[blindkid] Braille notes for school age children, was Re: Mountbatten Brailler

Sat Jan 23 22:40:48 UTC 2010

While I can respect your opinions and points, I really can't let that go, 
that you say my two cents are only worth one.  I am blind, for one thing, 
and I am a musician, who majored in music education with a concintration in 
voice.  I know several blind musicians, and what they generally do is 
memorize the
words, then tackle the musical notation.  You can't write notation and notes
from your director on to a braille piece of paper, and if you are an actual
music major who might have a repetoir of over fifty songs for voice class,
and two or three different choirs, you do not carry around fifty songs, at
three to ten pages each.  Now, for orchestral notation for music theory
analysis, yes braille paper, especially the larger eleven by fourteen pages
are a must because of the complix interplay between lines of music, but for
your part in orchestra or your part in choir a braille note is a must.
Especially because of the built in recording function.  Erasing and
substituting numbers in an electronic format does not mean that you aren't
developing and using analytical skills.  You have to know the math to know
what to change, and it is no different from sighted children crossing out
and rewriting parts of a math problem.  I agree that when early elementary
aged students are being taught long devision for the first time, the cube
slate, braille writer or a magnetic math board is a great idea, but once you
get into geometry or pre-algebra, in say, grade five to seven, depending on
how advanced the student is, this is very helpful.  One nice thing about
braille notes is that they are lighter weight, less stigmatizing and they
can foster a love of technology, without fostering a love of screne readers
and a hatred of braille.  Some kids really struggle with braille and abandon
it as soon as they are allowed to do so, in favor of JFW or similar, but a
braille note can help with this emensely.  Also, when you get to those
stupid over head worksheets for notes that many middle school and high
school teachers prefer, the braille note rocks.  The teacher hands out a
sheet of pre-written notes, I as an educator think this is not best teaching
practice, but they do it.  There are blanks in the notes that the teacher
fills in on her coppy as they discuss the notes, on the overhead projecter,
and to make sure the students are payingg attention they have to fill in the
blanks on their sheets.  It is totally unfair to expect the blind student to
take notes from scratch, when the other students get them provided to them,
and reading it off braille paper doesn't allow the child to write in the
blanks.  Further, doing so on a lap top distracts other students with the
screne, and the blind student must listen to the screne reader and the
teacher.  Reading it off the braille note is the best possible way to handel
that convoluted note system.  I don't advocate letting three year olds go to
town with a braille note, but I think that with proper supervision a five
year old could benifit from experementing with one.  Think of all of the
leap frog and V smile products for sighted children where it reads with
them, or identifies a letter or word in a voice, so they can enjoy
independent play and exploration.  Using the speech and braille components
of the braille note can duplicate some of this for a blind child.  I think
this can not substitute for teachers and parents teaching literacy, but
independent play is important as well, and a braille note allows for this.
----- 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: Friday, January 22, 2010 10:35 PM
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Braille notes for school age children,was Re:
Mountbatten Brailler


