Home Schooling, Districts and Virtual Teaching

I have the pleasure of working with people in a variety of different situations. For instance, I work with parents who are home schooling their children or with administrators and students in school districts.

Many home schooling parents find me when I am speaking at conferences about Education of the blind & visually impaired. After the speech, they talk with me at length about how to improve their child's education. Quite often, they return home and tell their local school district the news. The district checks out my credentials and within a short time we have contract for services to be provided to the home schooled child.

Many parents of home schoolers do not know that you can intermingle school district services and home schooling. School Districts can count the child on their roster and get funds for them, while supplementing the parent's teaching skills, such as with calculus or blind education or sign language. This can be a great relationship, and in general I see it working incredibly well.

Virtually, I go into the home when scheduled. The parent takes the lessons right along with their child. I send new lessons after our initial instruction for them to continue to work on the skills. The really nice thing about home schoolers is we can meet any time of the day or week. The flexibility is wonderful.

In one particular situation that came up over a year ago, a parent had become very frustrated with the school and the school lacked the skills to help. Her child was not successful and the struggle to get the correct services became overwhelming.

We began instruction and her child began to flourish with the deaf/blind techniques taught. As time went on, I explained other ways to integrate school into her child's life so she could gain more social skills, though she was already making many friends through email.

Many blind children feel very isolated so friends are important. Emailing and connecting with others is one of the first lessons I focus on when starting with a child. They need their peers to connect to. These friendships immediately get them on board with what I am teaching and they see their world expand quickly.

The child mentioned above has now been integrated into school activities and is really enjoying life. Both parent and child have regained faith in the educational process...or at least parts of it. But they have found that happy medium of home schooling and going to school outside the home. Many ways, offer many possibilities!

Spanish, Talking Software and Braille

One of my high school students just began Spanish this year. Anyone who has taught Spanish Braille knows it is VERY different from English Braille. When I asked her if she knew that her JAWS could talk Spanish also, she said "NO" but in an amazed REALLY sort of hope. She is only familiar with English speaking JAWS and had no idea of other possibilities that talking software can do for her.

We began with adding a new Spanish voice profile. Next, we went to Word and started typing Spanish words and having her talking software repeat the word back so she could start working on her pronunciation. Then we practiced going back and forth from her regular voice to Spanish voice as I could see she would get stuck with the Spanish and not know how to get back again. Repetition always seems to be the key.

Tomorrow she gets to learn how to insert all those wonderful special Spanish characters into Word using special commands so JAWS will speak the Spanish words correctly. THEN she gets to learn how to read those characters in Braille. Life is always so exciting as we let our vision grow out of who we are and what we are capable of doing.

SKYPE, JAWS Tandem, Virtual Teaching

I have been working with a particular student for years, so her skills are fairly advanced. She started virtual instruction this summer and caught on very quickly. We have been experimenting with finding the best browser that works with the right software and email and a multitude of other things to make everything work together. And, it was time to use this technology in the classroom.

First off, it is common to have to go personally to the school to explain virtual techniques to the administration. So, I did. The Principal seemed to understand quickly the virtual technique. But, the Director was having a difficult time seeing how a blind student can get help from a teacher who lives far away. The para-educator was willing to give it a chance, so I told them to let the student take over and they could watch. Then I went home and waited for school to start.

Our first lesson of the school year started today. The para-educator was nervous but within a couple of minutes the para was amazed. The student texted me online, telling me she was ready for the class work. I immediately brought her up on video, greeted her and saw smiles. Next, we started the tandem session so I could bring her computer desktop up on my computer. Then I began giving her instruction on downloading school books from the Internet, from the website Duxbury (a braille to print translation program) that transfers text information into Word. (Note: I previously discussed with her teacher what the student needed for class, so the lesson was in my head)

After the student loaded the classrooms "World History" book into WORD, it was time to read. The student knows she needs to ask the teacher, "What are the first three words of the paragraph you want me to be on?" Then I helped her insert those words into find dialogue box. Within seconds her cursor finds the paragraph. She jumps the cursor to her book and her JAWS begins reading it to her.

