[blindkid] Pre-braille?

Sun Mar 8 16:22:03 UTC 2009

Dear Marie,

If your son truly needs letters to be 2-3 inches in size in order to see
them and identify them I can not fathom any reason to consider he will be a
large print reader at all. 72 font is one inch and that is considered very
very large-none of it that large is commercially available anywhere. I
believe that 18 point or around there is the largest commercially available
and that would be considered giant even-the standard large print font
commercially available is 14 point font. Most good teachers I know draw the
line definitively at 20, or maybe very generously at 24 point, to say this
child will not only LEARN Braille but likely need it primarily. 

 So it seems from what you have written that if they are considering him a
"large print" "reader", it is only possible at all through a CCTV and then
as you said, one word on a screen...so he will read words or even letters at
a time. And the question is, at that pace, is it really reading as we know
it? An incredibly inefficient, painstakingly slow and frustrating option but
still for all its unreasonableness not at all unheard of to be recommended
over Braille.

RE: "There are concepts Jack needs to understand before beginning Braille
instruction." True and yet not true. Just like in print, concepts are formed
along the way. But the sighted child is given them all sort of at once. They
learn left, right, up, down, next to, above, below, follow the line--through
a variety of things. The letters are not withheld from them during this
period--there are letters all around them and people often name them for the
child as well. They are given books even as infants--plastic ones to have in
the bathtub even and just chew on them and have "fun" flipping the pages
back and forth. No one says--remove the print from those pages! It is too
early! They scribble and just learn how to hold the tool and that when they
touch it to something it makes a mark. Some are very precocious and find it
also makes marks on walls and furniture! This IS pre-writing. Sighted
children look and read alongside parents WAY before they know what those
lines and circles and dots and flat lined shapes MEAN.

Why oh why is there this totally unreasonable delay in introducing any
actual letter recognition until ALL other pre-literary skills are learned?
Why is the blind child supposedly "confused" by all this simulatneous
instruction but not the sighted child? I believe it has to do with nothing
but the feeling that Braille is so "foreign" so "different" so "hard" and
the same with a blind child and how he learns, (foreign, different,
slow--needing to take in only ONE concept at a time). This is MYTH.

"The VI teacher had no idea IF you could get ANY Braille books for home
use." This speaks volumes about her capabilities and experience with
Braille. Wow, this is not good.

"She sent an email stating she GUESSED she considered him a large print
reader FOR NOW" How long is now? She guesses? These determinations are by
law supposed to be based on scientific research and proven methods and THE
LAW and an APPROPRIATE evaluation.

You have the right to call a full IEP meeting at any time. You need to. The
need for the meeting is to make pre-reading and reading goals and
pre-Braille and Braille instruction and to begin implementation of them. The
law presumes--if they do not want to start it immediately they HAVE to eval
and prove otherwise through that eval and have that ON FILE. If the teacher
is unaware of a very basic law regarding one of THE PRIMARY things she is to
be certified to teach, a law that is from 1997, 12 YEARS OLD, that does not
speak well of her beliefs or experience in Braille either.

Your ideas at for at home are good and necessary. It is my personal belief,
that the school while obligated to do its part, at this stage especially
will have little impact even if they give him good Braille instruction 5x a
week if you do nothing or even very little at home. And I believe the home
actually has a larger obligation at this age. Parents are obligated in my
view to teach their toddlers and pre-school age all the same things they
would if their child were sighted. Your plan sounds well under way, if you
do this he will beign to learn it and they will have little argument left
when he comes to school like most any other kindergartener-already knowing
his alphabet and easily recognizing and making the letters.

We are here to support you. You also have the local resources, Stephanie and
Joy especially, reach out to them and consider trying to have them or
someone they recommend at ALL future meetings.

Carrie Gilmer, President

National Organization of Parents of Blind Children

A Division of the National Federation of the Blind

NFB National Center: 410-659-9314

Home Phone: 763-784-8590

carrie.gilmer at gmail.com

www.nfb.org/nopbc

-----Original Message-----
From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of empwrn at bellsouth.net
Sent: Saturday, March 07, 2009 5:37 PM
To: NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Pre-braille?

It was an update of the IEP-not time for annual yet. The PT requested the
meeting so she could decrease services since he is doing so well with his
PT. 

I insisted that the whole team be present so we could discuss the latest
vision findings (vision in his good eye is 20/320 NOT 20/50) and how it
impacts every part of the team. The VI teacher went over the Low Vision
Rehab Doc's report but really made no suggestions. I presented the team with
Jack's name printed in 2 inch letters and 3 inch letters. Dr. Decarlo said
that Jack needs 2-3 inch letters for reading. The team, like I, was shocked
to see how big 2-3 high letters really are. You cannot fit any more than
Jack's first name on a page--good thing we did not name him a longer name!
Anyway, I presented that and told the team that we did not think it would be
responsible planning on our parts to not think of how that letter size
impacts his future schooling and we wanted to begin braille instruction. The
LEA representative immediately began saying that there were concepts that
Jack had to understand before he could begin braille instruction. The VI
teacher made no suggesti!

