[Art_beyond_sight_learning_tools] Talking crayons developed to help toddlers learn coloursand spelling

[Shelley L. Rhodes]

This is neat, that is all I have to say, smile.


Shelley L. Rhodes B.S. Ed, CTVI
and Judson, guiding golden
juddysbuddy at velocity.net
Guide Dogs For the Blind Inc.
Graduate Alumni Association Board
www.guidedogs.com

Dog ownership is like a rainbow.
 Puppies are the joy at one end.
 Old dogs are the treasure at the other.
Carolyn Alexander

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "BlindNews Mailing List" <BlindNews at GeoffAndWen.com>
To: <BlindNews at BlindProgramming.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 10:34 PM
Subject: BlindNews: Talking crayons developed to help toddlers learn 
coloursand spelling


Chronicle Herald, Nova Scotia, Canada
Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Talking crayons developed to help toddlers learn colours and spelling

By JOEL JACOBSON

A totally new take on crayons

Caption: Rachel Yorke, 7, is a blind Salmon River Elementary School student 
who is using a set of crayons with an attachment that tells her the colour 
name and helps her spell it. The device, which helps toddlers learn to 
spell, creates independency for Rachel. (JOEL JACOBSON)

Blue. Spell it with me. B-L-U-E.

That's a talking crayon, one developed to help toddlers learn colours and 
how to spell.

It talks through a battery-operated plastic base in which it is inserted. 
The base reads the colour and relates the information. However, six-year-old 
Rachel Yorke has found another use for the crayon.

Because she is blind, the Grade 1 student at Salmon River Elementary School 
is able to 'see' each of the six colours in the package by using the base.

They're called Dora i-crayons -- 'i' for interactive, which is becoming a 
norm with many of today's children's toys and learning methods. Many of the 
tools Rachel uses in school and at home have interactive components so she 
can sense what she cannot see.

LINK: http://tinyurl.com/yfr7ou

She hugs a Winnie the Pooh bear that talks to her, asking questions for her 
to answer aloud about his (and her) favourite Pooh characters.

She has learning tools such as colouring pages with raised images for her to 
fill in areas with her talking crayons. She learned braille as a toddler and 
now has an older machine at home and a sleeker, more modern one at school to 
type in Braille, which helps her keep up with her classmates.

But it's the talking crayons that have created the most enjoyment for this 
youngster since her grandmother Linda Babineau accidentally found them in a 
Truro department store a couple of weeks ago.

Candace Yorke picks up the story. 'I was in Halifax at the IWK Health Centre 
for an eye checkup with Rachel. My mother took our four-year-old, Kaytlen, 
shopping and Kaytie saw the crayons and wanted them.'

She laughs. 'Of course, her grandmother gave in, not knowing they talked, 
but just that her granddaughter wanted them. When we realized they talked, 
the first thought was how perfect they were for Rachel. Now she can colour 
without having to ask anyone for help. She has independence when colouring.'

Candace says she had attached braille labels to her earlier crayons for 
Rachel to identify the colours but this had the advantage of the crayons 
talking to the little girl.

Candace e-mailed International World of Toys in Montreal, which created and 
patented the crayons a year before, expressing her delight with the product 
and explaining how Rachel is blind and able to use this wonderful new tool 
to help her learn.

'I was overwhelmed to hear from Candace,' says Laurie Verrelli, president of 
the company, which has sold more than 300,000 sets of six crayons worldwide 
since the launch a year ago.

'When we developed this a year or so ago, our aim was to teach toddlers. I 
was so happy to hear Rachel received such pleasure, and independence, from 
the crayons. We had never thought that far ahead, that the crayons would 
help blind children.'

She reacted instantly. The next day, an express van pulled up to the Yorke 
house with a parcel for Rachel: Laurie had sent her a few extra sets of 
crayons.

'Through Candace, we've started to make contacts with schools to provide 
them with crayons,' says Laurie. The Atlantic Provinces Special Education 
Authority, which provides education and programs for children and teens who 
are deaf, deaf and blind, hard of hearing, blind or visually impaired, is 
one.

Rachel nibbles on an after-school cookie and drinks some milk as she talks 
about her crayons.

'My favourite colour is magenta. I like it. It's a dark colour, but I don't 
like black and green. I like most of them though,' she says of the package 
that contains red, yellow, blue, green, purple and orange crayons.

Rachel was born sighted, but cataracts, which she had from birth, weren't 
diagnosed until she was two. By then, she had developed glaucoma and other 
eye diseases. By four, her vision was gone. She's had various tests and 
procedures to try to save some sight, but Candace says all hope for that is 
gone now.

'Rachel is doing awesome,' Candace says proudly. 'She has a little white 
cane and boogies around the school very easily. The other kids and all the 
staff are aware of her and are careful not to move things. If they do, they 
let Rachel know. They've been wonderful at the school.'

Last summer, Rachel took swimming lessons a couple of times a week, attended 
a summer camp at the school and now takes the bus to school each day.

'I don't worry about her. They don't treat her any differently at school, 
don't baby her. They're protective but push her independence. The best part 
of her being in regular school is that her peers are learning she is no 
different than they are. They're learning to accept people with disabilities 
or differences.'

Candace smiles, watching Rachel use her new crayons.

'Rachel is like any other kid. She plays with her sisters (Kaytlen and 
seven-year-old Samantha) and fights with them. She reads her books and we 
read to her. Rachel is so happy, and that makes her father (Trevor) and me 
very happy, too.'

Bright Spot appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Be sure to read Great Kids 
in The Sunday Herald.

Contact Joel Jacobson via e-mail at jacobson at herald.ca


http://thechronicleherald.ca/Opinion/9002079.html

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