Outreach VI Team

News from VI Outreach Team

NUBS or UEB: A Unified Braille Code Could Be Adopted Soon

The Braille Authority of North America (BANA) has released a three-part article entitled: The Evolution of Braille: Can the Past help Plan the Future?
BANA website (http://www.brailleauthority.org/)

Part 1 traces the use of braille as a viable reading medium from the 1960s to the present and takes a close look at how print has changed over the same period.

Part 2 discusses the more technical aspects of braille translation, challenges faced by current transcribers of current codes, the need for accurate forward and backward translation with the least amount of human intervention, and the impact of the use of refreshable braille displays.

Part 3 discusses the future; it explores the options for change and examines Unified English Braille (UEB) and the Nemeth Uniform Braille System (NUBS) as examples of code unification.

BANA feels that it is at a critical juncture, and they have four choices:

  1. Continue to tinker with the current codes we have;
  2. Adopt UEB;
  3. Adopt NUBS;
  4. Do nothing at all to change braille.

“The BANA Board recognizes that to preserve the viability of braille, changes must be made. The BANA Literary Technical Committee believes that continuing to make small changes to the current code will place braille readers and transcribers in an ever-worsening spiral of ever more complicated braille codes. The committee recommends that BANA adopt a system such as UEB or NUBS that was designed to be extendible, flexible, and consistent.” (Page 6 of Part 3)

A new unified/uniform braille code could soon be adopted and replace the literary, Nemeth, and computer braille codes currently used in the United States. Please take the time to learn all you can about these two codes. Choose your future or have it chosen for you.

Personally, I am confident that both UEB and NUBS are adequate for literary braille, but I am concerned about the ability of UEB to clearly and efficiently represent print and facilitate comprehension of math, science, and technical materials. Braille readers, transcribers, teachers and students have written me with the same concerns.

Let the discussion begin…

Susan A. Osterhaus, M.Ed., TVI
Statewide Mathematics Consultant
TSBVI Outreach

 

CVI Webcast from Perkins School for the Blind

If you haven’t checked out Perkins new video webcast on CVI, you should.  I really thought this webcast did a great job of explaining the basics of CVI and offering strategies.  I could see TVIs and COMS using this with other educational staff, parents and administrators who need to understand some of the basics of Cortical Visual Impairments.  Another great product from Perkins!
Perkins CVI webcast

Optimizing Vision

The student with low vision who is functioning in a general education classroom setting may be experiencing a multitude of visual challenges unique to the environments in which (s)he works.  As a TVI, I need to have a construct in my head in order to quickly organize my observations of each environment, so that I can make adjustments and/or recommendations for accommodations.

For starters, I must consider the lights or brightness in the room.  There are certain eye conditions that make lighting either detrimental (ocular albinism) or vital (optic nerve hypoplasia).  Questions I might ask myself are:  What is the lighting source?  Is the student getting so close that her head obscures the light?  Would a task light help?  Where should the light be directed?  If an outlet is nearby, the APH lamp is wonderful.  Another option is a battery powered OTT® light that can be moved from room to room.  When positioning the light, make sure the student’s head or hand does not occlude the light, or that the light is shining on the student’s face.  When the target surface is lighted or bright (Smart Board, overhead projector screen), students with lighting issues may have difficulties.  The classroom lighting can be adjusted to accommodate, or in extreme cases, the student may need to have a desk (print) copy if significant copy work is required.

Next, I look at the student’s posture.  Many students have difficulties accessing their lower field, and placing material on a slant board positions the material up so that the student isn’t spending the day slumped over his work.  Since most students need to be able to read and write, I find a slant board that accommodates writing works better than a reading stand.  See examples at Therapro (http://www.therapro.com/Better-Board-Slant-Boards-P28013C4192.aspx). Or, use a 3 inch 3-ring binder turned sideways.

