Seeing through music
<p>Fourth-graders Kayla Rouse, left, Sarah Olson and Piper Canning, right, work on assembling a motion-sensing music player during their class Monday at Ponderosa Elementary School in Post Falls.</p>
<p>Alex Owens, a second-grade student at Ponderosa Elementary, who is blind, uses his cane to navigate through the halls of the school on the way to math class.</p>
POST FALLS — Blind student Alex Owens will soon be able to navigate around Ponderosa Elementary better thanks to the helping hands of his classmates.
Sarah Windisch's fourth-grade Challenge students are constructing small gadgets with soundboards that are triggered by vibrating sensors.
After they are installed around school, Alex, an easy-going second-grader with an amazing memory, will be able to tap the devices with his cane, which will trigger one of his favorite songs.
"The idea is that by placing these devices, each playing a different song, around our school, he will be able to create a map in his head using musical cues," Windisch said.
Bill Owens, Alex's dad, called the project "absolutely unbelievable."
"This is a new concept as far as the blind goes," he said, adding that such technology is helping blind folks on a larger scale such as in cities.
"Our whole goal is to have Alex be independent. We want him to be successful, and the way he's going to be successful is to be independent. Blindness is just another way of seeing."
Alex, who was born without eyes, will be able to take the technology with him to middle school and high school.
"They will be housed in a small Altoids-type tin and velcroed to the wall just above floor level," Windisch said.
Songs ranging from those by Billy Joel to The Doors will be played as Alex loves all types of music.
"I'm not going to lie — there will be Justin Bieber in there, too," Windisch said with a laugh.
Alex is a big part of the school community as he announces lunch choices over the loudspeakers each day to students. Students also enjoy touching the braille on his desk.
"He's a celebrity here," Principal Kathy Baker said. "All kids know Alex."
Fourth-grader Isaac Ziegler said it makes him feel good to help Alex.
"These will play music and tell him where he's at," Isaac said while constructing one of the devices. "I think it's going to help him a lot."
Baker said Alex can find his way to the lunchroom and the bathroom on his own, but the gadgets should help him expand his boundaries in a school that arguably has the design of a maze.
Windisch obtained a $287 grant through the Idaho Education Technology Association to pay for supplies for the project. She plans to post instructions for the gadgets online so anyone who wants to build them can.
"They're easy and inexpensive to build," she said.
Fourth-grader Edward Fedele said he is enjoying helping Alex.
"I think that we are all technicians now," he said while working on a device.