[Athen] Substitute for braille writer for math when blind

[Jeffrey Dell]

I haven’t had that in a while but when I did I had the student using the same symbols and notation that you would use when typing equations into excel. I would usually have them do it into a plain text document. At least by teaching them the symbols that are used for excel they would leave The class with another useful skill which is creating basic Excel formulas. I’ve also had students using LaTex in the past as well.
Jeff

Sent from my iPhone.  please excuse errors from using Apple's dictation feature.


> On Nov 2, 2018, at 11:08 AM, Deborah Armstrong <armstrongdeborah at fhda.edu> wrote:

> 

> I was asked this question twice last week, about two different situations and I don’t have an answer.

>  

> The concern is that a blind student who is not good at math needs to take remedial courses. But the student’s Braille skills, or at least nemeth skills aren’t that great.

>  

> The book is available both from Learning Ally and in Braille. Reading the textbook is not a concern. The difficulty is in working problems themselves.

>  

> The only way I know to work problems in a math course when blind is to use a Braille writer and Nemeth, or possibly an abacus to replace a calculator – except most people have calculators on their phones now.

>  

> The problem with the Braille writer is that you do need to be proficient with Braille. But even if you are, it’s hard to work with a sighted tutor or instructor. They can’t see the steps you are taking to work a problem.

>  

> Is anyone using an alternative technique for working problems eyes-free?

>  

> --Debee

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