APH will be proctoring the Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competency (CPACC) and the Web Accessibility Specialist (WAS) certification exams for the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) on October 9, at the APH Annual Meeting, to take place at the Hyatt Downtown in Louisville, Ky.

You may find more information about the exams in the IAAP certification website. You do not have to be a conference attendee to take the exam. Those interested in taking the exam must register in advance on the IAAP certification website and follow their instructions.

If you have questions after reviewing the IAAP information, please contact Maria Delgado at mdelgado@aph.org.

We encourage everyone who has used our products in an education or rehabilitation setting within the last year to take a few minutes to reflect on your experience with our products. Please respond to this brief 11-item questionnaire to help APH:

• measure our performance and improve our products and our product development processes
• gather input for our strategic planning and product development priorities
• collect APH performance data for the US Department of Education

All responses will remain confidential. Your honest feedback about our performance and product effectiveness does make a difference. Thank you for your time and thoughts!

Survey Response Deadline: Monday, September 30, 2019

Take the survey now at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/N6R2QBY.

We are currently looking for field testers to test a new technology device that helps students with early literacy and braille skills. If interested, please contact Rachel Bishop at rbishop@aph.org.

1-03567-00—$69

These graphic organizers are designed to help young students visualize sets of five and ten, thus helping to develop subitizing skills – the ability to instantly see “how many.”

Features

Supports the development and understanding of:

• Counting and cardinality
• Composing and decomposing numbers
• Place value
• Addition and subtraction

Includes

• 2 ten frames
• 2 five frames
• Tactile tokens

I-M-ABLE Kit with print book: 1-00351-00 — $495
I-M-ABLE Kit with electronic book 1-00352-00 — $469

The I-M-ABLE book and its accompanying APH materials are designed to motivate, engage, and reward children who are candidates for braille reading instruction, but who are struggling with the beginning stages of learning letters and sounds.

The Individualized Meaning-Centered Approach to Braille Literacy Education is described in detail in the 2016 book I-M-ABLE by Dr. Diane P. Wormsley, published by AFB Press. Success is built into each lesson, so students are rewarded with progress, further engaging them in the learning experience.

Features

• Reading instruction centered on continuously analyzing the strengths and needs of students
• Engages students by using key vocabulary words and phrases, based on their experiences and interests
• An invaluable resource for helping students with mild to moderate cognitive impairments or other difficulties make progress in braille reading and writing skills

Includes

• I-M-ABLE book (available in print or USB flash drive electronic file)
• Teacher instruction booklet
• I-M-ABLE teacher workshop training videos (link to videos provided in teacher instruction booklet) and handouts
• The APH Word PlayHouse Kit – assists with development of phonics skills
• Four nonslip, desktop APH sorting trays for playing games with word cards
• Histogram board with stickers
• Meter tape with .5 and 1-cm gradations (large print and braille)

APH and Vispero have partnered to make the world’s most popular screen reader (JAWS®) and screen magnifier (ZoomText) available to APH customers at lower prices! Using the new Software License Portal, teachers and administrators can manage their licenses and move them between computers. Licenses are registered directly to an email address.

JAWS (Job Access with Speech) D-11002-ED $90
For only $90 per annual subscription, students who are blind and visually impaired can easily navigate, read and write documents, and create presentations from their school PC, remote desktop, or from home. JAWS provides speech and braille output for the most popular computer applications.

ZoomText D-11003-ED $80
For only $80 per annual subscription, students with low vision can enlarge and enhance everything on their computer screen. ZoomText also echoes your typing and essential program activity and automatically reads documents, web pages, and email.

Aligned with the NCTM standards, this diagnostic assessment measures essential mathematical concepts and skills for students in grades Pre-K through ninth. Administration time is usually 30-90 minutes and features ten subtests that cover basic concepts, operations, and applications.

Braille Student Kit – Contracted 5-65703-00 $239
Braille Student Kit – Uncontracted 5-65704-00 $239
Each braille kit offers three spiral-bound volumes presented in UEB with Nemeth. Contracted and uncontracted kits are available separately. Ten Test Record Forms are included in this kit. Teacher Guides for these kits must be purchased separately.

Teacher Guides for Braille Student Kit 7-65704-00 $209
This kit contains three spiral-bound volumes paired with the teacher’s selection of either contracted or uncontracted braille student books. Each math item is presented with student content on the left (in print for administrators not proficient in braille) and a scripted teacher administration guide with correct responses on the right.

