Dr. Robinson teaches How to Learn to Read Braille fast and easily

Simple demonstration on how to read Braille using two hands: Dr. Robinson teaches How to Learn to Read Braille fast and easily

Lessons and articles to help you:

Strategies in Good Braille Reading that leads to Speed

Learning to refreshaBraille with Special Hands

Learning to braille can be done directly on the keyboard using Duxbury braille translation software or a tiny braille display for anyone with special hands, or regular hands. Watch video on Youtube: Special Hands

Lessons on learning how to use Duxbury, the refreshabraille and other products are at www.yourtechvision.com

Lessons that will help you

First Steps in Great Braille Readers

APH Refreshabraille Braille display, JAWS and Word #1

Talking Pen that records what you write

This would be a great Gift or stocking stuffer for anyone who can write and needs that extra feedback to hear the lesson. Great for school and work. Have the information you need repeated when you have time. Anything you write will be recorded in this pen.

Livescribe™ Echo™ Smartpen--Click on link to open: Amazing smartpen remembers everything you hear, say and write, then lets you replay your recorded audio with a simple tap. Save your notes and recordings to your computer, or quickly share them with others as pencast, PDF or audio files. Use the Echo™ smartpen and special dot paper to take notes in meetings or lectures. With just a tap, Echo™ begins recording the audio and digitizing your handwriting--automatically synching the ink and audio. By tapping your notes, you can replay the conversation from the exact moment your note was written, so you never miss a word. The included Livescribe™ Desktop software helps you back up your notes, search them, play them back from your computer, or share those notes with others.

Advanced processing power and substantial memory--all in a Montblanc-sized pen! Watch video of pen: Livescribe
The rechargeable Echo™ smartpen lets you capture and save important data in simple pen-and-paper format, making it easy to access and share. The 4GB of memory can record 400+ hours of audio* and thousands of pages of notes.

Dr. Robinson teaches-Track Changes-inserting comments and editing work

Learn how to insert comments into documents and edit work. The teacher grades the students' work, emails it to them and their talking software goes through every comment and correction. Blind students can now do work from start to finish, hearing their own grade and making changes as requested by teachers.
Send the teacher their version of track changes at the start of the year, so they know how to do this for the blind students in their classes. Watch video: Dr. Robinson teaches-Track Changes-inserting comments and editing work

Lessons to help the student and teacher

Seven Lessons on TRACK CHANGES for students and teachers-everything you need

Merry Christmas/Happy Holiday free give away and contest

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all those constantly increasing their learning and to say Thank You.
Yourtechvision.com is giving a single file lesson to everyone who goes to the site, copies the lesson link they want, paste the lesson link into an email and send it to yourtechvision@gmail.com. The lesson will be sent to you as a gift.

You will also be entered into the contest to win the Mega lessons packet worth over $100 of lessons all based on keystrokes. The winner will be announced on the site December 25th.

Happy Holidays everyone

How to make your Signature Electronic and insert it into a Document

Learn all the skills to create a perfect electronic signature so you can insert it into any document that needs to be emailed, created in Word or other documents. Once the signature is created, you can use it anywhere you need on computer programs. The fastest way to achieve a professional document quickly, especially when your signature is required.

Watch YouTube video: How to make your Signature Electronic and insert it into a Document

For text lesson in full detail of lesson, go to: How to make your Signature Electronic and insert it into a Document

Cooking, Math and Making Learning Fun

Some students have difficulties with math, but when you can apply it to something they love, the understanding kicks in. I use cooking as one of my strategies to learn math skills. They get to eat their results, which is always a big hit.

I have nesting spoons and cups so the students can easily tell which is the correct measurement. For any child that needs a tactile reminder, I have brailled nesting tools, which can be bought at places like ILA or LS&S. We practice with simple measurements using rice or beans.

If you are fortunate enough to get a child young, have them read 1+1=2 and they do the math in braille, then have them measure 1 cup + 1 cup of beans to put in a bowl and have them repeat it with 1 tsp + 1 tsp = 2 tsp and 1 TB+ 1 TB = 2 Tbs. Then they go to the computer and type it out and listen to it while reading from a braille display.

By integrating academic instruction with life, they will see why they are learning certain information in school, so by the time they start to add, subtract, divide and multiple fractions and using higher math skills, they will have gained a great foundation with real life materials...teaspoons, tablespoons and cups, angles, plane, shapes and so on.

What do you do when you Lose Sight Later in Life

Spending lots of time with family and friends over the holidays usually has a person tagging me with questions about someone they know who has just lost sight recently. If the child is younger than 30, they move back in with parents as they try and figure out life and older or married, they become dependent on the person they are living with as they try and figure out life.

The statement I use, I know is bold because no one really likes to leave what he or she know, despite the fact they cannot do what they used to do. However, the people who choose this path of learning blind skills change their lives forever, into the path of being able to do whatever they want.

The statement I use is: They need to go to a training center for the blind, if they truly want to gain the skills they need to be independent. Yes, they can cruise the Internet....with a friend because they do have the skills to do so themselves with talking software, and they can read, or someone read to them about information, but it is slow and arduous and many lose hope because they are not finding the right answers.

There are several good training centers for the blind and most states have them, but if you want to gain all the skills needed to live and learn how to go anywhere you need to go and most importantly gain the confidence and skills you need to get a job and live your dreams as a visually impaired person, go to Louisiana Center for the Blind

I have seen dejected people go in and confident, happy people come out. The difference can be felt because the change is so dramatic.

So what do you do when you lose sight later in life, and you would really like to do it independently? Go to a training center for the blind, but if you would really like to gain more than just basic skills, the Louisiana Center for the Blind is the place to make it happen.

After you get out, continue your education with more lessons at this site: Lessons for blind
Lessons for low vision

Singing the National Anthem for her school

This young lady is demonstrating just one of her many talents. Watch on Youtube: Singing the National Anthem for her school

Dr. Robinson teaches using Virtual Instruction

I (or a teacher) initialize a code at the very beginning of the lesson and then tell the code to the student. The student inputs the code on their computer and I can bring their computer up on my screen, no matter the distance. Some students use Skype, others just use the phone so we can chat while giving the lesson. This lesson is one of my students completing an assignment using excel for her math class. Watch video on Youtube: Dr. Robinson teaches using Virtual Instruction

Duxbury braille translation-Computer tricks, Spanish & English Translation

Type documents in Word and quickly translate them into Duxbury, a braille to print, print to braille translation program. Learn how to double space and insert codes and so much more. Watch video on Youtube: Duxbury braille translation-Computer tricks, Spanish & English Translation

Lesson to go with the video: Duxbury braille translation-computer tricks, Spanish and English Translation

Test your Color Vision

Have you ever been walking with someone or in a classroom and they pointed out a picture or something to look at, but you could not tell what it was, as they described it? Well, you may not have poor vision but poor color distinction or possibly color blind.

Here is a simply test you can do right at home with your computer. Go to the Colorblind Home Page and test yourself. There is nothing that can be done for color blindness, but being aware of it will help in figuring out better strategies in learning. Different colors give different contrast whether color blind or not. Better contrast will lead to better learning.

For low vision, high contrast lessons, click on Low Vision Lessons

iPhone with Voice Over-use same tricks for iTouch & iPad

All the tricks you use on the iphone you can use for the iPad and iTouch too. Voice over helps any blind person use the iphone independently. Watch video on Youtube

Download full lessons at iTools

iPhone with Refreshabraille-basics in moving around quickly and easily

The techniques used with the iPhone can be used with the iPad and iTouch also. You can control the iPhone with your braille display. Watch Video on Youtube.

Lessons on at iTools

Low Vision-paying bills MyReader CCTV

As you start to lose vision, or you are already low vision, it is difficult to pay the bills because of the tiny font. The MyReader is a special type of CCTV-closed circuit television, that enables so many abilities. This is just one. Watch on Youtube

Using Video for an Assessment Tool for Blind Students

A picture is worth a thousand words. How many times have you as a teacher sat in a meeting and showed the team all the paperwork you have collected on the student, or as a parent looked at the paperwork and had no real ability to put all that paperwork into meaning.

