Games for Children with Visual Impairments

"Fun, interactive games" for
Children with Visual Impairments! 

 

Hello!

We are KeySense Games, creators of interactive, tactile board games for children with visual impairments.

Typing programs for the Blind

In general, most children will tell you that typing practice is boring and they do not want to do it. In general, you do not need to go this route  if the student is typing all day long....and you have already made sure they are using correct finger positioning. Just know that,  speed will increase with their daily work on the computer.
However, if repetition does need to occur because the student just needs more practice with finger placement, here is a suggestion of programs.
The most favorable program that can be used with talking software is
TypeAbility
The other commonly used, are:
Talking Typer from  (APH)), American Printing House for the Blind,
and many types of programs, from Marbelsoft

Take the Fear out of blindness

TechVision is a site is all about how to take fear out of blindness. If you have the skills to do anything you want, then fear dissolves away. Learning tactile and auditory skills is just another way to absorb information and learn to full capacity. If you have any questions, just email Dr Denise at deniserob@gmail.com and ask away. There is great VISION in learning.....a different way

Here is an article on:Twice as many people fear blindness more than premature death
The only way to take away that fear is to learn that different way.

These are some great videos on that different way--very descriptive, on what our blind children are doing on technology which is giving them the edge in school and more importantly the ability to compete at any academic level. These are all virtual lessons across the country so any child can be taught

Spanish lesson with jaws and PC--this high school student just began 1 month ago and has not used a computer since kindergarten so forgot all skills--now everything is on a computer and moving incredibly fast--reads from the braille and nemeth books as well as etext copies to complete work

Reading from Nemeth book, then completing bar graphs in excel then selecting and pasting into Word to answer all questions...emailing it to teacher when done In 2 months this student went from doing everything on a brailler to all on a computer--he had never used a computer before...this is a track changes lesson that he just got back from his teacher. He is listening to all the comments
This lesson is a student doing a sophisticated newspaper layout and articles in Word

 

So this is a final one of my students needed to do: He created a sophisticated excel graph first, then inserted the graph into powerpoint, then added transitions, animations and then his voice...I am thinking he is getting an A on this

Oh yes, this is all done virtually ---I am in one location, he in another...his para and other teachers are learning right along with him

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kt0Lxmjik4&feature=youtu.be

When students are done with their work, they email to teacher....teacher corrects and emails back to them using track changes. One thing about students, they learn like lightening speed...it is so incredible. We should never underestimate the power of the mind...especially when it wants to learn--hundreds of other videos along the same line on youtube on just about anything....learning is inspirational

Learn more about this incredible pen:

The World's First 3D Printing Pen-3Doodler---make math and more come alive for the blind

New Amazon Kindle App Shows Improved Accessibility

Darren Burton
As readers of AFB’s AccessWorld magazine, you may know I have written several articles over the years condemning the lack of accessibility found in Amazon Kindle devices. A couple of the devices have had some half-baked accessibility solutions, and the mobile apps have never been accessible or usable at all. However, yesterday we learned Amazon’s new update for the Kindle app for Apple’s iOS mobile platform has improved accessibility for people with vision loss.
We took a quick look at it on an iPhone 5 in our AFB Tech product evaluation labs this morning, and although there are still some things needing improvement, it is definitely a significant improvement over the previously inaccessible apps.
We downloaded a handful of books, and we were able to access the print content of each of them. You can read the text of a book in several ways, including reading continuously, by page, by line, by word and by character. Several other tools are also accessible, including the Go To Page tool and the icon indicating your current page and location. If you have low vision, you can change the contrast from black on white to white on black, and you can increase the font size. We found the bookmarking, highlighting and annotation features to be partially accessible, and we had mixed success with the table of contents of one book we tested. We have yet to come upon any accessible graphics, and that will definitely be a concern going forward, especially for textbooks.
Although they are a few years late to the party, we at AFB are certainly happy that Amazon did eventually get around to taking advantage of the built-in accessibility of the Apple iOS platform. Now, Amazon can keep the ball rolling by improving the accessibility of their Kindle and Kindle Fire tablet devices.
Stay tuned to AccessWorld magazine for a full evaluation in the June issue.

AccessWorld® is the American Foundation for the Blind's technology magazine.

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