1. Access to Digital Materials: What a Wonderful Gift to Give a Student with Visual Impairment
By Tiffany Barbieri and Susan Glaser December 6, 2012 Winter Wonderland of Technology Florida Instructional Materials Center for the Visually Impaired Working with the Experts

2. Digital Materials… What?!?!?!
Digital: All electronic files accessed with technology, including Audio and E-book.
Audio:
E-Book:

3. Where do I get this stuff?
Bookshare: E-books
Learning Ally: E-books and Audio Books
National Library Service: Mainly Audio Books
So many more resources available in upcoming sessions!
(courtesy of Jill Pfluke and Andrea Wallace)

4. Why go digital? Reduces eye fatigue
Hard copy Braille not instantly available
Print/Text may be inaccessible
Large print and Braille volumes = Lots of SPACE
Potential for increased Comprehension, Vocabulary and Rate of access
College and workplace: It’s competitive out there!
Improves overall quality of life

5. Successful College Students Read an Average of . . .
Words Per Minute

6. Who needs digital?
Primary sensory channels are typically visual or tactual. What about the secondary channel?
Braille readers, print readers, device users, Oh My!
A comprehensive Functional Vision/Learning Media Assessment tells all

7. All of our students with visual impairments can benefit from listening and obtaining information through their auditory sensory channel!!!!

8. When do we teach auditory skills?
Birth-3 Years: Auditory development
3-5 Years: Continued auditory development with Language emphasis
Elementary: Listening skills to include increased comprehension
Middle School: Guided active listening and more advanced listening skill development
High School: Expect independent active listening and knowledge of related technology at an advanced level

9. Great New Resource for Teaching Auditory Skills

10. ‘Tis the Season to SHARE Online Resources
Local Library System-
ABC learning Games and More
index.html
Story Place-
Starfall.com
Harkthesound.org
Tumblebooks-
*Think APPS, too. Thank you tablet inventors!

11. From the Group www.storylineonline.net www.readinga-z.com
Career Connect: ww.afb.org/section.aspx?FolderID=2&SectionID=7
Apps
Braille Coder
Read 2 Go
Futaba

12. Going Digital at the Pre-K and Elementary Level
Read Aloud
Add meaning to auditory stories with story boxes, real objects, and experiences
Books on Tape/CD
Digital Voice Recorder - adult voices
Digital Voice Recorder - student voice
Utilize Internet and computer for online listening

13. Elementary Years Focus: Listening for Comprehension
Keep those experiences coming!
Attending behaviors
Use of playback devices
Use of screen readers
MUST begin computer skills early
Model downloading of materials
Order chapter books and other texts that are ‘non- academic’ in digital format
Use high interest materials
See Ike Presley’s 6 Stages of “Audio Assisted Reading” (page 138)

14. Middle School Students: Learn Active Listening
During lectures-facial orientation, posture, eye contact, head nods, responses…
Print book methods-note-taking, highlighters, post-its, underline, circle, stop and question, stop and discuss
Braille book methods-note-taking, post-its, high dots, paperclips, stop and question, stop and discuss
Digital book methods-note-taking, bookmarking, pausing, rewinding, stop and question, stop and discuss
Teach multiple strategies for note-taking, regardless of the medium
Keep materials high interest, short and age- appropriate

15. TVIs, Hand over the Reigns!
High School:
TVIs, Hand over the Reigns!
Order textbooks in more than one format
Students gather
Students locate
Students download
Students organize
Students utilize actively and independently

16. Is it working? Jerry John’s Basic Reading Inventory
Frequent short story read-alouds with graded comprehension questions
Collect note samples
Take Data

17. What did you learn?
Think about your current caseload and students’ needs.
Name one thing that you will take away from this session and use with your students (next week).