Math Assistance

1. Math Assistance • Math Type - http://www.dessci.com/en/products/mathtype/default.htm • MathType is a powerful interactive equation editor for Windows and Macintosh that lets you create mathematical notation for word processing, web pages, desktop publishing, presentations, and for TeX, LaTeX, and MathML documents.

2. Math Assistance • MathPlayer - http://www.dessci.com/en/products/mathplayer/download.htm?src=mplogo • Design Science MathPlayer™ enables Internet Explorer to display mathematical notation in web pages. (Free download).

3. Math Assistance • Nemeth Code • The Nemeth code is used for transcribing mathematics, science, and most other technical material to braille. However, the Computer Braille Code is used for computer-related information, such as email and Web addresses and actual computer programs, that require exact one-to-one transcription and the Chemistry Code, which is an extension to the Nemeth code, is used for complex chemical information that cannot be handled within the basic Nemeth code.

4. Math Assistance • Emprint SpotDot – http://www.viewplus.com/products/braille-embossers/ink-braille-printers/emprint/ • Emprint SpotDot is a Braille and color ink embosser. It prints Braille and ink on the same page, the software automatically formats Word and Excel documents for Braille, it creates raised visual images on paper from anything on the computer screen, it includes Tiger Designer and employs Tiger technology.

5. Low Vision Microscopes • Proscope HR - http://www.vernier.com/labequipment/proscope.html • The ProScope HR is a USB handheld digital microscope designed for use with a computer.

6. Low Vision Microscopes • Digital Microscope - http://scientificsonline.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_3029649 • The Boreal Digital 1000 SKope Plus features 4x, 10x and 40x objectives in a four hole nosepiece, built-in mechanical stage, 1.25 N.A. Abbe condenser, iris diaphragm, and separate coarse and fine focus knobs. An in-base halogen illumination system provides clear white light and can be used with both slides and live specimens.

7. Portable Video Magnifiers • Smartview Graduate – http://www.maxiaids.com/store/prodView.asp?idstore=3&idProduct=7761 • The SmartView Graduate is a versatile video magnifier for any student or traveling professional. The Graduate can magnify up to 50X. Zoom controls are available on both the unit and/or a keyboard. The SmartView Graduate weighs only 2.5 pounds (1.1kg), so it is very lightweight and portable.

8. Portable Video Magnifier • iDex – http://www.steller-technology.co.uk/idex.php • The iDex is a video magnifier designed for low vision laptop and PC users requiring fast and powerful real time video magnification. Its duel use allows for both distance and document reading.

9. Portable Video Magnifier • OPTRON Mobile – http://www.optronusa.com/products_optronfamily_mobile.html • The OPTRON mobile features a modular swivel arm and a sturdy carrying case for easy travel and safe storage.The Optron mobile is equipped with all the image adjustment features of the Optron observer, including distance viewing function with 360 degree surround view capability.

10. Portable MagnifierMimio • mimio Interactive is a portable and low cost device that attaches to any whiteboard (up to 4'x8' in size), connects to your PC and when used with a projector, allows you control your desktop applications and documents directly from the board.

11. Deaf Communication • UbiDuo – http://www.scommonline.com/aboutUbiDuo • The UbiDuo™ is a portable, wireless, battery-powered, stand-alone communication device that facilitates simultaneous face-to-face communication by means of two displays and two keyboards. Two to four people may simultaneously engage in a face to face chat.

12. Blind Notetakers • Braillenote – http://www.humanware.com/en-europe/products/braille_and_speech/braillenotes/_details/id_47/braillenote_mpower_bt_18.html • The BrailleNote mPower BT provides a choice of output options by combining a crisp, high definition Braille display with clear, responsive speech.

13. Blind Notetakers • Braille Sense – http://www.braillesense.com/?code=products&subp=01 • Braille SENSE Classic is a Braille Lap Top Computer. It has a Perkins-style Braille keyboard to input, data and Braille display and sound output. Its hardware and software can run up to 7 programs simultaneously. You can listen to music or a DAISY book in word processing. Braille SENSE Classic has real time Braille-to-text, text-to-Braille translation engine and text-to-speech engine. The document written in Braille can be converted into the text. Also, you can read text into Braille with Braille SENSE Classic.

14. Adjustable Smart Boards • Satalight - http://www.infocor.com/satalight/index.asp • The satalight™ increases one-to-one student/teacher interaction by allowing educators to assist students with physical and developmental disabilities become more independent by engaging them in learning problem solving skills. Thanks to the new satalight’s™ uniquely innovative/ flexible design, interactive whiteboard learning systems are now accessible to people with significant physical and/or learning disabilities, including those in wheelchairs. The satalight™ features a SMART Board™ 640 interactive whiteboard which can be moved up or down, as well as tilted at multiple angles from any vertical or horizontal position.

15. Deaf Blind Communication • Deaf Blind Communicator - http://www.humanware.com/en-usa/products/deafblind • Special software has been written for the BrailleNote mPower and a mobile phone with QWERTY keyboard for deaf blind communication. The mobile DBphone is used via Bluetooth for face-to-face communication with sighting people. All the functions are controlled on the BrailleNote, which also contains the ability to make or receive TTY calls and can be activated to do SMS texting.

