Classroom Equipment.

It is important to remember when assessing a pupil for personal braille equipment, that you are looking for a replacement for pen and paper - not a computer - that is secondary. It's operation needs to be as simple and transparent as possible.

Introduction:

In their everyday lives, most people write or type or braille. But they use prose. The first thing to note about braille (and print) in education is that it uses every character imaginable. That children in education need access to characters for languages, maths, computing and science must always be remembered when discussing braille devices.

Braille on a Perkins is simple, you can do grade 1, grade 2, grade 0, maths, French, German, Russian, science, any code you care to make up.

a) most teachers can't read braille. They need print output.

b) the Perkins is noisy in the classroom.

c) the Perkins is not the most portable item around.

d) braille is voluminous - storage on disc makes life a lot easier for the pupil.

e) electronic braille devices work in full, expanded English internally - blind and partially sighted children are going to grow up with access to the print world, both reading and writing. They need to be able to operate in print as well as braille.

a) because electronic devices are not yet capable (for technical but solvable reasons) of handling accurately all of the necessary conversions between braille and print and print and braille, or indeed all of the characters in use in print. This situation is changing.

b) because like the Perkins, electronic devices break down.

c) for embossing Christmas cards, labels for models etc. The Perkins is physically more versatile than an electronic embosser - all sorts of things can be put in it - where they usually jam, but the principle is there.

d) Stacked maths.

e) Immediate feedback.

The Perkins can give a print output using a Braille-n-print. This is an electronic device which sits on the bottom of a Perkins and stores text in electronic memory. This can be sent to a printer. In common with all electronic braille devices, it works internally in normal print characters - there being no electronic equivalent of braille contractions and wordsigns. The braille input is expanded to normal text between the keyboard and the internal workings by a keyboard interpreter.

Computers with braille input.

These fall into two broad categories, braille notetakers and braille computers.

It should be noted that apart from the specially manufactured systems described here, any computer can accept six-key input with the use of a keyboard interpreter, in just the same way as software exists to translate qwerty keyboard and mouse signals for computers.

A small grade 1 DOS interpreter is available for the PC, and several qwerty notetakers have them.

All braille computers use keyboard interpreters and braille translators.

Computers work internally with standard print characters. There is no ASCII or ANSI (international computer character standards) of the ing contraction. Therefore, immediately electronic signals for the ing character leave the braille keyboard, they are intercepted by a sub-system of the computer (the keyboard interpreter) and converted to the three characters i n g. These are then passed onto the main computer system.

Similarly, if the user wants braille output (soft braille or on paper) the expanded text must be re-contracted back to the relevant braille standard, grade 2, maths etc. This is performed by the braille translator.

If you intend to use other interpreters it is important, when taking into account that the keyboard interpreter and the braille translator must be capable of:

accepting braille input

accepting print input

producing braille output

producing print output

working across 7-bit and 8-bit systems

to ensure that keyboard interpreters and braille translators are written to work together and overcome the many clashes, exceptions and downright awkward incompatibilities that arise from this many-way integration. Anyone wanting to write an interpreter/translator package should test it thoroughly before putting it to use, and understand all of the circumstances where it may be expected to work.

generally limited to prose.

generally have external disc drive which has to be connected via a cable.

work is lost if battery goes flat.

keyboard interpreter and braille translation software cannot generally be altered by user.

light and easily portable.

More flexible than notetakers - the fundamental difference is that a computer can be made to do anything you want it to do by writing (or more usually buying) suitable software. Notetakers are computers but they are hard wired, the user can not change the program.

The David can cope with almost any code, has speech and softbraille, a fully specified IBM PC inside, and is beyond the affordability of education authorities.

The Eureka had limitations due to the use of seven bit ASCII, (limited internal characters available) and an incompatibility with PCs. It has been replaced by the Aria, which does not have these limitations. It can be programmed to handle a lot more keyboard input and braille output than a notetaker.

Functions of the Aria, word processing, scientific calculator, run disc programs, diary, communications, telephone directory, a file manager and DOS..

Foreign languages - for these your Braille device needs a user definable keyboard interpreter - the advanced Eureka or Aria.

