Florida Instructional Materials Center for the Visually Impaired

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START HERE
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• Assistive Technology
• and Services
• for the
• Visually Impaired

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Assistive Technology Challenge

• Today, one of the major challenges facing people
  who care for and about children and youth with
  disabilities in technology what to get, how to
  use it, how to pay for it, how to evaluate its
  effectiveness and where to put the AT. (National
  Association of Parents with Children in Special
  education)

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Assistive Technology Device

• An assistive technology (AT) device means any
  item, piece of equipment, or product system,
  whether acquired commercially off the shelf,
  modified, or customized, that is used to
  increase, maintain, or improve the functional
  capabilities of children with disabilities.
  (Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), 34 CFR
  300.5)

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Assistive Technology Service

• An Assistive Technology Service means any
  service that directly assists a child with a
  disability in the selection , acquisition or use
  of any assistive technology device. (34 CFR
  300.6)

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AT And The Public Agency

• Each public agency shall ensure that assistive
  technology devices or assistive technology
  services, or both, as those terms defined in
  305.-300.6 are made available to a child with a
  disability if required as part of the childs (1)
  special education,(2) related services, (3)
  supplementary aids and services

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Assistive Technology for 2006

• Optical Character document (OCR) Readers
• Portable, Desktop, and Pocket CCTVs
• Paperless braille note takers
• Braille embossers
• Transcription/translation software
• Screen enlargement software
• Tactile Imagers and graphic embossers
• Low tech magnifiers, large print, and talking
  devices
• Computer related and portable audio readers
• E-Books on CD or Portable Device
• Portable GPS Navigational Devices
• Personal digital Assistants

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Portable CCTV

• Color Portable CCTV
• Light weight design
• Hand held scanning
• Enlarge for distance and close work
• Variable magnification up to 28x
• Reverse imaging
• AC or DC operation

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Desktop CCTV

• Color Desktop CCTV
• Sturdy design
• X-Y Table scanning
• Enlarge for close work
• Variable magnification up to 28x
• Reverse imaging
• AC or DC operation

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Screen Enlargement Software

• BigShot (PC)
• Zoomtext (PC)
• Magic (PC)
• Lunar (PC)

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Reading Systems

• Open Book (PC)
• SARA (Self-contained unit)
• Poet Compact (Self-contained unit)
• WYNN (PC/Macintosh)
• Kurzweil 1000/3000 (PC/Macintosh)

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Screen Reading Software

• JAWS (PC)
• HAL (PC)
• Window Eyes (PC)
• Connect Outloud (PC)
• Microsoft Narrator (PC)
• Zoomtext with Speech (PC)
• Magic with Speech (PC)
• Lunar with Speech (PC)

GW Micro
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Paperless Braille and Tactile Displays

• Braille Speak
• PacMate
• Braille Lite
• Braille/Voice Note
• Alva Satellite
• Mountbatten

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Manual Braillers

• Jot A Dot Quantum Technologies
• Perkins Howe Press
• Regular Cell
• Large Cell
• Electric Assisted Touch

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Transcription Software

• Transcription software used by individuals
  trained in braille literary and textbook format.
• MegaDots (braille and Nemeth)
• Duxbury (braille and Nemeth)
• Braille 2000 (braille and Nemeth)

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Translation Software

• Translation software used by individuals trained
  in braille literary, textbook, music, and math
  formats.
• Duxbury (braille and Nemeth)
• MegaDots (braille and Nemeth)
• Braille 2000 (braille and Nemeth)
• GoodFeel (music braille)

CASC
Dancing Dots
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Braille Embossers

• Freedom Scientific
• Enabling Technologies
• View Plus Technologies
• Index Technologies
• Etc.

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Tactile Imager Enhancers

• TIE (braille and print)
• Tiger (braille and print)
• Pro
• Max
• Cub
• Cub Jr.
• Emprint

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Low Tech Magnifiers, Large Print, and Talking
Devices

• Glass magnifiers, monoculars, lens, etc.
• Talking - clocks, dictionaries and calculators
• Large print - clocks, dictionaries and calculators

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E-Text/Digital Audio Readers

• Software
• Victor Reader Plus (PC and Macintosh)
• Microsoft Ebook Reader (PC)
• FSReader (PC)
• Book Wizard Reader (PC)
• Katie (Macintosh)
• ghPlayer (PC)
• EaseReader (PC)
• TPB Reader (PC)

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E-Text/Digital Audio Readers

• Hardware
• BookPort
• Victor Reader Classic
• Vibe
• Wave
• Plextor
• Telex Scholar and Professor

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E-Text/Digital Audio Readers

• Characteristics (short list)
• Read DAISY Digital Talking Books on/from CD
• May Read contracted braille in Braille Ready
  Files
• Play MP3 files
• May record audio memos
• Navigate among files or within a book
• Navigate by letter, word, sentence, paragraph,
  page, or section items

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E-Text/Digital Audio Readers

• Control pitch, speed, and volume of speech
• May have a choice of synthetic speech voices
• Announces the file name, size, current position,
  page number, and the last modified date
• May find every occurrence of searched text in the
  file
• Delete files or lock to prevent deletion
• Sleep timer turns unit off after a set amount of
  time
• Lock keys so you can put it in your pocket or
  purse

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E-Text/Digital Audio Readers

• Pros (hardware and software)
• Digital format
• Portable (6 oz. Or less)
• Easily updated
• Scalable Fonts
• New Rich Media Formats
• Can be selected via E-Commerce
• Large distribution will reduce costs
• Cons (hardware and software)
• Price of e-readers
• Price of commercial CDs
• CD and files may not be shared with others

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High Profile E-Text/Digital Audio Resources

• University of Virginia
• Digital Text Library of classic literature
• BookShare
• Not for profit text library of literary and
  textbooks in braille, text, and audio -
  membership
• Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic
• Not for profit digital audio books membership
• Audible
• For profit main stream audio books