VI Guide-What's New

What's New

The Computer Games / Entertainment page was updated to include some new Windows-based speech-friendly games, such as Brain Quest, by IBM, and sources for a variety of games: www.gamesfortheblind.com and www.mindseye2.com. Also, links were updated to reflect new URLs for Paul Henrichsen's and Jim Kitchen's sites.

The Curriculum Adaptations page was updated to include an article by Martha Pamperin on tactual art. This article explains many art activities that can be made fun, educational and accessible to children with visual impairments.
Added a link to Hot Braille to the Braille page. This site is a wonderful resource for friends and family members of a braille reader. At their site, you can type in a letter of up to 4 pages (roughly 500 words or 1.5 print pages) along with a mailing address and Hot Braille will transcribe it into braille and mail it as free matter to your intended recipient. Hot Braille even processes letters in 19 different languages, translates them into localized Braille and then sends them to different countries.
Add Blvd.Com to the Assistive Products page. This site is a resource directory to a wide array of vendors that sell products and services to the disabled community. Besides blindness-related products, their vendors also sell disability-related magazines, wheelchairs, recreation and exercise equipment, and more.

The Socialization Skills page was updated to include excerpts from a 1998 discussion on the AERNET mailing list concerning techniques to discourage a child's eye-pressing.
On the Materials Adapations page, added information on ordering free braille books in the Animorphs book series.
Updated the In-Services page to include a suggestion for an In-Service to college professors to illustrate how a student with low vision "views" the teacher's presentations.
In the Miscellaneous Links section of the Entertainment page, added a link to a site which offers CDs and audio cassettes to teach someone how to play the guitar and piano by ear.

Added links to new accessible games on the Games page, including those accessible by children with low vision. One new item is the Adventures Plus CD, available from Disability Specialtys for $40. This CD contains over 450 DOS and Windows-based text games (no graphics!) for a very speech-friendly experience.
Added links to sources of downloadable audio books on the Entertainment page.
Added the Kansas State School for the Blind and the North Dakota School for the Blind to the Schools for the Blind page.
On the Materials Adapations page, added Braille-Books.Com as another new source for braille and print/braille books; the International Electronic Braille Book Library as a source for downloadable Braille (eBraille) books; and Library Reproduction Services, a source for books and educational materials in large print format.