[blindkid] Technology and Little Kid

Thea Eaton thea at doodledoo.com
Thu Feb 18 15:26:03 UTC 2010


We make computer games and websites accessible for children, such as this
website: http://www.dontmesswithtexas.org/litterforce/
(Unfortunately, I just noticed that the owners of this site have added new
material, and none of the self-voicing audio is coming up right now. But
children are supposed to be able to tab and press Enter to navigate this
website, and the content is supposed to be self-voicing.)

We are working on a series of educational self-voicing games for a
touchscreen such as the iPad for younger children with a visual impairment,
such as memory games, whack-a-mole games and others. We are also working on
a website for children that can be used as a training ground for beginning
screen reader users with all Flash games that are accessible to screen
readers as well. If you have any suggestions for games or activities to be
added to this site, let us know!

We will announce on our website when these will roll out. You can also fan
us on facebook for the latest news or subscribe to our twitter feed.

Thea Eaton
DoodleDoo
www.doodledoo.com   
Where early birds learn.
1-888-42 DOODLE

-----Original Message-----
From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Heather
Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2010 6:47 AM
To: NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Technology and Little Kid

My phylosophy, for all children, blind or not, is to present them with the 
widest possible range of toys, games and experiencces, and foster what they 
like best.  For instance, my eighteen month old has always loved buttons. 
His favorite toys are our phone, our tellivision remote, and an old 
calculator.  So, we are replacing the old calculator with an old talking 
calculator.  We have taught him to bring us the remote, so that we can take 
the batteries out, then he knows he can go and play with it.  Or, he can 
come and ask for the phone and we will disconnect the hand set so that it is

inactive and give it to him.  We just can't have him accidentally ordering 
paper view, he once hit random buttons and ordered some adult entertainment.

rofl Luckily he had also hit the mute button previously, and believe it or 
not, the people who handel the adult programming are very friendly and 
understanding.  The woman who took my call and reversed the charges laughed,

and told me that her daughter called India once on her cell phone and it 
cost twenty two dollars.  We also can't have him doing that, which is why we

take the reciever off of our corded phone for him.  He asks for "Mote" and 
"Phone" when he wants to play with these things.  He also loves our talking 
kitchen timer.  So, I found mainstream play cell phone, remote, calculator, 
lap top and chordless looking toys that teach four languages, shapes, 
colors, letters and numbers.  He also loves my cell phone when it is dead as

well as one of the video game controlers, with it's battery pack taken out. 
At the beginning his thing was to just make as much noise as possible.  Then

he started to listen for particular sounds he liked, and he would fixate on 
one button at a time.  Then he started exploring the buttons with his 
tungue, then his fingers and toes.  We are finally headed out of the oral 
phase.  Thank god.  *laughs*.  Although, I do know a three year old, whose 
favorite bost right now, other than the usual three year old stuff like, 
potty training, and what he found in his nose this morning, is that he can 
read braille with his tungue.  And, he actually can.  lol  He is sighted 
too, but he knows a through l reliabily, and he loves x and o.  He says they

look cool.  Jeremy's other favorite thing is paper.  He used to like to tare

up magazines we gave him.  Now, he likes to crinckle them, and in the last 
month he has started turning pages.  He especially loves print magazines, 
board books with braille and this one old text book that we let him play 
with.  It's a print psychology text and he loves the heft of it, the 
crinckily pages and even the scent and look of it, as he is always looking 
at the smooth reflective surface of the cover, enjoying the new book smell 
by sniffing it, and enjoys the sensation of feeling the edges of all of the 
pages all together when the book is closed.  He isn't ready for spiral bound

books yet, as he will pull them apart, but, someday.  One thing that is 
important to remember is to let blind kids, low vission and even totals 
scribble with markers, crayons, pencils and paints.  The sensation of finger

painting is wonderful.  Crayons can be felt a bit and it is also important 
to provide tracing templates for shapes and letters, shapes and numbers, as 
well as coloring book images that have either been reco fused, or adapted 
with wicky stickx.  I would have to say that a slate and styalis is not 
anywhere near the top of my list of priorities.  I will show him one, and if