There was a problem on the Eureka in that it won't handle extended ascii. Not a problem for braille entry or printout, but the text version has to have bodges in it. This problem is overcome on the Aria.

Maths keyboard code can be written for most situations, but integrating these with the braille translation code is important, i.e. the keyboard interpreter standards must match the braillemaster translation software. Again Robotron's move to DOS will allow very comprehensive maths code to be written, both keyboard interpreters and braille translators. Here braillists have an advantage over qwerty users, as all characters are accessible through the six keys, whereas getting an omega over epsilon to the power of the cubed root of gamma is complex matter on a laptop keyboard.

Some notetakers have on-board braille translation software, but may not be user definable.

Aria can use Braillemaster - user definable translation codes.

some notetakers and the Aria can give text output to dot matrix and laser printers.

Work can be loaded into a PC (note PCalien problems on fast machines) and output through that. Use of the new Braillemaster allows for advanced characters to be used.

Refreshable braille output - softbraille.

These usually come in the form of one or two lines of forty characters. They consist of dots which pop up, driven by piezo-electric actuators. They show one or two lines of the computer screen. They are very good, but madly expensive, making speech synthesis a more usual option. They are a useful option for deaf - blind students.

David and some other devices have an integrated one, and it would be good to see Robotron introduce the same. Every child should have access to one on their personal notetaker of what ever kind. Its advantages over speech in the classroom are many.

What is needed is a pad, about 30 by 30 centimetres, which has the resolution to display braille, moon and tactile diagrams. This is something which will appear in the near future for Braille.

Braille embossers - getting hard copy.

Portable embossers are available, but not portable enough to make them useful in most situations. Given that they will generally have to be left at some central location in the school, they may as well be big, heavy and reliable machines.

The Mountbatten brailler has its own built in embosser, and the ability to plug into and external embosser. I don't know what it's translation software is like.

The Aria and the David can both plug into external embossers and have editable translation software. Primary age children are able to handle these systems, getting braille and print output for themselves.

It is possible to transfer files from the eureka or to a PC via a serial cable, and emboss from there.

Decide what the child initially needs from the system.

Production of manuals suitable for the child, and others for the staff - e.g. collection of manuals produced for Eleanor's move to Woodlands.

Principles of good practice - personal equipment.

Personal equipment should:

be of a high build quality and electronically reliable.

be self contained, no trailing cables.

be able to store work very reliably, no data must be lost.

be flexible enough to allow the use of characters used in education.

have a reliable and high capacity battery.

simple enough for the child to use.

Principles of good practice - general

Children and staff should have access to:

Rigorous teaching

From reception onwards, children need to be taught how to interpret tactile diagrams. Such a process would start by introducing the children to real objects and move through pictures made from real textures to a purely symbolic representation. To facilitate independent access to diagrams a number of features need to be incorporated:

Associated braille text should clearly describe the content, orientation and layout of the tactile image.

Orientation points and clear labelling should be included.

Symbols, lines and textures need to be used consistently and taught.

Tracking skills need to be taught - children need to explore the whole diagram and get an overview of its structure.

Children need to be able to interpret 2D spatial relationships between points using just their hands - above and below, left and right, angles, relative distances.

Children need to understand the relationship between the standard projection translations for drawing - e.g. views of the front, side and top of a car.

Children need to be taught to discriminate between increasingly similar shapes, lines and textures.

Some General notes on production

In an integrated school it is not always appropriate or desirable to use computer generated tactile graphics for all children or for every worksheet.

Tactile materials made using a range of media are often nicer and offer a richer and more differentiated set of textures than minolta paper.

Young children need to work towards using computer generated tactile images starting with real objects and textures.

Sometimes this method of production is quicker than using a computer.

This method relies on less specialist skills, freeing up computer production staff for other work.

Some concepts cannot be conveyed using 2D tactile graphics.

Computer capacity will not generally be able to meet the demand for tactile resources.

Blind children require access to a wide range of tactile experience.

Consequently there is a need for a repertoire of alternative low tech techniques.

