[Pibe-division] any suggestions

Tue Sep 20 20:01:11 UTC 2011

Eric
This is my observation also on the braille note versus the Pacmate. If the braille note ever went down, I would put the students on the PacMate to try out..they became good at it but always wanted their braille note back as fast as possible.

       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: "EricGuillory at aol.com" <EricGuillory at aol.com>
>To: pibe-division at nfbnet.org
>Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2011 9:11 AM
>Subject: Re: [Pibe-division] any suggestions
>
>
>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 to see  phonics series and early reader series that have stories appropriate
 for your  student's reading level. Go to 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 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 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%40aol.com
>_______________________________________________
>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/dmehlenbacher%40yahoo.com
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/pibe-division_nfbnet.org/attachments/20110920/9a61c27c/attachment.html>