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STEUBENVILLE -- An $8,000 BroadbandOhio Connectivity grant is providing new iPads to benefit visually impaired students in two local school districts.
The technology was acquired by the Jefferson County Educational Service Center and will help students at Buckeye Local and Edison Local Schools update older devices. Funding was used to procure six iPads for the visual impairment unit in both districts and benefits six students as they obtain their education. Officials said costs were split with $2,500 spent for the newer devices and about $5,500 used to purchase public Wi-Fi access.
Nikki Richardson, a teacher of the visually impaired who works through the service center, said the devices will provide updated applications to help them learn.
"The students will use the accessibility features of the iPads to access in the general education curriculum," Richardson said. "These features include voiceover, Zoom, magnification, talk-to-text, and display and font size options. Book and screen reading applications can be downloaded, allowing students to easily access textbooks and other educational materials. The iPad can also be paired with a refreshable Braille display to enable accessibility for Braille readers."
Richardson was extremely thankful that students were receiving the technology, saying the unit provides services to students throughout Jefferson County who have visual impairment and this would certainly help. Services include accessible materials production, assistive technology instruction, Braille and Nemeth code instruction, orientation and mobility training, daily living skills instruction for the visually impaired and transition planning assistance.
JCESC Superintendent Chuck Kokiko said the grant was another way to enhance education for area students.
"JCESC always actively seeks grant funding for our member schools and students. The BroadbandOhio Connectivity grant was a chance to directly help students," said Kokiko. "The VI unit was started to provide high quality services to our VI students within the county and in their home district when possible. Before the creation of the unit, students had to travel outside of their school and community to receive the services they needed. We are great full for the school partnerships as well as being able to provide the service locally. Our VI staff does a great job with the students and grants such as these help us to continually improve the program."