A video of the child's progress is very powerful. You can lay out the paperwork, THEN say, here is a video of where Susie was when the school year started. Here is where she was in October and here is she now in December a few days before our conference. Immediately, people on the team can see the progress and what all that data means.

I have used this tool for years. Where people will toss aside all the paperwork because they do not really understand, they thrive on the videos. So I place the paperwork in their files so I can continue to collect it, guiding me in their goals; it is the videos that the parents want to see for clear understanding of their child's progress.

Another great benefit in videotaping is the children watch or listen to themselves also. They can hear their braille reading and then work to improve in the areas they are the weakest. They can hear the flow of their typing on any technology. As a teacher, you can see this also, and then write goals to assist them along on their journey.

Before you begin, make sure you get signed permission from parents and school, then watch the magic happen.

Jaws lesson on selecting words, sentences and moving around page

Learn how to select words, sentences and paragraphs, spell check easily as you go, move quickly around the page--Many lessons to learn all aspects of controlling JAWS and Word at www.yourtechvision.com

Watch Video on YouTube

Lessons to help teach:

Five Lessons on how to change Font sizes, styles and color, including how to control JAWS

Office 2003 & 2010-Change or resize the font and size of letters and words

Word- Move and select text quickly

Office 2003 & 2010-Changing Font and format styles

Office 2010—aligning and moving around text

Word-changing font color in a text document

Kaleigh with special hands learning to type

3 months into learning how to type on a laptop- Watch on YouTube. This is her main tool for outputting work and sending the work to her teacher through email. She knows how to use almost every aspect of WORD to do all types of work. All her lessons can be found on the Word at www.yourtechvision.com

Yes People and No People

There can be a problem and the "YES" people immediately start thinking of a solution. Problems get resolved, with some work behind it, but in general great things constantly occur. The work pays off, people move ahead. This is VERY true where education is concerned. When a problem seems like a mountain, it takes "YES" people to make change.

On the other side are the "NO" people. A situation is presented and an immediate "NO" comes out. Whether they are more inclined toward negatively or just do NOT want to do the work. The first answer and subsequent answers are NO. This too, is devastating where education of children are concerned. It is very hard to move ahead when the "NO" people are constantly putting up roadblocks...even for the people who want to do the work and make the change.

"The person who says it cannot be done, should NOT interrupt the one who is doing it." by John Mason

For all those "YES" people who need just a little boost.
"Sticks and Stones Are Only Thrown at Fruit-Bearing Trees" by John Mason

How to SEE your computer better with Low Vision

There is a larger population of low vision people than blind. The low vision population is growing rapidly as people age and have diminished sight. If you wish to continue to use your computer with ease, eighteen low vision lessons to teach you how to download large cursors, enhance contrast on your machine, multiple ways to enlarge text in Word, enlarging text and graphics in the Internet and how to set up a low vision device for students in classrooms that need to see the board has been created for you. This group of lessons that will help you increase your ability to SEE everything on your computer. Go to Low Vision Skills where both XP-Office 2003 and Windows 7-Office 2010 are available for immediate download.

Watch video on Youtube: Dr. Denise Robinson demonstrates Low Vision tricks on the computer
and How to SEE your computer Better

Lessons to help you

Low Vision Skills-Windows 7 Office 2010

Low Vision-XP-Office 2003

Dr. Denise Robinson demonstrates some basic JAWS commands in Word

Learn some basic JAWS talking software commands in WORD. Watch this video that gives you audio information with keystrokes and demonstrates the hand positioning of JAWS talking software commands:

Dr. Denise Robinson demonstrates some basic JAWS commands in Word

Perfect touch typing to type FAST!

If you learn perfect touch typing, always starting on HOME ROW, using a s d f j k l ; your fingers will learn to fly across the keyboard, easily typing over 100 wpm. JAWS talking software is talking in the background. Watch Video on YouTube- Perfect touch typing to type FAST!

Learn how to Read Braille fast and easily

Place all 8 fingers at the start of the top of the braille line, light touch, slightly spaced, slightly arched hands as if you could put a small ball in the palm (watch video at: ). The focus will be on the pointer fingers to read, but all fingers will do something...those other fingers will be giving information back about the braille coming up, lines ending, holding the page in place and so on.. Correct fingering will enable a faster reader.
To start with young children, I straddle their chair (they sitting in a small chair, mine larger so I can sit behind them and reach around them more easily) I hold their hands in the correct position, placing my middle finger in their palm and lightly touching their hands to help them move it across the page and split when they need. This helps them understand the movement and positioning of their hands.

Using 11 x11 paper, as you want them to create flow, both hands start out the line and about 2-4 words in, the hands split and the right hand finishes the line as the left hand goes down to begin reading the next line. I anchor my left finger on the beginning of the line, so it is easy to go back and down to find the next line. Smaller fingers may anchor with their pinky finger, longer fingers anchor with their ring or middle finger, it is up to the child. The right hand joins the left about 2-4 words in (at first this will be VERY slow, that is ok, just keep practicing). When I am guiding their hands, I will actually hold the right hand to stay while the left gets going so the child sees how to finish reading with the right, begin reading with the left, THEN they join and the right hand finishes the line again.

The reason I say read 2-4 words is you will have left dominate hand readers, I allow them to read in further, maybe even half way across the page or more. The left hand will move across faster and get down to the next line more quickly than if you made the less dominate right hand do most of the reading. Be flexible, go with the child's strength so find out which hand is the dominate hand.

To get good reading speed, have them type 3-4 words about themselves over and over.(I like cats.) Half way down the page, have them type another simple sentence (I like dogs.) ...using contractions and similar words. Then have them practice reading it using the above method. You will not have to hold their hands long as they will learn the words quickly and be able to read on their own, practicing the flow of words and movement of their hands.

The repetition of reading the same words over and over at first is needed. You can create different sentences and homework every day and they learn fast. Make it about them and it will keep their interest. Then send it home for homework. They will not do what they cannot read easily, so do not send something they cannot read well yet. This method takes care of that issue for beginners. Back this up with a computer lesson and braille display and you will have an awesome mixture of instruction that will move this child along fast.

Simple demonstration on how to read Braille using two hands-Watch Braille Reading on YouTube

Lessons to help you teach
Braille Reading

Bar Graphs -- XY Line Plot Graphs in Excel

My high school students are required to make Bar Graphs and XY Line Plot Graphs; others also, but these 2 are the most common.

I always start them out doing it the long way. For example, on the bar graph, they learn how to make the title on the left hand side read top to bottom, so the words are flipped. They learn how to merge cells and color them in with their favorite color (Yep, even completely blind students have favorite colors), change font, and anything else the other students are doing.

When they completely learn how to do the graphs the long way, I then show them the shorter way, where they only have to type in the numbers that are going to be plotted. They then only have to select the numbers and insert any type of graph they need. They then can color, change the font, title, lines, and anything else to make it represent exactly as the teacher has requested, but it is a computer generated graph that would be used for business. So they are learning future skills for employment too.

One of my student's paras had posed the question of how her student was going to do a bar graph the other day. When I showed them, the long and short way, she and the student were completely amazed. Even doing it the long way, which took about 4 minutes, and of course you can make the graphs look so beautiful and so readable for the blind student. When the student emailed off the assignment to the teacher, she was amazed too.

Lessons to help you learn
Excel and Bar Graphs

Watch Youtube virtual lesson on creating a graph. Dr. Robinson teaches using Virtual Instruction

Learning Orientation & Mobility Together

One big advantage of grouping students in one school is the increase of social skills. These 2 became a couple because of all they had in common. Yes, they could get around school by themselves, but it is so much more fun when you are in a group of 2. This is in a high school of more than 2000. You need good cane skills. Click on and watch O&M made fun

Blind student using a scanning, OCR-Openbook Program

A blind person can scan any printed information, open it as a text copy on the computer, so their talking software can speak it and the student can read the text with a braille display. Watch Student Scanning

Braille labeling Clothes

There are many methods to labeling your clothes with braille so you can easily know what you are wearing, but here are a few techniques that have worked well.

If you are handy with a needle, you can sew dots right on the labels of the clothes to distinguish color.

