Welcome to Hot Topics! Gabrielle Crichlow talks to guest Richard Rieman about audiobooks for children with special needs, like blindness or deafness.

Check out this episode featuring Gabrielle Crichlow and Richard Rieman discussing the importance of making children's illustrated books accessible to blind, deaf, and neurodiverse children. They highlight the challenges these children face in finding books with sign language interpretation and Braille, emphasizing the need to improve access for those with special needs.

Imagination Storybooks, a nonprofit founded by Richard, creates audiobooks with descriptions for all children. They collaborate with major publishers to produce accessible books, converting them into various languages and Braille. Instead of artificial voices, they use live voice actors to convey the emotion of the stories.

By making children's books accessible, Imagination Storybooks positively impacts the lives of children with special needs. Join their Storybooks Club for access to videos and audio through their website. They also partner with the Described and Captioned Media Program to offer free access to their videos for qualified individuals.

Don't miss this episode that highlights the importance of reading for all children and the unique approach of Imagination Storybooks in enhancing accessibility in children's literature.

Who is Richard Rieman?
Richard Rieman (Ree’ man) wanted to be Superman but couldn’t fly, so he decided to be Clark Kent instead. After a long career as a radio news reporter, anchor, and Washington Bureau Chief, Richard turned his storytelling skills to the world of audiobooks. He has narrated and produced hundreds of Indie-published audiobooks and is the author of the award-winning book, “The Author’s Guide to Audiobook Creation.” Richard was a volunteer narrator for Learning Ally, read books for blind people, and was a ski guide for blind skiers. Combining both interests, Richard created the “Imagination Storybooks” Nonprofit to make children’s illustrated books accessible to all children by creating audiobooks with audio descriptions of the pictures for blind children and video books with captions and sign language for deaf and neurodiverse children with learning challenges.

You can find Richard:
On the web # 1: https://imaginationstorybooks.org/
On the web # 2: https://imaginationstorybooks.org/join-the-storybooks-club/
On Facebook # 1: https://www.facebook.com/imaginationstorybooks
On Facebook # 2: https://www.facebook.com/AudiobookCreation
On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imaginationstorybooks/
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/IStorybooksClub
On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardrieman/

Promo:
Bring the magic of books to all children. Join the Imagination Storybooks Club! Club members will receive access to our library of children’s illustrated books in three formats:

1) Videos with ASL (American Sign Language) and captions
2) Videos with AD (Audio Description)
3) Audio files with AD

A new video every week! Bonus content for teachers and even personal Happy Birthday wishes from Winnie-the-Pooh.

Richard has a podcast. Listen and subscribe here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/audiobookwizard

Richard also has books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Richard-Rieman/author/B019GKNRTA?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/EJaokCimA9k

Rate this episode on IMDB: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt33094994/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
********************************************
Follow Gabrielle Crichlow:
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabrielle.crichlow
On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabrielle.crichlow

Follow A Step Ahead Tutoring Services:
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/astepaheadtutoringservices
On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/astepaheadtutoringservices
On Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ASATS2013
On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@astepaheadtutoringservices
On TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@asats2013
On Eventbrite: https://astepaheadtutoringservices.eventbrite.com

Visit us on the web: https://www.astepaheadtutoringservices.com

Sign up for our email list: https://squareup.com/outreach/a41DaE/subscribe

Sign up for our text list: https://eztxt.s3.amazonaws.com/534571/widgets/61fc686d8d6665.90336120.html

Check out our entire "Hot Topics!" podcast: https://www.astepaheadtutoringservices.com/hottopicspodcast

Support us:
Cash App: https://cash.app/$ASATS2013
PayPal: https://paypal.me/ASATS2013
Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/ASATS2013
Zelle: success@astepaheadtutoringservices.com

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/hot-topics--5600971/support 

Original date of episode: April 12, 2023