her spelling lists had 16 words and all of them contracted. Now, she is decoding and is more fluent because I switched
to BOP.
Kristen J. SimsTeacher of Blind StudentsVision Services OPSB318-432-5400Only the educated are free. Epictetus
----- Original Message -----
From: Cindi Eskew
<cindine at yahoo.com>
To:
<pibe-division at nfbnet.org> , 
<2010-teacher-of-tomorrow at nfbnet.org>
Cc:
Date: Friday, September 16 2011 01:34 PM
Subject: [Pibe-division] Any suggestions?
Hello Everyone!

I am a first year teacher, for teaching blind students and essentially for teaching period. I am looking for suggestions on how anyone out there is teaching their beginning readers. Are you using Patterns or BOP? Are you using your own curriculum? I am working
with a "fourth grade" student who did not begin braille until third grade. The entire code has not been completed yet. I am trying to figure out how to tackle this and what ways others have found to push the students along quickly. We are working on Nemeth
and she is picking that up beautifully, but reading seems to be a struggle for both of us. I am not sure how or where to begin. She did the Patterns series PrePrimer and Primer last year. So should I continue this? Is there another series? How does BOP compare?
I have been using 2nd grade reading passages, because she has tested that this is about her instructional level, but she is not familiar with some of the code. Also, how much braille homework is everyone sending home? Thank you so very much to anyone who has
suggestions!! I greatly appreciate any advice!!!!!

Cindi Eskew

"It is the mark of aneducated mind to be able to entertain a thoughtwithout accepting it."

Aristotle

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Message: 7
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:12:15 -0500 (CDT)
From: Kristen J Sims <ksims at opsb.net>
To: Professionals in Blindness Education Division List
    <pibe-division at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Pibe-division] Any suggestions?
Message-ID: <16069826.340373.1316448735783.JavaMail.SYSTEM at mail>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I am working with a student who is beginning Unit 6 which only took a semester to get to if done quickly. She now knows most of the code the only exceptions are final letter and dropped signs (and short forms that use them). I expect these will begin to be introduced in this unit and in 7. But even if they are not you can begin to go up in levels of reading using AR books or other leveled readers and use the take them as they come approach. 
The good thing about BOP for new teachers is that the curriculum is faster but the signs build on each other. After they have "so" down they move on to "some" and compound words using "some" to reinforce the word some. The grammar and phonics lessons also relate. It gives choices for answers based on tactual similarity and phonetic similarity. It will also align with GLEs! 
Am I pro BOP, you bet. Do I use it with everyone? No. You have to look at the student. But if she is not reading it is a very good starting point. I was not a reading teacher first so it is helpful for me. But for those who are trained in that, what they do is probably better. I get my phonemes mixed up. "Johnny can spell" but "Kristen cannot"Kristen J. SimsTeacher of Blind StudentsVision Services OPSB318-432-5400Only the educated are free. Epictetus
----- Original Message -----
From: Cindi Eskew <cindine at yahoo.com>
To: Professionals in Blindness Education Division List <pibe-division at nfbnet.org>
Cc:
Date: Saturday, September 17 2011 04:36 PM
Subject: Re: [Pibe-division] Any suggestions?
Kristen, et al,
Thanks for the suggestion! I have only seen the Kindergarten level of BOP and she is beyond that, but in many cases lacks the phonetic and grammar skills. Does BOP continue after the First grade level and does the first level complete the code or would I have to go into the old Patterns to finish the code? She has very little reading background despite being in fourth grade. Would using the First Reader Level of Patterns (which the district has) be a good idea until I can get my hands on BOP or would completing that put her past BOP? Using the 2nd grade textbooks from the school presented the issue that she was lacking in the knowledge of much of the code. Does this help? For those who suggested the Braille Note, could a similar effect be obtained by using a refresh able braille display and JAWS (or if the Sped Dir decided to purchase them) and Ipad? I have been helped by all the suggestion and am so thankful for this great list!!
Cindi 

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

-----Original Message-----
From: Kristen J Sims <ksims at opsb.net>
Sender: pibe-division-bounces at nfbnet.org
Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2011 09:56:32 
To: Professionals in Blindness Education Division List<pibe-division at nfbnet.org>
Reply-To: Professionals in Blindness Education Division List
<pibe-division at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Pibe-division] Any suggestions?

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End of Pibe-division Digest, Vol 40, Issue 11
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