11/2/09

eReaders!

The Grandparents bought Orangeboy's sister a Kindle (e-reader) for her birthday. Now I want all of us to have one!!! She loves it and so do I. Orangeboy could really find it useful also.
Orangeboy reads well and reads fast, but when he comes to a word he doesn't know, he just sounds it out and moves on. This used to work just fine when he was reading books with pictures and simple themes, but these days his comprehension is suffering a bit. He doesn't seem to be able to infer a new word's meaning by the context very easily. That sounds like an Asperger challenge doesn't it? - seeing the details but not putting them together as a whole? I encourage him to ask or look up word meanings in his student dictionary but that slows him down and...and the rushing through - ADHD. Ah well.

The Kindle comes with a dictionary already loaded. Not only could Orangeboy adjust the font to a size that is easy for him to see with his low vision, but he could simply click on a word and choose "look up" and the dictionary defintions would pop up right there. Then with a click of the "back" button, he could go right back to his reading. I'm convinced -technology is the way to go with Orangeboy.

Sister is loving her Kindle and the ease with which she can read it. It isn't the perfect solution for the visually impaired because the buttons are very small and impossible for her to read, but it is much easier and more convenient than hunching over a book with a magnifier in hand or using braille or a clunky tape player for books on tape. Once I loaded some books for her and got her going, she was reading from the Kindle screen with speed and no neck ache. She will reach her Accelerated Reading goal for sure!

Orangeboy has been plugging away as his usual competitive self and has already reached his goal - over a month early. I just hope he learned something.

2 comments:

  1. I've been coveting a Kindle for a couple of years now...but I don't see one in my immediate, nor medium-range future...sigh.

    At least I still have the library!

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  2. FANTASTIC!

    Big congratulations over here.

    I do know what a Kindle is, and have followed since the days of the first e-readers ten years ago.

    Technology IS good. Especially for those who have visual impairment. I had heard things from both sides about Kindle and its accessibility, whether it was or it wasn't.

    How to infer words from context ...

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