Hi. TVI here. I wouldn’t move them to an iPad. In this case the touch is the better device. Why the move. iPad won’t even be something they would use in a job later. You’d honestly be better off going with a pc or a Mac with a screen reading program. (I’d say the pc is better)

The Braille note is better. Don’t go iPad. If you are trying to teach keyboarding then you should just do it on a computer in general. It would be wayyyyyyy cheaper and better transition wise because they would gain computer skills for jobs later. And fusion with jaws is available through quota funds so it would just be getting a laptop that would run it effectively. Heck. You could attach that touch as a Braille display to a pc laptop.

Edit. Brailke note will do the math better 100 percent. You may wanna check out an el Braille though. It’s a windows computer attached to a focus 40. Lets you attach a keyboard and a screen and it’s like any other computer. Runs off jaws. Math works pretty legit in both forms. Though the touch is great for higher math. I used it with a student in algebra and geometry it makes the shapes and such and has a graphing calculator. The iPad won’t hold up

Hi,
I'm a TVI from the inside; I was born blind. All of what follows is my opinion, of course, but I've been supporting VI students for a decade and used technology to support me, my wife and sighted daughter for longer than that naturally.

Maximum flexibility is a Braille display of some kind (potentially even a Touch if you already have one) and a computer of some kind (I am a Windows person by preference, but again anything is better than nothing). This is because of a few reasons.
Firstly, the parts are adjustable: Braille display stopped working? Replace it with a cheaper or spare. Computer died? Move your Braille device to another. There is no situation worse than being a day off your doctoral thesis and having your Braillenote flame-out on you with Humanware's turnaround time.
Second, having multiple devices provides you routes around problems. If you happen to have a Braille device on which you can make notes, you can use it away from your computer. If you have to do something you've not done before (editing audio, for instance) doing so on a mainstream platform (mac, windows etc) is far more sensible than learning to use specific software on a specialised device, even if it exists.
And finally interfacing with mainstream technology generally is far preferable. Nothing set me apart further from my sighted peers at college than pulling out a Braille device, but when that device paired to a screen they could see using an app they were familiar with, things became much easier.

To get to a few specifics.

* iPads are far less used than iPhones by braillists. There's no benefit to a larger screen when you can't see, and one of the iPhone's biggest pulls is the range of apps to do things either with GPS or the camera, neither of which works well for the iPad. The interface is almost identical but relying on an iPad without any sight is a recipe to see equipment lying underused in a drawer sooner or later.
* u/annibear is right about Braille being more natural for Math. it may be that the Braillenote is the way forward for writing examination papers and completing tests because of Keymath at high school level. Equally It is unlikely that college level math will be doable with a Braillenote by itself - Keymath is fine for input, but reading things back with any degree of complexity is tricky and it doesn't output in any form of standard notation. If as a blind adult you want to author *any* scientific paper or article, Keymath is not going to be the way you do it.
* u/FaerilyRowanwind mentions quota funds. This is fine as far as it goes, but start with NVDA. JAWS is expensive in the longer term and of the students I have taught perhaps ten percent *need* JAWS for the extra features it has over NVDA. Of those ten percent, at least half are unable to afford JAWS at home, and of the half that do, some begrudge paying constant upgrade and renewal fees.
* you say you're on Reddit begging for help. But to be fair, the people on Reddit in this sub are almost by definition technically competent, so there's that.
* You mention Peter. Have you considered that he's only thriving in the professional world with a Braillenote because of where he works? If I worked for Apple I'd expect to be using a mac. Humanware markets itself very strongly to academics, but I can't think of a single student who has moved away from a Braillenote and regretted it. They're useful, and they were even better as notetakers, but they aren't the Panacea they're made out to be. It's primary-aged kids who get lumped with them where the damage is done and kids have no touch-typing skills that really bothers me.
* One of the key skills outside of school is typing on a touchscreen somehow; Braille screen input, slide-typing, whatever works for your student. If you have time, assess and improve that. it'll help long term.

