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Dave MontrealCan - Good evening everyone and welcome to my session
Dave MontrealCan - Hello Lori
Lori - Hi Dave
Dave MontrealCan - Lori welcome you are a first grade teacher/
Lori - Yes, and also the mom of Jared, a blind 16 year old.
Dave MontrealCan - Lori I have just under 10% vision in my left eye and am totally blind in the right eye so i am considered legally blind actually but can see a little
Lori - Glad to see you made it Jared.
Dave MontrealCan - Jared hello welcome
Dave MontrealCan - Lori and Jared please feel free to ask me any questions you may have about how i went through the regular public school system as a sight impaired student or any other questions you may have
Lori - Dave, how long have you been a consultant? Looking at your sign in time, I take it you are on the west coast. We're from Michigan.
Vicki - Hi Dave. I have a question for you. What kind of numbers are hearing for self-contained classrooms?
Dave MontrealCan - Lori I am in Montreal Canada here east coast I started giving workshops and inservice training in 1997 I did so out of frustration when i left university I could not get a job in private industry at all and it was very frustrating for me I finally decided to work for myself and to help elementary teachers to better understand the needs of sight impaired an dblind children who are mainstreamed into the regular classroom environment
Dave MontrealCan - Hello Vicki and Ellen welcome
Ellen - Hello
Dave MontrealCan - Vicki please repeat your question?
Vicki - I teach in a self-contained multicategorical elementary classroom. I was just curious as to numbers of students in these types of classrooms. Mine seems to be getting large and will be larger next year.
Lori - Do you feel the public schools did not prepare you for the sighted world? Jared is the only blind student in his high school. He started back in his neighborhood school in 3rd grade and is blazing the path for at least one other student in our district. We think things are going well. I wonder if we are being naive?
Dave MontrealCan - Vicki do you teach special needs students only you teach a special class?
Vicki - Yes, most of mine have mental disabilities or behavior disabilities, and now I also have 1 with autism.
Dave MontrealCan - Lori no you are paving the way for a wonderful future for Jarid and for future students comming up too I was a pioneer in my public elementary school as well and today "inclusion" is the big thing now in Montreal schools
Dave MontrealCan - Vicki where are you located here in Quebec Canada these children are being mainstreamed because of budget cuts and the closure of special classes
Lori - Jared is "helping someone out." I'm hoping he will join us soon. I'm interested in seeing what he has to ask. Ignore the spelling!
Dave MontrealCan - Ellen what grade do you teach?
Vicki - Oh oh, am I going to be out of a job? I teach in Iowa. I have 11 students this year. We are losing 1 teacher next year, so I will have K-5 and anywhere from 13-19 students in my class.
Dave MontrealCan - Lori does Jarid use a speech synthasizer on his computer?
Jared - I got that speling comment
Ellen - I used to teach kindergarten and Title 1 Reading. Now I am working with our state capitol centennial and working on a web site. I would like to make it accessible to all.
Dave MontrealCan - Vicki I believe it is important for some children with multihandicaps to be placed in special classes if they are multihandicapped it is not fair to the regular classroom teacher ot have such responsibilities when he/she has other students in the room as well
Jared - take it from a blind person make sure the graphics have some meaningfull name or a text discription you can also use boby I think its called and it will test to see how accessible the sight is for blind people
Ellen - If I put a photo of a painting, would I also put a text description of the painting?
Vicki - What I am finding (this is my 19th year in the classroom) is that the students that I am seeing are from very low income households, some with drug problems, and lower functioning than I have seen in over 16 years.
Dave MontrealCan - Ellen I am very pleased that you want to make your site accessible to all unfortunately graphics are a problem for blind people and the speech on their computer please try to ensure that you do not have too many graphics on your site
Jared - I use jaws for windows with the built in software synthesizer I also use a braille and speak in dos for some stuff and as a braille desplay once in a while
Dave MontrealCan - Ellen yes the speech synthasizer will read the text with no problem it is the graphics it will have a problem with
Dave MontrealCan - Lori have you ever had a blind or sight impaired student?
