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Product Reviews
12/19/11 - Paula Brannon
My name is Paula Brannon and I am the Assistive Technology Resource Teacher at The Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind. Your email was forwarded to me by our principal, Mrs. Hofmann-Sitten. I am very happy to respond that yes, we use the SAL 2 Talking Tactile Tablet (TTT) system. We have units in classrooms ranging from Elementary to High School.
Our students and teachers love the system. It provides beautiful tactile graphics ranging in subject matter from Math, Science, Social Studies to leisure games. I think Concentration is one of the favorites around here but Snakes and Ladders trail a close second.
The machine and software do a wonderful job training the user how to use the sets of overlays that come with the software. The manual is very clear and concise if you use the Authoring Tool. This program allows the user to create their own overlay. If you have a Tiger Embosser you can emboss your own overlays exactly as you created it. You can add your voice, a synthesized voice, or other sound effects as well.
The Mangold material is exactly what Sally Mangold developed, except the overlays already mimic each worksheet, sound effects have been added to indicate correct answers, and can even keep track of a student's progress.
We have linked our TTT units to our distributed video system so that our low vision students can access the same materials as their blind friends. We distribute video output from our Smart Boards to monitors at each desk. This permits our low vision students to interact with the overlay visually using the Smart Board (which acts like a TTT, just not tactile) and our blind students use the TTT overlays. This way, the entire class benefits from the same project the teacher created, eliminating creating two separate manipulatives. It helps unit our students into one student body.
As you can tell, I am slightly enthusiastic about this product. As a matter of fact, if you would like to see one of our struggling students use the unit, we have a video on our school website.
Please note that this young man lived for the TTT, so much so that the teacher used it as a reward system for him. Imagine that! He was rewarded by doing work using the TTT! I loved it!
Click on the image to watch a video of student using SAL2.
Happy Holidays!
Paula Brannon
Assistive Technology Resource Teacher
Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind
Saint Augustine, Florida
5/25/10 - Eva McFadden
Hello from Halifax on this cold, cold day.
Today I had the pleasure of observing a 6-year old use this game for the very first time. Sierra, who can be quite temperamental", does not always enjoy new things. However, the smiles and giggles while being helped through her first game of Snakes and Ladders were memorable and infectious. She helped count the spaces, loved the auditory feedback, worked on taking turns and even activated the dice roll independently towards the end of her playing time. What a wonderful opportunity this game will provide for peer interaction as her classmates will line-up to play it with her.
Finally, her itinerant teacher of the visually impaired credits the TTT and the SAL2 software with Sierra's newly developed awareness of braille and her willingness to track a line of braille characters to receive the auditory feedback and praise.
Many thanks for this new game.
Eva
Eva McFadden
APSEA Assistive Technology Consultant
5940 South St.,
Halifax Nova Scotia
3/20/10 - Jane Erin
For the blind student, combining touch and hearing for learning is a powerful combination. Tactile graphics allow for repeated examination of the components of an idea, with relationships clearly represented; auditory feedback enhances the detail provided by the graphics and increases speed of access. This combination makes the Talking Tactile Tablet an ideal tool for presenting complex ideas through a device that allows students to benefit from both senses.
Jane Erin, Professor
University of Arizona, College of Education,
Department of Special Education, Rehabilitation and School Psychology
Tucson, AZ, USA
6/15/08 - Erica (Ziegler) Bedolla
I was amazed at how quickly and easily I was able to create an overlay with the
TTT Authoring Tool. What an awesome experience for a blind learner to be able to initiate active learning instead of being a recipient of what a sighted person is willing to share. With the TTT, the student who is blind is able to really take control of what he/she is learning! Overall, an amazing product that is easy for both teachers and students to use!
Erica (Ziegler) Bedolla, TVI
Kalamazoo, MI, USA
3/20/08 - Sister M. Elaine George, IHM
Touch Graphics,
Today I cannot even imagine making a tactile diagram without audio labels. The TTT has simplified the labeling process. The scale of the diagram is no longer dependent on incorporating Braille abbreviations. There is no need for extension lines to label small areas thus confusing the original design. With the TTT, layers of information for each diagramed object can convey a wealth of information. Adapting my file of existing tactile diagrams to the TTT means simply to tape them to a template, use the authoring tool to outline regions, lines, and points, then type in audio labels as prompted for each defined object.
Educationally the TTT is a valuable concept development tool. Before the TTT, students associated places with the extent of the Braille label e.g. North America is equal to the label “North America”. With the TTT, students realize that North America is a region. Touching anywhere within that region broadcasts the audio label “North America”. Independently, they begin to explore the extent within raised boundary lines. In the same way the concept of the continuity of rivers flowing into seas is conveyed much better using the TTT.
Thanks,
Sister M. Elaine George, IHM
Teacher of the Blind/ Visually Impaired
St. Lucy Day School for Children with Visual Impairment
Upper Darby, PA
1/1/07 - Morten Tollefsen
Finally I have the world under my fingertips! The National Geographic Talking Tactile Atlas of the World is simple to use, a powerful work of reference, an essential training tool and even great entertainment. I am blind, 38 years old, live in Norway and run my own business! The tactile world atlas has been helpful when traveling to foreign countries as well as a reference in connection with news, literature and everyday subject of conversation.
Morten Tollefsen, MediaLT
Oslo, Norway