The student also practices her braille reading, by adding the braille display to the laptop.

Virtual Teaching-Going from memorizing to understanding

Yesterday was a huge "Ah Ha" moment for one of my virtual students.

I started lessons with her about a year ago. She was in 9th grade. I tested her skills and discovered she did not know how to turn on a computer, did not know Nemeth (Braille math) and did not know a plethora of other blind skills. She also lacked orientation and mobility skills (cane travel). BUT, she did know Braille and that had gotten her to the point she was, however she relied heavily on a para and her parents to help her do her work.

The biggest problem was not understanding how a computer works or what it could do for her. She relied on memory. She tried to memorize every step, and for those of us who use JAWS talking software, we know you cannot always depend on memorizing steps because JAWS is unpredictable. But, if you "understand" how a computer works, no matter what occurs you can figure out the issue and take control of the computer instead of it controlling you.

Anyway, as we did our virtual lessons, she would move along, but spent a lot of time memorizing "hiccups" (unexpected occurrences with talking software) that occurred as we moved in and out of the Internet. Many times the lessons were smooth and flawless as she followed her memorized steps. However, when she tried to do the lessons on her own, and ran into a "hiccup" she was stopped in her tracks.

Yesterday however, she turned a corner in her approach to learning.

I always start my kids out using BASIC HTML in Gmail, which is one of the most accessible emails there is around. Once they learn the basics, I switch them over to Standard View because there are so many more options available, but far more commands to learn. One being texting, two being video chat, three being the auto filling of addresses and so on.

Now this young lady is VERY stoic and proper. Something VERY special has to occur for her to crack a smile or laugh. As I was doing a virtual lesson with her, I showed her how she would not need to memorize email addresses any more with the auto fill aspect of Standard View. As I showed her, I actually got an "OHHHHH WOW". More importantly, when I showed her how easy it was to go back and forth from Basic HTML to Standard, her approach shifted and she actually asked the right question to let me know she understood the difference AND how to do it whenever she wanted.

She was moving from that all important step of just memorizing steps to do something, to understanding what she was doing and that SHE had the power to make that computer do what she wanted instead of the computer taking that power away from her due to her lack of understanding. With understanding, we gain power!

Seeing the Light-Gaining true vision

I keep in contact with many of my past students and families. That is one thing so wonderful about this field, the close connections we make and keep.

One of my students called me about 4 years ago very distressed about her life. She said she was tired of depending on everyone to do things for her.

She was in 10th grade and had lost the majority of usable sight. But she still had a speck of sight in the corner of one of her eyes and she was determined to use every ounce of it---and not be classified as blind. However, she grudgingly learned braille but just enough to keep me happy. She had never touched a computer before, so I taught her basic computer skills and within 2 weeks she was back in class independently working away on her computer....slowly but doing it herself. She begged for a para-educator to do all her work, telling me how much faster it would be. I said "Yes it would faster but your skills will never improve." For the next 2 months I heard this topic many many times, but by the end of the 2 months she was so fast, it never came up again. She did fairly well in school and graduated but did not push herself to learn more blind skills.

We talked and emailed several times during the next few years. Every year that remaining speck of sight became worse until it was unusable. One day I got the sorrowful call, which I have gotten before from other students. When the student depends too much on a remainder bit of sight, and they stop learning skills after graduation, only to lose finally that speck of physical vision, they then believe their dreams can't become reality. This was the case with this student.

After calming her down, I told her about a great rehabilitation center in Louisiana where she could go and gain the skills she needed. I told her who to contact and what to do, but it would be up to her to do it.

It was time for the people she relied on to back off. We adults sometimes do way too much for our children and students. I am constantly analyzing myself and making sure I am giving them the skills by making them do their own work.

Sadly, for a long while, this student thought I'd jump in and do the work to get her into the training center, while she sat back. But I didn't. It was difficult to hold off, because I could easily jump in and do everything. But, I knew her life would only change if she applied herself.