Jared - That would be good but take a look at the links at the top of this page it tells me immage map and then what the link is I've sceen graphics with discriptions the graphics arn't a probleum as long as there is a discription goto www.freedomscientific.com and see how they do it my screen reader will read "graphic photo of a jaws for windows box" or something similar
Ellen - I had student with cerebral palsy in kindergarten and we knew she was at least partially blind. We didn't have the computer technology that you've mentioned here.
Vicki - They really aren't so much multihandicapped as they are mentally disabled. I do integrate whenever possible, but I am still working on teaching some their numbers and letters and we only have 28 days of school left this year.
Dave MontrealCan - Vicki I would be willing ot help you whenever you need to ask a question you may feel free to email me at : melanson@teachers.net and I will be pleased to help
Vicki - Thanks Dave, I appreciate that.
Dave MontrealCan - Ellen where are you located
Ellen - Helena, Montana
Dave MontrealCan - Ellen does your state provide you with the technology to help sight impaired an dblind children effectively
Dave MontrealCan - Welcome back Laurie
Ellen - My student did get a computer in the next year (1st grade), but we had a hard time determining what she was seeing.
Lori - Sorry, had technical difficulties. No comment, Jared. No, I have not had sight impaired students in my class. I've had almost every other disability. As a first grade teacher, I get most of the inclusion kids because I have a special ed degree. It really is the best of both worlds.
Dave MontrealCan - Ellen did you eventually find out how she was managing?
poly - hi everyone
poly - i am a teacher from chile
Dave MontrealCan - Hello Poly welcome to my session
Ellen - No, I was laid off a year later and have been disconnected from the school district since.
poly - thanks
Dave MontrealCan - Ellen are you teaching now in another district?
Dave MontrealCan - Poly what grade do you teach?
Ellen - No, I am working with a legal publishing firm and now the Capitol Restoration Foundation. We're planning a big celebration in July - everyone is invited!
poly - well i teach english as a foreign language...so it is basic english..communication mostly to children between 10 to 17
Dave MontrealCan - Ellen what are you celebrating
Dave MontrealCan - Poly where are you located?
Ellen - Our state capitol is 100 years old on July 4, 2002.
poly - i am in chile
Dave MontrealCan - Ellen congradulations
poly - have you visited it?
Dave MontrealCan - Poly do you have any sight impaired or blind children in your classroom
Dave MontrealCan - Poly no never visited Chilie before
Ellen - Thanks, my web site is designed to share our capitol and history with people who can't visit in person.
poly - no, but i had a deaf one before
poly - why?
Dave MontrealCan - Poly did you use the little mic that you talk to the student as they listen with a small reciever in their ear ?
poly - no
poly - this girl didn't have any devise to hear better
poly - she was very poor
Ellen - An acquaintance of mine has a daughter who was born nearly blind - I will have to ask her what technology her school is using.
Dave MontrealCan - Poly did they give you any technology at all to help this student
poly - and very deaf
Dave MontrealCan - Ellen yes it would be interestign to find out
poly - no, i tryed to trat her as the rest
Dave MontrealCan - Poly do you teahc in public school how many students do you have in your class
poly - d she was very intelligent
Dave MontrealCan - Poly I am sight impaired so please foregive the typos lol lol lol i touchtype
Ellen - My sister in law worked with a student in Iowa or Illinois who was blind - she learned braille so that she could help her student learn braille.
poly - i work in a mixture school now, i have 44 students in the classroom
Dave MontrealCan - Poly wow that is quite a few you must find it difficult
Ellen - Do you have the same 44 students all day?
poly - yes, sometimes it turnes hard
Lori - Jared uses a braille lite. It is like a pc notetaker with a braille display and speach output. He has a stand alone computer at school and home equipped with JAWS - a speech program. He is scheduled to get a lap top next year.
poly - no, i have with 5 groups of 444 a day
poly - 44
Dave MontrealCan - Lori where are you located?
