Genius Hour Project
Learning Is Not Blind
What technology is available in the classroom for visually impaired and blind students?
According to the 2014 Annual Report by American Printing House of the Blind over 60,000 students in the United States are blind. For these students, digital technology provides tools that can aid communication and learning by visually impaired students in the classroom. There are several different types of technologies that have taken a role alongside these students in class to facilitate learning.
Helping blind students learn:
Translators
One of the most influential technologies for blind students are translators. These are devices that can convert written text into electric speech. TripleTalk USB Mini Speech Synthesizer is a great example. This speech can then be customized and adjusted to fit their specific style that makes it easy for students to listen to and understand.
iPad and Accessories
iPads are widely considered as one of the best education tools for blind students. This device has access to several assistive technologies that can facilitate one-to-one learning. Many assistive applications can be easily accessed through the app store. Accessories can also be added to the device to let visually impaired students control it, like the Braillepen keyboard.
Braille Embossers
Educators can translate lessons into an easier format for visually impaired students to read. Special embossers and software programs convert handouts, notes, and assignments into Braille.
For More Information
Some great organizations and people to connect with on Twitter include:
@APHfortheBlind, @NFB_voice, @triplecert, @BlindAbilities, @Blind_Matters, @blindambition.
Another way to use Twitter as a research resource is to search via hashtags. I recommend starting by searching these: