Braille Literacy Scholarship Program

  

HumanWare Support for Braille Literacy efforts

HumanWare has been empowering Braille users and Braille learners for years. The company, working with leading partners in the Assistive Technology industry, announced new steps in its Support for Braille Literacy campaign.

“HumanWare’s BrailleNote Apex already incorporates the well-regarded ‘keyboard learn’ Braille learning feature,” said Gilles Pepin, HumanWare CEO. “Now, we’re working with partners to make Braille learning and on-the-go Braille capability even easier.”

HumanWare’s efforts in support of Braille literacy include:

•  Trade-in program on Braille devices. Whether you have a BrailleNote Classic, mPower or a different brand of note taker, HumanWare will extend a generous trade-in value when you upgrade to the latest and greatest!
• Partnership with Harpo, manufacturers of the Mountbatten Brailler. HumanWare has been awarded the exclusive distributorship in the USA for Quantum Technologies’ range of Braille products, including the Mountbatten Brailler and PIAF.

“We’ve been working hand in hand with educators and others for years to spread the word about Braille literacy,” said Lucia Gomez, Product Manager, HumanWare. “We look forward to getting the word out even more broadly and hearing your feedback.”


For US enquiries, contact:
Dominic Gagliano
Vice President of  Blindness Sales
Phone: 800-722-3393 Ext 258
dominic.gagliano@humanware.com
www.humanware.com

 

The HumanWare Braille Literacy Award 2010

HumanWare proudly sponsors a National Braille Literacy Award each year to support the importance of braille literacy in the early days of a child's education. It is the highlight of our year to receive the applications and personal stories of so many amazing blind and vision impaired children, their families and teachers from across the country. The really hard part is to pick a winner! In 2010 the Award is granted to the Jones family of Minnesota who received a complete Mountbatten Braille Writer Learning System.

The Jones family clearly understands the important of literacy, specifically braille literacy, for the young children in their family. They wrote… Literacy is the key to any child's future and we are learning that "Braille" literacy is the key to our second and third children because of their visual impairments. Reading and writing is a basic fundamental form of communication and if you cannot read or write, you cannot support yourself as an independent person. Braille will be the only written communication for our daughter and second son. Brian and Heather, parents to three children, valued and practiced being their first child's teachers early in his life. They included beginning reading and writing literacy skills in their daily activities. Heather describes their family activities with their first child, Jaxon, in the paragraphs below. Literacy is a fundamental value in our family. If you would have asked me when my first child, Jaxon, was born how important literacy would be to his future I would have laughed at you thinking it was a ridiculous question! I read to Jaxon the day I brought him home from the hospital, and we still read to him every night. As he grew, he played with his books and looked at the words as I read them to him. He began to pick up crayons about the time he was one, scribbling and make "pictures" on paper. Soon he began to recognize his name by sight. At about three he could spell it and now at 5 he can write it. After the birth of their second child, Ethan, who was born with a visual impairment, Heather and Brian began to question their capabilities to be Ethan’s first teachers because Ethan would need to use braille to develop literacy skills. Before Ethan was one year old, they were introduced to the Mountbatten Brailler and they began to realize that with braille books and materials, powerful tools, and support, they would also be able to be Ethan’s first teachers in their home. Heather writes about beginning this journey. When Ethan was born, I again thought about that wonderful process of reading because it is my favorite thing to do. When we found out he was visually impaired, it broke my heart. I thought my baby boy was never going to be able to read. At that point I didn't know anything about braille. I have since learned that he will read and he will write. He will be able to do almost anything that any sighted child will. Ethan has followed in his big brother's footsteps. He loves to read and we sit and read his brailled books every day. He also began his mark making at the age of one. Now at the age of two he can write the letters a and c on the brailler. Letter recognition is taking a bit longer but it is coming. We have purchased and made some books with braille on them and they are his favorite books. He also likes books with textures, however if there is no texture or braille he becomes uninterested. The Mountbatten system would not only allow him to continue to become literate in braille, it will also allow us to braille any book that he may like to read. We believe that the Mountbatten system in our home would be an immense boost to their learning abilities. It will allow the two of them to progress faster and learn better if we have the ability to remain their "first teachers” at home even though they require special braille tools. When their third child, Evie, was born with a visual impairment, they were on their way to understanding their abilities to teach braille literacy skills to blind children. When, Evie, was born, my heart was broken again as I was told that my little girl would also have a visual impairment similar to her brother. Now we have the privilege of raising two visually impaired preschool children. While most sighted children are introduced to the written word when they are infants, many visually impaired children are not introduced to braille until kindergarten. That is unacceptable. Having a Mountbatten in our home will help both of my kids start their school years at the same level as sighted kids. Braille is to Ethan and Evie what letters and numbers are to Jaxon. Even though their children are young, Brian and Heather realize the value of braille tools, not only in their early childhood years, but when they are also school age. They have a vision of their children’s futures built on a strong foundation in braille literacy. The Mountbatten will not only be of use when they are young children but throughout their lives. With the features of being able to hook up to the PC the Mountbatten will play a huge role in my children's educations...doing their homework with it, learning on the computer, and writing their own stories. Reading and writing are the foundations of learning. To my children braille is reading and writing. To me the Mountbatten brings fundamental learning into my house. Beyond that it is also the key to unlock the door to their imaginations and explore the world of the written word. A door they couldn't open without it. With braille literacy starting at home, our children will be able meet or exceed the literacy skills of sighted kids of the same age. There is no education without literacy. There is no success in life for a person who has no education. Congratulations to the Jones family and best wishes for their commitment and support for braille literacy.   An honorable mention goes to the Ingram Family of San Pedro, CA: "We see the Mountbatten as an amazing tool that could open up the world of braille literacy to our three special needs children. We believe that literacy is the key to a full and rounded life and that all should be provided the opportunity and encouragement to learn. We believe that those who have the potential, but do not learn to read and write are imprisoned in many ways and are kept from becoming all that they can be, kept from full participation in society, and kept from meaningful employment."

The HumanWare Braille Literacy Award 2008 - Following Up

HumanWare proudly sponsors a National Braille Literacy Award each year as our way of giving back a little to the community that supports us so wonderfully. It is the highlight of our year to receive the applications and personal stories of so many amazing blind and vision impaired children, their families and teachers from across the country. The really hard part is to pick a winner!

In 2008 the Award was granted to the O'Neill family of Nebraska. Recently, Dominic Gagliano, VP Blindness Sales, contacted the O'Neill family to see how the year had unfolded since they received the Award prize, a Mountbatten Braille Writer Learning System. Dominic spoke with Camille's mother, Jennifer.

A little background on Camille:

Camille is now in her 2nd year of preschool and she is four years old. Although we have some challenges related to her vision loss and prematurity,  she loves learning. She has a bit of useable tunnel vision out of one eye only and is very motivated to use it, thus has known her letters for about two years and is reading very large print-lots of sight words, etc. Still, we have always known that she needs to begin to learn braille early as visual-motor skills such as writing are extremely challenging and in the long-run, print reading will likely not be efficient enough for her.

The photo shows Camille doing her favorite thing, typing out the beginning of the alphabet, "a b c d e f g space" and spelling words. She does this and just claps for herself and laughs.

Dominic: How has Camille used the Mountbatten over the last year?

Jennifer: It has been such a blessing to have in our household. Camille began intensive Braille instruction at preschool this fall. We knew she was cognitively ready for it as she was reading print words. At her IEP meeting in November, a goal was written that she know how to type and read 13 Braille letters by May of 2009. At school, she only had a manual braillewriter; her teacher started with it the first few weeks and we reinforced  her work on the Mountbatten at home. It didn't take long for her teacher to begin sending home brailled papers with partial indents of letters and circles around them with marks saying that she wasn't able to press hard enough. She was struggling with it because she didn't have the strength or hand size to isolate her fingers to make anything more than an ‘a'. At home on her Mountbatten, Camille was brailling lines of a's, b's and c's completely independently.  For a short while we took ours for her to use at school, and now her TVI has found a separate Mountbatten to have on trial at the school until a formal technology assessment is done.

Dominic: In what ways has the Mountbatten made a difference to Camille's learning?

