I promised a post about this wonderful organization, RFBD. RFBD provides books on tape or CD. They are very different from the CDs at the bookstore. I tried books on CD and did not find success with them. Many are read by English actors, I presume because Americans like to listen to a nice English accent. Many of the books are read in a very dramatic style. This is great for capturing my attention when I’m driving on the highway, but it’s a very bad thing for my son. My child has an auditory discrimination problems and needs nice, clear, American English to listen to.
With RFBD you either get a special player, or download special software, which transforms the reading experience. The books are not read by actors, but by volunteers. Most are nice and clear and free of difficult accents. They are not read in a overly dramatic style. You can use the player, or software, to slow down the reading speed too!
Many textbooks are available and the “readers” include all captions and sidebars and describe the illustrations. It’s easy to replay material and since chapters are clearly labeled it’s easy to find things for review.
If there is book which is not offered you can request it. It may be available shortly, it may take a long time, but at least you can make the request.
In order to join you must have a visual or reading disability certified by a professional. In my case my son’s school psychologist signed his application a few years ago. It does not need to be someone from a school , it can be an independent physician or educational psychologist. Individual annual memberships are $35.00 and there is a one time $65.00 registration fee. All postage is free both ways since it is classified as “matter for the blind”. EasyReader software is $45.00 and is much more affordable than the specialized playback machines. We love it and I have 90% of my son’s curriculum on CD.
When we first started using RFBD, with grade-school novels, I could see the light bulb come on in my son’s head. You could see the relief on his face, a child who was convinced he could not read suddenly found that he could.