She finally did apply herself. She registered for the training center, got approved and went on to graduate. A whole new woman. Completely independent and not afraid to go anywhere or do anything. She now has her own private Massage business and knows how to run it on her own. She is the boss of her destiny now. She can truly live out her dreams and she is dreaming even bigger now. Now that is true VISION....having the skills to see your own potential.

Helping a student take a test with a virtual teacher

I am always trying to figure out better ways to help my students virtually. Teaching the students their ability to text messages is an immediate help. My students who have learned enough technology skills, can sit in class and text me for a quick answer to any technical problem they have whether it's about hardware or software. For example: At the start of the year, teacher's are usually fearful of having a blind student in their classroom and they are very unsure what to do. A teacher emailed me last week saying, "I will be giving the class a test, How do I give the blind student the test?" I told her to put the test in a WORD document, then save it to a thumb drive. Then give the student the thumb drive and tell her which document file to open when the rest of the class was working on their paper test.

This is where their ability to text me as their teacher became valuable. The student opened her test and realized she has forgotten some of her talking software commands over the summer. She text me with the problem (I am hundreds of miles away from her, but at my computer and beside her virtually) She needs help with her technology. I give her the code for a JAWS tandem session so I can pull up her computer and take a look at her issue. I text her back with what she needs to do to get JAWS to read the problems and tell her where to answer. She is off and running.

She does not disturb anyone else in the classroom as she has her headset on and quietly listens to my directions in the text. No one else knows she is getting help from me but the teacher. A virtual teacher beside her whenever she needs.

This access to a virtual technology teacher who knows skills for the blind gives the regular education teachers and students peace of mind because they have the technical help whenever they need.

Skype, Google Talk, Texting

Skype and Google Talk are tools that allow students to talk to one another using the Internet. People can communicate with each other using talking software program calledJAWS.

One of my students was moving through her lessons quickly and thought it was time to move her to the next level of technology. I have all my students tied together with email, so they can "talk" with their new friends anywhere and anytime. This particular student is low vision and has a really good friend, who happens to be sighted, a couple hundred miles away. I thought if I could teach her how to video chat, she and her friend that she has never met in person could take it to the next level of friendship—virtually meeting.


My student learned how to use SKYPE with the mouse. Everything VERY enlarged so she could read it. She was slow to respond to text messages because it was very laborious to read. Her favorite part was the actual video where she could talk as if standing next to each other.

Because of the slow response in texting in Skype, I decided to switch her to Firefox, Gmail with a video plugin, Google talk and texting. JAWS talks everything in Gmail. Her texting became very quick because JAWS would read the reply from her friends and she could quickly text back.

In our lessons, which are virtual, with me at my home and hers a distance away, I told her she was doing great with Firefox, texting and her video, but I needed to go find all the hotkeys for Skype and JAWS. She text back very quickly that she loved using the mouse. I replied, that was fine and I would just create a lesson on Skype hotkeys for my others students. About 2 seconds later, she text back that maybe she should have them too since she moved so much faster with the keyboard then trying to read the text. I replied that was fine and she could use any method she wanted when she choose.

Choices: Life is about choices and having many tools in your toolbox of learning.

Inspiring Kids to read Braille

Most kids want the summer off from any work. This was no exception for one of my students I will call Sunshine. Sunshine, mom and I had worked incredibly hard together for the past years to get her caught up to grade level, with no time off.

Sunshine did not begin her blind instruction until the middle of third grade. At that point, she was reading print on a CCTV (closed circuit TV which enlarges print) at 12 wpm. You can't even say she was at the bottom of the class. She was about k-1st grade academic level. She could not see anything on the board and she had to hunch over her work at 2 inches to see what she was doing and every year she got further and further behind her peers because she could not access her education.

To say the least, her mom was getting very stressed about the lack of support for her daughter. Let's just say MOM learned the ropes and is a great advocate now. In 2 years her daughter completely caught up to grade level. She can read braille up to 100-115 wpm, but that varies depending on her reading consistently. Yes, kids forget fast! Those fingers have to be on the braille dots to remember. She also went from not being able to use a computer to really getting to the point where she could teach most aspects of it. She only has 3 fingers but that child can type up around 70wpm and can whip in and out of programs incredibly fast using her JAWS talking software.She does all her work on the computer and emails all assignments to her teacher. Teacher makes comments and emails back grade. Very fast, very efficient.

