
                         fr97faaf.jpg (4321 bytes)
   PHOTO CAPTION:  Julius Locklear, a blind student from North
Carolina,                   uses a computer for school and for fun.
                                      
                     Computer Games for Blind Children
                               by Greg Trapp
                                      
   Editor's Note: Greg Trapp has been a staff attorney with the   
Protection & Advocacy System of New Mexico since 1992. In 1993, he 
  taught Disability Law as an adjunct professor at the UNM School
of    Law. He presently serves on the Board of Directors of the
Albuquerque    Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind,
serves on the Board    of Directors of the National Association of
Blind Lawyers, is Chair of    the New Mexico Commission for the
Blind Statewide Rehabilitation    Advisory Council, and serves on
the IDEA State Advisory Panel. Greg,    who was blinded as a teen,
is very interested in promoting    opportunities for blind
children. 
   
   A recent experience has opened my eyes to the remarkable ability
of    computer games to teach blind children. I was working with a
special    education client when it was decided that he needed a
break from a    lengthy diagnostic evaluation. I suggested he come
to my office to see    my speech adapted computer system. I loaded
a computerized version of    Monopoly and started to play it with
my young client. Fascinated by    the game, he quickly learned the
locations of several new keys. He    also showed an interest and
excitement for learning more about the    computer. Intrigued by
this experience, I decided to look for    additional computer games
which might be played by blind children.    This article describes
some of the games I found during my search and,    hopefully, does
it in a way which will be useful to all parents,    regardless of
their computer knowledge.
   
   My search was confined to NFBnet, the bulletin board system
(bbs) of    the National Federation of the Blind. NFBnet contains
a large number    of computer games which work well with speech
synthesizers and which    can be downloaded for free as freeware,
shareware, or as a demo    program. While freeware comes with no
strings attached, the author of    a shareware program hopes you
will pay a modest fee to register the    program to receive updates
or additional features. A demo program is a    sample version of a
commercially available software program. Demo    programs limit
features or restrict usage to encourage the purchase of    the
program. You can telnet to NFBnet at [NFBnet.org], or access it by 
  modem at 612-696-1975. However, if you do not have a clue what it 
  means to "telnet," think a "modem" might be one of the Three
Stooges,    and think that an "unzip utility" should never be
mentioned in polite    circles, than I suggest you ask for help
from a friend or relative who    understands such things.
   
   Before I begin to discuss the games I found it is necessary to
first    make some disclaimers. Of course, being a lawyer,
disclaimers come    naturally to me. My first disclaimer is that I
approached the project    with certain preconceived notions.
Accordingly, I did not examine the    several "sword and sorcerer"
games which I found, nor did I do more    than a cursory
examination of a couple of the numerous war and    adventure games
which are on NFBnet. While these games may teach    persistence and
patience, I believe that there are other games which    provide
greater educational benefit. I downloaded about two dozen    games
which I thought had the greatest educational potential. The   
games I downloaded were those which I thought might help develop
basic    keyboarding, math, linguistic, and/or social skills.
However, since I    am not a trained educator my assessment of the
educational value of    these games is only my lay opinion.
   
   The first two games I will describe will run on any PC-
compatible    computer and do not require the computer to have a
speech synthesizer.    The other games I describe require a speech
synthesizer in order to be    used by persons who are blind. For my
review I used a 486 computer    equipped with Vocal-eyes and an
Accent synthesizer. The games I    examined are for use with the
DOS operating system. The games will    work on Pentium, 486, 386,
or 286 computers, and most will even work    on older 8088
computers. By contrast, the latest video games being    sold in
computer stores require the newest Pentium computers running   
Windows operating systems. Although blind computer users should be 
  shifting to Windows, these DOS games can still serve a useful  
 purpose. The first game I want to describe is called "Piano."
Piano is    a very simple game which turns a computer keyboard into
a piano. A    significant benefit of Piano is that it does not
require you to have a    speech synthesizer on your computer. All
you need is a PC-compatible    computer. Piano can introduce very
young children to the computer    keyboard and teach some basic
keyboarding skills. Piano might also    help to develop your
child's finger strength and dexterity. Piano    would be most
appropriate for pre-school and early elementary ages,    though it
might also benefit some older children. The disadvantage of   
Piano is that the tones it produces will probably annoy you long  
 before your child tires of playing with it.
   
   Like Piano, ABC-talk does not require you to have a computer
equipped    with a speech synthesizer. Instead, it contains a
digitally reproduced    human voice which is heard through the
computers internal speaker or    sound card. By selecting menu
choices "B," "C," or "D," ABC-Talk will    help a child to learn
the alphabet and to learn where letters are    located on the
keyboard. For instance, by selecting menu item "D,"    ABC-Talk
will voice the letter which is typed. ABC-Talk only voices   
letters, not any other keys on the computer. Because ABC-Talk and 
  Piano do not require a speech synthesizer, they can be an
affordable    way to teach some basic computer skills to young
children. For    instance, you could probably purchase an old 286
computer for under    $50, and use it to help your child develop
some basic keyboarding    skills.
   