How organized is your student?  It takes the student with low vision longer to find things.  Students need to access their materials quickly, so storing for quick retrieval is necessary.  Consider a small, stick-on battery operated closet light that you press for inside desks and other darker spaces.  Backpacks will need folders and other organizational containers to keep papers organized, and smaller objects in desks should have dedicated containers. The TVI will need to check and reinforce that an established system is used consistently.

How is your student writing things down?  You might need to provide adapted paper and writing tools, and adjust lighting and positioning of materials (see writing slant board above) if needed.  Examples of writing tools include drafting pencils (or #1 soft lead, available in art/craft stores) and fine point felt tip pens. Students may perform better with bold line paper, or commercially available wide ruled notebook paper with darker lines (compare these at the grocery store—some are darker than others). Writing may be so laborious that using a keyboard may be faster and more efficient.

Where are the optical devices?  Assuming the student has been seen by a low vision specialist, start by making sure the prescribed optical devices are on hand and the student has learned how to use them correctly.  Devices that tend to be handed to students by well-intentioned people should be avoided (e.g. full page magnifier). Electronic near devices are best used for “spot” viewing, and will slow the student down when reading longer passages. If a Video Magnifier is in the room, find out if it is being used consistently.  If it is not (perhaps due to portability, placement, too much enlargement), consider retraining the student on a handheld or stand magnifier.

This construct should be used in every classroom setting the student accesses, at the beginning of the school year. Ultimately, you will be teaching the student how to monitor his own visual functioning in relation to the categories mentioned above, and how to either adjust his body or inform his teachers about his visual preferences.

Chrissy Cowan, TVI
Mentor Coordinator
TSBVI Outreach

Federal Communication Commission Launches Accessibility Clearinghouse

The Federal Communications Commission has launched its accessibility
clearinghouse in an effort to connect more consumers (including children
and young adults) to accessible telecommunication options.

Accessible Clearinghouse

Also quickly, this is a great site that is linked on the FCC’s page for
helping consumers and their families find accessible wireless options.

Accesswireless website

As all children and young adults use mobile technologies as a part of
their daily lives, it is critical that our students with visual
impairments and deafblindness have options. So glad that the FCC is taking
a strong leadership role in helping people with disabilities have access.
Please share!

Amy T. Parker, Ed.D., C.I. & COMS
Research Assistant Professor
Virginia Murray Sowell Center
806-742-1997 X 248 office

Parent Training “Pay it Forward”

Are you a seasoned parent that has been in the trenches for a few years? If so, you are probably frustrated with at least one of the systems that provide services for your child and family. These services are based on policies developed by politicians and administrators that have little if any experience raising a child with a disability. You may want to challenge some policies and procedures and advocate for changes that would benefit your child as well as others with disabilities but don’t know where to start.

 

Participants in the Texas Advanced Leadership and Advocacy Conference (TALAC) learn where to start, how to advocate successfully and have the chance to practice these skills with policymakers. You will become confident and competent in your ability to make a difference in your community and statewide. If you are regularly giving support and information to others new to disability, then I encourage you to take the next step and register for the TALAC 2012 conference. Don’t miss this opportunity to move to the next level of paying it forward.

 

Online applications and more info at TALAC .

Contact Jaime Duran at 979-845-1884 or talac@tamu.edu

Technology Decision Making Tool – AIM Navigator

The AIM Navigator is an accessible, web-based tool designed to help local educational teams think through decisions about accessible instructional materials for students.   It has sections to address assessing student need, determining appropriate instructional formats, decisions on purchase/acquisition of appropriate formats, and related training/supports to support student progress.  There are many helpful sections with in depth information available to help with each step in the process, and the Navigator generates a student summary that can follow a student across their years of schooling as well as a To Do list documenting next steps for the team.  This FREE tool is found on the National Center on Accessible Instructional Materials website at Aim Navigator.

Braille Institute IPhone/IPad App for Vision Simulations

At the recent SWOMA Conference a teacher shared a great app from the Braille Institute that show vision simulations.  Vision simulations are nothing new, but this one let you point your camera on your phone or IPad and see a vision simulation of a real-time scene.  Using touch-screen controls, the user can select one of the four simulators to replicate the symptoms of that particular disease. The application uses the device camera to allow the user to see the world through digital filters simulating the symptoms and experience of the disease. Using sliding touch-screen controls, the user can manipulate the severity of the symptoms.