Dave MontrealCan - Poly but you are in a piblic school not a private one?
Ellen - Like Dave said - WOW
Lori - We're in Farmington Hills, Michigan. We are very lucky to be in Oakland County. It has a lot of resources.
poly - no, it is a half public, a half private
Dave MontrealCan - Poly here in Canada we have between 25 to 30 kids in a classroom in the public school system
poly - it means the goverment gives an amount and the family pays the rest
Ellen - In Montana, 30 is probably typical for 10 - 17 year olds.
poly - yes
Dave MontrealCan - Poly what year is school compulsory for children up till in Chilie?
poly - i would do marvelous things with just 30
Dave MontrealCan - Hello Angel welcome to my session
Angel - can anyone tell me about looping for 2nd and 3rd graders?
Lori - In Michigan, 25-30 is an average class. Where I teach, we have a grant so I have 19 1st graders.
Jared - the braille lite is kind of like a palm piolet but not as powerful I can use it to take notes do basic formatting, it has a calculator, stopwach, calander, and the ability to transfer files from the computer to the braille lite and back I can download books and magazeens from the web braille feature of library of congress but the braille lite is very expencive
Dave MontrealCan - Poly what if the family could not afford to pay what would happen
poly - in chile it is an obligation for children to attend school from 5 to 12
poly - well there are public schools
Dave MontrealCan - Hi Angel this is a meeting talking about visually impaired and blind children mainstreamed into the regular classroom do you have any sight impaired or blind children in your classroom this year
poly - mixed one as the one i worke, here they are called "subencionados
poly - and privates
Dave MontrealCan - Poly you must be a wonderful teacher to have helped your deaf student as best you could have with what little resources you had
poly - i am not, but i would like to be...that's why i want to get in touch with people who knows english and techniques to teach
Dave MontrealCan - Poly you may email me at melanson@teachers.net if you ever need help if i can help I will
poly - so is one of you is interested in giving me some suggestions or tell me anything..please write to me to polysiomara@yahoo.com
Dave MontrealCan - Hello Msdtchr welcome to my session
poly - thank you a lot..i will e mail
Dave MontrealCan - Poly I am sight impaired myself and went to regular school from Kindergarten right through University
Lori - Hang in there, Poly.
Dave MontrealCan - MsDtchr hello what grade do you teach welcome
poly - were your teacher "helper"
Msdtchr - I teach 6-8 graders but I am looking to get back to elementary
Dave MontrealCan - Poly most were and I have a very special story to share with you in a moment about my 4th grade teacher who is so special to me
Jared - \
Jared - sorry this is a pain to navigate
poly - good to hear....are you a teacher too?
Dave MontrealCan - Several years ago I won dinner fo r2 to the crystal palace restaurant when they asked the question who was the teacher who made the most difference in your life I called and told my story about my former 4th grade teacher and how she had made a difference for me and I won a $100 gift certificate to dinner and I took her to dinner it was my way of sayin gthank you to her for being such a wonderful teacher
Dave MontrealCan - I won that from a local radio station
Lori - What a special story.
Dave MontrealCan - I told my story live on air to the announcer
Dave MontrealCan - Hello Leslie welcome to my session
poly - it's quite a way to say thanks
Lori - Poly, I don't know where Jared went. He is not a teacher. He is a 16 year old high school student. I'm his mom.
poly - one of my students in the very future would say thank to me
Leslie/Alabama - Hello to you Dave. I always manage to miss these meetings . Today I caught you.
Dave MontrealCan - Hello Paula welcome to my session
poly - i hope so
Dave MontrealCan - Leslie hello what grade do you teach nice to meet you
paula - Sorry I am late, but I have a full inclusion child with autism, ADHD, and opositional defiant. She is above average in intellegence and verbal skills, but refuses to put paper to pencil. Help!
Leslie/Alabama - I teach 9-12 as a computer resource lab teacher/technology integration specialist.
paula - I am a 3rd grade teacher at a math, science and technology magnet school
Dave MontrealCan - Paula good evening where are you located do you have a lot of support services there?