   The rest of the games I examined require a speech synthesizer
and    screen review program in order to be used by the blind. The
best of    these, in my opinion, is Monopoly. The game is based on
the well-known    Parker Brothers board game. However, because the
computer does all of    the banking and keeps track of the
property, the computerized version    moves with a faster and more
exciting pace. Yet, the game retains all    of the endearing
qualities that have made the original such a lasting    success.
Monopoly blends elements of luck and strategy to make for an   
interesting and challenging contest. It requires frequent math and 
  probability calculations, such as the choice of whether to pay a
flat    tax rate of two-hundred dollars or a calculated rate of 10
percent. In    addition, good sound effects and the fun of rolling
the dice make the    game enjoyable for children who are too young
to understand the rules    and nuances of the game. Monopoly can be
played by up to four players,    allowing for development of your
child's social skills. Though    Monopoly 6.4 is on NFBnet,
Monopoly 6.2 has a "listen to the status"    option specifically
designed for blind computer users. This option may    help younger
children to keep track of their property. However,    Monopoly 6.4
works very well with speech, and I do not think the    feature
would add that much to the game. The only drawback to Monopoly   
6.4 is that the counting of spaces seems a little bit slow.    
   Of the math games that I looked at, MOBIUS96 was the best.
MOBIUS96 is    designed specifically for blind computer users and
works very well    with speech. The game provides an entertaining
trek up a mountain    while the players are asked different math
problems. MOBIUS96 has    terrific sound effects and an amusing
plot. Your computer must have a    hard drive to run MOBIUS96.
Though not necessary, a sound card would    make the program even
more enjoyable. The demo version limits the    degree of difficulty
to single and double digit math problems.    Accordingly, the Demo
version is best suited to younger students.    However, the full
version of MOBIUS96 offers additional skill levels    and can be
purchased for $20.
   
   A less entertaining but more challenging math game is MATHWO1A.
This    game quizzes players on a wide range of math problems, with 
  adjustments available for time and degree of difficulty. My
primary    concern with MATHWO1A is that it did not run especially
well with    Vocal-eyes, though this could probably be improved by
adjusting speech    settings. For instance, there are some
conflicts with keys normally    used by screen review programs, and
the player will have to take some    time to learn how to make the
program work with speech. Both MOBIUS96    and MATHWO1A have
tremendous potential to improve your child's ability    to make
math calculations.
   
   One of the more absorbing games is DOSBJ, a computerized version
of    the traditional blackjack card game. The game begins with the
player    selecting the number of decks to be shuffled and the
amount of money    to be wagered. Unfortunately, the game does not
allow for more than    one player to play at a time. Instead, the
player bets money against    the computer. The primary educational
benefit of DOSBJ is that it can    teach mathematics and
probability through game theory. If you are    troubled by a
gambling game, you might be comforted by knowing that    the game
can also teach the real life lesson that the house always    wins
in the end.
   
   Another excellent game that works well with speech is Hangman.
After    selecting the educational option from the menu the player
is offered a    definition of a word and given a limited time to
provide the answer.    The difficulty can be adjusted by choosing
either "amateur" or    "expert," and by adjusting the time allowed
to provide the answer.    There is also an orchestra which plays
music as the player is    thinking, though the orchestra should be
turned off in order for the    program to work best with speech.
Hangman is an entertaining program    and is an excellent way to
improve your child's vocabulary.    
   There are a number of other games which deserve mentioning. One
of the    most appealing is DOSLife, which is a computerized
version of the    board game Life. It works well with speech and
may be entertaining for    older elementary students. Another game
that some children may enjoy    is DOSFBALL. DOSFBALL is a
computerized football game specifically    designed for blind
computer users. It allows the player to be the    quarterback and
choose his/her favorite professional team.    Unfortunately, the
game is seriously dated in that most of the team    members are now
retired. DOSFBALL also throws in some random and    unnecessary
comments which distract from the flow of the game. Another   
football game designed specifically for blind persons is FAN95.
Though    FAN95 is a demo which permits only 10 minutes of play, it
provides    greater realism and entertainment. The full version of
FAN95 costs    $30, and would be a good game for a parent who is a
sports fan to play    with his/her child.
   
   If football is not your cup of tea there are several baseball
games    which may be selected. One of the better of these is
DOSBASE2, which    uses a variety of clever sound effects to make
the game more    interesting. However, DOSBASE2's sound effects
place greater demands    on your computer, making it necessary for
your computer to at least    have a hard drive. Like DOSFBALL,
DOSBASE2 is specifically designed    for blind computer users. For
older baseball enthusiasts, there is    BBTRIVIA and WSBB11.
BBTRIVIA challenges the player with 250 trivia    questions. For a
registration fee of $15, the game can be upgraded to    1,500
questions. WSBB11 is another demo of a program specifically   
designed for blind computer users. WSBB11 is an elaborate game with 
  wonderful sound effects. Accordingly, WSBB11 requires a computer
with    at least a hard drive and ideally a 486 or Pentium with a
sound card.    The demo version of WSBB11 is very impressive,
though it limits play    to five innings and interrupts each inning
with a commercial. WSBB11    costs $35.
   
   Another game which deserves mentioning is Geo. In Geo a player 
  identifies a geographic entity such as a country or sea, and the 
  computer answers with a response that begins with the last letter
of    the previous answer. The game continues until either the
player or the    computer runs out of possible answers.
Unfortunately, the game is    badly dated as it does not include
the changes that have taken place    since the collapse of
Communism. Even more regrettably, Geo misspells    Santa Fe
(spelling it as "Sante Fe"). Nevertheless, despite its    problems,
Geo can make learning geography fun.
   
   Many of the games are supplied as files which have been
compressed    using a program called PKZIP. Therefore, if you
intend to run these    games on your computer, you must obtain the
PKZIP program or utility.    PKZIP is available on a variety of
bulletin boards, including NFB-net.    If you haven't a clue how to
begin, find a friend to help you. Also,    there may be a blind NFB
member in your area who would be able to help    you get started
and even demonstrate the games or play a few with your    child.
   
   Computer games can provide an excellent way for your child to
become    comfortable with the computer while gaining valuable
skills and    knowledge at the same time. They also provide blind
children more of    an equal opportunity to interact with sighted
peers. The games which    require more than one player can be a
social outlet for interacting    with sighted peers. Even the
solitary games give the blind child a    common experience which
can be used as a starting point for making new    friends.