[Pibe-division] any suggestions

[Smith, Pauline L]

My coworkers and others in this area have the same views on the BrailleNote versus the PacMate.  The current computer teacher says that the PacMate seems to crash more often than the BrailleNote.  Our local office of the commission for the blind seems to be more inclined to purchase PacMates.

Pauline


________________________________
From: pibe-division-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:pibe-division-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of EricGuillory at aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2011 12:11 PM
To: pibe-division at nfbnet.org
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<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



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