1) The use of real objects.

2) The use of models - toys, hand made representations, diagramatic models etc.

3) Verbal descriptions - live or taped.

4) The use of 2D tactile graphics made from a variety of materials.

5) Combinations of 2D graphics and 3D objects.

A selection of real objects including natural and man-made. These can be located in the natural environment or brought into school.

A collection accurate representational toys. Must have features which are accessible to tactile examination.

Materials for models - wood, clay, plaster of paris, lego etc, card, tubing, wire, pipe-cleaners.

A selection of appropriate tools.

Box of bits for 2D graphics - lollipop sticks, Wicki sticks, pipe cleaners, buttons, etc.

Box of tools for 2D graphics - scissors, craft knife, blu-tak, glue, etc.

Texture file - vivelle, felt, sandpaper, fur, bubble-wrap, foil, cloth, plastic sheet, etc.

German film and tactile drawing kit.

Sticky-back plastic braille sheets or braille dymo for labelling.

General notes on production systems:

In an integrated school you are likely to be producing for both partially sighted and blind children. It makes sense to originate work in such a way that it can be easily adapted for either. For instance text can be originated in plain ascii and saved. This file can then be turned into an advanced word processor format and adapted for the partially sighted, or prepared and adapted for braille translation. This saves time in the long run, as the same item is usually wanted in many formats over the years.

A multi-tasking environment such as Windows. Without multi-tasking the process of adaptation can become hideously complex.

An advanced word processor which can be used to originate both braille and large print texts, as well as integrate graphics.

A braille translation package, compatible with any personal braille computers used in the school, and able to be programmed by the user. Able to handle as many aspects of the curriculum as possible.

A vector drawing package to produce visual and tactile graphics.

A bitmap editor for adapting existing graphics.

A bitmap to vector utility.

A scanner.

An OCR package to allow scanned images of books to be converted to editable computer text.

A fuser and copier to produce the final tactile graphics.

A braille and/or moon font to allow the labelling of tactile diagrams in the computer.

A braille drawing package to allow graphics to be produced on an embosser. (Good for thermoforming onto german film).

An embosser, laser printer, colour printer and a dot matrix printer.

Need for operator to understand braille and the principles of the program's operation - education uses characters and rules not used in every-day word processing.

Advantages of the user being able to write translation code.

Preparing/formating the Braille

The inclusion or exclusion of blank lines.

Referring to tactile diagrams in the text.

The inclusion of tactile diagrams in the bound book, or in a folder.

Photo descriptions.

Most maths can be produced using software, but some is quicker to prepare on a Perkins. It can be worth entering say a complex matrix into braille printer code if it is to be used repeatedly - the skill of entering a printer-ready file by hand into a computer is no more complex than doing the job on a Perkins.

There is a problem with the old PC and the current Eureka braillemaster, in that it won't handle extended ascii. Bodges had to be made in text preparation. This is not a problem with the new PC braillemaster.

Problems of typing foreign languages - not realistic for many operators - Omnipage and how its verification window can allow someone who doesn't speak the language to scan in and spell check a foreign text. Note that many language books cannot be scanned in due to excessive use of overprinting.

Corel Draw - vector, bitmap, font creation, clipart.

Use of grey scale - stepping, creating curved surfaces, concave and convex. Creates better raised surface than a solid black, which tends to get uneven.

Use of line - thickness, dotted, composites.

Use of textures

Layering - 'ten maps in one', ability to choose combinations of data for printout.

Braille labelling with scaleable fonts.

Braille drawing programs.

Graphs and maps

a fundamental and clear understanding of how the software works, its capabilities and limitations.

a highly developed sense of the way tactile input is perceived, particularly with regard to 'graphics'.

The ability to adapt materials where necessary - not just translate.

Principles of good practice - production

Children should receive adapted work at the same time as their sighted peers.

Adapted work should be of a high standard, in terms of:

accuracy of translation.

educational content, if the exercise has had to be altered.

layout - must be easy to access and navigate.

presentation and binding - work must be physically easy to handle and access, and appear tidy to sighted peers.

the quality of any tactile graphics.