So now to tell the story. Sunshine REALLY wanted to take the summer off with NO braille reading. When I tested her last week, she was reading around 48wpm, yes her speed had decreased significantly. She was a bit shocked at the decrease. I had her reread the selection and she was up to 100 wpm within 4 minutes. So that is how fast it can come back.

As we talked about her "no reading policy for the summer," I showed her the iPhone and braille display and told her she could text her friends using these tools, but she had to have those good braille skills. Sunshine's eyes lit up 10 fold, and an "Oh yeah" immediately came back. Just finding another way to keep kids moving on the skills they really need.

For lessons to gain these skills, click on: Reading Braille

The World of Inaccessible Websites

As I begin the year with my students, the inaccessibility to websites for the blind hits me hard...once again.

Let's just talk about how inaccessible so many school sites are to our students and it seems they should be leading the way.

Many times the sites are so inaccessible and loaded with images instead of actual text. If you have talking software you can quickly see that many words on the page are actually a picture of text and not actual text itself, so there is no way for a blind person to access it with the talking software.

OK, let's go a couple more steps. Worse, teachers assign students to access the website to download lessons---PDF lessons that once again are images of text, not text itself. Worse, teachers require students to do online work on a site that is completely inaccessible.

So back to my students and and school websites. We have to use a mouse to click where we are going--this takes a sighted person--that independence goal goes down the drain. Then we bookmark the page the student needs to be on, so all she has to do is go to her favorites and pull it up quickly. Fortunately, there are enough tricks in the talking software to get her where she needs to go. But if you don't have the knowledge on the talking software, the students are out of luck.

What makes this shocking is it is very easy to make an accessible site. GMAIL is a perfect example. It offers basic HTML or standard. My students can actually do both as they become advanced in their talking software skills, but I always start them out with basic HTML. Simple text all over the page with easy commands to get you to where you are going.

Website designers need to take note and we need to let them know. There is a great lack of knowledge out there--time to teach them too.

Brailling with little fingers

Children have little fingers that need to be strengthened to press the keys on a regular brailler. Therefore, I want to tell you about the Mountbatten brailler.

I have started students as young as 3 years old on the Mountbatten brailler, and find they can braille with perfect finger positioning.

Click here for the Mountbatten brialler website

Click here to watch the Mountbatten brailler in action

We want to be careful when letting young children use the regular brailler so they don't start poor brailling habits, such as using 2 fingers to press one key. This is not only time consuming, but also very slow because it takes so much effort to press the keys. The Mountbatten brailler, however allows for good habits to form while fingers are growing and getting stronger. Starting out correctly, our children will then be successful braillers with an ability to increase their output as they get older, creating a joy in reading what they wrote.

Creating a Web Site and Technology

The time has come for TechVision to expand. I teach students who come to me from long distances, but now I have other teacher's requesting lessons so they can teach their students, therefore, I have engaged a web technician to create a website for TechVision.

Soon, teachers and people from around the world will be able to purchase and download hundreds of lessons to learn how to use the internet, WORD, Excell, and PowerPoint without a mouse. You will also be able to discover JAWS, a talking software program for the visually impaired.

The expansion of TechVision is very exciting. Picture me here in Washington State, texting and emailing my web technician and creative consultant, bouncing ideas back and forth to produce an easy to use website. I have two text boxes open, my email open, and the communication is flowing between the three of us even though we are in different locations in Washington and France.

I am clicking my keyboard in a flurry, I have up to 3 processes going on two screens but it is all possible because we can learn how to put the keyboard to good use, even those who can't see well can do this by memorizing the keyboard.

Because of technology, within a 30-40 minute time period, I've acquired a site domain, www.yourTechVision.com, and have discussed with my technician and consultant the "look" the site will have. Within a month yourTechVision should be up and running.

In the meantime, I will be texting and on video-chat helping my students....that is another story.

