Assessing Student's Needs for Assistive Technology (ASNAT)

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Chapter 8 – Assistive Technology for Vision and Hearing Another way to enlarge print is with a closed circuit television (CCTV). This consists of a television style monitor with a camera. When a book or magazine is placed under the camera, the print is magnified up to 60 times on the monitor. There are portable CCTV’s with a hand-held camera and a four inch monitor. These typically will only magnify print up to 12 or 13 times; however, they are very useful for their portability. These devices can be taken from classroom to classroom or outside of the school to work sites or field trips. In some models, the hand held camera portion can be transported and then hooked up to any television. The size of the magnification will vary dependent upon the size of the television. Some CCTVs use split screens so that you can look at a printed page on the same monitor that is being used for a computer system. Speech Output Another way to help the child with vision impairment gain access to print materials is to type the material into a computer with speech output. Speech output comes in two types: synthesized and digitized. Synthesized speech is generated by the computer using a complex set of rules. Systems with fewer rules sound more robotic than those with more rules. Near human-quality speech can often be achieved. Digitized speech is recorded speech, much like a tape recorder. The quality of the speech is dependent on the recording and playback conditions. For many years Macintosh computers have come with built in sound and synthesized speech capability. PCs require add-on sound systems, although they are frequently bundled with the computer system now. Speech output capabilities may come with a sound card but software must be written to utilize those capabilities. The newest Microsoft Corporation Operating System, Windows XP, has some speech output capabilities built in like the Macintosh. For a person with low vision or blindness, it is desirable to have a screen reading program. A screen reading program is software that works with the speech synthesizer to allow a person to “hear” what is on different parts of the screen. For instance, depending on which keys are activated on the keyboard, the user could choose to hear the current word or sentence, or the preceding, current, or next paragraph. Some screen reading programs can also “read” the icons, menus, and scroll bars on the screen. Some screen reading programs have special keypads. The only screen reading program for the Macintosh is OutSpoken, by ALVA Access Group, Inc. Some screen reading programs for PCs include JAWS ® , OutSpoken for Windows, and Window-Eyes. Screen reading programs can identify and read text and graphics, identify and announce the function of Windows, buttons, menus, and dialog boxes, identify graphics, and serve as a mouse or pointing device. In selecting a screen reading program it is important to identify the unique features that the user needs and find a program that best matches those needs. Information and assistance can be obtained from the American Foundation for the Blind’s National Technology Program at 212/502-7642 or email: techctr@afb.net. Speech output can also be obtained from talking word processing software. However, talking word processing software reads only the text within the word processing program. You can input text into that program by typing it in, importing it from another program, or scanning it and then importing it into the talking word processing program. Talking word processing programs also offer other helpful features such as feedback from each key press and the ability to choose different color backgrounds and text. However, if the student has very limited vision or is totally blind, they will not be independent until they have a screen reading program that provides access to the whole screen, menus included. Assessing Students’ Needs for Assistive Technology (2004) 194
Chapter 8 – Assistive Technology for Vision and Hearing A very portable device is the Road Runner (Ostrich Software). The Road Runner is a tiny electronic text reading devices that will let a person take reading material anywhere. It can read any text based file: email, Internet, online newsletters, web pages, books, and any other scanned text. It stores up to 2000 pages of text and weighs only four ounces with two AA alkaline batteries installed. The batteries will run it for 40 hours or more of continuous reading. The Road Runner connects to a standard 9 pin PC serial port with a cable (provided). It has no speaker, but comes with a jack for headphones. (Ostrich Software) ♦ Scanning In order to create electronic text from print material, you need a scanner and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. A scanner uses the same technology found in FAX or copy machines to feed the printed letters into the computer where they are recognized with the OCR program. It is the OCR software that labels the marks on the page and allows the computer to recognize them as text. As with all electronic text, they can then be enlarged, spoken, or turned into refreshable Braille display. Three software OCR products specifically for blind individuals are Lernout & Hauspie’s Kurzweil Educational Systems, Inc. 1000, Arkenstone’s Open Book, and TeleSensory Corporation Reading AdvantEdge 2.2. There are also several other good OCR programs that are not designed specifically for blind users. OCR software is often included with the scanner's software. Braille Braille continues to be the most versatile, complete way to read for the person who is totally blind. Many blind students use small hand-held Braille note takers. These have a Braille keyboard and speech output. Braille N Speak 2000 and the Braille Lite 2000 are two such devices. In addition to speech output, a computer can send text out in embossed (hard copy) or refreshable Braille. A refreshable Braille display attaches to a computer and shows up to one computer line at a time in Braille. As the user moves around the computer screen, tiny pins on the display raise and lower to form the Braille character of each computer screen character. Some Braille displays are Braille Window, ALVA, and several in the Braillex ® line from Papenmeier. A standard computer keyboard can be configured to emulate a Perkins Braille keyboard to allow the user to type using the Braille format. Braille can also be produced with a printer. The speed of Braille printers varies from 40 characters per second to 400 characters per second, depending on the printer. Some Braille printers are: Enabling Technology’s Juliet or Romeo, TeleSensory Corporation VersaPoint. The Braille-n-Print Slimline from HumanWare, Inc, produces both a Braille and print copy. Assessing Students’ Needs for Assistive Technology (2004) 195
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Table of Contents Chapter One Assis
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Table of Contents Chapter 8 Assisti
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Chapter 1 - Assistive Technology As
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Notes: Chapter 1 - Assistive Techno
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Chapter 2 - Computer Access A CONTI
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Chapter 2 - Computer Access • Wor
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Chapter 2 - Computer Access • Mou
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Chapter 2 - Computer Access ♦ The
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Chapter 2 - Computer Access Freewar
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Chapter 10 - Funding Assistive Tech
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Assistive Technology Vendor Table C
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Assistive Technology Vendor Table M
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Assistive Technology Vendor Table N
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Assistive Technology Vendor Table C
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Assistive Technology Vendor Table V
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Appendix Additional Vendors: Assess
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WATI Product Catalog WATI PRODUCT C
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WATI Product Catalog Assistive Tech
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WATI Product Catalog School Profile
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WATI Product Catalog Wisconsin Assi
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Assistive Technology Assessment For
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Assessing Student's Needs for Assistive Technology (ASNAT)

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