[blindkid] iPads ... Laptops and Notetakers oh MY

Richard Holloway rholloway at gopbc.org
Wed May 23 03:35:18 UTC 2012


I would say that she probably will need or at least surely could benefit from one. Of corse it may be provided through school if it has not been so far. Have you checked on that as a possible source to get one?

There are a lot of things our daughter (age 9) does with her BrailleNote that she just couldn't do any other way, and the main reason is this is a self-contained machine with braille in and out plus audio in and out, which she can wear and carry about on her own and use entirely at will. If she is sitting or standing somewhere and wants to read or write, record or playback messages or access any number of books, music files or a radio station, she's all set. She doesn't need to ask, and she doesn't need any help, or even a desk to put a few pieces of equipment out to turn on an connect and use. I wish I had such access to my work. I often have to stop and sit to check on things that she just reached down to do with her machine. Pretty soon I guess we'll even let her have web access through her BrailleNote. So far, I've preferred to limit that to her computer, because I can monitor her usage so much better.

Were it not for her need to use her cane, I think she would almost never stop using the machine as she walks about, but as it is, she does tend to stop walking, or at least slow down a good deal, as she tucks her cane under her arm and goes to work on her Apex.

It we will have to sit and wait somewhere for a good while she wants the machine available. This summer when we head to Dallas? She'll expect a fully charged machine to be available and when we finish driving, the battery will be close to fully depleted. Even is we have movies running in the car from Atlanta to Dallas (and even if they are all Audio Described) she'll expect to have a notetaker ready to use at the same time.

Other solutions just won't work the same. They cannot be used a freely when walking around, riding in cars, on airplanes and on and on. These machines have limitations and can be fussy and fiddly to work with. Support and repairs are expensive as are the machines themselves , obviously, but they just offer capacities that nothing else does. I think some distance down the road there may be alternatives, but for now, and I suspect until kids Kendra's age are finished with school at least, not having a notetaker is going to limit a number of options which we find to be very beneficial with a machine like this.

If I may ask, how much access has she had to these sorts of machines? The Dallas convention will be an excellent place to see all kinds of and try them out for herself. Kendra absolutely loves to try out new equipment every year at the convention. And if the exhibit hall doesn't let her see enough, track down someone you know at the convention to let them give her a personal demo with their own machine as well. Sample all the available setups and compare!  Maybe that will help your daughter to help you decide what is really best for her at this time...

Richard




On May 22, 2012, at 3:30 PM, Penny Duffy wrote:

> I wanted to stop hijacking Rosina's thread and since other
> have similar questions   I changed the subject to make it tidy.
> 
> Ok here is a question. I am trying to wrap my head around making sure my
> daughter has the technology she needs.  She is 8 and collage bound.    Does
> a child NEED a notetaker.   Could they have a notebook and IPad and share a
> braille display?  (the IPad or IPhone for portability) Or is there
> something that that makes the Notetaker a must have?   Its my understanding
> that even if child has a notetaker they will still need to get PC skills.
> So a PC laptop will still be needed is the Notetaker still needed.  I know
> you can share files pretty easy between the IPad and computers (using
> dropbox and other programs)
> 
> 
> Please help this clueless mom.. I think I just had ahha moment.  I would
> love to hear from people who have used both and how they transitioned to
> collage.
> 
> -Penny
> 
> On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 2:08 PM, Penny Duffy <pennyduffy at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Like I said it reads the stuff from bookshare (Read2go provides the text
>> file) but if someone gives you a braille file I have found no way to get
>> the ipad to bring it up.  If you have found an application that does this
>> Denise I would love to find out. May have been doing something wrong but I
>> could get no application to bring up a .brf file.  Like I said I don't even
>> know if this an issue .   I am having this discussion with my daughter TVI.
>> Trying to figure out if a notetaker is a needed technology for her or not.
>> 
>> -Penny
>> On May 22, 2012 1:56 PM, "Dr. Denise M Robinson" <deniserob at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> Penny
>>> Are you talking about read2go with bookshare? Yes, the braille display
>>> will
>>> read braille files.
>>> Denise
>>> 
>>> On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 10:46 AM, Penny Duffy <pennyduffy at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> good question Holly..
>>>> 
>>>> Abby uses her Ipad with a refreshable braille display and the biggest
>>>> disadvantage i found is it doesn't read braille files. Which I don't
>>> know
>>>> if its an issue or not.  There is an great bookshare app and it reads
>>> those
>>>> so that is not an issue. It will put on the braille display what ever is
>>>> spoken by voice over.  I am sure there are other issues.  but so
>>>> far that's the only one I have found and i don't know how many files
>>> only
>>>> come in braille format.
>>>> 
>>>> On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 1:35 PM, Holly Baker Miller <hollym12 at gmail.com
>>>>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> Still trying to figure things out for our situation.  New braille
>>> user,
>>>>> middle school, responsible & tech savy.  Has enough vision that jaws
>>>>> probably isn't going to be a necessity for him.  His issue is not so
>>> much
>>>>> with seeing but that he fatigues very quickly when reading visually.
>>>>> 
>>>>> It seems as if buying a good netbook or ipad ($500) + bluetooth
>>> braille
>>>>> display ($2500) such as the Brailliant 32 would be about half the cost
>>>> of a
>>>>> note taker.
>>>>> Aside from the slight downside of having to carry two compact items,
>>> why
>>>>> does it seem like this is not a popular option for most?
>>>>> 
>>>>> The pluses would be the netbook/ipad could be reasonably replaced
>>> every
>>>> 2-3
>>>>> years as the processors get faster & more powerful making it easier to
>>>> keep
>>>>> pace with technology.  Sounds like the maintenance plan on a notetaker
>>>>> costs that much.  Even if the display part punks out after a few
>>> years, a
>>>>> lot less painful to replace that than a full note taker.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Are there other disadvantages I'm not aware of?  Is this something
>>> whose
>>>>> time has come but it just hasn't quite caught on yet?
>>>>> I won't be offended if there's something glaring I haven't thought of!
>>>>> 
>>>>> Holly
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindkid_nfbnet.org/pennyduffy%40gmail.com
>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> --
>>>> --
>>>> --Penny
>>>> ----------
>>>> My Blog - visionfora.blogspot.com
>>>> 
>>>> NH Parents of Blind Children http://www.nhpobc.org/
>>>> NHPOBC on facebook   https://www.facebook.com/nhpobc
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>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> *Denise*
>>> 
>>> Denise M. Robinson, TVI, Ph.D.
>>> CEO, TechVision, LLC
>>> Specialist in Technology/Training/Teaching for blind/low vision
>>> 509-674-1853
>>> 
>>> Website with hundreds of informational articles & lessons on PC, Office
>>> products, Mac, iPad/iTools and more, all done with
>>> keystrokes: www.yourtechvision.com
>>> 
>>> "The person who says it cannot be done, shouldn't interrupt the one who is
>>> doing it." --Chinese Proverb
>>> 
>>> Computers are incredibly fast, accurate, and stupid: humans are incredibly
>>> slow, inaccurate and brilliant; together they are powerful beyond
>>> imagination.
>>> --Albert Einstein
>>> 
>>> It's kind of fun to do the impossible.
>>> --Walt Disney
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>> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> -- 
> --Penny
> ----------
> My Blog - visionfora.blogspot.com
> 
> NH Parents of Blind Children http://www.nhpobc.org/
> NHPOBC on facebook   https://www.facebook.com/nhpobc
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