Teaching on a Ranch

Just one incredible thing about summer is that many of my student's parents drive their children to my ranch for instruction. Some drive from hours away and even stay over night so their child can get a double dose of lessons every week.

The huge advantage of me being able to teach from my ranch is that after the lessons we go out to the garden and watch a plethora of all type of fruits and vegetables grow.

The kids have seen all the plant stages, from the seedling stage, through growth, and to harvest time.

The absolute joy of watching the children snap their first pea, or twist off their first squash or zucchini, warms my heart throughout the year. The favorites are always the strawberries and raspberries.

I am sure this is why we are teachers...to see that light bulb of understanding go on, and the elation of learning continue!!! Remember, we are ALL teachers.

The Joy of accessing books fast

While not so difficult for sighted students, it is a challenge for blind students to get books for school. However, technology is taking the bite out of the challenge and blind students are now blessed with many websites where they can download books quickly.

Only a few years ago, a book for the blind would have to be ordered from a book and braille library, which may take up to a week to deliver, if the book was on the shelf to send...but that time is past.

So, do not let those times when the teacher decides at the last minute that a new book will be required for class the next day.

Right in class, because the blind student, who never goes anywhere without her laptop and talking software or her Braille Note, can go online to one of the best accessible sites around, BOOKSHARE. Click on BOOKSHARE and download the required book before the sighted students even have all the books passed out.

If a child knows technology, they can access the world!

You speak and your computer types for you

I have been working with a woman since she was about 80 years old, teaching her computer skills. Her hands were and still are very shaky, so her typing is very limited. Because she is losing her vision due to macular degeneration, I've taught her how to use JSAY.

JSAY brings together Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional version 11, from Nuance, and JAWS For Windows version 12, from Freedom Scientific.

As you talk, Dragon will type out what you are saying. JAWS will then tell you what you said. You then can go back and make corrections in the text as necessary. This is wonderful for typing up letters to save and/or email.

I have also had CP and other physically challenged children using this product. The most successful are the ones who can talk the clearest. Though if you train JSAY enough, using your own special diction, JSAY will learn the words you slur or pronounce different from the world.

JSAY is a powerful tool for those who can't use their fingers on the keyboard and who also have limited vision.

Low tech but great tool-Draftsman

Even though I appreciate technology, it is important to remember there are low-tech tools that help our learning process immensely.

Click Draftsman Tactile Drawing Board to see what students can use to practice their print letters and handwriting. These boards can also be used in math class. Students can draw what the math teacher is drawing and follow along with the class. The boards are also used to draw pictures and diagrams, hey even a game of tic-tac-toe!

DigiMemo-- Digital Writing-recognizes handwriting

A friend told me about DigiMemo--a new tool that has jumped into the technology scene. She uses it for her low vision students. When the teacher is writing notes on the board, a sighted student can copy the notes on this computerized pad, because the low vision student rarely can see the board. After class, the DigiMemo can be hooked into a computer and uploaded as an image for the low vision student to read.

Well, I have taken this tool and added a very important component: The ability to read handwriting and transfer that handwriting into text.

When I first tried the DigiMemo, I could only get an image which talking software does NOT read, I was incredibly disappointed. So, I thought surely we have come far enough that software can read handwriting. Well, we have. Just a bit more sleuthing and I found what I was looking for. I loaded the handwriting software and did another copy of notes on my DigiMemo, transferred the information to my computer--did a couple simple tricks and viola...text that Jaws talking software could read.

What a powerful tool. The sighted student is not doing much more than they typically do. They write their notes, which are stored in the DigiMemo, then transfer the information into text, which requires using a mouse. I believe, in time, the DigiMemo software will be accessible to blind students who know their hotkeys.

The downfall is DigiMemo cannot do graphics...well of course. AND the person taking the notes needs to have legible print so the computer can read it easily. I tried cursive, but it only caught some of the letters. I tried really sloppy writing and I was still very pleasantly surprised at how much it picked up but you would need to be a detective to figure it all out. You need good printing skills...period.

