[blindkid] computers as school credit

Traci Wilkerson traci.renee27 at gmail.com
Sat Sep 15 21:41:40 UTC 2012


Or yes, allow them to explore the sw on their own during computer lab, if
someone isn't competent to show them.

Traci
On Sep 15, 2012 5:37 PM, "Traci Wilkerson" <traci.renee27 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I understand your question Arielle, but I know my kids are young and we
> already experience time crunch now at 5 and 7 after school, by the time we
> get home, let the kids chill and play for a bit, do homework (which can
> take sometimes an hour if its a battle), make dinner and its then bedtime.
> I'm sure older kids may have some more time but I'm sure homework also
> takes longer.  I would love to do more tech with my kids but I also want
> them to enjoy being kids.  They have computer lab time at school, so in my
> eyes the school needs to be teaching them the skills they need at that
> time.  They shouldn't be sitting there letting someone click through
> screens "pretending" my child is doing something on their own.  Yes, we
> have already had this.  So if they are in the class, yes! the school should
> be teaching it in a way relevant to what they need.  No excuses for them
> not too.
>
> Traci
> On Sep 15, 2012 5:26 PM, "Arielle Silverman" <arielle71 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>> Forgive me for beating a dead horse, but I  just don't understand why
>> we are waiting on school personnel who aren't very tech-savvy to teach
>> blind kids JAWS when the JAWS program has excellent user
>> documentation, enabling any blind student to learn JAWS on their own?
>> Why are blind kids having to do a boring tech tutorial at school when
>> they could be playing online games, using Facebook or looking up cool
>> things on the Internet at home, like their sighted peers are?
>> I believe that the way a sighted child first learns to use the
>> computer is by sitting down in front of it and looking around the
>> screen, eventually learning to identify the different icons, the start
>> menu, programs on the desktop, etc. A blind child can learn the exact
>> same way. Turn on JAWS, have them sit down and press the tab key, or
>> arrow around the desktop, so they can hear all the different programs
>> that are available to them. Have them open up a program like Word,
>> tell them to press the Alt key and they will be able to hear all the
>> different options located in the menus or ribbons.
>> JAWS is not much more complicated than using Windows as a sighted
>> person. If a sighted person wants to move around the screen, they use
>> the mouse; the JAWS user presses Tab or the arrow keys. If the sighted
>> person wants to click something, they click the mouse; the blind
>> person presses the Enter key. There are more advanced keyboard
>> commands that a blind computer user can eventually memorize so they
>> don't have to go looking all around the screen, but these more
>> advanced commands aren't necessary for basic computer use. A blind
>> student who has basic computer knowledge, gained from exploration,
>> should be able to learn the more advanced commands independently from
>> a tutorial.
>> I learned JAWS twenty years ago when computers still used command
>> prompts and were much less user-friendly than they are today. Plus,
>> there wasn't much funn stuff to be done on the computer then, like
>> there is today. With all  the free screen reader options out nowadays,
>> I just don't understand why any blind child is not
>> technology-literate. Why wait for a student to fail a computer course
>> when so many self-teaching opportunities exist at home?
>> Perhaps there are some kids who don't have the motivation or attention
>> span to self-teach technology, but I suspect that will be a minority
>> of students. Why not have them start on their own, and then ask the
>> school to help if they get stuck?
>> If there is something I am missing please let me know. I do not intend
>> to offend anyone, but I really just want to better understand what the
>> issue is and why parents aren't able to address it on their own.
>> Best,
>> Arielle
>>
>> On 9/15/12, Pat Renfranz <dblair2525 at msn.com> wrote:
>> > Hi Rosina,
>> > My daughter was in a similar boat: sluggish tech training, required
>> > computer
>> > tech class, etc. One thing we did to force the issue was to use the
>> course
>> > requirements to lay out what had to be done by the TVI during the year,
>> and
>> > put those as goals in the IEP. The goals were very specific. The tech
>> > teacher was great at making sure the TVI knew the material and knew what
>> > needed to be taught. The district, knowing the TVI did not have the
>> skills,
>> > purchased training materials to lead the TVI step by step; the materials
>> > were from a company called DeWitt and Associates. I have no idea if
>> this is
>> > the best stuff out there (probably not!) and it was boring as heck for
>> my
>> > daughter, but it got her through the class. Because working through this
>> > took some time (why should anything be worked out before the school year
>> > start?), the teacher allowed my daughter to work on the class into the
>> next
>> > semester.
>> > pat
>> >
>> >
>> > On 9/13/12 3:56 PM, "Rosina Solano" <colemangirly at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >>
>> >> Okay, so I just got a notice that my 9th grader is failing computer
>> >> applications and it is a required course.  WOW, possibly because they
>> >> haven't
>> >> taught him ANY computer or tech skills at all.  And here is the
>> clincher,
>> >> if
>> >> he does fail it, he has to repeat it next year.  Gee, if they don't
>> give
>> >> him
>> >> the education to use JAWS and such I don't think it will matter how
>> many
>> >> times
>> >> he repeats it.
>> >>
>> >> Maybe this will be the sign that I am not the only one who knows that
>> >> they
>> >> should be teaching him technology. Sigh
>> >>
>> >> Rosina Foster
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
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>> >
>> >
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