Blindness and Selective Mutism: One Student’s Response to Voice-Output Devices

This case study was designed to measure the response of one student with blindness and selective mutism to the intervention of voice-output devices across two years and two different teachers in two instructional settings. Before the introduction of the voice output devices, the student did not choose to communicate using spoken language or gestures while at school. As a result of this intervention, the student consistently communicated her choice of a preferred activity, responded independently to social greetings, and more consistently expressed her wants and needs. She responded “yes” and “no” to questions and made significant gains in pre-reading skills

Nemeth in a Box: Unpacking Tools to Build Success in Math for Students with Visual Impairments

Students with visual impairments can be successful in math learning if they are provided with accessible materials, appropriate accommodations, and knowledgeable teachers. Four teachers of students with visual impairment designed a set of activities to build middle school students' knowledge of the braille code while engaging in math activities. The activities are described, and the authors provide strategies for successfully including students in general education math classes.&nbsp

The quality of brailled instructional materials produced in Texas public schools

This study investigated the quality of braille transcription in public schools in Texas. In the first phase, an electronic survey of 94 school personnel across the state found that instructional materials are often transcribed by a variety of personnel not certified by the Library of Congress. In addition, the majority of survey respondents felt that their initial training had not adequately prepared them. Not surprisingly, transcribers and braillists reported that they spent more time each week transcribing materials than did teachers of the visually impaired. In the second phase, 40 transcriptions prepared by school personnel were examined. The quality of the transcriptions varied greatly. More than 30% (n=13) of the transcriptions contained four or less errors. The other transcriptions (n=27) contained a variety of contraction errors, misspelled words, misformed characters, omission of letters or words, insertion of additional letters, detectable erasures, and formatting errors. Perception of quality by the person transcribing often did not reflect the actual quality of the transcription. The data in this study indicated that neither years of experience nor certification status have a decisive effect on quality. On the other hand, the salient characteristic in predicting the quality of braille produced by the participants was time spent each week transcribing materials, which, in turn, was associated with the job role of the participant. In the third phase, members of a focus group assessed a representative subset of the transcriptions. The findings of the focus group revealed that errors would prevent legibility for some students, and that errors in transcribing negatively affect the academic performance of braille readers. The data in all three phases supported the need for developing a formal definition of quality in braille transcribing and providing ongoing, standardized training for school personnel. Perhaps most importantly, the data gained from this study supported the hypothesis that braille readers receive instructional materials that are not equal in quality to those received by other students

Experiences of Rural Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments During the Pandemic

Students who are educated by schools in rural areas experienced challenges around the world even before the COVID-19 pandemic, such as lack of resources and inadequate infrastructure (Çiftçi & Cin, 2018; Dube, 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic drew attention to the inequities of the conditions facing students in rural areas (EDC, 2020). These unique challenges were evident for those serving low-incidence disability populations, such as those children with visual impairment. There are unique challenges in providing support to students and their families with visual impairments in rural areas of the country. Those challenges included need for additional supports in technology, internet infrastructure, funding, and full access to accessible materials. Concerns over the health and well-being of teachers and students with visual impairments were also expressed as concerns but was not unique for teachers of students with visual impairments in rural areas

Guided selective deposition of nanoparticles by tuning of the surface potential

Guided deposition of nanoparticles onto different substrates is of great importance for a variety of applications such as biosensing, targeted cancer therapy, anti-bacterial coatings and single molecular electronics. It is therefore important to gain an understanding of what parameters are involved in the deposition of nanoparticles. In this work we have deposited 60 nm, negatively charged, citrate stabilized gold nanoparticles onto microstructures consisting of six different materials, (vanadium (V), silicon dioxide (SiO2), gold (Au), aluminum (Al), copper (Cu) and nickel (Ni)). The samples have then been investigated by scanning electron microscopy to extract the particle density. The surface potential was calculated from the measured surface charge density maps measured by atomic force microscopy while the samples were submerged in a KCl water solution. These values were compared with literature values of the isoelectric points (IEP) of different oxides formed on the metals in an ambient environment. According to measurements, Al had the highest surface potential followed by Ni and Cu. The same trend was observed for the nanoparticle densities. No particles were found on V, SiO2 and Au. The literature values of the IEP showed a different trend compared to the surface potential measurements concluding that IEP is not a reliable parameter for the prediction of NP deposition. focus article Copyright (C) EPLA, 201

Diffuse correlation spectroscopy blood flow monitoring for intraventricular hemorrhage vulnerability in extremely low gestational age newborns

In premature infants with an extremely low gestational age (ELGA, < 29 weeks GA), dysregulated changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF) are among the major pathogenic factors leading to germinal matrix/intraventricular hemorrhage (GM/IVH). Continuous monitoring of CBF can guide interventions to minimize the risk of brain injury, but there are no clinically standard techniques or tools for its measurement. We report the feasibility of the continuous monitoring of CBF, including measures of autoregulation, via diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) in ELGA infants using CBF variability and correlation with scalp blood flow (SBF, served as a surrogate measure of systemic perturbations). In nineteen ELGA infants (with 9 cases of GM/IVH) monitored for 6–24 h between days 2–5 of life, we found a strong correlation between CBF and SBF in severe IVH (Grade III or IV) and IVH diagnosed within 72 h of life, while CBF variability alone was not associated with IVH. The proposed method is potentially useful at the bedside for the prompt assessment of cerebral autoregulation and early identification of infants vulnerable to GM/IVH