[blindkid] correct terminology

[Arielle Silverman]

Hi Marie and all,

I learned Braille when I was Jack's age, and first I want to say
thanks for having him learn Braille now! Unfortunately,
Braille-literate children are the minority these days.

To me the four ways of describing the letter B that  you mention are
all pretty much the same, and I wouldn't worry about these fine
distinctions. What is more important is that Jack gets the hang of how
each letter feels, and knows which dots to push to write the letters
with a slate and stylus, Perkins Brailler or Braille notetaker. I
don't know exactly how print is taught to children, but I think kids
learn to recognize whole letters rather than reducing them to their
component lines, circles, etc. He will need to know the dots for
writing at first, but eventually he should be able to recognize and
write the letters themselves rather than thinking about the specific
dots involved. I know the dots for each Braille character, of course,
but I don't consciously think about the dots when I am writing
Braille, and when I read Braille I generally recognize whole words at
a time rather than individual letters or individual dots.  Just
remember that Braille literacy isn't all that different from print
literacy-just something to think about. Good luck!

Arielle

On 7/11/10, Carly B <barnesraiser at gmail.com> wrote:
> This is how I heard it described, and it's been super helpful for me to
> think of it this way:
>
> Think of "unzipping" the Braille cell through the middle from the bottom to
> the top, then pulling each unzipped side out lengthwise. So dot one is the
> first key on the left. Dot 2 is the second key on the left. Dot 3 is
> the third key on the left. Dot 4 is the first key on the right. And so on.
> The middle key is the space key.
>
> I hope that helps!!
>
> :) Carolynn
>
> On Sun, Jul 11, 2010 at 7:00 PM, holly miller <hollym12 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Along the same lines, does anyone know of a printable cheat sheet to use
>> with a perkins?  With the cells in a straight line rather than 3 next to
>> 3.
>>
>> Holly
>> aka Hank's mom
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-- 
Arielle Silverman
President, National Association of Blind Students
Phone:  602-502-2255
Email:
nabs.president at gmail.com
Website:
www.nabslink.org