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Mark - School District Southwestern United States
Ginger Barnes - Vision Teacher (USA)
Geraldene - Occupational Therapist (USA)
Theresa Postello, M.A. Teacher of the Visually Impaired, (USA)
Jerry Kuns, Technology Specialist (USA)
James Duffield - Intervention Specialist, Columbus Schools (USA)
Mark Itinerant - Vision Teacher (School District southwestern United States)
Mark is an itinerant teacher of the visually impaired in a mid size city in the southwest United States . He graduated with a Master’s Degree from the teacher preparation program at the University of Arizona and has taught for the last ten years.
His responsibilities involve working with students who range from kindergarten to the 12th grade. His students have an array of visual impairments and are on both academic and functional educational tracks. Mark also acts as an educational consult within the district providing support to his students’ educational teams.
When asked what he is most passionate about in relation to working with students who are blind and visually impaired Mark responded,
“I love to teach reading and writing. I have a strong love and drive for pushing and teaching literacy, whether it's teaching a student to read Braille, print, picture symbols, or tactual symbols. I also like to keep looking for the "next step" that a student can get to. Once we've reached one plateau, it's time to look for the next one.”
For the past year Mark has been working with a young student and the Mountbatten Brailler. He reports that it was inherited from the previous teacher who had worked with one of his students. Although he had been exposed to the Mountbatten he had not used one to any extent. Mark’s student uses the Mountbatten to complete academic tasks, such as story and sentence completion, mathematics and pre and post tests in the classroom.
“My Student gets instant feedback while Brailling, which he loves. And, even with the voice low or off, he is catching errors more independently and immediately when they occur. He enjoys showing his classmates what he can do on it, which has provided some "social" opportunities for him. He has also taken off learning the Braille code as using the Mountbatten is very motivating for him (he calls it by name, or as the "Braille Computer."). It has also definitely given him a boost with self-esteem in that he is seeing how much he is learning.”
Mark indicated that at first his student was a bit hesitant to use the Mountbatten. The embossing and speech feedback provided a bit too much sensory stimulation. However, with a bit of instruction they were able decrease the noise and as a result Mark’s student loves to work on the Mountbatten to complete his assignments. He also gets a big kick out of the “Australian Guy” living inside it.
Says Mark regarding the Mountbatten Brailler,
“It's getting my student interested in literacy and technology, which is what I want. I find it to be quite user-friendly and the instruction book to be well-written and easy to follow. Plus, it's a great intro in getting students' feet wet in technology for students with visual impairment. Seeing his face light up when I tell him, "We'll do this assignment/task on the Mountbatten" is great!”
Ginger Barnes - Vision Teacher (USA)
When a fourth grader new to braille was added to her list of students last year, Ginger Barnes knew she needed to find creative ways to make this new form of literacy fun. Her best stroke of creativity, says the Hardin County, Kentucky vision teacher, was in her choice of writing tools.
With the Mountbatten Pro in the classroom, the child who is blind is able to produce all of her work on a machine that is not only state-of-the-art technology, but also passes the rigorous tests of kid approval. "She likes it because it looks cool," Barnes says of her student. "It's brightly colored, and she has just enough vision to appreciate that. And it looks trendy and technical." Add to those advantages that the classroom teacher -- who has never learned braille -- can just plug a keyboard into the Mountbatten and type all handouts and blackboard information for instant braille hardcopy, and that the student can connect a printer and produce print hardcopy of her brailled assignments, and you have an absolutely winning situation. Barnes says she thinks every braille reading student should have a Mountbatten Pro in the classroom.
Geraldene - Occupational Therapist (USA)
As an occupational therapist working with former premmies who have weak hands, I have been excited to have the use of the Mountbatten with students who need the lighter touch to develop muscle memory in their hands with the hands and fingers in the correct position i.e., curved. If they start on the Perkins they have to substitute arm muscles and get in poor positions that can harm joints and are incredibly difficult to correct because the muscle memory is in the wrong muscles. I am also seeing that the auditory feedback it provides helps these students learn the finger patterns more quickly and that they can then work more independently sooner. I am seeing a possible hierarchy in learning Braille writing starting with the Mountbatten and then progressing to a less expensive Perkins Brailler as we strengthen their hands/fingers.
Thank you,
Geraldene G. (GeeGee) Larrington, MA, OTR.L
Occupational Therapist
Arizona State School for the Deaf and the Blind
AER Net
Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2002 11:14 AM
To: aernet@list.pitt.edu
Subject: Re: [aernet] Mountbatten vs. BrailleLite
After 2 years learning Braille on a Perkins my totally blind student got a MB Pro this year and loves it. She is a first grader in a regular 1st grade class and is very bright. I am still learning about it and the classroom teacher likes that she can plug in a keyboard and "braille" a lesson for her student.
