>New Tool Helps Blind Students Learn Math
>
>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - "Great." "Perfect." "Fantastic." Using a
>combination of Braille and speech, a teaching device with a deep,
>computerized voice can offer instant praise to blind and visually
>impaired students struggling to grasp mathematics.
>
>
>Introduced on Thursday, the Speech Assisted Learning system, dubbed
>SAL, is a flat, notebook-sized tool that can help students tackle
>activities ranging from learning to count to solving difficult calculus
>problems in Braille, all with limited attention from a teacher.
>
>"It's an absolute new era in education for blind children and adults
>because it puts the student in charge of learning for the first time,"
>Sally Mangold, SAL's creator and a visually impaired educator, said in
>an interview.
>
>"Blind people who are literate are more employable, more independent
>and more satisfied," she told Reuters after a news conference at which
>the device was demonstrated.
>
>Students insert a special Braille sheet with a barcode into the device
>and its computer reads the words and symbols on the page aloud. A
>student can press a character or symbol and SAL will pronounce it.
>
>A second press will spell a word or define what a certain mathematical
>symbol means. SAL can even describe a picture.
>
>The device also helps teach Braille, a system of writing for the blind
>that uses raised dots felt with the fingers.
>
>Although experts urge its use, Braille has been taught less frequently
>in recent years as more blind children have been put in regular
>classrooms and other tools such as audio tapes have become more
>popular. "We can teach Braille in ways we never thought before," said
>Mangold.
>
>The SAL device, which costs $4,600, is made by Freedom Scientific of
>St. Petersburg, Florida.
>
>BRAILLE TEACHER SHORTAGE
>
>The SAL system also may help combat a severe shortage of Braille
>teachers.
>
>"Any tool, especially one like this, that is going to facilitate
>learning how to read Braille is going to have an outstanding reception
>in the blind and visually impaired community," said John Stanford,
>president of the International Organization for the Blind, a Florida
>group that promotes the teaching of Braille in early childhood.
>
>The foundation estimated that as many as 5,000 more Braille teachers
>are needed to educate 93,000 students below the age of 21 who have a
>visual impairment.
>
>In the United States, the American Foundation for the Blind estimated
>that of the 10 million people who are legally blind or visually
>impaired, only 10% of students, or about 5,600 people, and 8% of
>adults, or 104,000 people, use Braille as their primary tool to read.
>
>Many more use it for simpler activities including reading floor numbers
>on an elevator or playing cards.
>
>The SAL system will never replace teachers but should expand learning
>opportunities. Mangold said the US Department of Education has
>expressed an interest in buying some of the devices.
>
>"The main thing we do with this device that we've never done before
>(for the blind) is listen to the consumer," said Mangold, who has
>received suggestions to add geography and astronomy exercises to SAL.


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