If you would like tools that have already been created, here are a few:

Safety pin socks together using Brass safety pins. You will always have a matched pair and before throwing them in the wash,make sure you safety pin them and they will return to you in 2s.

Next, get your closet organized with closet organizer labels. Don't forget the braille label tape so you can put braille labels on the closet organizer tabs that will divide your colors and everyday wear from your dress-up clothes.

Before hanging up your clothes you can add these Color Clothes markers so you can easily tell the color each article of clothing.The advantage of these aluminum markers is when you take off your clothing, clip the marker back on before throwing it in the wash. When washed, it is easy to put back in your closet, especially when you use the organizer labels too.

So there are a few tricks to get you going.

Kaleigh reading with Special Hands

Kaleigh reads with special hands, but nothing stops her. Watch all 3 videos of her progress over a year's time: Kaleigh at month 1, reading her alphabet and numbers, then month 3 follows reading actual stories, then month 13 reading at 115 wpm. Notice in the first 2 videos, she can only use 1 finger to read, then by the 13th month, her other finger on her left hand gained enough sensitivity that she could use it to read with also. Go to www.yourtechvision.com for all video links

Label Maker Templates

Whether you are blind or sighted, having an easy way to write, keep and print out address labels in a simple way is a blessing and saves hours of work.

With this label template, you can type in all your addresses easily, and print them out whenever needed. The template helps you line up all the information as you type. You just TAB to the next label and continue typing in information. As addresses change, you can easily edit the information because it all runs on a WORD template that is accessible with talking software also.

Avery has many types of templates right at your finger tips; fancy designs to plain. I use the template with 14 place holders for addresses. I have all my addresses typed out on several sheets, so any holiday or party that comes along, I can easily and quickly print out all the labels and stick to the envelopes. You will need to buy the labels from Avery or any Office supply store, then you can use these templates for easy label making.

While you are on the site, you will notice there are templates for many other types of labels too: return and shipping labels,business cards and so much more.

Links to get to Avery
Labels
Avery Labels

Spanish JAWS, computer, translation program

Watch video at: Spanish JAWS, computer, translation program
A new Spanish student learns English quickly with Spanish Jaws and English translation online--lessons online at www.yourtechvision.com

Pen Pal Letter Writing with Brailler and Computer

Many of my blind students have never written a letter and sent it in the mail. Many had never received a letter from a friend that they could read for themselves.

How much do we all love getting personal letters? I certainly do. Yes, I love a good email note, which all my students do with ease, but a note in the mail makes me smile. I use this idea for my students to get them motivated to braille on a brailler and use a slate n stylus.

They first take the braille paper and put it in the printer, and learn the format on the computer to print out all their information. When they print it out, they then learn where to begin brailling their letter.

The next part is the actual mailing of the letters. Most have never touched a mailbox or gone to a post office nor know where to even mail a letter. That becomes an orientation and mobility lesson. We plot the course, and then head to the mailbox or post office. They feel the mailbox all around and see how a driver can pull up and mail a letter also, and then they find the slot for the person who walks up to the box and pop in the letter.

The true joy comes when they get the mail, walk into school and announce this. It makes them want to sit down and braille out another letter, just so they can get more mail. A great motivator and a great way to make friends!

For full instructions on now to do this from start to finish, go to Writing Braille Letters with computer and Brailler do a quick CTRL+F for find and type in Writing and pop right to the Office version you need.

Braille Note, Nemeth, Scientific Calculator, Abacus

Watch this video of a student uses her Braille Note to calculate math problems and insert answers into her processor, checks problems on abacus, then emails lesson to teacher.
There are quick methods to hop around your Braille Note to complete math problems and insert the whole problem into a Word Processor.

Abacus is used due to state testing and the state not allowing calculators on portions of tests. The abacus is like doing the problem out on paper with pencil.

Lessons and other articles to help you learn more

Braille Note

Cover Letter & Resume to Get that Job

Starting in high school, students are required to create their first professional letter to introduce themselves to potential employers and a resume to be attached to the professional letter. More and more, potential employers are asking for these documents to be sent to them through their websites or to be emailed to them. After graduation, people need to be able to update the resume and professional letter as they acquire skills.

Your Cover Letter or Letter of Inquiry needs to be concise containing your information, including correct spelling, grammar and format.

Depending on how your resume LOOKS will determine whether that potential employer will even LOOK at the documents. Your experience and education will determine whether the employer will even give you an interview. Both are important.

So if you need simple instructions to follow, along with examples to help your students in school or help yourself find that right job, you can acquire the lessons for both Office 2003 and Office 2010 --Click on Professional Letter of Inquiry and Writing a Resume and you can immediately download a copy for use. All lessons are keystroke based and accessible with talking software.

Making pictures come alive for Blind children

I think all math classes can contribute great knowledge to all children. When parents and teachers ask, "Is it important for this blind student to take Geometry?" which is a VERY visual class, I always reply --YES! Yes, it will be more challenging, but the information they learn applies greatly to life. Blind children should take ALL the same classes as sighted children if they are to acquire the same knowledge.

Here is where talented Para educators come into play. They ask how to design those 1-D or 2-D flat graphics in print or embossed on braille sheets that come from the braille companies (BTW, it is very difficult for blind children to read those flat "embossed pictures") and I describe the methods. We use stiff paper and braille paper works great here for area or a plane, with pipe cleaners sticking through the paper for the angles that will be made. Extra long Slate n stylus embosses the angle points on the paper for the student to read and wikki sticks line the plane or area. This method makes those flat images come to life for the student. The Para holds the design in the air and describes it, as the student feels every angle and area.

In biology and math class, students are asked to draw many figures. A draftsman tool kit is always on hand for these designs that students need to create. The Para assists the student with the design, or if the teacher thought ahead, a tactile design was already created and the blind student can feel it then recreate it on the draftsman. After the student draws the figure, they place the paper in a brailler or use a slate n stylus to braille the labels around the figure.

From kindergarten and beyond, when students can create these figures themselves, they grasp the concepts so much easier. The earlier you start using the above method, the easier pictures will be to understand as the student ages, but that is true for most instruction.

Braille Music and Playing an Instrument

Any blind student that wants to take classes dealing with music should learn braille music to access everything their sighted peers access, giving them the ability to learn anything they wish.

Watch on youtube

Creating BEAUTIFUL Cards using WORD

As the holidays approach and throughout the year with parties, classes make cards for their families and friends. My students need their own fancy way to make the most beautifully decorated cards too.

All this can be accomplished using WORD. Students can insert beautiful pictures, change them to a very light background then type the fanciest script to type words directly on top of the picture.

As soon as the sighted students see how beautiful my students' cards turn out, they too want to learn these tricks, which is great for expanding their social circle. Giving tools like this to any student is a huge self-esteem builder because they know they have the knowledge that others want, so people seek them out for help.

Lessons to help you learn more

Make beautiful cards

Twitter Accessibility with Qwitter

Twitter is very accessible with JAWS talking software. It will just take many keystrokes to get to where you want to go.

However, to make a Tweet, just hit E for your edit box, enter for forms mode on and type those 140 characters, then TAB to Tweet and ENTER to send. That fast and that easy. However, reading all the content is a bit different...that is where all the keystrokes come in.

There is also Easychirp which has all the accessible features.

For an incredibly accessible Twitter, download Qwitter or EasyChirp. It makes everything very accessible in Twitter, just like m.facebook.com does for Facebook.

Braille Reading - smooth and easy

Watch this young lady read braille: Youtube--Smooth fluid motion across the pages of braille. Able to read as fast as sighted peers. Uses Bookshare and other online braille sources to download books constantly to read on her Braille Note.

Never say Impossible

A wild fire is raging toward you and your family as you walk along some very steep cliffs. There is no way out....What do you do?

Never say something is impossible or there is just no way. You must think outside the box...something different. The answer is out there, it is just seeking it out.

Answer for fire: The father took out a match and started his own fire, making a completely burned out area for he and his family to stand in while the wild fire burned out before even getting to them.

There is always a WAY!

Health Insurance for all Children

CHIP-Children's Health Insurance Program is children's medicaid.