Large Print Kit 7-65703-00 $349
This kit is offered in three spiral-bound volumes. It also contains three Teacher Guides, ten Test Record Forms, and ten Written Computation Examinee Booklets.
Note: Publisher materials are needed for administration of the large print edition. These materials must be ordered directly from the test publisher: Pearson Clinical Assessment, 1-800-627-7271.

Adult – 1-08179-00 $12
Junior with Head Strap – 1-08180-00 $35
Junior Clip-On – 1-08182-00 $30
Infant with Head Strap – 1-08181-00 $35

The UltraLens Topaz lenses reduce glare and filter the amount of indoor/outdoor blue light exposure from computer screens, overhead lights, fluorescent lights, and the outdoors. These lenses help to provide a more comfortable viewing experience for the user by enhancing contrast, and reducing eye strain and fatigue.

MATT Connect 1-03941-00 $2,995.00

Unlock new and exciting features by downloading the Matt Connect recent Prodigi update. Simply connect to Wi-Fi and your Matt Connect will automatically prompt you to install the update.

New features include:

• Desmos Calculator – Plot graphs and solve equations with this scientific calculator.
• Notes Application – Quickly create handwritten or typed notes.
• Gallery Management – It is easier than ever to manage your images with a more powerful and flexible gallery. New gallery features include:
  • Quick settings menu
  • Support for lower case letters in image name
  • Ability to renumber the first page in a document
  • “Go to page” function in a document
  • Ability to create up to 4 levels of subfolders
  • New notes category – Take quick notes and organize them in the notes category.
  • Ability to move images from the distance folder to any folder in the root of the gallery

To order, to learn more, and to watch tutorials on these new features, please visit aph.org/shop.

We are pleased to offer a live webinar on these new features. You can earn 1 ACVREP CE credit hour for your participation.

Session Title: Back To School With New MATT Connect Features

Date: Wednesday, September 25, 2:00-3:00 PM EST

Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sGl8XFofR5C-kbM-J_8_Qw

NOTE: If you are planning to use a room and have several individuals participate to this webinar, please be sure to register each participant so that we may anticipate the correct number of the evaluation forms and each individual may earn ACVREP credits.

Participants will need to use the Zoom Video Conferencing Platform. If you don’t already have an account, you can sign up for a free Zoom account here: https://zoom.us/signup.

BrailleBlaster D-30029-AP Free

Make a great product even better by downloading the latest version of BrailleBlaster (V. 1.1.23-stable) at https://www.brailleblaster.org/download.php.

New features include:

• Experimental Graphics Support – Image Placeholders: Blank lines can be associated with an image now. Go to Insert > Image Placeholder and insert the number of blank lines in the dialog box to account for the graphic. Use the Insert Image Location button to choose a file from your computer to associate with that set of blank lines. When the association is made, the braille and graphics can be embossed together to a supported embosser. Currently, only ViewPlus graphics embossers are supported; however, more are planned for the future.
• LaTeX Support – Document types that are supported by Pandoc and include LaTeX can convert that LaTeX into MathML and ASCII Math when opened in BrailleBlaster. This change affects all file types except NIMAS XML, TXT, BRL, and ZIP.
• Additional Embossers – Added support for ViewPlus Tiger Pro and EmFuse embossers, found under Embosser Settings.
• UI Changes:
  • Split Element, Page Up, Page Down, and Refresh Translation removed from menu. All, but Refresh Translation, are still available as a key press; the menu items were redundant.
  • Error Handling moved into Help section of menu; previously under Settings.
  • Window menu items moved to under View.
  • Show Breadcrumbs moved into Toggle Views, as it is the fourth view.
  • Description style now adds Transcriber’s Notes before and after the text selected and applies the correct margins.
  • “Miscellaneous symbols” style category now called “Miscellaneous” under Styles menu.
  • Double Line moved from Miscellaneous styles into Style Options, as it only adds blank lines, not margins.
  • File types now appear in alphabetic order in open dialog.
• Fixes
  • Fixed several instances where print and braille page numbers could not be reliably edited.
  • Fixed instance of line breaks adding an extra blank line.
  • Fixed instances where MathML was not properly converted when a NIMAS XML was opened.

The latest release of the Crossword web application contains many more puzzles to solve, granting players’ wishes of more challenges and hours of fun. Now, subscribers to the New York Times Crossword puzzles can open these puzzles directly. To open today’s puzzle, simply choose Open from New York Times, and click Open Puzzle. Or, for a puzzle other than today’s puzzle, you can use the date entry boxes to select the date of your choice.

