Electronic Tears

After school today I went to the basement, carrying my laptop under my arm, to prepare for tomorrow's lessons for my daughter.   I connected my computer to the external monitor and pulled up Duxbury, the software package that chews up text and spits out braille with beautiful accuracy.   This tool is no small player in the world of VI, something I am only now beginning to understand.   It is making from a software perspective materials ready to send to the embosser, the printer that prints braille characters instead of in toner.

I pulled up file after file, expertly prepared by my daughter's braillest, Ms. B., so that all I needed to do was select 'File --> Emboss' as opposed to the more traditional, 'File --> Print'.   Once done, a very loud sound emanates from the mechanical room where the embosser is located, as rapid printing of dots begins to happen.  

It was at this point that tears welled up in my eyes.   We are incredibly fortunate to have the technology my daughter needs to learn at the rapid rate she prefers to keep her happy and engaged.  

First, my parents got my daughter a braillewriter to use at home that not only worked well but could read and speak the braill characters as she typed them.   We learned about Voiceover, an option on Apple products, that speaks everything and anything she does so she can navigate and use apps like a sighted person can.  We decided to get a refreshable braille display so that my daughter can electronically read books, eliminating the need to print large books for her.

All of those things have been transformative in their own way.  Each one has enabled my daughter to learn independently and be successful—and feel empowered as opposed to dependent on someone with sight.   The embosser and Duxbury software to accompany it has taken things to a whole new level.  It has created opportunities where we had no option.   And the timing was ideal, perfect even.

We are incredibly fortunate, I am very aware of the incredible gift of technology we have in our home, while we going nowhere, where we will remain for some time now.   It has been a joy working with my daughter, trying to keep up with my daughter, and seeing her learn.

I'll be glad when the children are back at school, but for now, things are going well so far at home, thanks in large part to the exciting technology options we have at home.

The Big Boy Update:  My son's art teacher's assignment this week is to create a piece of art in the style of Andy Goldsworthy, who happens to be one of my favorite artists ever.  I have several of his books that my son has looked through with great interest in the past.   He is thinking about what to do for his project today.  I'm interested in what he'll decide to do.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  At the end of the school day today my daughter sat down at my computer to practice her typing.   She said to Shane, who has been helping her during the school day, and me, "If I type swear words, it will say them."  She giggled and then proceeded to spell several swear words correctly.   We gave her a little advice on her spelling of the word 'dam' but otherwise didn't make much of it since she didn't say the swear words herself.   Loophole exploited!