Articles
Transition Services: The Role of Transcribers During Transition
by Spencer Churchill, Guest Contributor
First published in the Winter 2022-23 Bulletin Vol. 58, No. 4
[EXCERPT] How do braille readers in the K-12 setting receive their educational materials in an accessible format and in a timely fashion? Well, through the garden of braille books, of course! A teacher of students who read using braille simply has to go out and pluck the books from the garden, and place them in front of the student every August, right?
As professionals in the field, we know this couldn’t be further from the truth. There is a long line of support services, procedures, and personnel put in place many months in advance. These may include some or all of the following: the original publication of the text, the district’s decision to use the text, the TVI’s (Teacher of the Visually Impaired) request for a copy of this text, the TVI‘s submission of the book for braille transcription, the transcription of the book (sometimes in a non-chronological order), delivery of an e-braille file to the TVI, embossing of the file, delivery to the student, and classroom/home use by the student.
Downloads
ASCII Keyboard
Braille Fonts
Braille font are supported for display and posting on Ask an Expert. In order to view the braille fonts on NBA’s Ask An Expert, you must have the correct fonts installed on your system. The braille fonts supported by Ask An Expert are SimBraille and Braille from BRL2000.
If you are a current user of Duxbury Braille Translator (DBT) for Windows, you will already have the SimBraille font installed on your system. Similarly, if you are a current user of Braille2000, you will already have the Braille from BRL2000 font installed on your system.
In order to obtain the Braille from BRL2000 and Simbraille fonts (if you are not a current user of either program), you must install the evaluation versions of the software. After downloading the evaluation versions, the fonts will be automatically installed on your system. Please click on the links below to bring you to the download page for the evaluation versions of each software program.
Duxbury Braille Translator
Download the Demo Version
Braille2000
Download the Evaluation Version
Helpful Links
Braille Authority Of North America (BANA)
The Braille Authority Of North America is the governing body of braille in the United States and Canada. On their website you'll find links to download codebooks, news of changes to codes, and more.
Dancing Dots
Bill McCann founded Dancing Dots to create a software system to develop and adapt music technology for the blind. On their website, you'll find an array of services intended to better assist transcribers with music braille.