[blindkid] Technology and Little Kid
Barbara Hammel
poetlori8 at msn.com
Fri Feb 19 13:45:52 UTC 2010
Okay, Heather, you're not going to "win" this one. Even I, who hates the
slate, sees the value in having one. I did learn to use the Brailler long
before the slate because I couldn't get the reversals. I think the person
who introduced it may have used those words "reverse" and "backwards" that
you shouldn't use. So I didn't start until fifth grade, when I finally got
it.
Even taking class notes all the way from seven thrade through college, I did
not become a proficient user. No, it wasn't because I hated it and wouldn't
get better by forgoing the Brailler altogether. It was because I did not
have the wrist strength even after all the time. I would always tire after
about ten minutes of writing continuously.
So do I disagree with the proponents of the slate, maybe, but I do think it
should be in the blind child's toolbox. A sighted child has all the tools
so why not the blind child. If you have or adopt a blind child, feel free
not to teach its use but one day the PDA may quit suddenly and the voice
recorder may go dead because you forgot to change batteries and then where
are you. Oh, I forgot, the Stream got left at home. Slates don't take up
much space and regular paper will hold dots in a pinch. No I haven't taken
it out of my purse sinci I put it there. But it is there just in case.
Barbara
A Congress that will always do its work in the dark must have something to
hide. The people have spoken, yet they do not listen.
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Heather" <craney07 at rochester.rr.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2010 3:02 PM
To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)"
<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Technology and Little Kid
> I can see some limited situations where it would be the only option, and
> by all means, if someone likes one, they should use it. Just so long as
> the use of that technology doesn't prevent them from using other
> technologies such as tiny voice recorders, braille note takers, etc. And,
> by all means, introduce her to one, but don't be surprised or offended if
> some day your daughter refuses to carry one, or hell, loves it, but
> refuses to carry a mini voice recorder. The best thing to do is explain
> the complex pros and cons of all technologies and then let them decide. I
> personallly, and many other blind people find them out dated and
> stigmatizing and love the fitting inn and the freedom that texting them
> self or voice mailing them self a short note, instead of writing it on a
> slate and styalis gives them. Others, who are super vigilent about not
> being obtrusive, that is people with Howard Gardiner's intra personal, not
> interpersonal multiple intelligence, really prefer the low profile, quiet
> option of a slate and styalis. I, as a mom on the go, with a full diaper
> bag, a purse, a guide dog and a toddler in toe would never in a million
> years dream of carrying something so long and that requires the use of
> both hands, as I can simply call my own voice mail and leave my self a
> quick voice reminder of things I want to get at the grocery store, while
> walking down the street. But, I know there are some blind people, in the
> world, I do not know them personally, that do prefer to use this
> particular technology. I don't know how old your daughter is, but I have
> a feeling that when she is a teen ager, going through the teen age years
> she will scorn your slate and styalis and scorn my braillenote in favor of
> some new technology that neither of us can even imagine right now. Kids
> will always want the newest greatest thing, and if you at least expose her
> to a slate, she might decide that she does in fact like it, when she is an
> adult, or she might hate it. There is no way of knowing. Final note.
> Speaking from a social perspective. It is far less stigmatizing for a
> blind person to whip out a cell phone than a slate, to take notes on a lap
> top than a perkins brailler, to read books on a victer reader stream or a
> braille note than to lug around huge braille text books or immense braille
> novels. I am not saying that a person's entire life should be dictated by
> fashion or appearances, but even blind people who understand the
> importance of braille literacy and thank their parents every day for
> teaching them how to read braille. Even blind people who appreciate the
> engenuity of the people who first invented things like the perkins
> brailler, the dimo tape labler and the slate, and who will always pick
> whichever technology gets the job done best in a pinch, do realize that
> carrying around two or three huge volumes of braille is ackward, or that
> at the end of a weary day, they have to educate the public less, answer
> less questions, etc, if they are using their cell rather than a slate. I
> hate having to carry around a heavy brailler and huge thick text books,
> and I don't do it unless I have to, because it is time consuming, space
> consuming, makes me look like a dork and makes me stand out. But, I am
> not so proud that I refuse to use my brailler for higher level math or if
> my braille note gets broken. I am not so ignorant or proud that I won't
> get a foreign language book in braille, because, unlike a history or
> psychology text it is not as benificial in electronic or audeo form. I
> just shrug when people laugh, or make fun of me, or ask me why I am not
> using a book on tape or my lap top, and say "Yeah, I prefer those, but for
> this subject, this is the best thing for the job, but it is a pain in the
> butt." I feel that way about my cane, as a guide dog user. I actively
> hate my cane. I feel stupid using it, I hate how it makes noise in a
> quiet room or hallway and draws attention to me. But, I am not so proud
> or stupid that I would not use one and make myself unsafe when I am
> inbetween a retired guide and a replacer guide. And, some people prefer
> canes, which is their right. And everyone has different priorities. The
> embarrassment of having your very ill guide dog have explosive diareah in
> public is hundreds of times worse than the day to day embarrasement of
> your cane making noise or making you stand out, or tripping people, even
> if you are using proper techniques. But the amazing exploding dog
> incident may never happen for people, or only once per dog guide, and most
> people are likely to sympathize with the sick dog, once they realize that
> is the problem, they are not likely to feel sorry for and forgive a white
> cane that trips them as they run to class. Some blind people don't feel
> like dealing with the hastles of potential access issues with uninformed
> people refusing them enterance or service because of a guide dog, because
> they are not good with confrontations. These people often prefer older
> more limited but far more reliable technologies, because slates and
> braillers and abacuses take a lot more abuse and don't die cold turkey
> like electronic technologies can. It's a comfort zone/life style thing.
> Sighted example then. I think it is stupid to refuse to use a GPS all
> together, because they do make things far more efficent, but I agree that
> it is equally stupid not to keep a basic working knowledge of your city
> and know how to use a map in a pinch. Ok, I'm done.
> ----- 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 12:34 PM
> Subject: Re: [blindkid] Technology and Little Kid
>
>
>> 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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>>
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