[blindkid] braille?
Andy & Sally Thomas
andysally at comcast.net
Fri Feb 20 00:08:51 UTC 2009
I'm far from an expert but I can't see any down side to introducing braille
and print at the same time. Kids can learn more than one language at a
time. Kids are little sponges. They are not daunted by this sort of thing
unless we tell them it's "hard." You can provide a braille rich environment
relatively easily. There are toys available that already have
braille--refrigerator alphabet magnets, for example. You can buy a Dymo
labeler
(http://secure.nfb.org/ecommerce/asp/prodtype.asp?prodtype=32&ph=&keywords=&recor=&SearchFor=&PT_ID=)
that brailles on sticky tape so you can braille toys or other things around
the house (the labeler has the braille symbols associated with a print
letter so you don't have to know braille yourself). One suggestion I heard
from Dr. Ruby Ryles, a distinguished educator and parent of a blind child,
was to put braille in places that you thought your child would touch so the
child would come across it in the normal course of daily exploration. She
put braille on her son's bed frame and other places she thought he'd find
it. There are several people on this list who have great ideas about
adapting things with braille.
One thing I would say to your husband--there is no shame in being blind. At
first my husband was very put off by the idea of my son using a cane. Now
he is a great advocate of the cane. It just took a while to have a paradigm
shift. A great way to push the shift is to attend a national convention.
This summer the NFB convention is in Detroit and the following summer the
convention will be in Dallas, which is drivable from Alabama.
It is so great that you are looking into all these things when your son is
so young. He can grow up with lots of tools in his belt and be prepared to
use the ones that make his life most productive. Good for you!
Sally Thomas
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marie Smith" <empwrn at bellsouth.net>
To: <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 4:52 PM
Subject: [blindkid] braille?
> Hello everyone, thank you for all the warm welcomes. First, let me
> introduce
> us a bit more. We live south of Birmingham, AL. Our son, Jack, was born
> with
> Apert syndrome. He is developmentally delayed in several areas. He is
> three
> and a half years old and currently attends an inclusive preschool that is
> part of our local school system. Next year, this inclusive preschool will
> not be an option for us because our local school district is changing
> their
> policy regarding children with special needs. Next year, Jack will attend
> a
> private daycare/preschool with consult services from our local school
> district. At 4, he will re-enter public school for kindergarten or so we
> plan.
>
>
>
> Okay my first question is a big one. I see a lot of stuff about kids
> needing
> to learn Braille when they are young. Jack at three and a half years old
> is
> just learning his letters and the sounds they make. Jack's vision is not
> expected to get any worse than it currently is. His visual impairment was
> caused by optic nerve damage that was caused by pressure on his brain from
> hydrocephalus. He now has a VP shunt. The low vision rehabilitation
> specialist that we saw mentioned Braille because Jack is a fairly tactile
> learner anyway. I mentioned to my husband that I saw some information
> about
> children learning to simultaneously learn to read Braille and print. He
> seemed resistant to the idea. Can someone please tell me if this is
> something that we need to discuss and get started on now? Is the school
> obligated to provide someone to teach Braille? What issues are there that
> I
> need to be aware of regarding the learning of Braille?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
>
>
> Marie Smith (mother of 3 year old Jack)
>
>
>
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