Every state has some form of CHIP, so check into your local service

If you have a child that needs medical attention BUT you do not have health insurance, every child is eligible if you earn under $45,000 a year. Check into this program to get their needs met and pass this information along to other parents who need to get eye exams, dental appointments or any other type of medical care.

Virtual Machines--Mac with PC and PC with both XP and Windows 7

Today, you no longer have to have just 1 operating system on 1 computer. Since I am writing lessons for people who use XP and Office 2003 and Windows 7 and Office 2010, I have both operating system on one machine. Windows 7 is my main machine and I have XP running virtually. With 2 monitors, I run XP on one monitor and Windows 7 on the other and can quickly write the lessons needed by having both operating systems on 1 computer.

Mac is the same way. You have Mac OS on one side and with a Command Tab you switch to Windows 7, which operates virtually. This way you can use as many features as you want. You download products according to which side you are using.

What I suggest to people who really want to switch to a Mac but have always been PC users, is...get both. Buy the Mac and put the virtual Windows 7 on it too, so when you just can't get something done while learning the Mac, you can switch to the PC side.

Same thing for switching from XP to Windows 7. Have both and when you just can't figure out how to do it on the Windows 7 side, switch back to the XP side.

Just more options for getting work done.

Mountbatten brailler is great for young children to learn Braille

Little fingers can easily press the keys on a Mountbatten brailler--watch YouTube Video. Learn quickly and easily so by kindergarten blind children can read and write just as much as their sighted peers.
More at www.yourtechvision.com

Blind student demonstrates PowerPoint

Completely blind yet notice the perfect touch typing skills click on Youtube. She knows all the keystrokes to insert videos and pictures into a PowerPoint presentation and complete the perfect slide show. Learn these skills at: www.yourtechvision.com

Accelerated Reader (AR) and access with JAWS and Braille Display

Anyone who has elementary students most likely knows about AR tests. Accelerated Reader (AR) is a program where children read books and then take tests on a computer system called AR. Each book is assigned a certain amount of points depending on their difficulty. Children in class compete to see how many points they can earn within a certain time period and by the end of the year.

Accelerated Reader (AR) tests can be accessed with JAWS and a Braille Display. I had to laugh yesterday as I was teaching one of my students how to move through the pages. She has incredible listening skills and her JAWS works at about 400 wpm. Her fingers cannot read that fast, so she would bypass the braille display and quickly listen to each page and take the test. She could finish 3 tests before a sighted student even finished their first due to the speed at which she operated the site.

Where once upon a time, a sighted reader had to read these tests to our blind students, it is no more, which is true for so many areas of their lives, due to technology.

Lessons that will help you learn

AR, braille display and talking software

Braille Instruction begins at 3 years old

Braille Instruction begins at 3 years old

This young man on the video from the above link, began braille and technology instruction at 3 years old. A year later he knows his braille alphabet and typing on a keyboard. When he reached kindergarten, he had as much reading/writing knowledge as peers.
www.yourtechvision.com

Video Calls on IPhone & IPad

Whether fully sighted, low vision or even blind, I have students and friends who love using the video call feature with the Iphone and Ipad.

The way to make free calls on either device but more importantly you can use this as a phone feature on the Ipad, is to download SKYPE and SKYPE wireless to go with it. Go to the app download section of your product. Once the programs are downloaded, you can use voice over with the programs to make and receive calls with a new twist.

This happens to be a great feature for virtual teaching also. Just another way to connect and do what you need to do to teach a lesson.

Download lessons on Learn how to use iTools

American Printing House for the Blind

If you are looking for a major resource for materials adapted for blind students from the earliest age, The American Printing House for the Blind is for you.

Founded in 1858, the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) is the world's largest nonprofit organization creating educational, workplace, and independent living products and services for people who are blind and visually impaired.

If you need something adapted to blindness or low vision, go to APH.org and there is a good chance you will find it there in their catalog.

Order your free catalog from them to have all this valuable information at your fingertips when a situation comes up and you need a tool.

Schools can use Free quota funds which are designated for blind/low vision children. The government has allocated a certain amount of funds for each child per year, so this helps the districts with their budgets too.

You can also call them at: 1-800-223-1839

Blind Technology-adapted Braille laptop

Teenage student loses sight at 16 and learns the technology to do her work

Watch on YouTube: Young Woman

Click on Lessons on how to learn the Braille Note

Secrets in Office 2010 for talking software or blind users

There are many areas that are inaccessible in Office 2010 for a blind user, but you can make them accessible with a quick command.

As soon as you open a document, do a CTRL+S to save, name the file, then TAB to save as Type and down arrow to word 97-2003 document, then hit ENTER. (You can make this change permanent if it works well for you)
Now, when you want to insert pictures, graphs, Wordart and other graphics, you will have the ability to left, right or center them where you want. If using Office 2010 in the .docx format, you will have to use the arrow keys, which is just guess work if you are blind and you have no idea where you are truly placing your object.

Another trick: Most commands you memorized in Office 2003 can be used in Office 2010. So if you want to insert a picture, Alt+I, then hit P then hit C to clip art and your clip art options open.

Enlarge the screen: Just ALT+V, then hit Z, then hit 2 for 200% and you have magnified your screen.

Just keep moving through the keystrokes and they work with or without talking software

Restoring your Computer to Working Great again

With all the different types of software and downloads from the Internet, you may have experienced your computer crashing or slowing. If you use talking software you may notice compatibility issues after you downloaded a particular program.

Here is a quick easy fix. Every PC offers a restore of your system. If you are on Windows 7, you can just hit the start key and type restore and down arrow to restore your computer to an earlier time. When the dialog box comes up, look back at all the dates and make note of when your computer worked well and restore it to that date. When my talking software stops working well, I can see a particular type of update was made on my computer and now I know which update knocked my talking software out.... I then go and hide that update in my update folder so it will never occur again. You can do the exact same thing in XP but you will have to go into the control panel to do so.

You can also set restore points. Last week, one of my students went on vacation and her laptop had been having major issues, so I took it for the week to overhaul. After I fixed it, I set a restore point with an original name, so as problems occur down the road, I can talk them through how to easily restore her computer back to the date last week. It is like getting a brand new computer right out of the box, but just loaded with all the blind software and ready to use.

Restore is a wonderful feature However: If you set a restore point on your computer on Oct 1 and you loaded another program on Nov 1, found issues on Nov 5 and restored back to Oct 1, any program you loaded after that Oct 1 date will be gone. Your files are still there, it just takes away programs---but the new added program could be what was giving you problems, so this is decision time, if you do a restore. It is something major you are doing to your machine.

Always backup your files before doing something like this. Backup, just means, make another copy somewhere else, like on a thumb drive. You should be doing this anyway because technology crashes and you always want another copy of your files somewhere else.

There are a lot of great powerful features on computers, just learn how to take control of them and use the power to your advantage, instead of them taking control of you.

Guide Dogs help students Compete in LIFE

A young high school woman loses sight but loves cross country running. She gains a guide dog and gains LIFE back. Read her full story at

Teen Blinded by Stargardt's Disease Chases Dreams With Guide Dog

Blind Technology Helps Students Succeed in School

Here is a video of a 4 year old and a 2nd grader racing each other on their Braille Computerized Technology. Learning is fast and fun when you have the right tools and friendships to learn together.

Watch video at: Blind Technology Helps Students

Technology tells Blind students date and time

I want my students to be able to quickly know the date and time at any point during the day. I do not want them to have to ask those around them to keep track of their schedule. One of the first JAWS commands I teach is the INSERT+F12, which will tell them the time, then INSERT+F12 twice quickly tells them the date.

My students have become so astute with what time it is that they don't start checking the time until about 10 minutes before our class ends. I love hearing that time announcement as they are working along. They have taken charge of their schedules and know how quickly to finish work and get it emailed off before the end of the period. With them taking their own time and schedules on, they have become more competitive with completing work at the same time as their peers.

Being aware is the first place to start with making change in how we do things.