 ons. I as

ked if Jack could not learn his braille letters right along with his print
letters. The teacher said that she was fine with that but nothing was put in
writing. I asked about borrowing braille-print books so that Jack could used
to the idea of braille just as children get used to the idea of print
letters. Our VI teacher had no idea if we could get any for home use. They
mentioned pre-braille but did not really tell me what it was or propose any
kind of plan for working on it. Then the VI teacher sent me a follow up
email stating that she guessed she considered Jack a large print reader for
now but certainly saw no reason not to expose him to tactile books. I
thought about sending her an email back written in 2-3 inch print just so
she could see what she was saying. Do you think this is a case of true
ignorance of the law? It sounds to me like she is trying to get out of
teaching him braille without having to assess his needs. Or do you more
seasoned (and perhaps more reason!

 able) par

ents believe it sounds like they are going to help us get started? For my
part, I just ordered some braille flash cards and a braille labeler from The
Braille Superstore. My plan is to put braille in Jack's environment just as
print is--everywhere. I thought that I could use the labeler to print
braille to go along with the printed text in Jack's books so he could get
used to feeling the braille as I read to him. I don't know if I should stick
the labels which are clear on the page along with the text. 

I will look in to the other resources you referenced.

Thank you,

Marie

Marie-more about Jack- www.allaccesspasstojack.blogspot.com

www.apert.org

www.thecraniofacialcenter.org

Sent from my Palm Treo

-----Original Message-----

From:  "Carrie Gilmer" <carrie.gilmer at gmail.com>

Subj:  Re: [blindkid] Pre-braille?

Date:  Sat Mar 7, 2009 12:41 pm

Size:  4K

To:  "'NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,\(for parents of blind children\)'"
<blindkid at nfbnet.org>

Dear Marie,

I am a bit unclear, but you had a meeting-was it to form a new or annual

IEP? They will have to have SOMETHING written in for goals. If you think

that getting him ready for literacy is an important goal, then it should be

in there. Hey need to write up specific goals for the pre-Braille

instruction.

Pre-Braille, is in a sense Braille instruction--as much as early print

experiences are a part of learning print--and both are reading readiness. If

you get "pre-Braille" goals it will be that you are on the way to formal

Braille instruction, and once this is in an IEP it is very difficult to get

it out--the burden of "proof" for removing it is harder and if you disagree

in writing they can not legally take it out with out a court order in their

favor. That said you will find that getting things on paper is only an

initial triumph, implementation is where troubles often continue.

As for pre-Braille itself. Overall it is much the same--you are doing

pre-reading activities. He should play write and scribble, and read along

whether he can recognize anything yet or not. But you will want some tactile

writing and reading. The things Jill described are typical. You should be

reading to him. He should do activities that develop his hand strength and

also develop technique: reading a tactile line, hands together at left, read

across to the right, go back and move down to the next line--in progression

of skill the fastest readers midway across the line drop left hand down to

the next and finish with right hand only and then joins the left hand. 

He will need to learn tactually to follow a line and scan and skim and keep

his place and discriminate one symbol from another, just like sighted kids

do in print. There are Braille exercises to practice just like there are

print exercises for these things. Also he needs to learn terms above, below,

next to, etc.  

In early print, people do not wait to teach the alphabet. You can have flash

cards, and toys with Braille on them, and if he is play writing and

"accidentally" makes an L or an A with the Braillewriter then point it out

to him. 

I recommend getting "the Bridge to Braille" by Carol Castellano from our

Independence Market at www.nfb.org (products and publications link). Also

APH (www.aph.org) has some good instruction books if you want to know if

what the teacher is doing makes sense. And Creative Adaptations for Learning

has a lot of good early literacy, tactile pictures and flashcard stuff>

Their site is: http://www.cal-s.org.

We have a pre-reading program called Braille Reading Pals, register for it

by writing to bcheadle at nfb.org. Get lots of books, get registered for "Dots

for Tots" at the Braille Institute. www.brailleinstitute.org. Also National

Braille Press has a free early reading program for families, www.nbp.org. 

The school needs to provide materials too, In his IEP under accommodations

or materials needed you will want to have a Braillewriter listed (for HOME

use too),a slate and stylus (for HOME too), Braille twin vision or early

reading primer books and early literacy materials, (for HOME too), Braille

paper and index cards (for HOME too).

Carrie Gilmer, President

National Organization of Parents of Blind Children

A Division of the National Federation of the Blind

NFB National Center: 410-659-9314

Home Phone: 763-784-8590

carrie.gilmer at gmail.com

www.nfb.org/nopbc

-----Original Message-----

From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On

Behalf Of Marie Smith

Sent: Friday, March 06, 2009 9:24 AM

To: 'NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)'

Subject: [blindkid] Pre-braille?

We went to our IEP meeting and the IEP team did not deny Braille

instruction. Instead, they said something about pre-braille but really made

no firm commitment regarding instruction. Somebody PLEASE point me in the

right direction. What are pre-braille skills? It sounds kind of like

pre-literacy like you expose children to letters and stuff but the VI

teacher mentioned something about pre-braille books? What is this?

Marie (mother of Jack, 3 yrs old with Apert Syndrome)

http://www.allaccesspasstojack.blogspot.com

Learn more about Apert Syndrome

http://www.thecraniofacialcenter.org/apert.html

Get information and support at Teeter's page

http://www.apert.org

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