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From time to time Joshua loves a fun book for his bed time story alternative. There are books out there such was ‘Where’s Wally’. These books are extremely busy however this is is by design. The aim of the book isn’t so much a story (in fact there isn’t one) but to search for  people and objects hidden within the page. Joshua loves these books and doesn’t let his Nystagmus hold him back. Partially sighed or not you need to have patience to search through these types of books. We use Joshua’s CCTV to help him look at the pages in more detail magnifying the pages. I took some photos of him.

A comment was made on a Forum post about high contrast books and toys and thought I would have a browse through Joshua’s vast collection and made some recommendations (He has always enjoyed looking at books). I have picked out some of the more bold and simple books from his collection.

We still have books from when Joshua was a little baby so I also picked out a book from the ‘That’s not my’ collection as these are fantastic to look at and have a touch aspect to them also which is great for babies.

That’s Not My…

A great book for babies. A hardback book with hard pages. There are loads of other titles in the ‘That’s Not My’ collection that contain clear bold writing and pictures. Each page has a touch aspect to it with different textures to explore.

Below is a sample of how these books are presented inside. Joshua has most of the ‘that’s not my…’ collection which his sister has also enjoyed. On the page shown below the Monkeys tongue is a fuzzy felt type texture.

Miffy

Amelia has a set of Miffy book which I have included in this post as they are clear and simple. These books came in a box of around 10.

Below is a sample of how these books are presented inside. Each page typically contains the story on the left page on a white back ground and a simple picture on the right side of the page. As you can see the layout is minimal and not busy. It is however a shame that the font isn’t a little larger using some of the empty space on the page.

YES NO

We have recently using this book at night time. ITs not a story but as it contains a single word on each page we let Joshua read the story as its good for him to find, identify and read out the work.

Once again this book has a minimal layout with bright bold colours and font. There are a couple of pages where the font clashes with the background but other than this another easy simple book for partially sighted children.

Sweet Dream Maisy

There are various Maisy books out there, this is one of Joshua’s Favourite bedtime stories. The books are of a similar look and feel of the Maisy children’s cartoon. this Book has large pages which and a little more busy than my previous reviews but ideal for older children 2-4 years.

This book appears thicker and that’s because the last page contains some LED lights. So as well as being a great bedtime story there is a button on the last page to light up the sky on the book. If the room is dark then these lights show up, and your son or daughter will be able to see them, so there’s some visual stimulation

Peppa Goes Swimming

Everyone knows and loves Peppa pigs (Well kids do – by the way I just found out that there is a PEPPA PIG WORLD in the new forest) Once again there are lots of Peppa books out there.

As you can see from the below the pictures are clear bold and simple, and not to busy with detail etc. The story is separated from the pictures with a white bubble back ground and black text which makes it easier to read. Joshua cant read books himself, apart from YES NO, but when reading this type of book he can follow and see the words.

To be honest there are 1000’s of books out there which are ideal for partially sighted babies, toddlers children etc. these are just some recommendations through our experiences.

If anyone else has any recommendations please post to the forum or comment.

A lovely book but a word of caution for partially sighted children.

Joshua loves his books, he always has. For Christmas Joshua was given a Peter Pan popup book. With so much excitement built up from opening all his presents he unwrapped this present to find a book and immediately opened it however he wasn’t expecting a pop up book (this was the first one he had) the very first page is a pop out Big Ben clock which extends out of the page into a point. When opening the book this point caught the top of his eye lid and started to bleed – an unexpected injury from a book, but this goes to show it can happen. Due to Joshuas Nystagmus he does tend to hold books close to his face so he can see, so for most children that are not partially sighted this ‘pop out’ wouldn’t normally cause injury.

Don’t get me wrong this is a lovely book and Joshua now reads it knowing exactly what to expect when opening it. If you have a partially sighted child that receives a pop up book as a gift (or you’re buying one) it’s worth opening it first to check for any dangerous pop outs. It so happens the other pages are not as pointy and sharp.

Taken from our local paper, the Suffolk Free Press.

After reading a Free Press story about little Joshua Bacon, who suffers problems with his eyesight, Sudbury police officers have bought the three-year-old some much-needed equipment.

And this week his mum, Jen, said she wanted to thank the police for their kindness from the bottom of her heart.

Joshua has a condition called congenital nystagmus, which affects one in 2,000 people, causing problems with their sight. He was diagnosed with the condition as a baby.

Now, thanks to the police, Joshua is the proud owner of a tilted desk, some extra large-print story books and a special desktop magnifier for reading, which was donated from the Shona Gill Fund at Sudbury Police Station.

Jen said: “They got in touch after seeing us in theFree Press and kindly bought Joshua some much-needed equipment.

“We would like to say thank you to them for the generous donations as it wouldn’t have been possible without the story.”

For the full story, see this week’s Free Press.

Published on Thu 16th December 2010 11:09 AM

I came across this article when on the RNIB website. This device could be perfect for Joshua for reading and listening to Ebooks.

