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STEP 2: Selection of Formats

This message was posted by joy Zabala on Jul 27, 2009.

Once it has been determined that a student needs print-base instructional materials in specialized formats for eductational participation and achievement, it is time to think about the formats that are needed.

Although Step 3 - Acquisition of Formats and Qualification for Sources - is often THOUGHT to be the most complex step, it is our experience that it is really THIS one - Selection of the Formats - that requires the most of teams as they go about gathering and analyzing the data that informs decisions at this step.

As stated in the discussion of Step 1, there are FOUR specialized formats -Braille, Large Print, Audio, and Digital. Thinking about this often raises the question, "But aren't they ALL digital to start out with?" Yes, they DO often start out in digital format, but what we are talking about here is "student-ready" formats. Questions that may be helpful in understanding this include: Will the student DECODE the material in either Braille or Large Print formats?... Will the student LISTEN to the material in the audio format?... Will the student both SEE AND HEAR AND MANIPULATE the material in the digital format?

Of course, the answer is often that a student will do more than one of those thing... in other words, may need more than one format of some materials so that they can be used under different circumstances or for different tasks - especially students who are blind or visually impaired who may use Braille or Large Print in addition to the digital and audio version often used by students with other disabilties that contribute to the inability to use print effectively.

So... as teams begin to work through which format(s) are needed there are a number of question that might ask themselves about not only the abilities and need of the student, but also about the environments in which the student will use the formats and the tasks for which they will be needed.

At this point, I would like to turn this over the the rest of you... What might some of those questions be?
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  • Re:STEP 2: Selection of Formats posted by Betsy Burgess on Jul 27, 2009

    To add to the discussion of digital, there's both digital audio and digital text. Digital audio is just voice; it can be human-narrated. Digital text is text; voice is added by a computer's text-to-speech capability. Don't think of text-to-speech as the old droning voices, as today there are many much higher quality voices that simulate the human voice. With digital text you get simultaneous highlighting of the text with audio from the computer - or multi-modal reading as Joy describes with "see and hear." Digital text and audio can be in the DAISY format (Digital Accessible Information System). You can DAISY audio and DAISY text. Think of DAISY as being like an HTML page, only with more tags for navigation to chapters and sections. One other digital format is available from Bookshare, and that's BRF, or Braille Ready Format. BRF is used with some Braille devices. More on that later.

  • Re:STEP 2: Selection of Formats posted by Annette Cerreta on Jul 29, 2009

    At the PACER Center, we try to help parents and professionals ask the right questions to determine which format is most optimal for the student to use. Here's an example.I just worked with a parent and student yesterday who weren't sure if they should sign up with RFBD for audio books or Bookshare for digital books. In this situation, the student would have qualified for both and could go ahead and sign up for memberships with both organizations, but naturally they wanted to go with the format that was the BEST for the student. In talking with the student and parent, we learned that the student prefers to look at the print book and follow along to audio of the book versus following along with the text being read aloud from a computer screen. That is VERY important to know. She also liked the idea of being more mobile when reading, and being able to listen to audio on an MP3 player gave her greater freedom to read wherever she was - at school, on the bus, in different rooms in her house, outside, etc. Therefore, it seems like going with the Audio Access option from RFBD would be a good place to start for her because should could download her books and use an MP3 player (unfortunately not her Ipod - it must be an MP3 player that plays WMA files) to listen to books and other reading materials. In addition, RFBD is offering a free year membership right now to U.S. students who qualify (visit http://www.rfbd.org/promotions.htm) to learn about this. For most of us, who are on a limited budget, FREE is a price that can't be beat. So, that is how we determined the right format for the student. Hope this example helps!

    • Re:STEP 2: Selection of Formats posted by Kathy Vining on Jul 30, 2009

      Very good point, Annette. I am a firm believer in our students being an active participant in the IEP process and in determining what kinds of supports or strategies will work best for them. Too often, decisions about AT supports have been made without the student's input and staff and parents are disappointed with the results. Thanks for the information about RFB&D's offer!

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