As a long time user of RFB&D I think the service is quite good.  It is
interesting to note the numbers in the article that indicate that 2 out of
3 people the organization serves are learning disabled.  The article gives
references to local info on RFB&D.  The main web site for the organization
is http://www.rfbd.org

Kelly

>Published Tuesday, March 23, 1999, in thePhiladelphia Inquirer.
>------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>For troubles with reading, help is on tape
>
>A nonprofit group helps the learning-disabled and blind through books on
>tape.
>
>
>By Gloria A. Hoffner
>INQUIRER SUBURBAN STAFF
>
>
>PAOLI  -- Kristina Pakan-Poole used to cringe the moment any teacher
>assigned a book report.
>Before she opened the first page, she said, she knew she would fail. Either
>she would be unable to finish on time or she would not understand a word
>she read.
>"It was terrible. Sometimes my dad would read the book to me, but after a
>while that got hard because of his work," Pakan-Poole said.
>"When I heard about [books on tape], I was halfway through The Catcher in
>the Rye and I knew I wasn't going to finish on time. With the tape, I was
>able to finish on time, and I finally comprehended what was happening in
>the story."
>Pakan-Poole, 19, is one of 725 school-age students in the five-county
>Philadelphia region who have used more than 5,000 books on tape provided by
>Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic.
>
>The 50-year-old nonprofit organization is launching a campaign to inform
>the public that the service is available to secondary school and college
>students, according to Pat O'Halloran, outreach officer for the
>Pennsylvania chapter.
>"We started as an organization for the blind, but now two out of three of
>the people using our service have a learning disability," O'Halloran said.
>The organization, which has its headquarters in Princeton, provides
>students in third grade through doctoral programs with full-text recordings
>of class-assigned materials.
>To apply for the service, O'Halloran said, a student must be identified as
>having a learning disability.
>Students who attend schools that subscribe to the organization receive the
>service for free. An annual school member fee ranges from $300 to $800,
>depending on the number of books used.
>Students at nonmember schools pay $50 the first year and a $25 annual fee
>for the service.
>
>Every student who is eligible for the service receives a free desktop
>recording machine from the Library of Congress that is on loan for life.
>Smaller hand-held machines can be purchased for $100 to $250.
>Once enrolled, O'Halloran said, a student may request titles from the
>organization's 80,000-book inventory and consult the organization's
>librarian for available reference materials.
>The organization's Pennsylvania chapter, located in Bryn Mawr, has a Web
>site where members can search for titles. Tapes are usually shipped within
>48 hours and are on loan for one year, with renewals.
>"If a student requests a book we don't have, they supply us with two copies
>of the book and we'll arrange for the book to be read on tape," O'Halloran
>said.
>The recording machine allows the speed at which the book is read to be
>adjusted to each user, she said. Tapes are recorded with signals marking
>the end of a page and the end of a chapter so the student may better follow
>the text as he or she listens.
>Studies conducted by the organization have shown that students reading
>along with the tapes a minimum of three times a week for one year increase
>their reading comprehension by two to three grade levels, O'Halloran said.
>James Peterson, 19, a senior at Delaware Valley Friends School, has been
>using the books on tape for six years.
>He has attention deficit disorder and found that wearing headphones to
>listen to the text as he read helped his concentration.
>This fall, he said, he will be a student at Neumann College studying
>international marketing with a minor in Catholic theology. On campus, he
>plans to continue to use books on tape.
>"This is just another learning technique, another way of taking notes,"
>Peterson said.
>
>For More Information
>For more information, call 610-527-2222. The Web address is
>www.libertynet.org/rfbdphl


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