16. Access Solution Software • Dolphin – www.yourdolphin.com • Lunar - For partially sighted computer users who find themselves straining to read the screen, whether it is text, graphics, toolbars, icons or emails, Lunar can offer the ideal magnification solution (works with Vista) • Lunar Plus - Offering all the benefits of a screen magnifier, LunarPlus also offers added speech output to provide extra support for partially sighted computer users. • Hal - Developed for blind computer users, Hal is a software screen reader that works by reading the screen interactively and communicating through a speech synthesiser or a refreshable Braille display. • SuperNova - Supernova offers magnification, speech and Braille support, giving people with visual impairment the freedom to access Windows in the way that suits them best. • Cicero - Scans and converts printed documents to synthesised speech and reads them aloud to you.

17. Science can potentially be beneficial for improving the cognitive abilities of students with physical impairments • Good science teaching involves the frequent use of manipulatives and provide tactile sensory input • Including all students in handling equipment, conducting investigations and collecting data is especially important in the development in the abilities to utilize higher order reasoning. • Students with physical or sensory impairments who have been accommodated in the laboratory testify that the work is not only educational but enjoyable; for them, the hands-on experience was vital.

18. What Barriers do Children with Physical Disabilities Face? • Parents and school advisors who limit the children through stereotypes and low expectations (Stefanich, 2002). • Classroom structures that limit accessibility and reduce exposure to tactile manipulative experiences that are critical to basic learning in science (Stefanich, 2002). • Science programs that have not been modified or adapted to meet the needs of children who have physical impairments (Stefanich, 2002). • Teachers who may harbor fearful or negative attitudes or who may treat the children in an overly protective or cautious manner (Stefanich, 2002).

19. What do these individuals have in common? • Todd Blumenkopf is a senior research investigator in the medicinal chemistry laboratories at the Central Research Division of Pfizer Inc. in Groton, Connecticut. • Ron Nieman is the director of the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Laboratory at Arizona State University. • Gail Pickut is a Chemistry Teacher at Oak Harbor High School in Oak Harbor Illinois • Rod Sonnerup is a chemical oceanographer in Seattle Washington • Tod Waldrop is an industrial chemist for Clariant Corporation, an international manufacturer of dyes, pigments and optical whitening agents. He started a “wet” chemistry group with a research and development group working on improved dyes.

20. They have major motor/orthopedic impairments.

21. What about these? • Annie Cannon, an American Astronomer, developed the spectral classification of stars based on surface temperature. She classified over 300,000 start, discovered more than 300 variable stars, five novae, and many stars with peculiar spectra. • Thomas Doyle is an internationally know Organic Chemist responsible for the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) laboratory research on the analysis of chiral drugs. This involves the study of effects and side effects of medications. • Harry Lang is a professor in the Department of Physics at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf-Rochester Institute of Technology. He is the author of 12 books, numerous articles, and several grants to support educational opportunities for deaf students. • Heather Whitestone was the 1995 winner of the Miss America contest.

22. They are deaf or hard of hearing.

23. And these? • William Skawinski is part of a research group that uses computational techniques and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance in studying how drugs interact with sodium channels in the cell membrane. He has a PhD in Chemistry from Rutgers and is on the faculty at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, NJ. • David Wohlers is a professor in the Department of Chemistry at Truman State University. He obtained his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Kansas State University in the area of inorganic synthesis and photochemistry. • Cary Suppalo is a doctoral student in Chemistry at Penn State University. He has developed a software interface using JAWS to make Vernier Probes accessible to the blind. • Mark Riccobono is the executive Director of the Jernigan Institute, National Federation of the Blind. He is heading the National Center for Blind Youth in Science.

24. They are visually impaired.

25. And her? • Helen Keller (1880-1968), under the tutelage of her teacher Annie Sullivan, graduated from Radcliff, published 14 books and hundreds of articles, letters and speeches. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

26. She was deaf-blind.

27. Who Are the Gifted? • Isaac Newton was expelled in the fifth grade. He prided himself in being the most mischievous child in school. • Thomas Edison was withdrawn from school in the first grade because his teacher told his mother he was a dullard. • A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney because he had “no good ideas.” • Verner von Braun failed ninth grade algebra. • Abraham Lincoln entered the Black Hawk War as a captain and came out as a private. • Winston Churchill failed the sixth grade.

28. Expert Opinions on the Future • “Everything that can be invented has been invented.” Patent Commissioner C. Duell, 1899 • “Unworthy of the attention of practical or scientific men.” British Parliament (on Edison’s incandescent lamp), 1878 • “Who would ever want to use one of them?” President Rutherford Hayes (evaluating the telephone), 1876 • “I think there is a world market out there for about five computers.” IBM Chairman Tom Watson, 1943 • “No woman in my time will ever be Prime Minister.” Margaret Thatcher, 1969 • “We don’t like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out.” Decca Records (turning down the Beatles), 1962

29. “…these inventions will produce forgetfulness in the souls of those who use it. They will not need to exercise their minds…It equips pupils with only a semblance of learning, not true learning. Thanks to these inventions, students will be without benefit of teacher’s instruction…”

30. “BOOKS” Plato, circa 387 BC

31. In inclusive settings, where adaptations are made, all students can learn, feel a sense of belonging, and achieve their educational and social goals.