Source: RNIB.co.uk

Amazon’s Kindle talking menus promise more choice for blind and partially sighted readers

Congratulations

Today (27 August) the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) congratulates Amazon for improving the new Kindle ebook reader with important features that make it more accessible to blind and partially sighted people. In particular, the addition of audible menus should significantly improve the independent use of the Kindle by everyone who struggles to read standard print.

Accessibility features

Earlier this year the iPad was released with a range of built-in accessibility features. With the Kindle also building accessibility features in as standard, it is a great step forward in making reading accessible to the many people who cannot read standard print, such as those who have sight loss, dyslexia or a disability that makes it difficult to hold a book or turn a page.

Named ‘Voice Guide’, the audible menus should allow readers who cannot read standard print to navigate the Kindle independently. RNIB and other members of the Right to Read Alliance particularly welcome this feature, which can be used to select an ebook and activate the ‘Read to Me’ facility, that in turn outputs the text of an ebook as synthetic speech.

Changing expectations

RNIB’s Principal Manager of Digital Accessibility, Robin Spinks, says: “New technology is rightly changing the expectations of blind and partially sighted consumers. By embedding accessibility features, products like Amazon’s Kindle and the iPad are recognising that all consumers, including blind and partially sighted people, have a right to read and I look forward to a time when all devices come to market with accessibility built-in as standard.”

However, while audible menus and the ‘Read Me’ facility allow people who cannot read standard print to enjoy a greater range of books on the Kindle, a significant proportion still remain closed to them. Unlike the ebooks available on Apple’s iBooks app, the ability to convert text to synthetic speech is not available as standard for all Kindle ebooks, as it is sometimes disabled by publishers.

Right to Read Alliance

Chair of the Right to Read Alliance, Anna Tylor, says: “We are delighted that many publishers have chosen to enable text to speech on their ebooks, but it is still frustrating that not all ebooks can be read on the Kindle in this way. Text to speech enabled ebooks vastly increase the range of books accessible to people with print impairments, particularly when unabridged audio editions are not available.”

RNIB and the Right to Read Alliance would like to see all ebooks enabled with text to speech, across every platform. To that end, they are delighted to be working with the Publishers Association, the Publishers Licensing Society, the Association of Authors’ Agents and the Society of Authors to explore the full range of opportunities and challenges that text to speech enabled ebooks present for each stakeholder community, and are outlining ways forward to ensure that people with print impairments can access the full range of ebooks available using text to speech.

Richard King

Richard King, is blind and uses a screen reader. He says: “With audible menus I’ll be able to use the Kindle independently. But until I’m able to read using text to speech on all Kindle books, my reading choices are still limited. It’s great that some manufacturers and publishers are making it possible for me to read more books, but I really hope that others will soon do the same, so I can have the same choice as my sighted friends.”

As Amazon’s Kindle is new to the market, RNIB has not undertaken a full accessibility audit of the product yet. When this is completed more information about its accessibility features will be available from RNIB’s website. For more information from RNIB on ebooks visit www.rnib.org.uk/ebooks

Joshua’s playgroup has recently receiving funding  for a ClearView CCTV Magnifier.

Objects placed on the movable reading table can be magnified on the crystal clear display. This is a great tool to help Joshua with reading small font, viewing tiny objects as well as having fun magnifying objects. These photos were taken at playgroup showing Joshua magnifying a leaf and his hand.

The design enables easy magnification of any object at the twist of a button. A great device to help Joshua. A big big thankyou to his Playgroup and Visual Imparement Team for sourcing this. This is a great example to show there is help available out there you.

I’m working on improving the NystagmusBlog to make it easier to read for users that are partially sighted. I have increased the font size making the blog font easier to read.

I have also add a ‘Zoom Tip’ to show users how to ZOOM IN or ZOOM OUT using keys on your keyboard.

I hope this helps to enhance our website, comments welcome.

This has really helped Joshua with his drawring at Pre school and I can imagine will be very helpful when he starts to write.

http://www.crossboweducation.com/Pencil_grips.htm#Writing Slope

I have purchased a book to lend to Joshua’s teachers and to keep at home and its brilliant. Its called

Including children with visual difficulties in the foundation stage.

featherstone education

julie jennings

http://www.acblack.com/featherstone/Books/details.aspx?isbn=9781408114490&title=+Including+Children+with+Visual+Difficulties

Its Joshua’s 3rd Christmas this year. The first Christmas Josh was too young to understand what was going on, a little like his sister Amelia. The 2nd Christmas josh was more aware but to be honest he would have been happy with a big card board box.

This is the first year Joshua has had an advent calendar. The problem we found was that the numbers on the calendar are far too small for Joshua to read, this wasn’t helped by the busy background. Josh loves to get involved with games reading and counting numbers, especially games that involve opening doors to find chocolate

When we purchased Joshua’s calendar it didn’t cross our minds to think about the size of the numbers on the doors (thinking back it should have been obvious), however  we know now and hopefully this post will help others

Next year I will make sure I hunt around and choose an advent calendar more appropriate. I’m sure the RNIB or such organisations produce there own calendars more suitable, or alternatively write on the doors in a clear visible pen.