Search Paths to Technology

Index finger on a Bluetooth keyboard with iPad open to keyboarding app. Text: "Introducing the Keyboard: CVI"

Introducing the Keyboard - CVI Lesson and Tips

This lesson can be adapted to any age group from about five years and above. You will see this in many of my lessons, why, because this is a tool, use it to...
BrailleBuzz logo with text, "Beginning Braille App"

BrailleBuzz App Review

Teachers are buzzing about APH's new beginning braille letter app, BrailleBuzz! This is a sister app to the popular stand-alone BrailleBuzz toy. Both games...
Screenshot of Wacky Web Tales, the Beach web form with static text and text fields.

Wacky Text Field Lessons: Understanding Quick Nav Commands

Students who are completing online assignments often have to navigate to and then input text into a text field. Does your student know the screen commands...
Image of iPEVO document camera and text, "IPEVO Near and Distance"

IPEVO Camera: Near and Distance Viewing

Updated August 2020 Using IPEVO for Remote Instruction With many students starting the fall of 2020 with remote instruction, there is a critical need for...
Cartoon image of a girl holding a microphone and text, "It's My Job Podcast #11: Ginny Owens"

It's My Job Podcast #11

In the eleventh episode of It's My Job, Elora, a student in New York, interviews Ginny Owens, an award-winning singer/songwriter, author, and speaker. Elora...
Seesaw logo and text, "Remote Instruction"

Remote Instruction using Seesaw for Dual Media Learner

Seesaw is an online platform that had been used by schools prior to COVID- 19 in New Hampshire to communicate with parents and share student work. Once schools...
Cover page of ABC's of iOS: A VoiceOver Manual for Toddlers and Beyond! a collaboration between Diane Brauner & CNIB Foundation.

ABC's of iOS: A VoiceOver Manual for Toddlers and Beyond!

UPDATE! The ABC's of iOS manual is currently available FREE for everyone during COVID-19!  Are you a parent or teacher of a toddler, preschooler, or...
Image of a computer monitor displaying Uabacus app and text, "Teaching a Blind Braille Learner Remotely"

Teaching a Totally Blind Braille Learner Virtually: What worked and what didn’t

We all have been thrown into the deep end with regard to virtual/distance learning! Some of us had prepared our students and some didn’t. Some of us are tech...
Cartoon of young lady sitting on a couch with a Mac and text, "What Distance Learning Means to Me: 8th grader with low vision"

What Distance Learning Means to Me: 8th Grader with Low Vision

COVID-19 school closures have thrown students and teachers into the 21st century and for many students with visual impairments, this new classroom format has...
Orbit Reader beside tablet both showing "Hello", "Hi"; text, Orbit Teacher App"

Orbit Teacher App: Remote Learning

The Orbit Reader Teacher app is a free app available for Android devices and Windows computers. Here is what Igor Feinberg wrote about how the Orbit Reader...
Cartoon man with raised hand looking at computer at text, "Games Played on Zoom: VI Twist"

More Cool Games that can be Played on Zoom Part 2: VI Twist

The initial post, Six Cool Games that can be Played on Zoom, was a huge success! More than 2,000 educators/families read this post the first week it was...
Image of a student playing an iPad game and text, "Free O&M and Braille Webinars"

ObjectiveEd Daily Live Webinars

We are now offering two live webinars every day - one focused on Orientation & Mobility skills and Assistive Technology skills, and another focused on...
TpT logo and text, "Free During School Closures"

TeachersPayTeachers School Access: Free During School Closures

TeachersPayTeachers (TpT) is an online marketplace where teachers buy and sell original educational materials. TpT offers more than 3 million free and paid...
Cartoon image of teacher in front of computer running JAWS and text, "Free Classes on YouTube: Abacus, Orion TI-84, JAWS, iOS".

TBSVI Short-Term Programs Class Videos

Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired is a leader in our field. For many years, the TSBVI Short-Term Programs (STP) has excelled in teaching...
Photo of hands on a braille display and open app on iPhone with text, "Remote Braille Instruction: Braille AI Tutor"

ObjectiveEd and Microsoft Help Students Practice Braille During Pandemic

Thanks to a grant from Microsoft’s AI for Accessibility program, ObjectiveEd has developed Braille AI Tutor – an innovative system to enable students to...
Braille document on an iPad with Apple Pen writing corresponding print & Good Notes app. Text, "Interlining Braille: Remotely"

Interlining Braille: Remotely!

You (the TVI) and your general education classroom teacher are working in tandem to continue classroom instruction with your braille student during the COVID-...
Screenshot of Word Melodies Home screen with cartoon animals, musical notes and text, "Accessible Emerging Reader App"

Word Melodies: Emerging Reading and Writing App

Update: 4/8/20 Word Melodies version 1.0.1 is now available in Google Play as well as in the App Store. This new release fixed the bugs mentioned below. I am...
Screenshot of Connecting a computer to join conferencing call and text, "Remote Learning"

Preparing Middle School and High School Students with VIB for Remote Learning

Since our state has moved to remote learning while all public schools are closed for a minimum of three weeks because of the Coronavirus, students have had to...
Cartoon image of smiling boy laying a couch at home holding an iPad.

Objective Ed: How it works

To help students with visual impairments during this crisis, ObjectiveEd is providing free access to their digital curriculum to schools and teachers to use...
Image of red Help button and text, "Connecting families/students with volunteers to access curriculum during school closures."

