[blindkid] Technology and Little Kid
DrV
icdx at earthlink.net
Thu Feb 18 17:53:12 UTC 2010
I had similar concerns/feelings about the manipulation/ dexterity issues,
though the more I think about it more, the more I think that perception may
be inaccurate. Most kids don't pick up a pencil or crayon for the first time
& write or draw perfectly - sometimes it is not even recognizable - that
comes with practice. When I think of some of the toys my kids play with,
there is a lot of fine-motor manipulation they learn to do amazingly
efficiently - that comes with time & desire/motivation. If they are able to
do those types of fine-motor manipulations, they should be able to
manipulate a Slate & Stylus.
Long before we got married my wife worked with a social worker at a Physical
Rehab Institute in Detroit; the social worker was a very proficient
note-taker - she was blind & relied on the Slate & Stylus. I know times have
changed & I am a avid proponent of the benefits of early introduction of
technology, but I have seen the clear benefits of a Slate & Stylus in
action. Some people are VERY fast. My older son has started to use it to
label & keep track of print papers that he gets from time to time in school
& to label assignments he prints at school, for he still needs to keep track
of these. Alas, I truly do wish the concept had been pushed strongly
earlier. Electronic notetaker batteries do run out of steam from time to
time & the turn around time for sending in an electronic notetaker can be
several weeks.
California is the first state to adopt formal Braille Reading Standards -
teaching of the Slate & Stylus is a part of that. While this is a
philosophically a great step in the right direction, the reality is that few
teachers take teaching the Slate & Stylus to heart.
I recall hearing the story of a lady by the name of Kim Boshart in Nebraska
who started teaching preschoolers to write with the slate and stylus
"because she didn't know they couldn't learn it" that young. Guess what?
They did learn! That comes from Ramona Walhof's 1993 NFB National Convention
address entitled "BRAILLE: A RENAISSANCE" - it is definitely worth reading
(www.nfb.org/Images/nfb/Publications/bm/bm93/brlm9310.htm).
Eric V
----- 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: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 21:42
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
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> blindkid mailing list
>> blindkid at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindkid_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> blindkid:
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindkid_nfbnet.org/rholloway%40gopbc.org
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> blindkid mailing list
> blindkid at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindkid_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> blindkid:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindkid_nfbnet.org/icdx%40earthlink.net
More information about the BlindKid
mailing list