Re: SPSS for disabilities?

Posted by Art Kendall on Aug 28, 2006; 1:20pm
URL: http://spssx-discussion.165.s1.nabble.com/significantly-not-significant-tp1070571p1070579.html

If your student is using Windows,  go to <control panel> <accessibility
options> to see the kinds of things that can be done for all programs.

There is s/w that will change text on the computer to speech, try
googling <text to speech>.  Anything you have on the PC (pdf's,
handouts,  journal articles) might then be accessible.  In the 80s,
Digital, which has been absorbed in COMPAQ an then into HP,  had a
DECTalk that just connected to a printer port and had s/w to do a very
credible job of text to speech.  Now that there are PC's and they have
earphones/speakers, the software is available. Then it was free to
visually impaired and blind people. Today?
there are write ups at:  (providing exemplar links from Google does not
constitute endorsement)
http://www.synapseadaptive.com/gw/decpc.htm
http://www.cs.cornell.edu/Info/People/raman/emacspeak/dectalk-express.html

It may or may not help to use an LCD projector on her computer.    If
the school supplies the computers, a large screen high resolution
monitor may help.
A samsung 215t is $400-$600.

If you are in the US, contact your local / state association for the
blind,  and your state department of vocational rehabilitation.  They
may have recommendations, and even provide equipment.  Your school may
have someone in charge of ADA compliance.

wrt your presentation, You may want to be sure that your LCD projector
is powerful enough for the room, that you use large fonts on paper
handouts, and make text material available online.   Since, she may not
get as much from visual input, you may want to try to improve the
quality of auditory input.  Arrange for a particularly quiet classroom.
If you can get a very few hours with an acting teacher, singing teacher,
or public speaking teacher you may be able to improve your oral
presentation.

Improvements in the communication channels may well help other students
as well.  If your message is not received, it cannot be retained.


Art Kendall
Social Research Consultants

Jeff wrote:

> I've just learned that I will have a visually impaired student in one
> of my
> classes for which I require some work with SPSS. I'm not sure how bad the
> student's eyesight is, but from what I gather, it is bad enough so
> that she
> will require a notetaker and verbal recordings/translations of reading
> material - although she can see to some degree and appears to be quite
> capable on a computer (presumably enlarged in some way). Because this
> is a
> basic/intro class, the spss work is not intensive - crosstabs and
> frequencies mostly.
>
> Is there anything special that anyone can offer as to how this student
> might be better able to use the software? I took a quick look and have
> found no way to enlarge the data editor window and menu items (we really
> won't be using syntax files) and I really didn't see much.
>
> Thanks in advance
>
> Jeff
>
>