[blindkid] Technology and Little Kid
Richard Holloway
rholloway at gopbc.org
Thu Feb 18 17:34:42 UTC 2010
Recently, I needed to jot down a phone number in a hurry in a loud and
socially awkward situation. (I am sighted.) Could not find a pen or
pencil so I went for my Blackberry and in the confusion, congestion
and noise the task became overwhelming. I use my BB often and with
ease, but at that moment I had the hardest time trying to talk with
several people and focus on opening something (and to see the tiny
keys and text with my bifocals in a dark room) where I could manage to
type in a simple 10 digit number. All I needed right then was a
simple pen.
It is for that sort of situation that I want my daughter to ultimately
be prepared to grab that slate and stylus, if nothing else.
On Feb 18, 2010, at 12:17 PM, Albert J Rizzi wrote:
> I never got that Heather did not support the introduction or use of
> a slate
> and stylus, just that in this technology age, as I understood the
> question
> as posed technologies are key to introduce to children as early as
> possible.
>
> Albert J. Rizzi, M.Ed.
> CEO/Founder
> My Blind Spot, Inc.
> 90 Broad Street - 18th Fl.
> New York, New York 10004
> www.myblindspot.org
> PH: 917-553-0347
> Fax: 212-858-5759
> "The person who says it cannot be done, shouldn't interrupt the one
> who is
> doing it."
>
>
> Visit us on Facebook LinkedIn
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-
> bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Carrie Gilmer
> Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2010 11:00 AM
> To: 'NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)'
> Subject: Re: [blindkid] Technology and Little Kid
>
> Dear Heather,
> I strongly disagree. Just as Braille is not outdated. Even paper
> Braille,
> neither is the slate and stylus as is also neither the pen or
> pencil. I know
> hundreds of blind people as well. I know many in their twenties,
> thirties
> and one in his teens (my son) who are absolutely proficient with it,
> own
> Braille Notes or other notetakers (electronic), and yet still find
> times on
> a weekly if not daily basis to jot something down most conveniently by
> slate. My employer who is a federal investigator with a federal agency
> regularly uses it for one, for note taking and for writing questions
> down in
> interviewing witnesses, charging parties and respondents. My son has
> more
> than once found himself in class with a crashed BrailleNote, or at
> another
> place where it was inconvenient to carry the technology and the
> small slate
> and note cards served him well. Indeed it was the best and sometimes
> only
> independent option. All these people only turn to this because they
> have
> proficiency in it. The abysmal truth is that I would wager that
> those who do
> not use the slate are those who are not proficient in its use.
> Because you
> do not have proficiency or others you know I think it troubling that
> such a
> strong dismissal of the tool as archaic is given here. And those I
> might add
> who "could use them in a pinch" had at one time learned to use them
> to some
> degree of proficiency.
>
> As far as age goes, it is a myth that a four year old can not figure
> out the
> slate. Four year old sighted children have already been given
> thousands of
> attempts at the fine motor skill of holding a writing tool and
> making marks.
> Then they work at getting the marks more and more accurate. It is a
> bad idea
> to teach it as backwards, typically any trouble is only the trouble
> the
> teacher might feel and is transferred.
>
> Children learn hundreds of differing things at the same time. There
> is no
> reason to exclude technology or low tech things at this age. It is
> true that
> I have seen some difficulty with learning typing on the Perkins and
> the
> slate at the same exact time. I think it fine to scribble or play on
> the
> Perkins, but if it were my child I would teach the basic of slate
> first
> (even starting earlier than four for holding and making dots) and
> then add
> the Perkins, keeping up daily practice of small writings on the
> slate. It is
> indeed very difficult and requires much dedication to get the slate
> "in"
> these days. WE always drift to the easier thing, Perkins if often
> "easier"
> at first as is keyboard or six electronic entry "easier" than the
> Perkins...so it becomes more difficult for a student or child to
> accept the
> slate the longer you wait.
>
> I have known several blind students (including an international
> student age
> 16 from Ukraine we hosted once) who only used the slate and never
> did like
> the Perkins and could write as fast with a stylus and I can with a
> pen. You
> use what you know, what is proficient is what seems easiest.
>
> The use of a stylus also can aid in developing fine motor strength
> further
> for learning cursive for signatures and if time and effort is taken
> to learn
> to write print as well.
>
> Sincerely,
> Carrie Gilmer
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-
> bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Heather
> Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2010 7:05 AM
> To: NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)
> Subject: Re: [blindkid] Technology and Little Kid
>
> No disrespect, but you've got to be kidding me. No blind people I
> know,
> children or adults, down right brilliant to mentally challenged, men
> or
> women use those anymore. Many own them, and could use them in a
> pinch, but
> honestly, no one uses them as a main means of writing or on a
> regular basis.
>
> Some people in the fifty or older set still rely on them, because
> they were
> not able to keep up with the changing technology, which I can
> understand and
>
> sympathize with, but even my sixty year old blind mother laughed
> when I
> showed her this, or rather told her that this had come up on list.
> For
> confidentiality reasons I never show any one who is not on the list,
> list
> emails, and never give names or any spacifics.. I could honestly
> say that I
>
> know over two hundred to three hundred blind people, and I asked on
> a list
> serve for guide dog users, one for blind parents and one for blind
> students,
>
> and the uunanomous answer was "You've got to be kidding" I think
> her four
> year old would best be served to learn how to use a cell phone or
> home phone
>
> to call his mother and to dial 911. I think he should be learning
> on a
> braille note, voice recorder or how to use a victor reader or ipod
> touch.
> Things like that, plus basic braille and print literacy.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
> To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)"
> <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 10:46 PM
> Subject: Re: [blindkid] Technology and Little Kid
>
>
>> A slate and stylus!
>>
>> Mike
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "David Andrews" <dandrews at visi.com>
>> To: <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 7:01 PM
>> Subject: [blindkid] Technology and Little Kid
>>
>>
>>> 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
>>> here -- should she start using with her child?
>>>
>>> Dave
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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