Instant Lessons at your finger tips when you need to Teach something

Have you ever sat with a child and thought, "OH, I WISH I had a lesson on this to teach!" Immediate download of Microsoft Lessons, and other blind tools is now available at your fingertips. In addition, there are hundreds of articles on how to teach lessons or what types of lessons to teach for a particular situation. There are also articles on the above products, daily living skills, how to teach math, a foreign language and so much more. All on one site

As a teacher, you can download lessons the day before, the morning of or as you sit with a student who just came to you with a question on, "How do you do a PowerPoint Lessons?" or any other type of lesson. You go to PowerPoint lessons on www.yourtechvision.com and download it digitally within a couple minutes (all depending on the speed at which you use a computer). Lesson planning is now made incredibly easy and simple. You also discover that if a lesson in not on the site, a request on the contact page for a particular lesson will be added to the site within a week for your use.

Parents who are homeschooling also have the same ability. With the ever changing technology and questions on how to use talking software, adapted braille computers, the Internet and the software that goes with it, the answers are in articles and in easy lesson download format with just a click away. Articles to read on how to go about teaching your blind child and which lessons to download with the article are just a click away.

For the Blind user, who wants to learn skills themselves, everything above applies too and a click away is just an INSERT+F7 using JAWS. Everything on the site is link based, using INSERT+F7 you can access lessons and articles. Edit boxes can be accessed using the letter e, and hitting ENTER will turn on the ability to write. If you hit a combo box, ENTER activates that too. TAB always moves you easily through the whole site, every link, heading, and form box. If you want to read the articles on the site, H will jump you to the headings and down arrow enables you to read it. If you bring up your links, just go to the next article with 2, 3, etc, as their are hundreds of articles to peruse.

Education, Instruction and Lessons are now in quick text download format and close to as instantaneous as you can work a computer. Help is always at the contact page and you can request a private free lessons with any purchased product to get you up and running.

Video- Blind student using slate n stylus, the blind persons' pencil

The slate n stylus is the perfect quick writing tool used by the blind: It can be placed in a back pocket or purse and quickly taken out to use. Any piece of paper lying around will emboss or imprint braille using the slate n stylus.

Blind student on Youtube using slate n stylus

Get a Job, Keep your Job

To get a job, you need more expertise in the area you are applying for than anyone else does. You need to be dressed appropriately for the job you are applying for, also. You are going to need the confidence to show others, you can do this job and great skills will give you this confidence!

Once you get the job, you need to keep up with your skills, especially technology. Make yourself invaluable. Technology is crucial. If you are a K-12 educator or parent, then make sure your children are getting technology training at the youngest grade possibly....preschool is ideal, after that time, just begin ...IMMEDIATELY!

If blind, this training is even more crucial. You need to start young to learn what it is like to keep up with your peers and compete with the rest of your class, so when you get to college and the workforce, you have gained the experience you need to prove yourself to the potential employer.

Without technology skills, it is very hard to compete in the world. If you are blind and lack technology skills, it will be harder. Computers and talking software will give you the advantage of getting a job. Once you get the job, continue to gain training to keep up with your skills.

There are many places to gain education: Your local college, online classes and a myriad of information right on the Internet.

If you are blind, be upfront about the issue of your blindness. It is on everyone's mind whether you want to admit it or not. Tell them to ask you any question they have, let them know how you would tackle certain job aspects. If you are not comfortable with your blindness, they will not be either and that will hinder potential employment.

If you want a job and you want to keep your job, then get those technology skills to compete. Word skills enable you to write any type of document to any specification. Excel will help you auto-calculate math and get you organized for all projects and so much more. PowerPoint will enable you to walk into an interview and demonstrate a rundown of you skills on a PP and in the process show the potential employer your skills. PowerPoint will also enable you to give any type of presentation to impress any group of people. Internet skills will enable you to do the research on any project the boss may give you. If you are blind, learning those talking software skills combined with the above will enable you to go anywhere and compete with anyone.

Find the AntiVirus that Works for You

One thing is for sure....if you want to keep your computer running well you MUST have antivirus protection on your computer. There are many types available and many do not cost anything, but do compare the ones that cost to the ones that do not as you may need to pay for that extra protection.

Here is a list of antivirus programs that you can look over to see what fits you best. Antivirus List

For good free Antivirus software, see the following
Microsoft Security Essentials
AVG
AVAST
AVIRA

Video-Blind student learning how to sew on a sewing machine

Blind students can learn how to do anything with education and instruction. This young lady also sews beautiful beaded necklaces and bracelets.
Learn more about education for the blind at: www.yourtechvision.com

Watch Blind student Sewing

JAWS 13 is out TODAY--lucky 13

Freedom Scientific just released JAWS 13 today

One of the biggest items is Convenient OCR--for all those nasty PDF files that are inaccessible and refuse to be read...AH HAH...there is a solution now

Frequently, you will encounter images that contain textual information. These can include a PDF file, the setup screen of an application, or the menu of selections for a DVD movie. While these images contain text that is readable by a sighted person, JAWS is unable to read the text as it is part of the image.

The new Convenient OCR (Optical Character Recognition) feature enables you to access any image on the screen that includes text. With just a few simple keystrokes, JAWS will recognize the image in a matter of seconds and activate the JAWS cursor so you can navigate the resulting text. The recognized text will be in the same location as the actual image on the screen. In order to differentiate the recognized text from other text that may be in the window, JAWS will use a different voice when it encounters the recognized text. When you activate the PC cursor, or switch to another application or dialog box, the text is removed, and you will need to perform the OCR again.

To use Convenient OCR, the following layered keystrokes have been added:

INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, W. Recognizes the current application window that has focus.
INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, S. Recognizes the entire screen.
INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, C. Recognizes the currently selected control, such as a graphical button.
INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, Q. Cancels recognition while it is in progress.
INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, H. Speaks a brief help message describing the commands in the OCR layer.

Read about all the new features at JAWS 13

Video-Perfect Touch Typing leads to Fast keyboarding for Blind Student

This young lady started computer skills with talking software, early on, so by 3rd grade she could email her work to her teacher. She learned hundreds of keyboard commands to move quickly over the keyboard, doing anything she needed. Teachers today can grade work using TRACK CHANGES and send it back in email. This way, blind people can work independently, checking their own work and scores. Hundreds of keyboard lessons at yourtechvision.com

Easy Lessons to make you SMART

Yourtechvision.com has added bulk lessons, so when you order the lesson, it will take you from the basics of instruction, through advanced techniques. All based on keystrokes, you will fly over the keyboard just as this student.

Video-Blind and singing like an angel

I have been blessed with many musically talented students. I wish I could take credit for this young lady also, but I cannot. See this wonderfully talented young lady, playing the piano and singing like an angel. It does not take sight to be gifted, it just takes practice. Click on link below.

: Pianogirl281

Video of Blind Student on Computer

The Student in the link to a YouTube Video below lost her sight quickly and had never touched a computer before 10th grade. She learned how to use a computer with talking software within 2 weeks, which lead to freedom.
Lessons to your freedom at www.yourtechvision.com

Blind Student Learns FAST

How to Make your Work LOOK Beautiful

In the upper elementary school, and beyond, students are asked to make their presentation or research papers look colorful. Where sighted children are cutting and pasting onto their work, blind and low vision students are taught how to make their fonts with great color, putting borders of artwork around paragraphs, words or the whole page. Students also insert pictures and position them where they need along with different types of WordArt.

All the Basics of Inserting Word Art and Clip Art just click on Office 2003 or Office 2010 to get what you need. You can also download 12 lessons on how to make your papers look beautiful with all the tricks to make is easy.

Enjoy and have fun. Students Love knowing they can do anything their sighted peers can do when the teacher starts giving directions, they just do it on a computer. It is a huge confidence builder and reinforces all their skills now and makes them want to learn even more so they can tackle anything that comes up in the future.

Lessons to help you learn more

Work looking beautiful

First Steps in Great Braille Readers

First!!! Know that braille readers can read material as fast as print readers. I teach it and see it all the time. Attitude is the first hurtle. Once you know a braille reader can read as a print reader, then you are ready for the next step.

