Enhancing Reading with the Monarch

Individuals who are blind or have low vision often need descriptions of their surroundings. From hearing about the layout of a room to understanding what others look like, this information is filtered through the eyes of friends or family members before it’s conveyed to those with limited vision. The same is done when discussing fictional worlds as readers transition from tactile picture books to more advanced material. The Monarch resolves this issue by allowing students to both read books on a 10-line braille display and decipher tactile graphics related to those literary texts.

A Seamless Experience 

The Monarch’s suite of apps includes the Victor Reader, which enables students to download hundreds of titles through online libraries, like Bookshare. After turning on the Monarch, use first letter navigation by pressing V for Victor Reader from the main menu and then pushing enter. To log into Bookshare, select the manage libraries option followed by book providers. Go down to the Bookshare checkbox and press space to check it. Afterwards, the Monarch will prompt students to log into their account. Once finished, exit to the Victor Reader menu. Now, search and download books by selecting Bookshare. These titles will then be accessible through the My Books item at the top of the Victor Reader menu.  

With the Monarch, students will no longer have to scroll down as often as they would with a one-line display. The ten lines imitate half a page of a physical book, making the reading experience comfortable and seamless. Beginning readers also benefit from pressing the zoom in and out buttons as it modifies the spacing from single to double, giving students more room to feel between the lines and decipher the words. 

Unlocking the Imagination 

When students immerse themselves in their books, they may wonder what characters and objects look like. Instead of having to describe that to them, teachers can Google related photos to show to their students. The Monarch works best with simple images that are not too detailed and not too colorful. Supported file types include JPEG, JPG, PNG, and PDF. Once they locate the desired image, teachers can save it to the downloads folder on their computer, copy it onto a flash drive, and insert it into the port on the left side of the Monarch.  

To view the graphic, from the main menu, press T for Tactile Viewer followed by enter. Select open from the app’s menu. A list of folders from the device’s internal storage will appear. Push the triangular button on the bottom edge of the Monarch to go back to drive selection. Scroll to the drive’s name and press enter. Now, find the image and open it by hitting enter. The entire picture is shown. This small size can be enough for students to get the gist of what an item looks like. A graphic of the golden snitch from the Harry Potter series can be comprehended in this way. For other pictures, pressing the zoom in button and exploring the areas of the image with the cross-shaped directional pads on the Monarch makes the item depicted easier to understand. Zooming in on a graphic of Winnie the Pooh or the ruling ring from the Lord of the Rings helps students see the bear’s face and feel the shape of the letters in the ring’s inscription. 

Accessing images in this way is quick and easy. Since it shows up on the display, teachers don’t need to emboss these graphics. For the first time, students are independent, feeling images of characters and objects themselves. They can then create a mental picture with their interpretation of what is shown, which further unlocks their imagination. “Blind people can finally understand visual terms in books,” said Joe Hodge, APH Lead Technical Quality Assurance Analyst. “You can interact with a JPEG and understand something better. That’s really powerful.” After viewing the image, students can open the book and experience it in a whole new way. With the visual barrier lifted, students can also confidently participate in deeper discussions with their sighted peers about the symbolism behind the object they viewed. 

Purchase the Monarch today. If you have a Monarch or are supporting a student with a Monarch, join the Monarch Users Facebook group to connect with others, learn about the device, find resources, share ideas, and more.