> Heather:
>
> I think your $0.02 is worth $0.01, at least for music. Much better to use
> paper braille music because one can read the words with one hand and the
> music notation with the other.
>
> And with regard to math, I don't think one should use the ability of a
> Braille Note to erase parts of an equation to substitute for analytical
> thinking. And it won't handle complex fractions. I still favor everything
> up thru calculus on the Perkins Brailler.
>
> Yes, I'm a neo-Luddite. (grin)
>
> Mike Freeman
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Heather" <craney07 at rochester.rr.com>
> To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)"
> <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 5:50 PM
> Subject: [blindkid] Braille notes for school age children,was Re:
> Mountbatten Brailler
>
>
>> Other than a lap top with windows and JFW or a Mac, they already have
>> free, built in screne readers, the next most useful thing I have found
>> was a Braille note.  It is helpful because unlike a laptop, it makes very
>> visual things that are not as simple as literary typing such as for
>> social studies or language arts much easier.  Mathmatics, the sciences,
>> the arts, in particular music, and foreign language are greatly aided by
>> a braille note, vs a brailer, of any kind or a lap top.  .  For example,
>> algebra is a synch, because the child can type out an equasion, like 3X
>> plus 5 equals 2 x plus ten and then simply delete the two x on the right
>> and delete the 3 before the x on the left, then delete the five on the
>> left and change the ten on the right to a five.  That leaves them with x
>> equals 5,  and they could interact right with the problem, unlike on a
>> traditional brailler, and unlike a laptop it is much simpler than
>> combining a num pad with a bunch of number row symbols and letter
>> charictors.  A braille note is also very helpful for foreign language, as
>> a screne reader will not read the text properly, unles you change your
>> speech settings, but that will make english things like menus almost
>> oimpossible to read, that and producing accent marks on the computer is
>> much more difficult than simply typing them in braille into the braille
>> note.  Also, if you are using braille only, and not speech, there is no
>> need to use rediculous translation software.  For example the E acute in
>> french braille is the same thing as a for sign in print grade two
>> braille.  If they simply type in braille they could write t E acute l e
>> acute and read it properly. Having it read with speech would try to make
>> sense of tforlfor, but for quick note taking and short writing
>> assignments in a foreign language class, that help to generate practice
>> conversations, this is very valuable.  Finally, if your child sings in a
>> choir, they can wear the braille note in it's case, over their shoulder,
>> with it very securely in it's case, and have it hang at their side and
>> simply read their words and music with one hand and the thumb keys.  This
>> allows for a more normal descrete look, that is less stigmatizing than
>> shuffling through pages and pages of braille embossed music.  Also, they
>> can jot in performance notes, something they can't do with pre brailled
>> music on paper, and the memo function does not have outstanding sound
>> quality on the braille note, but it is good enough to take note of the
>> proper pitches in a particularly troublesome passage.  Just my two cents.
>> ----- 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, January 21, 2010 12:41 PM
>> Subject: Re: [blindkid] Mountbatten Brailler
>>
>>
>>> They are neat, but from what I understand, kids also tend to "outgrow"
>>> them rather quickly. When we first saw them, I was excited about them
>>> and thought we should find a way to get one for our daughter but I
>>> think we have been far better served by the combination of perkins
>>> braillers and braillenote / pacmate devices combined with embossers,
>>> computers with screen readers (Jaws in our case) and the like. We're
>>> starting to make use of the detachable braille display from our  pacmate
>>> now to let jaws show Kendra what is on her computer screen.   There are
>>> so many possibilities now-- I'd say explore all your options  thoroughly
>>> before you get anything and if you go to the national  convention, don't
>>> miss the exhibit hall and look at all you can when  you're there.
>>>
>>> All of this other gear will (hopefully) last our daughter for many
>>> years-- Kendra is using in first grade most of the key devices and
>>> concepts that can take her clear through high school and college. No
>>> doubt some well wear out or need upgrading, but not because she'd gone
>>> beyond what her equipment can offer-- the sky is the limit there...
>>>
>>> If you find a great deal on a used piece in good condition or if  budget
>>> is simply not a concern, I suspect you'd enjoy a Mt. Batten for  a good
>>> while but long term it will probably end up collecting dust or  being
>>> resold.
>>>
>>> Richard
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Jan 21, 2010, at 8:44 AM, Susan Harper wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi,
>>>>     I came across this new piece of equipment and was wondering if
>>>> anyone
>>>> was using it.  It is called the Mountbatten Brailler sold by a company
>>>> called Humanware.  The Brailler is made in Australia.  Anyone using  it
>>>> and
>>>> have any pros and cons to offer.  It is kind of expensive, so wanted
>>>> some
>>>> feed back from anyone who might have used one.  Thanks.
>>>> Blessings,
>>>> Sue H.
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
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>>
>>
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>
>
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