If I could add my two cents worth, here in the Denver and surroundings' public 
school systems, I've been witness to the same treatment of kids and it is a 
problem that each year seems to get worse.  They might have one or two teachers 
to cover the entire school system that if you're lucky might know just enough 
JAWS to get the child started and has no Window-eyes training at all.  As far 
as a Braille note taker, they no they exist but the parents are too many times 
told that they'd half to find training for them to use it outside the school 
system, and that's only if the parents can provide the money to pay for both 
the equipment and training.  I understand that parents half to provide pens, 
pencils and paper, for their kids but even if the parent can provide the note 
taker themselves, giving the child a note taker then saying "good luck," seems 
like a bad way to get a child started especially since the schools barely teach 
Braille any more to begin with.  I have in the past and will do so again, 
volunteered my time on evenings and weekends and in fact will be working with a 
seven year old over the Summer on just this very thing to make sure he does get 
a good head start on using the tools of today. 

-----Original Message-----
From: erik burggraaf [mailto:[email protected]] 
Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2010 6:16 AM
To: Jody W. Ianuzzi
Cc: GW Micro (List)
Subject: Re: Pet Peeve

And is there any context for this, or are you just trowing it out there for 
discussion?  I just happen to be the guy who does this very thing in the 
Province of Ontario, IE provide the training for children using screen readers, 
braille displays, embossers, and notetaking devices.  Not that I actually have 
very many kids on my books.  Three at the moment, but teaching kids is far and 
away the best part of my job.  So they don't all get left hanging out to dry 
with there equipment.

Best,

Erik Burggraaf
Join me Wednesday, May 26th at CNIB Tech Aids fair in Toronto.  I'll be at the 
assistive computing booth from 2 to 4 in the afternoon and circulating for the 
rest of the day.
http://www.erik-burggraaf.com
888-255-5194

On 2010-05-10, at 8:41 PM, Jody W. Ianuzzi wrote:

> My pet peeve is when the school system hands a 7 year old an electronic note
> taker or add a screen reader to a computer but they don't give the child any
> instruction on how to use it.
> 
> This happens all too many times because the teachers don't know how they
> work but they expect the child to just figure it out.
> 
> JODY
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