The real-time still images can be saved by the camera and stored for later review in the image gallery, or to be shared. Check out this free app at the Braille Institute.

Kate Hurst
Statewide Staff Development Coordinator
Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Emerging Writing

I just listened to a presentation on emerging writing in children who are 3-5 years of age.  What I kept thinking to myself was “How can we support the participation of children with visual impairments in emergent writing activities?”

Here is a definition of emergent writing and a link to the paper it came from:

“The broad construct of emergent writing includes the physical marks that young children make on paper, the meanings that children attribute to these markings, and the social contexts in which the writing takes place (Clay, 1975; Rowe, 2008).”p.54

Preschool lab Ohio State University 

Getting the physical marks on paper may be the hardest part for a child with a visual impairment.  In children with typical vision, these marks start out as scribbles and/or pictures.

For some children with visual impairments, just providing high contrast markers, good lighting, using a light box as a writing surface, using a slant board, etc. may be all that is needed to encourage scribbling and drawing.

For other children, including those who may go on to use print, the act of creating marks may be too difficult a task even though the child would otherwise be an emerging writer.  This may be because coordinating low vision with the necessary motor skills is too hard at this time or, for the future braille user, it may be that the child physically can’t operate a braille writer or use a slate and stylus to create scribbles to which they can easily attribute meaning.

Fortunately, the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) might point the way to a solution in the form of the Wheatley Picture Maker.

APH catalog

 

The Wheatley is probably used more for orientation and mobility lessons, creating maps, or creating charts.  It has a number of pieces that vary in shape, color, and texture, to attach to a felt board.  I believe that these pieces could be used by an emerging writer to create pictures that could be used as writing.

Taking this concept further, one could create one’s own “Wheatley” by collecting a variety of small pieces of materials that vary by shape, color, and texture and attaching Velcro to them so they can be used on a homemade felt board.

(Martha Stewart will tell you how to make a felt board at Martha Stewart website)

The child can then use these pieces to draw and “write”.  The pieces would need to vary in ways the child can perceive.  Miniatures would not work here; they really don’t convey good tactile information and the point is that the child, not the piece, is creating the meaning.  If the child wants to use a red rough triangle to represent a dog, that is the child’s creative choice.  If the child wants to use 3 different pieces to represent a dog, again, that is the child’s choice.  The child is learning that his or her creations have meaning that he or she can then read to another. We might think a piece of fake fur would best represent the dog and a child might choose this.  But the point isn’t what we think.  It is giving the child the control to create and attribute meaning.

Notice, this is different than providing a tactile book where someone else has chosen the representation.  The difference would be like having a book with the pictures all drawn in (your usual picture book) and a picture the child has drawn on his or her own.  Picture books and tactile books have a huge role in a child’s emerging literacy but don’t support emerging writing the same way as when the child is involved in creating the drawings or tactile representations.

Jim Durkel
APH Materials Coordinator

“mouthing pillow”

While watching a video of a student we see on an ongoing basis, we got the input of one of our local occupational therapists, and what great input she gave!  We watched this student, who has visual impairment and very limited motor abilities, play by continually flipping a pillow onto her face.  While the pillow was on her face, she appeared to be moving her mouth a little bit.  This student, due to motor limitations, has not been able to bring objects to her mouth to explore them.  Our OT suggested creating a “mouthing pillow.”  We used a firm, foam pillow that would not be floppy, made a pillow case from “headliner” fabric because it sticks well to the male velcro, and sewed elastic with notebook rings so that objects could be affixed and removed easily for washing the case.  The objects we selected it have characteristics similar to objects that the student has been observed touching with her hands or are just generally good things to mouth.  The fabric and the elastic are both black to make the visual target, if the student chooses to look, less complex.  We can’t wait to see what the student does with it!

Sara Kitchen
VI Education Specialist