For about $140, I think it is a great investment. Teachers and students are excited when I tell them about DigiMemo. A great tool for school this year and another lesson for me to prepare--hey, that is what I like!!

Iphone, texting and talking software

Picture you as a student sitting in class working on your laptop and the teacher asks you to input formals into excel and make them fit correctly and you have forgotten how to do this. Everyone around you uses a mouse to get to where they are going so you cannot ask them for help.

But you have another weapon. You pull up gmail and a text box, while using your talking software and start texting your teacher of the blind who happens to be hundreds of miles away from you physically, but right beside you virtually. You ask her how to enlarge the boxes in excel to make them fit the content. The answer comes back swiftly.

On the teacher's side, she can either be sitting at her computer to text back or have email on her iphone. Today, she happens to be out grocery shopping and the text comes in. She stops right where she is at to text the answer back to the student without missing a beat. This is actually faster than if the teacher was in the school building and someone would have to go track her down.

Ok, for me I am usually NOT out shopping and working at my computer helping my students around the country. BUT, if I wanted to be out shopping I could be. It is always the possibility of what we want to look for, not restriction. Technology allows the possible!!

For iPhone lessons, go to: iTools

Video Chat--Google Talk accessibility

I added this tool to my toolbox of instruction awhile ago as it always takes time to work out the bugs. I have a very excited diligent student that always wants to help with the new ways of technology. We started with Skype as she really wanted to use the mouse, so we enlarged everything on her screen and gave her an enormous mouse to find where she needed to go, but it took her a long time to read the text compared to her JAWS reading it to her.

We tried other video chat options. But one lesson changed everything, as I sat on my mountain and she in her house, I told her to use FireFox, Jaws talking software and GMail to do video chat. When I texted her and JAWS read it back, her elation was felt through the text box, as she texted several dozen !!!!!! Being low vision, her response time was still not quick enough when she tried to use her eyes and she knew it. After a lesson, I told her I needed to go back to Skype to figure out all the hotkeys for her. She texted back very quickly that she wanted to keep using the mouse in Skype. So I said that was fine and I would just do the hotkeys for the other kids. A minute later (I could tell she was thinking) a text came back and said, "Well, I am moving so much faster using Jaws maybe I should use the hotkeys too." I smiled--if you give a child permission to want what they want, they usually turn your direction fairly quickly. I texted her back and said that was fine. I would give her the hotkeys to Skype too and she could decide what method she would use.

The huge advantage of this is when the student is in class and they run into a problem, they can immediately text for an answer without bothering anyone in the class. How powerful is that! A teacher of the blind can instruct so many more kids at a constant given time no matter how far apart the students are in the country. It is virtually bringing all the kids to the teacher's door--or rather computer. :) -smile

Iphone and braille display

One of the most exciting things to happen in instruction is pairing the Iphone with a braille display. This is not just for the blind, but more importantly the deaf/blind. Over a year ago, one of my students asked about the correct phone he should buy--voice was not enough--he could not hear it. We had gone to the phone store with his mom, showed him the iphone and went over the cost of it. Mom saved his money from his SSI and around March he came in with an iphone that could pair with a tiny braille display. He can easily carry around both. For the first time, he could text his friends and they could text back. He could and can now communicate with the world. The elation I still feel over this and watching him get so excited about what this means for his life and socialization skills overwhelms me. This is why I teach. Someone comes to me with a problem and I need to figure out the best solution, then see the joy on the student's face when they realize what power there is in this tool keeps me going and searching even further and wider for all things possible. What a truly exciting time we live in!!

Exciting instruction with technology

Technology has certainly taken us a long way. In the last year, I have been working on and perfecting the use of teaching long distance with students. As in, I am hundreds of miles away form my students, but with a phone call and a computer, I can pull up their machines, give instruction and watch everything they are doing, just as if I was sitting right next to them: Correcting, inputting and watching their skills grow.
If you would like a free lesson on this, contact me offlist at deniserob@gmail.com and I will set up a time to demonstrate this powerful tool. You too can be a teacher sitting in one place and teaching far more students than you ever believed possible. No car or gas needed.