<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)">
<style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Aptos;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang="EN-US" link="#467886" vlink="#96607D" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">I work at a college serving academic students.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">But we have a community program called Hope for adults with developmental delays. Hope students do a variety of activities to help them become more employable. Many of them involve working on a computer. They
read short articles about current events. They make movies. They play online educational games. They do basic drills in spelling and math. Most of the students are on the education level of a second or third grade child, but being adults, they of course have
greater maturity.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Recently the program has been getting more blind students and because the instructors don’t know anything about access technology, they don’t try to teach them how to use the computers, usually iPads and Macs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">But what’s happening is that the blind students are sitting around while the sighted students are doing things on computers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">I keep getting asked to produce Braille for the students, but the teachers don’t understand that not all blind people know Braille. One of the students does read fluently at a third grade reading level and
I’ve been giving her children’s books like Henry Huggins and Magic treehouse. She is very articulate and clear about her needs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">But I haven’t figured out what to do with the other blind students. It’s not really my job but I keep getting asked for Braille math drills, Braille news articles, Braille spelling exercises, and when I do
supply some Braille, I’m told it was too difficult for them to read. Terms like Grade 1 and Grade 2 and UEB don’t make any sense to teachers who have never worked with the blind.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Have any of you ever taught any access technology skills to adults who learn at a second or third grade level? Should I attempt to teach the instructors enough they can help their students use Macs or iPads,
or do you think it won’t work because so much material intended for children that’s online will not be accessible, anyway? Ideally it would be great if we could find a way to integrate them better in to class, especially if it means less work for me. I’m not
lazy but I don’t like working on a project that ultimately will fail.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">I’m not a TVI and I have no idea what’s involved working with either kids or adults with developmental delays.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">--Debee<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>