Jennifer: If it were not for our Mountbatten, I really feel that Camille would still be struggling to try to muster up the strength to typeanything more than a one-dot formation, but since she has a Mountbatten, she already is able to independently type 12 letters and spell many words, and we still have over three months left in the preschool year.  Her Braille time is clearly enjoyable because she's able to concentrate on the letters, the spelling and the discovery.  This is what I wanted for her; I wanted learning to be fun, so she would be motivated to do it.  Learning shouldn't be physically grueling.  There's a separate time for getting stronger.

One of the neatest things to witnessis the chance she has for independent learning with her Mountbatten because of the auditory feedback. It is so amazing to see her discover things for herself. For instance, the other day, she was trying to type out the word "cab" and wrote "cac" instead. She stopped, said
"Whoops!" and retyped a "b" to correct herself and then moved right along. It is such a gift to be able to see her discover things for herself instead of us always having to loom over her and correct her. I can't help but think it gives her a great sense of pride.

Dominic: One of the challenges with early learners can sometimes be finding enough ways to keep them motivated. How has Camille's attitude to learning progressed over the year?

Jennifer: I cannot tell you how much she enjoys learning Braille onher Mountbatten, which is the very best part of having it. I am seriously not kidding when I say that she tells me nearly every night, "Mommy, I want to write Braille on my Mountbatten." I actually use it as a prize for her-after she does her braille tracking and reading skills, then she gets to type her letters on the Mountbatten. Needless to say, it is a win-win situation for us-little does she know she is "working" the whole time! Also, nearly every day on the way to school she tells me, "Mommy, I am going to ask Ms. Carrie (her TVI) to use the Mountbatten."

I had to include a picture of her little sister, Livvy, typing on the Mountbatten. She sees Camille having so much fun that she has to give it a try, too. How cool is this that our sighted child is incidentally learning braille, too?

Dominic: With hindsight, what do you think are some of the barriers facing families in similar situations across the country?

Jennifer: I think the overall barrier is that we say that we have the same expectations for our visually impaired children as we do for our sighted children, but I'm not sure we are walking the talk.  Since I was a young child, demands and expectations for kindergarteners and elementary-age children as far as literacy and education go have grown so much.  While sighted children are being given more exciting tools at very young ages to meet these expectations-computer games and programs, exciting curriculum, and an ever-expanding assortment of writing materials and toys to promote literacy, it seems that our visually impaired children are still expected to learn Braille literacy skills with the same tools that have been available for fifty years.  We need to be prepared to put fun tools and age-appropriate technology in the hands of our young children early to really give them the same opportunities to learn as their peers.  After all, technology in our world is not only a tool to be used to achieve Braille literacy, it is a form of literacy itself.  Appropriate tools are unfortunately very expensive so it is hard for parents and educators to get them in the hands of children, I think especially early-on when we know it won't be the last piece of technology in their school careers.  There is often a philosophy of "let's wait to spend the money until later when they really need it."  I don't think we can afford to wait if we truly want to say that our expectations are the same for our visually impaired children as they are for our sighted children.  When we wait, debate, and spend months lobbying for early technology that will allow our children to excel early, we waste precious learning time. 

Dominic: What advice would you give to other parents about the best options for their blind or vision impaired child?

Jennifer: Be in-tune to what your child needs to learn.  There isn't one answer as far as technology goes, but I have heard from other parents and teachers across the nation that children are often given tools that aren't right for them because it is what is already there or it may be the least expensive option. While it is completely necessary to be cost-conscious, it shouldn't happen at the expense of a child's education.  Take the time to find out about the options available to your child at an early age. Chances are, you know your child's strengths and capabilities better than anyone. If you have the knowledge, you can be an effective advocate to get your child what he or she needs to keep up with their peers and enjoy their educational experience in the ever-more demanding academic world.

Dominic: On behalf of all of us here at HumanWare, I want to thank you so much for sharing your story and in doing so hopefully help other parents who are facing similar challenges.

Jennifer: We thank you for gifting our family in 2008. It has truly been invaluable, and we feel so incredibly fortunate. Needless to say, mission accomplished so far... and we have only brushed the edge of what it can do! I think her face in the pictures say it all. Sorry the pics had to be in her jammies with wet hair; we usually practice our braille after bath time!

I cannot tell you how much she enjoys learning Braille on it.

HumanWare
1 UPS way,
Champlain, NY 12919
www.humanware.com
Phone: 800 722-3393
us.info@humanware.com