[blindkid] buying adaptive technology for home use

[vicki magee]

As a parent of a 11 year old daughter., there is so much I don't understand or to know what to ask for. How do you find out about the adaptive technology for home or even make suggestion for school?  My daughter is not using any adaptive technology for school other than a brailler and uses a talking program on the computer, she has not yet been exposed to any other devices. How can I help her expand her ability if the school is not using anything extra to open a whole new world for her. 
I just don't know enough about blindness and have any resources to find help for her, my daughter start losing her sight at the age of 3 yrs.

--- On Wed, 10/29/08, Craige Snader <craige at homeopac.com> wrote:

From: Craige Snader <craige at homeopac.com>
Subject: Re: [blindkid] buying adaptive technology for home use
To: "'NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)'" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Date: Wednesday, October 29, 2008, 12:59 PM

Dear Grace,

We have, my daughter is 14 and we started buying goods for her since she was
7 years old. My experience is that during conferences, local companies that
sell bundled deals they will be a slight reduction in the price. Many times
companies can give you a small break because you are using your own money.
On the choice of technology I would strongly recommend you consider tools
that will be with you for the long run. Specially if you have a tutor that
can help outside the school. I would recommend a mPower-32 BrailleNote over
a Mountbatten. It provides more flexibility, games, books, mp3 player, daisy
player, agenda, games, calculator, external visual display, read word files,
etc. I know of a great VI teacher that uses such equipment even at first
elementary grades. My sighted kid at 8 enjoyed learning Braille with the
speech-on feature with her sister. 

Over time and at a great cost, we have put together tools for my daughter
that have helped her a lot.

Craige
(Anaheim, CA)

-----Original Message-----
From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Grace Sato
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 1:15 AM
To: blindkid at nfbnet.org
Subject: [blindkid] buying adaptive technology for home use

If you've purchased new adaptive technology for home use, please share 
your knowledge.

We're in the process of gathering pricing from different vendors and 
would like to know a few things:

1.  Is buying a Mountbatten Learning System from Humanware any 
better/worse than buying one from anyone else? 
2.  Will these vendors negotiate on price? (I'm a negotiator by nature)
3.  Are there any vendors we should avoid (for example due to terrible 
customer service)?

Thanks in advance for your insight.
We're excited that we've finally identified a funding resource to tap
to 
get equipment for home use for our seven year old.

Grace (in California)

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