Why the switch? VoiceOver and a bluetooth keyboard doesn't provide Braille. I guess you could add a refreshable Braille display in, but why bother when the BrailleNote is right there?

VoiceOver for math is possible, but Braille is going to be much better for understanding. I work in data science and would never proofread with VoiceOver. I mean, it's definitely possible, but Braille is much more natural.

No I can edit a Google dock without any trouble depending on how good your students grammar or braille skills are it might be a little more of a challenge for them to weed do it by hand to look for errors personally myself and I don’t really do that as I’m typing after I space after a word it reads out the words so normally I can tell if it’s misspelled or not if not my aid normally goes back and spell checks everything the one thing that is kind of annoying is when you’re in a Google dock you can’t make the boil note read out everything that you’ve written if this is a big problem for you student you might want to have them type things in keyword instead and either copy and paste it to Google Docs returning or have it emailed to their teacher or somebody who can email it to the teacher I don’t know how to edit certain things such as the font or text sizes or colors but at the same time I’ve never played around with it and my TV I’ve never shown me how to do it before because it’s never been needed and if it is normally my aid will just add those things for me before or after I start typing the nice thing about typing on the braille note as well as it helps learn more contractions because if I type a word with no contractions that has contractions The Braille Note will auto correct and add the set of contractions

I am a sophomore in high school and I have both a Braille Note Touch plus and an iPad with a keyboard with my braille note touch plus I can access Google docs classroom slides drive and this is what a use fully two write all my essays and take notes in general yes you can connect your book share to it and either have it read out the book or read using the boil display my iPad I prefer to used to access my emails because it’s a little easier near than on the boil note however it is to get to mount all my emails and listen to them however it is a little easier to write an email with the boil note because I can feel the boil and put my cursor wherever I want and now it’s there for math depending on what kind of math class is student is in the world that would be better such as an algebra where there is a lot more of number equations it would be pretty easy to do them on the boil note however I am currently in geometry and I don’t very often use my braille note in there unless it’s specifically a number equation the boil note is also nice because if you’re a good boy reader and not a big listen or you can just read the Boyle to navigate depends on your preferences

Personally I find that tablets are too big. They just have so much screen for you to touch and finding an item might be a hassle. I suggest using an Android with Blue tooth keyboard. I use an Android Note 9 and a decent keyboard.


The benifits:
1 The txt reader that comes standard is equell to Jaws. Don't waste your money on over priced blind asistive tech. Most of it is free in the google store. I swore off of apple many years ago when I was going blind because it was more focused in how something looks then how it works.

I utalize Google Drive pretty well with my android txt reader. The google one is trash in my opinion. Been blind for 4 years now and had lost most of my sight by then. Had a surgery to help me with my loss of sight but the surgery did the oppasit. salavi such is life.

a few more things that I have found that really help the blind.

Hats: Hats help shield my head from low hanging branches. I have a nice well used Leather Fedora that I wear when I go out. I call it my Hat of +2 protection. Also protects my nose from walls. lol Seriously though, every blind person needs a nice leather hat to protect them from what the cane does not see.


Leather mocasins: With a leather sole. Super comfy shoes that allow your feet to read the pavement/ground below you.

A perculator coffee pot: The biggest problem with a coffee pot is the glass. Say no to glass and get the perculator. It also uses no filters because it comes with a metal filter. So no more filter trash. Just bang the metal cofffee filter against the inside of your trashcan. Then rinse it out. The spout is also long and that makes it easier to pour. Those glass ones have such a short spout that you end up making a mess half the time. Been using perculators for more than 10 years and have never looked back. :)

hope this helps.

Tvi here. I’m no expert but I’m in the process of transitioning my student from his braillenote touch to a laptop with JAWs. I want him proficient in both, because in college he’ll need both. I wouldn’t bother with an iPad either. We’re about to start exploring using the laptop with the new brailliant display, which is kind of like a touch but only has the keys and the braille display and it pairs with a laptop.