Sent: Monday, June 09, 2003 10:43 AM
To: aernet@list.pitt.edu
Subject: Re: [aernet] Mountbatten Brailler
We got one year before last for my first grade braille student. She loves it and her teachers like the print to braille and braille to print function. It has really helped "ease" the regular education teacher's worry about communicating with her. My only complaint is that the company we bought from in Atlanta promised ( after a 2 hour "training " session) to come back and give us a more comprehensive training on all it can do. For that reason, we have not explored all the possibilities of the Mountbatten but what we have used has been very effective and helpful.
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2003 11:19 PM
To: aernet@list.pitt.edu
Subject: Re: [aernet] Mountbatten Brailler
I used the Mountbatten with an older student who was beginning to learn Braille as a 6th grader. It was the perfect tool to start with as my student needed that immediate feedback of what she was writing when she began to learn Braille. I would think that the same would be true of a kindergarten student. Now my student is using a Braillenote and we continue to use the Mountbatten as a braille printer when she needs to print out anything in Braille. In the 3 years we've had the Mountbatten we've had no problems with the device. I would recommend it!
Sent: Friday, June 13, 2003 10:57 AM
To: aernet@list.pitt.edu
Subject: Re: [aernet] Mountbatten Brailler
My daughter is about to finish kindergarten. She has a MP Pro at school and has been using one at home for about a year and a half. It's been durable for us --we haven't had any problems with it. As far as typing speed, I braille on it fairly quickly and haven't had a problem with it keeping up. You don't always get all of the speech when brailling fast but the embossing is all there.
The only hesitation my daughter's team had with purchasing the MB was that some members thought she should go right to a Braille Note, as several other students in our district are doing. For various reasons I argued against this and pushed for her to use a braillewriter for the next few years. She is also a print reader.
You are welcome to e-mail me if you have any questions about the device. There are excellent MB materials on the SETBC website. These include a user-friendly instruction manual and a set of terrific lesson plans for emergent writers learning on the MB (K & 1st Grade).
Sent: Monday, June 16, 2003 1:44 PM
To: aernet@list.pitt.edu
Subject: RE: [aernet] Mountbatten Brailler
Not only have we had good results using the Mountbatten with young braille users, but also with the para-pros we train to work with them. One student, who is curious but hates to be directed in his learning, learned to do many unsought functions - disabling the function keys, etc. It made me wish I were more technical in order to direct him to other fun projects.
I can't imagine why we reading teachers didn't demand instant feedback earlier.
Theresa Postello, M.A. Teacher of the Visually Impaired, (USA)
Theresa Postello, M.A.Teacher of the Visually Impaired San Mateo County Office of Education California
Currently, I have three Braille students in my special day class who all have access to Mountbatten Brailler’s. My 5th grade students love the MB! It gives them direct access to writing and reading hard copy Braille. They comfortably use it as an embosser for their electronic note takers. They print their work from the MB for their mainstream classroom teachers, i.e., spelling tests and answers to quizzes. With the MB Pro, my new Brailler learner is getting speech feedback on writing Braille characters which aids him with basic reading and writing skills. The MB is a valuable system that I use at all levels of instruction."
Jerry Kuns, Technology Specialist (USA)
From: Jerry Kuns
Sent: Monday, October 04, 2004 4:34 PM
To: Jim Sullivan - Optelec
Subject: RE: MB Web Page Jerry KunsTechnology Specialist California School for the Blind 500 Walnut Avenue Fremont, CA 94536
I see the Mountbatten Brailler as an excellent learning tool for Braille learners both young and old. It is easy to use the ergonomic keyboard with a light touch so finger strength is not an issue for writing and doodling. With speech feedback for characters and/or words, new Braille learners get reinforcement without direct teacher intervention. Reading is enhanced with hardcopy Braille because of the page layout and formatting that adds to understanding. The flexibility of the Mountbatten allows print readers to have access to what has been Brailled and indeed allows non-Braille readers to produce materials for Braille users.
It is particularly useful in math as it provides positional structure aiding in understanding math concepts, as well as developing pre-computer skills: With the basic editor, files may be created, modified, stored, retrieved, printed, brailled, and deleted.
James Duffield - Intervention Specialist, Columbus Schools (USA)
I love the way the Mountbatten allows students to be more independent. We were teaching Braille to a first grader who was struggling with learning her letters. When we use the Mountbatten with her the feedback of the voice helped her. It, also, motivated her. She would sit during free time trying to see what letters key combinations made. We no longer had to stand next to her during lessons to make sure she was working. We have had several students use the Mountbatten to learn Braille. They appear to learn faster. They seem more motivated! That's why we bought one for our resource room.
James
James Duffield
Intervention Specialist
Columbus Public Schools
