Transcript Finding Your Way: The BrailleNote GPS curriculum from the

Finding Your Way:
The BrailleNote GPS curriculum from the
California School for the Blind
Who are we?
• Maya Delgado Greenberg, Orientation
& Mobility Specialist
• Jerry Kuns, Technology Specialist and
BrailleNote GPS user
What is the BrailleNote GPS?
• It is a speech and braille output PDA with an add-on
GPS software and hardware package.
• It provides access to on-demand orientation
information normally only available through print
signs.
• Without the BrailleNote GPS people with visual
impairments are often dependent on sighted people
for directions, as guides, or to read print signs.
• BrailleNote GPS improves travel skills, safety, and
orientation in many areas.
What is the BrailleNote GPS?
Video from Sendero Group
Finding Your Way: A Curriculum
for Teaching & Using the
BrailleNote Sendero GPS
• Free download from CSB’s website
• Step by step instructions for using the BrailleNote
GPS
• Includes readings, activities, worksheets, quizzes,
and pull out keystroke command lists
• Explains how to use the BrailleNote GPS to support
other areas of O&M instruction
• Can be used to self-teach, or as a teaching tool with
students
• In the third round of a pilot program
• Assumes instructors will co-learn with students
Top 10 reasons people think they
cannot learn how to use the
BrailleNote GPS (and why they
don’t stand up to the truth!)
REASONS
1.
I don’t know how to start.
2.
My braille skills stink.
ANSWERS
1.
Read the curriculum.
2.
You only need to know uncontracted
braille. Get over it. Besides, you can get
a BrailleNote with a QWERTY keyboard.
3.
Find the time.
4.
It isn’t. Really!
5.
You don’t need to learn how to use all
BrailleNote functions in order to use the
GPS.
6.
Yeah, and so is a laptop, cellphone, and
internet access, but we find ways to pay
for them. Besides, rehab and school
districts may pay if you can prove it is
needed.
6.
I don’t have the time.
It is too hard to learn it.
I do not want to learn how to use the
whole BrailleNote—I would only use it
to teach GPS to my students.
Isn’t it expensive?
7.
My student is too young to benefit.
7.
8.
My student has cognitive delays—she
may never travel independently.
8.
You are never too young to benefit from
learning about the world around you!
You do not need to be an independent
traveler in order to use the BrailleNote
GPS to improve planning, safety, and
orientation.
9.
Won’t it just become outdated right
away?
I’ll learn how to teach the BrailleNote
GPS to my O&M students someday,
just not right now.
9.
You can purchase upgrades.
10.
Is it really fair to ask your students to wait
to get access to the same orientation
information that their sighted peers have
every day?
3.
4.
5.
10.
So, what can the
BrailleNote GPS
do?
Not just for advanced travelers!
Can be used with students of many ages
and ability levels
Information access
The BrailleNote GPS gives access to location
information
• street maps
• current address
• street names and intersections
• store names (including address and phone number)
This information allows students to
• search for businesses by name or category.
• preview routes before travel, similar to map reading
• “look around” to gather information about the travel
environment
• get the address and phone number of a business for
planning a bus or paratransit trip.
• get the names of businesses and other points of interest
when passing them.
Problem solving
BrailleNote GPS can be used to
• determine distance and direction
to a destination
• confirm line of travel
• create routes to addresses or commercial
locations, getting prompts about turns,
distances, and street names while traveling
• get bus stop announcements even if the
driver forgets to announce the stop.
Safety
• Decreases need for public assistance from
unreliable or dangerous strangers
• Gives users immediate access to addresses
and phone numbers in case they are lost or
need to call for help
• Can label landmarks, turns, or hazards along
the travel path
• Can be used to search out alternate routes if
path is blocked due to construction or
hazards
Concept Development
Can be used with young children to teach
• street names, maps, and address systems
• names of businesses nearby
• estimating distances
• cardinal directions
• basic braille skills
• geography and social studies core curriculum
concepts
• incidental information that sighted children are
exposed to in print
Makes trips in a car an engaging and
educational experience!
How to get your hands on a
BrailleNote GPS
How to get your hands on a
BrailleNote GPS
Work with your agency/school district:
• Ask your supervisor (i.e. sample letter of
justification)
• Write it into an IEP
• Look into grants
Work with your rehab counselor
The old-fashioned method of saving up and
buying one
Any Questions?
Contact us at the California School for the
Blind
– Jerry Kuns, (510) 794-3800 x 226
– Maya Delgado Greenberg, x 326