Second, if the above is to happen, the child has to start in that 0-5 year old mark. They could read faster if they are older too, but the mental adjustment into braille reading, or the "bad press" on braille being too hard is difficult for many to overcome ...thus they are slower braille readers. There are many more reasons off this, but those are 2 biggies.

Third, get the child excited about reading--This applies to Blind and Low vision children. Start with reading print/braille books to them, so if they can see color or pictures, they can look at the colors while feeling those wonderful dots. Put braille all over the house using sticky tape (just go to local hardware store and pick up sticky shelf paper and braille label words on that to put all over house). So wherever they touch, they feel braille. Once again, BOTH low vision and blind. This really applies at any age level...so start doing all these steps, no matter what age....they can get over the "bad press" on braille if you have a really positive attitude about it.

Fourth, when you are reading to them,(this is cuddle time-them on your lap or very close) have them put their fingers over top of yours and you move your hand from left to right across the page with all 4 fingers down on the page and those 4 fingers slightly curled touching the line of braille, so they can feel the smooth motion across the page (You will be holding the book with the other hand, so don't worry about both hands yet). It does not matter you can't read braille yet...fake it until you learn. Just read the print above on the page, as you smoothly move your fingers across the line of braille. It is the smooth movement you want them to learn.

Fifth, when they are babies and toddlers, have all those blind tools around, so they can "scribble" on the brailler, as in pressing the keys, knowing this will be their writing tool. Help them with a slate n stylus to make dots on paper. Also have an older computer around with free talking software, so they can press those letters on the computer and get that cause and effect...They need to learn the computer typing and braille at the SAME time, so they understand how these tools go together later for school.

Sixth, when they are ready to start formal brailling of words and letters, and today most children are doing that somewhere between 2-4 years old, so blind, low vision children need to start then also. You will read the word and then you help them braille it. At first, their hands are on top of yours so they can feel the smooth motion of you pressing the keys. Then they get to try. If their fingers are too weak, then look at something like a Mountbatten brailler with very easy keys, that gives verbal feedback along with the output of braille.

Seventh, When they are brailling, have them braille the same contraction or word over and over, so they can feel the flow of brailling--several lines of the same words or simple sentences---have them braille something to do with their life....it helps them remember the words. Then when you pull the brailled sheet out, they place their hands on top of yours first, to get the feel of smooth braille reading across the page, then you help them position their hands on the braille line -- BOTH HANDS! All 8 fingers slightly curled under, all 8 fingers touching the braille line--trust me--all 8 fingers are going to do something, but have them focus on their pointer fingers to do the major reading of the words. You lightly cup all 8 fingers with your 8 fingers to help them, then you read the words as you both go across the page, having them focus on those pointer fingers. (I have had kids come in with bandages on their pointer fingers saying they injured them....their middle fingers got to do the reading for the day--they were amazed at how all their fingers could read the braille--they can if you practice the method above!!)

Now some kids get this right off the bat and do not need help, so figure out your child and how much help they need. Lift your hands off as they begin the journey across the page by themselves...YOU still reading each word before they hit it, so there is NO scrubbing or back tracking on the word to figure it out. As they read, they are going to split their hands several words in on the line and they WILL need help doing this until it is a smooth motion. About 2-4 words in on an 11 x 11 paper, the left hand will go back down to the next line as the right hand finishes the line. As the right hand finishes the line of braille, the left hand begins reading the next line. REMEMBER, you are reading the words for the child before they hit the word, so they get and continue that smooth motion with NO scrubbing.

Keep it simple. Braille sentences with contractions and about 3 words each. I like cats. and so forth.....keep it up and this child will be reading 300-400+ words per minute by high school.


Lessons and articles to help you:
Fast Braille Reading

Beginner Drawing of Pictures on a Brailler

If you are one of those creative imaginative people who can create pictures in your head then you can braille that picture straight out on a brailler, great, but if you need more direction, see below.

Here is some more guidance. You will draw the picture first, then insert into a brailler and braille over the picture. You can tactile the picture while drawing it out on sandpaper using a draftsman tool kit or use a window screen, and lay a piece of paper over it and press down with a wooden tool to draw a basic shape....there are many tools out there to do this. Then once you get the basic shape, go back to your brailler, wheel in the paper and start at the top, brailling over the copy you just designed. Sometimes you are going to braille a full cell with all 6 dots, sometimes, only an L or sometimes 4 5 6 or any combination of dots as you move down the sheet. You can make a beautiful border around the sheet also.

For my wedding, my mentor had made us an incredibly beautiful card. He was a guide through my sight loss and regaining of it who had a big influence in my teaching style and of whom I also became his student teacher. He had been blind all his life, was very creative and quite a genius to boot, had made us the most beautiful braille picture-wedding card. My sister-in-law wanted to frame it immediately. I told her if she put glass over it, that no one could touch it, and that is what needed to happen.

When I student taught with him, we had all the students make cards like this for their parents for holidays. They became very adept...just takes practice, some math, and some perceptual skills. With Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas and all other holidays coming up, this is a great time to practice. If you need a simple braille drawing lesson using the brailler, go to Beginner Drawing of Pictures on a Brailler If the blind child does these projects with his sighted peers, I can guarantee you they will be VERY impressed...a great confidence builder too.

Ok, so if you are not THAT creative you can buy a book and read all about it...I love books and learning. Just click on Drawing with Your Perkins Brailler and order a copy to do some great creative drawing with your brailler if the simple lesson from above is not enough. When the site comes up, just do a search for the book.

If the child needs to be quicker about accomplishing a drawing task, Quick Draw Paper is Great, where you just use a very liquid pen and draw away and the paper rises up to feel--but then they may prefer the Draftsman again that is a sandpaper type material and the sandpaper disperses as you draw on it, so you can feel the lines you just made.

If you are a teacher and need something like every type of science graphic around, you may want to pick up a Basic Science Tactile Graphics book....if you are a teacher of the blind, you can order this with quota funds from your resource center who works with American Printing House for the Blind...true for the quick draw Paper and Draftsman too.

In general, everyone, if you are related to or working with a blind or visually impaired child in anyway...go to APH.org and ask them to send you a catalog. This is an invaluable site.

How to STOP scrubbing While reading Braille

If students are left to their own devices when they first learn to read braille and no one is checking those fingers, a child will scrub, as in move finger up and down or around and around on the dots, or any deviation off these movements. This will not only squash all the braille dots down, scrubbing will make you a VERY slow Braille reader. If you cannot create enough speed when you read Braille, then comprehension will be difficult. You have to be able to read a certain amount of information within a certain period of time or the brain forgets.

Starting off correctly is the best way to begin instruction. Start off with words that are applicable to the child. They will braille the words first, for example: I love cats. --Make the sentence short and double-space every word and sentence and they will rebraille this on half of an 11 x 11 piece of braille paper. Then they braille a second sentence: I love dogs. Double-space every word and sentence. For an example to download and use go to: Beginner Braille Reading

After you use this one lesson, create others that are exactly like this for them to reread until you see that fluid movement over the braille page. They need to create a good habit of fluid motion across a page, so they must know the content they are reading well...this way they do not have to focus on decoding, but rather the movement. When they want to braille a contraction, make sure they braille a couple of lines of it, then read it over and over before putting into a sentence.

If they are already scrubbing the braille, reading from lessons like Beginner Braille Reading will help them break the habit of scrubbing. You will need to be persistent in breaking this poor practice. A habit takes 30 days to break or make...keep it up and beautiful braille reading will happen

Blind/Low Vision software for Cognitively or Memory Challenged

This software has been around for more than a year but I did not have a chance to try it out until today.
CDesk is a very basic talking software program for older adults who have lost sight or cognitively challenged children in school who cannot remember hundreds of commands to make their computer do what they want it to do. I have trained many adults and I can tell you, the challenge in remembering all these commands starts in the late 20's, so when I say older, you may be included in this category where technology is concerned.