Working Together to Support Students with Visual Impairments to Access Curriculum

The Idea We know that there are students with visual impairments who do not have full access to online curriculum, supplemental activities, or resources...
photo with 15 Accessibyte game icons and text, "Virtual Instruction: Accessibyte"

Virtual Instruction: Accessibyte Apps

Accessibyte Online is a series of accessible educational games designed specifically for students who are visually impaired or blind. Accessibyte is compatible...
Cartoon image of a teacher holding a sign saying, "New braille displays".

New Braille Displays at CSUN

Scott Davert wrote and posted this on the braille display users & Owner list serv. Reposted on Paths to Technology with permission. I'm not at CSUN, since...
Photo of a woman' hands using Dictation to text on a smart phone.

Accessibility Overview Workbook Series 4: Dictation

In this workbook series we will learn how to access basic accessibility features on a mobile device running iOS (iPad/iPhone). Today’s lesson will cover...
Photo of Aeden dictating on his iPad, image of dictation symbol and text, "Dictation"

Aeden's Journey on the iPad: Part 6 Dictation

Dictation Students LOVE to hear funny sounds read back to them. For a fun and easy introduction to dictation, have the student say a certain letter multiple...
Screenshot of Where Do Commas belong? worksheet with fun sentences with missing commas like, "Let's eat Grandma!"

Where Do Commas Belong? Grammar Activity

All students need to learn to use commas and have opportunities to practice using commas. Quite often braille students who are pulled out for language arts,...
Image of 2 RBD's: Chameleon 20 and Mantis Q40. Text, "APH Braille Displays"

Highlights from the ATIA 2020 Conference about APH Braille Products

I was very impressed with APH’s two new refreshable braille displays that will be released this year. The Chameleon 20 and Mantis Q40 will be available on...
Active Braille, a concave 40-cell refreshable braille display with cursor router keys, a Perkin’s style keyboard with a bar keys

Active Braille

The Active Braille is a forty-cell refreshable braille display with cursor router keys, a Perkin’s style keyboard, two triple action keys, and two spacebar...
Image of Orbit Braille Display and tablet with "Teach" in print; text, "Interactive Braille Lessons"

Introducing the Orbit Teacher Platform

Press release submitted to Paths to Technology by Orbit Research.  SONIPAT, INDIA – October 15, 2019 –  Orbit Research announced the launch of the Orbit...
Closeup image of keys on a Bluetooth keyboard and text, "VO 101"

VoiceOver 101: How to use VoiceOver for Typing

There are times when visually impaired students benefit from audio input and output when typing documents, as it provides feedback that can alert them to what...
Glad I am not a turkey poem.

Screen Reader Tech Activities: Thanksgiving Lesson Plan

How do you start teaching digital literacy skills to young students who are learning technology?  Memorizing a list of commands is B-O-R-I-N-G! How about...
Text, "BADIE: Benefits of Audio Description in Education"

BADIE Contest: Benefits of Audio Description in Education

Press Release: The American Council of the Blind's Audio Description Project (ACB-ADP) and the Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) are continuing...
photo of Specdrum Braille activity: muffin tin, tennis balls, braille flashcard, directions square, Specdrum mat, ring and app

Coding the Muffin Pan

In April, we introduced the idea of using Specdrums by Sphero to turn colors into sounds and sounds into learning. The Specdrum is a silicone ring that, when...
Screenshot of Google Docs with focus on dictation button and text, "Today is Sunday. I am writing using dictation."

Educational Example of Using Speech to Text and Dictation

When a student becomes frustrated expressing their ideas in writing in their primary learning medium and it has negative implications on learning and their...
Screenshot of CamScanner app with text, "Note-taking Applications Part 4: Android"

Note-taking Applications Part 4: Android

This post is the fourth in a series on using tablet applications to scan or open files and make markups (annotations) on the documents. In Note-taking...
Outline of hand with thumb, index and middle fingers extended and text, "iOS and iPadOS 13 Editing Gestures"

Editing Text iOS and iPadOS 13

iPadOS and iOS 13 have added these helpful editing gestures - perfect for students with low vision. Note: These gestures are mainstream gestures, not VoiceOver...
Graphic of title text: JAWS Topics: FINDing Your Way Around a Word Document

JAWS Topics: FINDing your way around a Word document

Hey y'all, it's been a while since I last posted but I am excited to get back at it today! I wanted to share a tip or strategy for navigating long Word...
Four types of styluses with title of post on picture

Note-taking Applications for the iPad: Part 3

In Part 1 of my posts on the topic of notetaking apps for the iPad, Note-taking Applications for the iPad: Part 1, I discuss two available iOS apps, PDF Expert...

Live Edits in Google Docs

Google Docs "live edits" - the ability to make real-time changes in a document by collaborators - is now accessible to users who rely on a screen reader (...
24 month old boy sitting at a child's table with fingers pressing keys on an APH 18 Refreshabraille.

Benefits of Using a Braille Display with Emerging Readers

Refreshable Braille Displays (RBD) are peripheral devices that display braille characters, usually be raising and lowering dots through holes in a flat surface...
Ipad displaying Chapter 3 of A Very Wimpy Kid with two-fingers making the Read All VoiceOver gesture.

Screen Reader for Low Vision Students?

For a variety of reasons, students who have functional vision are often resistant to using a screen reader. Should these students be introduced to a screen...

Pages