[Pibe-division] any suggestions

Tue Sep 20 16:11:25 UTC 2011

The BN with an 18-cell display is approximately $4,000, and with a 32-cell  
display, it runs approximately $6,500. Many teachers are surprised by the  
expense, and I whole-heartedly support the development of lower-cost braille 
 displays. It has been my experience that many end-users don't seem to like 
the  PAC-Mate. As a trainer, I have found it has a steeper learning curve 
than does  the BrailleNote. This is not to, in the verbiage of the young 
"hate on"  PAC-Mate. Rather, it is an observation which I have witnessed for 
both high  school students and blind adults.

Eric Guillory, PIBE President

In a message dated 9/20/2011 11:04:01 A.M. Central Daylight Time,  
sararooz at gmail.com writes:

Hi Cindy, 
I definitely agree with Kristien’s  suggestion to use the BOP series  grade 
1.  I do have a few other  ideas. First, national braille press produces a 
phonic set with printed and  contracted and uncontracted braille on each 
page. They have three sets. I  think each set costs $24 but the investment in 
this phonics series may be  terrific. Another publication that allows one to 
print stories in contracted  and uncontracted braille is the early reading 
series also from national  braille press. You can print out the books using 
duxbury braille translation  software and aa Braille embosser, choose the 
contractions you want to focus on  and have the child read a meaningful story 
in the process. Also APH has trade  books from Sunshine with uncontracted 
braille labels and contracted braille  labels which gives you the ability to 
choose what contractions to teach. Go to  _www.nbp.org_ (http://www.nbp.org/)  
to see  phonics series and early reader series that have stories 
appropriate for your  student's reading level. Go to _www.aph.org_ 
(http://www.aph.org/)  to look at the trade books  available with the packets of labels. One 
other website that contains books of  various grade levels in uncontracted and 
contracted braille files is _www.tsbvi.edu_ (http://www.tsbvi.edu/)  You  
need to requesta pass word from  the website administrator  to view the books 
and be able to access  the books. 
Regarding using a note taker, I am  unfamiliar if humanware braille note 
has a curriculum for learning braille.  However, the Pacmate Omni has a 
program called FS braille coach that teaches  thebraille  alphabet, numbers,  
punctuation signs  and all  contractions in a sequential order. I have been 
extremely impressed by this  software. For instance when teaching a contraction 
such as  b = but you press the cursor router  button to the right of the 
letter and hear the word the letter b represents  and how the word is spelled 
out. The same applies for all contractions. The  only difficulty may be with 
the reading excercises since they may contain  difficult words to 
decipher.The Pacmate Omni with a 20 braile display or 40  braille display as well as a 
Braille perkins keyboard or qwerty leyboard is  abailable at 
www.freedomscientific.con m Prices are posted on the site. The  pacmate Omni with the 
braile keyboard and 20 braille display costs $2,795. Go  to 
_www.freedomscientific.com_ (http://www.freedomscientific.com/)  to look  at their products of 
note takers which kist each note taker’s price.   
Prior to purchasing the  braillenote see if the manufacturer humanware 
www.humanware.com  has aliterary braille curriculum.  Humanware does not list 
their prices for their products on their website. So  you may have to call the 
1800 phone number to find out the price for the  braillenote. I remember 
being told that it costs $6,000 with a 18 braille  display.   
The one thing your student will  have to get used to using any note taker 
on the market is to read one line and  go to the next line by pressing a 
button on the braillenotefrom Humanware  or a wheel on the pacmate omni  from 
Freedom Scientific. I hope my suggestions help you with teaching your  student 
the braille code. I would only suggest that your student knows how to  
spell words correctly, so when it comes to assistive technology it will be  
easier for this student to write assignments in Microsoft  Word. 
Sara Rooz 
Certified Teacher of the Blind and  Visually Impaired in New  York 
Independent Related Service  Provider Vision Education Services in New York 
City 

_______________________________________________
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:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/pibe-division_nfbnet.org/ericguillory%40ao
l.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/pibe-division_nfbnet.org/attachments/20110920/ccc4276f/attachment.html>