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Middle School Soft Skill Stories to help middle school blind/low-vision students improve their soft skills.

Award Number: 90BISA0062
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DISABILITY, INDEPENDENT LIVING, AND REHABILITATION RESEARCH
OPDIV: ACL
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: OTHER
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 06/01/2023
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 03/01/2024

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Middle School Soft Skill Stories to help middle school blind/low-vision students improve their soft skills. - The goal of this Phase I SBIR project is (1) to determine the feasibility of using an Accessible Interactive Fiction (AIF) story to help middle school (grades 7-9) students who are blind or have low vision (BLV) to practice and improve their soft-skills and (2) to provide information to their teacher to deliver more targeted instruction thereby using instructional time more efficiently. Our objectives include: (1) define the requirements for a system that enables a BLV middle school student to practice and improve soft skills, (2) develop a prototype computer-based AIF story, (3) build a prototype web service to capture the student’s progress and display it as skill charts in a browser for the teacher, and (4) assess acceptability and usefulness of the system to improve soft skills with actual BLV middle school students who represent a cross-section of the underserved population. AIF is a computer-based “choose-your-own-adventure” story, where the student is presented with hundreds of “decision points”, and the story plot proceeds based on the student’s choice, so they can experience the outcome of their decisions in a safe, non-judgmental, virtual environment. The intended outcome of this Phase I project is that the BLV student will find this intervention acceptable and useful, and we will measure this outcome through administering surveys. The expected product is a system that students use under teacher guidance, to help the student improve soft skills, which has been shown to improve education and employment outcomes.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2025	2023	OBJECTIVE ED, INC.	15355 TAKE OFF PL	ROYAL PALM BEACH	FL	33414	PALM BEACH	USA	ACL National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research	02	1	4/11/2025	ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPLEMENT ( + OR - ) (DISCRETIONARY OR BLOCK AWARDS)	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2024	2023	OBJECTIVE ED, INC.	15355 TAKE OFF PL	ROYAL PALM BEACH	FL	33414	PALM BEACH	USA	ACL National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research	01	1	10/3/2023	EXTENSION WITH OR WITHOUT FUNDS	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $100,000 )
2023	2023	OBJECTIVE ED, INC.	15355 TAKE OFF PL	ROYAL PALM BEACH	FL	33414	PALM BEACH	USA	ACL National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research	00	1	5/24/2023	NEW	$100,000
														Subtotal = $100,000

Grand Total All Awards = $100,000

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Middle School Soft Skill Stories to help middle school blind/low-vision students improve their soft skills.

Award Number: 90BISA0062

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DISABILITY, INDEPENDENT LIVING, AND REHABILITATION RESEARCH

OPDIV: ACL

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: OTHER

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 06/01/2023

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 03/01/2024

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