Leslie/Alabama - Okay, Dave, what should I know about sight impaired students and working on computers. For example, what do I need to keep in mind with regard to equipment needs.
Dave MontrealCan - Leslie have you heard of Jaws for Windows and Window Eyes?
paula - she has two full time aids, goes to RSP and speech, has an advocate, and a department person, also has Occupational therapy. I almost have too much help.
Leslie/Alabama - No, unfortunately
Leslie/Alabama - Dave, are these programs which students listen to?
Dave MontrealCan - Leslie may i give you a toll free number please you should call the ACB American Council of the Blind
Msdtchr - Dave, it might be helpful for Leslie to consider the ways to make a computer accesible for a visually impaired person using standard utilities instead of programs. In my experience, those often help with lots of kids with visual imapirments
Leslie/Alabama - Please do give me a toll free number.
Lori - Paula, if your student can communicate with alternative methods, perhaps the computer, why should she be forced to put paper to pencil?
Dave MontrealCan - Leslie Jaws for Windows is a program that reads the text by speech for a totally blind computer user
Leslie/Alabama - While we do not currently have any sight impaired students, I want to be prepared. Right now all our sight impaired students are bussed across town.
paula - She will not do any school work, unless it is her idea. That's what I mean by pencil to paper.
Dave MontrealCan - Leslie please call the American Council of the Blind in Washington Dc at 1 800 424 8666 and if you tell them where you are located they may be able to help you get in touch with the appropriate people in your area that can help
Jared - to download a demo of jawws and training tapes in mp3 format go to www.freedomscientific.com the files are fairly large though
Lori - That is a problem.
Leslie/Alabama - Msdtcher, do you mean the various computer settings to make it more accessible?
Msdtchr - Yes, Accessibility Options on Windows, Magnifier on Windows, Closeview on Mac
Leslie/Alabama - Thank you, Dave. I will make the call. I was told this week about a student who really wants to attend our school in his own neighborhood and doesn't want to be bussed. He wants to attend school with his friends. I want to be able to help as much as I can should that happen.
Msdtchr - Closeview on Mac is very zimilar to Zoomtext Level I.
Jared - what do you mean using standerd utilities? If you have some sight you may be able to use hte windows magnifer but being totally blind about the only things there are are self voicing web browsers, self voicing text editors, and talking ocr packiges with all of these I would not be able to do half of what I currently do
Leslie/Alabama - Thanks Msdtchr, those I can handle.
Msdtchr - There are other programs you can down load from the net, i.e. cursor enhancements( Biggy Cursor), I have had students who found that helpful, as well. I tend to try those things before the programs
paula - I have spent the year making a believer out of her that she is one of the group. she would prefer to sit in my library and read. I don't think a third grader should be making curriculum choices.
Dave MontrealCan - Leslie if you ever need to email me you may do so at melanson@teachers.net and I will try to help as much as I can
SuperStar888 - hi
Leslie/Alabama - Thanks, Dave. I have your email in my address book now!
Msdtchr - that is true Jared. Most indivdiduals who are totally blind need those specialized programs.
Dave MontrealCan - I need to close this meetign and to thank teachers net for allowing me to host this evening thank you all for attending tonight
Ellen - Thanks Dave and Jared for the information. This is also helpful for senior citizens like my 87 year old father-in-law. He has trouble seeing the computer screen sometimes.
Msdtchr - However if a kid had some vision, the standard programs should be consider first.
Leslie/Alabama - Thanks to you Dave
SuperStar888 - hi teacher I need help
Lori - Good night everyone and good luck.
Jared - there is no speach for macs there is some screen reading for linux but only in the consol mode the nome project should have something out for the x-windows part of linux the user interface to that system which is similar to windows but now you basicly have access to what the equivelent of ms-dos the benefit of this though is you can get the screen reader for free and there are blind people who are able to do most things with linux
Ellen - Thanks Msdtchr.