In addition, users can download puzzles from other websites. If you know the URL for the puzzle that you would like to open: choose Open from Web in the Options menu. Enter the URL of the puzzle, and click Open Puzzle. Crossword will download the puzzle.

Lastly, web designers can put links into their web pages that will cause Crossword to open and automatically load the specified crossword puzzle.

The Metric System

The United States, along with Liberia and Myanmar, are the only countries in the entire world that do not use the metric system for everyday measurements of length, volume, mass, and temperature. Even though the US Congress enacted the Metric Conversion Act in 1975, compliance was voluntary and Americans today prefer to use the imperial system of measurement in their daily lives. However, in order to communicate effectively around the world, science and industry professionals rely on the metric system. See this for yourself by looking at any packaged product in the grocery; dual measurement labels are required to conduct trade with other countries.

In this example, the label shows the weight in imperial units (ounces) and in metric units (grams). For more on the Metric system, see Carolina Biological Metric System article.

Adam Learns the Function of an Item Used in a Previous Exploration Routine

Adam joins Aarna, Freddy, Isaiah, and Max in APH’s library of SLK videos.

In January, Adam’s teacher establishes Adam’s present level of performance (baseline) at attention level with emerging exploration skills using a roller routine. In February, Adam learns to explore objects during a turn-taking play routine. By May, Adam learns the function of a preferred turn-taking object in a snack routine.

Watch Adam’s video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FA0P538uS0.

View the entire SLK Video Library at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUj6DcM1nN3G9IiNMfQXJ0P2rg2iQe35E.

Schwellenbach, Lewis B. “Jobs for Heroes,” The Rotarian 71.6 (1947).

Following the end of World War II, many veterans returned to the United States disabled from injuries or illnesses they had tragically received at war. Due to this, it became difficult for them to get back to work, because prejudiced employers refused to hire disabled veterans. This article, written just two years after the end of World War II, discusses the vast employment opportunities for those veterans, including those veterans that became blind or visually impaired while at war. One man, who had been blinded by a bomb, was able to return and got a job at a newspaper company, using Braille notes to transcribe. The author, Schwellenbach, urges every employer to develop a program that is accommodating towards the employment of disabled veterans for their companies. This work has been digitized for the Internet Archive.

Gardner, J. A. (2019). Access to the Past and the Present: A History of the M. C. Migel Memorial Collection, American Printing House for the Blind. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 113(4), 381–386. https://doi.org/10.1177/0145482X19868347

This month’s Barr Library highlight comes from the most recent issue of the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness. It is especially noteworthy for it not only features the American Printing House for the Blind, but also that it was authored by our own librarian and Resource Services colleague Justin Gardner. For those not familiar, JVIB is an international peer-reviewed journal of record in the field of visual impairment and blindness; it delivers current research and best practice information, commentary from experts on critical topics, news, and events.

In the article, Justin chronicles the modest beginnings of the M.C. Migel Memorial Collection in 1926, its growth, the importance of individuals like Robert B. Irwin, Helga Lende, and its namesake M.C. Migel to that growth, its journey from AFB to APH, and APH’s own efforts to continue its legacy and expand access through digitization and research services. Today, the M.C. Migel Memorial Collection is the largest known non-medical library of materials related to blindness and visual impairment in the world. The M.C. Migel Library promotes research, education, and social and cultural awareness by collecting and providing access to non-medical materials related to blindness and visual impairment. The collection is a true historical sociocultural record on blindness and visual impairment. The collection currently houses approximately 22,000 print and audio/visual items. The material ranges in scope from manuscripts to published fiction materials and includes the Blind Musicians Collections, which is also chronicled in the article. The digitization of the collection, which numbers over 8,800 unique items, is prominently displayed with Internet Archive and Open Library and has been accessed globally.

It is with great pleasure to share the story of the M.C. Collection and Library and recognize Justin’s work to develop and preserve this one-of-a-kind collection.

The APH Barr Library supports research initiatives at APH, while the Migel Collection is one of the largest collections of nonmedical information related to visual impairment in the world. Although the collections do not circulate, an ongoing digitization effort means APH will make materials available online at https://archive.org/details/aphmigelOpens a new window. The digitized texts are available in a variety of accessible formats, including DAISY, Kindle, EPUB, PDF, and read-aloud. Contact Library staff: resource@aph.org, 800-223-1839, ext. 705