Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Abby and Television.

Abby has always has always been a big television watcher  (Sam is the same way but he uses the computer like Abby watches the tv) I had thought that perhaps her television viewing would not be as frequent.  (yes bad mommy alert I let my children watch TV)
Abby watching Arthur on TV
Do you know that Abby is able to have extra descriptions on many of the shows she likes to watch. Many  PBS stations including WGBH broadcasts a lot of its children's programming in DVS (Descriptive Video Service)  Think of it like closed captioning for the blind. Instead of words on the bottom of the screen its extra audio that says whats on the screen.  The issue is the channel need to broadcast it (NHPTV doesn't due to funding)  and you need equipment to get the extra signal (Comcast Digital Television has it as an option under audio setting for the cable box)  There is also DVDs that offer it as a setting (bonus!!).  

Its so easy to assume Abby sees everything on the screen. She has some vision right? She actually misses a LOT of whats on the screen. We went to the movies a few weeks ago and Abby missed some key features of the story.  Its amazing what you miss when you can't see everything.  We have only been aware of DVS for a short time and Abby LOVES it.  Its such a great service and i hope it is able to grow more.

1 comment:

K*senia said...

You are hardly a bad mom because you let your kids watch TV! :D
I read about DVS on Wikipidea and it actually started in Boston! That's awesome!
I am hoping more channels will offer programming in DVS in the future. :)