CDesk offers several enlarged fonts for viewing. White letters on Black is the most popular, but it has other options too. Any major command begins with the Alt key, so that is only 1 thing to remember. Even if you do not remember ALT-the TAB key will move you through every option and ENTER opens the option. The Main menu consists of:
- WORD PROCESSING
- EMAIL
- INTERNET BROWSING with SCREEN READER
- DOCUMENT SCANNING with OCR PAGE READING
- ADDRESS BOOK/CONTACT MANAGEMENT
- CALENDAR/APPOINTMENTS
- NLS/BARD/MUSIC/GAMES/INTERNET RADIO
- SKYPE AUDIO/VIDEO CALLS

You can download books straight from Bookshare or BARD. If you are looking for games for blind children and adults, it has that in the Media Center. Simple email that you are already on is incredibly easy to navigate and use. Anything you scan can also be brought right into the CDesk Word and the same commands that you use for word processing are used now for your scanned object.

Enlarging your page is simple and easy with the F12 key, so when you go into an email that has pictures, you can enlarge them enough to see them, true for Internet browsing and the other programs in CDesk too.

If you have tremors or palsy in your hands, the company will be putting out a new speech program soon, which works off of CDesk basic commands already, so it is easy to verbally command your computer to do what you need it to do. Your voice just needs to be loud enough to be heard by the mic. It has also come out with a simple small camera that will take a picture of any print work and put it on the CDesk format on your computer for you to immediately have feedback.

The more I work with this software, the more I see its potential for those who have difficulties remembering all those commands. In addition, the company: adaptivevoice offers the option to buy a computer, monitor, printer, scanner and software for $1999. Within that agreement is Best Buy will come out and set it up for you. So you can be set up to go in a very short time.

Secrets in Magnification on EVERY computer

Many do not know that magnification is already on every computer built with Microsoft Technology.

On XP, hit your Start Key+U to begin your utility manager. Your computer will begin talking to you also and the words magnifier is not running will be your first options, do an ALT+A to get the magnifier working and turn off narrator if you do not want speech. The magnified part of the screen will come up at the top of your monitor. Take your mouse and drag it to where you want it to be. You can also drag the corner of the magnifier to make it larger and more easily to see. As you move the mouse around your machine, everything will be enlarged in this magnified window.

On Windows 7, Start Key+U then hit ALT+G to start your magnifier and Enter to start the magnifier window at the top of your monitor. You can take your mouse and go to the bottom line of the magnified window and while you hold down the left click of the mouse, you can drag down the window to make it larger. Once again, as you move around your machine, everything will be enlarged for you.

There are many free options already built into computers today, that you may not need to buy something else. Try it out.

Secrets to Getting Every Computer to Speak

Narrator is built into every PC computer, if you are running Microsoft products and their operating systems (OS).

If you are using talking software already and you use the following hotkey, the double speech may get annoying, so turn it off. Narrator is a basic program. If you do not have talking software on your machine and need to get it installed, this is a way you can do it independently. It is a basic talking program and does not come close to a speech program such as JAWS, but it does help you to get things setup.

In Windows 7, Hit your Start Key+U also known as the Windows key with the Logo+ U - hit ALT+N to start narrator...if you are blind, you are going to walk by faith as you turn on your computer with NO speech and just do those 2 commands and narrator will start speaking to you. A dialog box will open with options, just TAB through to select the ones you want to use and continue with your work on the machine.

In XP, hitting the Start Key+U will immediately get Narrator talking. A dialog box will open with options--down arrow to listen to the options, then TAB to your next options, then TAB to OK.

This is a wonderful option for anyone who needs speech to get things setup on his or her new computer or fix one where the speech has gone down.

IPAD, Iphone and great Apps

The new operating system iOS5 is out and works much better with voice over on your iproducts. The new iphone 4S just works better all-around in so many areas and with the app Siri where you can give voice commands to make it do what you want, frees up more than your hands...it frees up time.

But if you are looking for a good word processor for your Ipad that you can use voice over with and a braille display iA Writer at the iTunes store is only $4.99 . Hook to a Braille display or a Bluetooth keyboard also! If you want to be able to use spell check, it will do that too, rename files, copy, paste, and a host of other options.

iA Writer is a really good basic all around writing program and students will love using the braille display with it to get that tactile feedback that helps in their learning. That cause and effect approach..They braille it, hear it, feel it.

What Blind-VI Need in School TODAY

Teachers and Parents often ask me what their child needs for school. Here is the basic rule of thumb. Look around in the world today and see what is everyone else basically using. What are they using in class today? Educate today, what they need tomorrow.

First, to compete in the world and be able to do what every else is doing, blind, visually impaired children must learn the computer inside and out, Excel, PowerPoint and Word are the main programs. Having an adaptive laptop (such as a Braille Note) is incredibly valuable, but if schools only have enough money for 1 piece of equipment, go with the computer, as it will do everything the Braille Note will do, but the Braille Note can NOT do what the computer can do. They must learn how to do email and socialize on social networking sites like Facebook. There are many other things off this, but those are the main points. If using talking software, they need to learn how to control it and make it do what it needs to do for them. If visually impaired, use magnification where possible BUT also ask, "if my eyes cannot do as much and as quickly as my peers around me, then I need to learn blind skills also."

One thing for sure, you will never go wrong if you teach many tools. The child will get into big trouble if they do NOT have enough skills in their toolbox of learning. Get the education and lessons they need and parents anything that is taught at school, backup at home, or vice versa. Get everyone on the team involved in the education of this child, and you will have someone who can meet tomorrow's challenges.

Yourtechvision.com fast keystroke lessons=no Mouse

The Logo that Stands for the Vision in all of us. The eye over the TechVision word is to show the inner potential we all have. The reflection below the name is to show that if we look inside we can truly reflect our ability outside and TechVision lessons can help you reach that potential.

This logo goes with the new website that is completed with hundreds of lessons that are all done using keystrokes and not the mouse. The lessons are linked to the blog so every lesson I teach you can teach too or just learn yourself. The website is: YourTechVision.com which is here to inspire and help people who want to learn more technology skills and develop their true ability.

Find your Computer's IP address and Speed

If you have not already had this experience, some day, someone is going to ask you for your IP address, especially if you start teaching virtually, or you need to hook into a school. Go to Find IP Address

Have you ever wondered why your Internet runs so slow during some parts of the day? First, the Internet is like a highway and the more people on, the slower you will go. If you are on during the peak of the day along with everyone else, you will run slower. If you are on at midnight, you will zoom like a speed car. Here is a test to see how fast your Internet speed is.. Speed Test

Many Services providers offer a faster speed if you need it. By checking your own speed you can be better informed on what you need.

A Song to Help Children Learn Braille

There is an enormous amount of research on music and learning. Music makes learning fun and fast.

Here is a Braille Rap song that will enable your children to learn the Braille Alphabet quickly. Have them sing it for awhile, then when they place their hands on a brailler, it will all come together. Make sure those fingers are in the correct position on the brailler.

Click on the link to go to Braille Rap Song and download a copy for yourself

Free Braille Books-Where to go to get Books

There are many options when it comes to finding and getting braille books.

For Free Braille books, go to Seedlings Braille Books for Children
They offer 2 Free braille books per year through their Angel program. Otherwise they offer very low cost braille books for your children.

If you want to create your own braille or audio books, you can download books from bookshare.org, where school children can sign up for free. Bookshare offers thousands of books at your fingertips. You can download Victor Reader Soft, from their site, which is free audio software. When you download your books, you will download them in daisy format to be played on Victor Reader Soft right from your computer. Sign up and get your child registered.

Bookshare offers braille book downloads also. If you have braille software such as Duxbury Braille Translation software you can download books in the .brf format and have them open in braille. Combine this with a braille display and your child can read the book from their computer. If they are blessed with an adaptive laptop such as a Braille Note then the file can be saved to a thumb drive and loaded onto the Braille Note, or the Braille Note can go online and download it directly from Bookshare and can be read in the bookreader of the Braille Note.

National Braille Press also offers books, some for purchase and others for free.

But never forget about your state book and braille library. This is a free book loan program in your state for braille and audio books. For more books than you can dream of, go to the largest braille library source in the country: Utah State Library for the Blind and Disabled
If you go there, they will have a host of other information and where to go and get more braille books and materials. Your state library can help you get books from this resource if you do not happen to live in the loan area for books from them.

