PC Pilot for Student's of School for the Blind

The Tennessee School for the Blind (TSB) is piloting a Tablet Personal Computer project for its legally blind high school students. Legally blind children can experience obstructions while walking or have certain form or light perceptions.

Bill Shenck, adaptive technology coordinator said, “The whole idea for offering technology is to make our students as independent as possible. It will be less work if they can actually write on the PC instead of having to use machines to convert their notes into Braille text.”

Instead of Braille readers and Jaws, blind students can use Jaws along with programs like Zoomtext that enlarges regular font up to 16 times the normal size.

TSB caters to students in three different ways: light skills, pre-vocational and academic. While light skills involve basic functions like eating, maneuvering and toilet-training, the pre-vocational system is based on life and job skills. The academic track is aimed at students planning for college. According to Jim Oldham, TSB school superintendent, the new tablet PC technology would be helpful for students in both the pre-vocational and academic tracks.

The tablet PCs costs about $1,100 USD each and the school will be funding them from its $10 million USD annual budget. TSB has currently ordered only two tablet PCs to observe how students will respond to it. The main concern is to prevent the children from being pushed too far in the name of technology.

TSB was the first school in the country to offer technology classes to blind students in the 1980s. With the present enrollment at 173 students, 90 of whom stay on campus, the facility serves Davidson and surrounding counties including Montgomery, Murray, Sumner, Williamson and Wilson.

The school is also testing PDA wireless devices for students with low vision.

Source: Nashville City Paper, Tennessee