Kyle Beasley is a smart second-grader with an infectious grin.
He’s also functionally blind.
Until last fall, the 7-year-old used 8-by-11-inch Braille texts that teachers printed for him on a special machine.
Each page cost about $1. He once had four lockers just to store his textbooks.
Today, the student at Roosevelt Elementary School in Janesville, Wis., easily carries his own iPad and a special Braille translator that allow him to read all his textbooks, send eMails, access the internet, check the weather, and do just about anything anyone else can do with a computer.
It’s new technology that is fundamentally changing how blind people interact with their world, but it appears the digital revolution is just getting started when it comes to improving the lives of people with all sorts of disabilities.
Some of the developments border on the magical, compared with what was available 20 years ago. Schools often are the places where people first encounter them.
Educators are scrambling to keep up with developments for those who can’t see, can’t hear, whose minds have trouble with the written word, who can’t use their arms or legs, and even those who can do little more than move their eyes.
The Janesville School District employs a teacher whose job is to find the technology that best suits each student who has a disability. Her name is Kathy White.
“Technology is exploding for us,” White said.
Keeping up is a challenge, but colleagues said White is very good at it.
“Kathy White is a master at figuring out what students need—then finding, adapting, or building what is necessary to further enhance a student’s ability to learn,” Superintendent Karen Schulte said.
White keeps abreast of developments and matches the emerging technologies with the hundreds of students in the Janesville School District who have disabilities.
Kyle’s translator—called Refreshabraille—is just one example. It has a Braille keyboard that allows Kyle to write as well as read. It communicates with his iPad, translating his Braille into English and English into Braille.
Plastic Braille dots pop up instantly on a pad, corresponding to a text displayed on the iPad. Bluetooth technology lets the two devices “talk” to each other.
Kyle expertly reads the dots with his index finger. When he’s done with one set of dots, the next set pops up.
Keeping up in class is easy, Kyle said with a proud smile.
Asked how he likes his Refreshabraille compared with paper texts, his face glowed proudly.
“I can read it faster,” he said.
There’s a learning curve, and Janesville vision specialist Melanie Baumunk teaches Kyle problem-solving strategies for when he gets stuck, but he appears to have learned quickly since he got the devices last fall.
“It’s making him incredibly independent,” Baumunk said.
White gets calls from teachers who have students stymied by disabilities. White looks for a technology to overcome the barriers. She works with every age in the school district, from 12th-graders to 3-year-olds. The range of needs is wide.
Consider Correy Winke, who was slated for a slow-paced science class when he entered Parker High School about 18 months ago. College “was the farthest thing from my mind,” he said.
Correy has dyslexia. His mind has trouble processing the printed word.
White figured Correy had what it takes to reach higher. She helped him get an iPod and a laptop computer, along with software that will read any text to him out loud and guess at the words he needs as he writes a class assignment.
“Kathy White is a master at figuring out what students need—then finding, adapting, or building what is necessary to further enhance a student’s ability to learn,” Superintendent Karen Schulte said.
White keeps abreast of developments and matches the emerging technologies with the hundreds of students in the Janesville School District who have disabilities.
Kyle’s translator—called Refreshabraille—is just one example. It has a Braille keyboard that allows Kyle to write as well as read. It communicates with his iPad, translating his Braille into English and English into Braille.
Plastic Braille dots pop up instantly on a pad, corresponding to a text displayed on the iPad. Bluetooth technology lets the two devices “talk” to each other.
Kyle expertly reads the dots with his index finger. When he’s done with one set of dots, the next set pops up.
Keeping up in class is easy, Kyle said with a proud smile.
Asked how he likes his Refreshabraille compared with paper texts, his face glowed proudly.
“I can read it faster,” he said.
There’s a elearning curve, and Janesville vision specialist Melanie Baumunk teaches Kyle problem-solving strategies for when he gets stuck, but he appears to have learned quickly since he got the devices last fall.
“It’s making him incredibly independent,” Baumunk said.
White gets calls from teachers who have students stymied by disabilities. White looks for a technology to overcome the barriers. She works with every age in the school district, from 12th-graders to 3-year-olds. The range of needs is wide.
Consider Correy Winke, who was slated for a slow-paced science class when he entered Parker High School about 18 months ago. College “was the farthest thing from my mind,” he said.
Correy has dyslexia. His mind has trouble processing the printed word.
White figured Correy had what it takes to reach higher. She helped him get an iPod and a laptop computer, along with software that will read any text to him out loud and guess at the words he needs as he writes a class assignment.
Developed for the paraplegic war wounded, the Tobii includes a camera that tracks a person’s eye movements. Gazing steadily at designated spots on the computer screen is like pressing a button or clicking a mouse. It allows someone whose hands don’t work to access the internet and much more.
With the right connected hardware, a person can switch lights or a TV off and on, drive a powered wheelchair, or even open a door. Users can write and send eMail or do just about anything else with a computer.
Three students are using borrowed equipment, and White hopes to document their efforts so they can get funding for their own machines.
“The students who are using it are using it extremely well,” White said, and they’re “extremely excited” once they see the possibilities to do things they have never been able to do for themselves.
“They become so empowered,” White said.
One drawback: Constant concentration on controlling the dot on the screen can be draining.
White estimates she visits 50 to 60 students a week, helping them learn their new software or hardware, but that’s not the biggest challenge.
“The hardest part for us is to keep up with what’s going on,” she said.
Copyright (c) 2012, The Janesville Gazette (Janesville, Wis.). Visit The Janesville Gazette online at www.gazetteextra.com. Distributed by MCT Information Services.
This article was originally posted at http://ping.fm/3Atmx
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