Web Braille is the National Library of Congress loaded with thousands of braille books for download also. When you sign up for services you will go to their download section of Braille Books which will require you to have a username and password. There you will find a plethora and myriad of braille books at your fingers tips also.

So here are a few options to get you going. For more information on educating your child based on experience and years of education, visit yourtechvision.com and ask questions that you need answers too.

Virtual Teaching using Remote Access

When one of my students is having difficulties with their Jaws or needs help installing it, I need to connect to their computer a different way than through Jaws TANDEM. There are many ways to do remote access, but I chose to connect yesterday through SKYPE. For those new to the idea, remote access is where someone can help you resolve computer problems, no matter where you or they are in the world. You just need a phone line, but better is a wireless connection...anything works though.

The student called and then I gave her directions on the key commands so I could call up her computer.

Within minutes her Jaws was fixed. I then gave her the JAWS commands to pull up her computer using JAWS TANDEM and continued her lesson.

When you connect remotely using anything else other than JAWS TANDEM, you will not be able to hear JAWS unless the person turns him way up, which I have done also depending on the issue, but you miss too much information. To truly check to make sure JAWS is working correctly you must pull the students' computer up using TANDEM. I had her and SKYPE on one of my monitors, still connected remotely and then pulled her computer up using TANDEM on the other monitor. I could easily watch the interaction on both screens, tweaking as I needed. Well actually having her tweak. In general, I will not touch my keyboard to control their machine, as this is a great chance for the student to learn how to fix their own problems.

The point is giving them applicable skills that will work for a lifetime, so when they are on their own, they can fix their own issues as they come up. My older students who have long since graduated, can just email me now with a problem and I can give them the answer back through email. Rarely do I have to pull their machines up. Watch video: Virtual teaching

Give someone a fish and they eat for a day.
Teach them how to fish and they eat for a lifetime!

Looking Outside Yourself Gives you Hope

Ever notice how you get a problem and all you can do is think about it? Ever notice someone go into a depression and you are not sure what to do? Ever see someone so lonely it hurts you to watch them?

We can get so self-absorbed in our own problems that is all we see.

The only way to get your mind off yourself is to put it on someone or something else. A pet will do that in a heart beat.

A child that is rocking in a corner will now have a puppy to lick all over them and to walk around, to sleep with, hug and hold, as is true for an adult too.

When you can start looking outside yourself, you gain perspective and HOPE.

Help for the Low Vision Student in the classroom

We have many low vision students, sitting in the classroom and unable to see what the teacher is doing when she uses the document camera, or projector or computer to project images up on the board, in front of the room.

There is a very inexpensive way to combat this problem. A simple VGA splitter and an extra monitor is all that is needed. An extra monitor can be connected to these other pieces of technology and brought right to where the student is sitting. The student can now easily participate with the rest of his peers, take notes as needed and complete work with more understanding of what is occurring in the front of the room.

Lessons to help you learn more

Help Student

Free Office Tools

Open Office is an option to use instead of purchasing expensive software. Open Office will open all Office documents too. Basic and easy to use and perfect to get little kids going while you save up the money for years later when they need more sophisticated tools.

Also remember that when you do purchase Microsoft products that one license can be used on 3 computers. You can use it on a home and work computer and a laptop, so you do not need to feel you need to buy multiple licenses for many machines. Lessons on how to use these products, only using keystrokes, can be downloaded at yourtechvision.com

Touchscreen Braille writer

All those wonderful flat screens from the IPhone to the IPad to the IPod, Kindles, etc are going to make a leap into touchscreen braille writing given the new technology that has just come out.

Standford University just released a newsletter describing the Touchscreen braille writer. It is intuitive and however you hold your fingers in the 6 key fashion, the tablet will adjust to your fingers and allow you to braille on this flat screen.

You can watch a video at this link Touch Screen Braille writer and learn move about this upcoming technology at Braille Writer Tablet

Answers on How to Use Windows 7

When you are using Windows 7, every time you hit the start key, think of it as entering a huge search engine for your computer. Any word you type in, Windows 7 will find.

Your Start Key or Windows Key is the second key in on the left of a desktop keyboard (the key with the windows symbols picture on it). For sighted people it is the round button you most likely click on at the bottom left hand corner of the screen.

Let's do some keystrokes to see how fast Windows 7 is:
Hit the start key and type in: volume and down arrow to adjust system volume or what is applicable to your version of Windows 7. Enter on the volume and your options open. Up and down arrow to adjust the volume. Hit ESC --top right hand corner on keyboard to get out of the volume

Hit the start key again and type: documents and down arrow to documents and enter to open--down arrow through all the documents you have already created on your computer
ALT+F4 to close the documents folder

Hit the start key again and type in the name of a file on your computer, down arrow to find the file and enter to open it. The file opens.
ALT+F4 to close the file

You can search for anything on your computer with that START Key....it is very powerful. Now go have some fun and look for other things on your computer using the Start key.

If you would like to learn how to use Windows 7 and Office products using just the keyboard or keystrokes with JAWS, go to yourtechvision.com and go through the site either with a mouse or with JAWS using Insert+F7. You can move through your options easily on every page, using your TAB key.

If you don't see a lesson you want, just go to the contacts page and request a particular lesson you need and it will be added to the site.

You can be Pitiful or Powerful, but NOT Both

I have the students who take on everything I have to teach them and rise to the top of their class, eventually with no accommodations at all. Completely supported by parents who fight for this independence also and let their child know they can reach this goal. The children have learned how to read their Braille work, so their fingers fly across the page, then they quickly turn to the computer and output the answer. When the teacher says it is time to hand in the work, they open their email, attach the lesson and send it off before all the other work is collected in the class from the sighted students. The teacher grades the work, using TRACK CHANGES to mark the paper. The teacher emails the lesson back with grade and remarks and the student can easily read it with her JAWS commands. , all independently. All these children, are powerful and everyone looks up to them. One particular child even scores the highest on state tests in the spring time and she is only in the 6th grade. Greater things follow and people seek her out to be her friend and she becomes middle school president of the ASB and later successfully enters the college of her choice.

I also have other students, who are backed or rather fronted by parents who seek unlimited time for their child to finish work and they do poorly in class because their lessons have been cut in half or less, so they are not learning the same amount of content as their peers. This child has the same abilities as the fore mentioned child but because of the limited work and due to an unlimited amount of accommodations insisted by parents, they child cannot rise to their potential. Children like this are frustrated by their poor grades and it hurts their self esteem and they either act out or go into depression or just mediocre silence and apathy. They feel sorry for themselves and believe the school needs to do more for them. The parents believe this also. The more the school does, the less the child does and the less they learn other than they have become pitied and pitiful. They do not have friends. They stay home every weekend and do not even have the skills to go to camps in the summer. They graduate school and cannot get into college or find a college to finally go to after many rejections. They go and within the first month cannot do school and drop out. Some call later to ask what to do, others stay with their parents. Some insist that their rehab counselor find them a job and the pity from others and themselves grow.

This is not a blind thing or a sighted thing, this is a human thing. I have seen it in every age, ability, creed and color. You have the people who believe the world owes them something and you have the people who actively put out the energy to make the world a better place. I go back to what Kennedy said decades ago "Ask not what your country can do for you--- ask what can you do for your country." So what are you doing? Are you taking or are you adding?

You can be pitiful or powerful, but you cannot be both. Life is choices. What choice will you make?

Tricks in SEEING the Computer Better

I have spent the last few days with my mother in law—an incredible woman. She has a bit of age on herself and as many older people she is having difficulties SEEING the computer screen.

So, with indelible ink , using large black letters, I wrote on the hard space of her laptop to help her remember the important keystrokes.
To enlarge the Internet, use CTRL+
To reduce the size, CTRL-
When you are in WORD and having difficulty seeing the words, keep the same font size so you don’t print out large letters, but use a ZOOM effect
ALT+V then hit Z, then hit 2 and enter and you will have 200%. No matter what Office you are using, just keep hitting those keystrokes and ZOOM effects will open

Just little fast keystrokes can make all the difference in your life. For more ways to make your life easier in using your computer, Go to Low Vision Lessons for a multitude of low vision lessons