he loves it, he can certainly play with it and I will show him how to use 
it.  But, I am more concerned that his verbal skills be top notch, that his 
braille literacy be good as well as his ability to type on a brailler type 
keyboard and a quirty keyboard.  I will also make sure he can write the 
print alphabet in upper and lower case, and his name in cursive, although I 
won't insist on any more than that in script, unless he expresses an 
interest.  I am also not a big fan of the school of thought that an abacus 
is a good way to teach blind kids some beginning math concepts.  That is 
bologni.  An abacus is a good way to teach all kids math concepts.  I have 
used one to help so many sighted kids that I have tutored things like 
carrying in devision and decemil place values.  I don't think that low tech 
is always best.  Technology is part of our society, that is reality.  I do 
think that kids should be given pieces of wood, blocks, cardboard tubing, 
blank paper, pots and pans, jiant cardboard boxes, etc, to enspire their 
imaginations and creativity.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Holloway" <rholloway at gopbc.org>
To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)" 
<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2010 12:42 AM
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Technology and Little Kid


> Certainly the slate and stylus (as someone else mentioned) is not a  bad 
> idea, but a child in this age range is probably not going to have  the 
> fine motor control to master the tool's use easily or likely be  ready for

> the whole mirror image concept.
>
> A child of nearly any age can begin using a Perkins Braillewriter-- I 
> know we were using one by at least age three. At the very least a  braille

> novice can "scribble" on a braillewriter, just like my sighted 
> almost-4-year-old scribbles on paper with a crayon all the time. 
> Braillewriting skill with a young child emerges at least somewhat like 
> writing emerges with a sighted child-- not all letters at once and at 
> first, just like penmanship is typically pretty poor-- this after the 
> child has first just pressed the keys at random-- indeed "scribbling" 
> just like sighted kids. Getting the feel of the tools to use is an 
> important first step. It is hard for small hands to properly press and 
> form braille mechanically with a Perkins, but you are building hand  and 
> finger strength and forming braille concepts all along the way.  Many 
> schools can provide a second braillewriter for the student to use  at home

> for free once the child is in school.
>
> I think that often the way to go is to immerse the child within all  the 
> options that can be gotten as the child appears ready to take to  them--  
> at least that was our theory when our daughter was born, and in  fact, it 
> continues to be the same way to this day, then we focus on  what she seems

> ready to take to-- she'll ultimately use most all of  these things. There 
> is also an entire range of tactile graphics  solutions and manipulatives. 
> You can produce these with pipe cleaners,  and a bottle of glue, or you 
> can use a multi-thousand dollar  thermoform; quite a range of options 
> exists.
>
> Now at age 7, Kendra uses a BrailleNote and PAC Mate daily but still  uses

> a Perkins often, as well as an abacus for her math, JAWS on her  computer 
> and so forth. She also works well with refreshable braille  and that can 
> be a really handy option. The next big challenge I see  for her is needing

> to learn a qwerty keyboard, so there can be a lot  of technology in use by

> an early age.
>
> It is also really important to expose the child to braille as much as 
> possible. A sighted child sees print everywhere. Make certain this  child 
> runs across braille often. Now in first grade and a proficient  braille 
> reader, our first grade daughter still runs across the braille  stickers 
> on things all over the house-- refrigerator, dishwasher,  table, drawer, 
> oven, door, bed-- you name it. This will cause the  child to ask 
> questions-- just like a sighted child-- "what is this"  and later "what do

> these letters say?-- what do they mean?" Also, use  twin vision books--  
> sighted kids look at letters while parents read  most every time. Blind 
> kids can do the same-- that's why it is best  when adding braille to a 
> print book to always put the braille below  the print-- a sighted reader 
> can still read while small hands are  exploring the braille.
>
> Screen readers can be used at that age as well as a victor reader.  Things

> like Mt Battens are expensive but potentially useful, but be  careful that

> an electronic (and expensive) solution like a Mt. Batten  or a PAC Mate is

> not learned at the expense of being able to use a  mechanical 
> braillewriter as that need will almost certainly come up  all of this 
> child's life, at least from time to time.
>
> I'd like to rework this link, and our site is about to get a facelift 
> overall too but here are some technology ideas that you might direct  her 
> towards. Let her see a range of options and then she can decide  which way

> she wants to proceed.
>
> http://www.gopbc.org/gopbc_technology.htm
>
>
> Richard
>
>
>
>
> On Feb 17, 2010, at 10:01 PM, David Andrews wrote:
>
>> I got asked a question, the other day, and since most of my  experience 
>> is with blind adults -- I didn't know quite what to say.   A woman said 
>> she had a four year old totally blind daughter, and she  wanted her to 
>> keep up with her peers in technology, so what  assistive 
>> technology/technology is there  -- should she start using  with her 
>> child?
>>
>> Dave
>>
>>
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