[blindkid] braille learning as fun!

Wed Jun 9 21:20:27 UTC 2010

Marie,
Here are some ideas I've used with some of my students who were learning Braille:

Lots of Dots:  Learning My ABCs (APH)
            When coloring in this book, I place the coloring pages on a screen board so the student is able to feel his/her coloring more tactually.

Squid (APH)

Create letters using a small 6-count muffin pan.  I try to use different objects for a week or so.    One can usually find erasers that are age appropriate and of interest to the child.  For example, if the child likes Clifford, I use little Clifford erasers.  I also like holiday themes such as pumpkin erasers for Thanksgiving.  

It is important to start teaching the dot numbers.  For this, I use finger puppets.  It seems that small children understand that people live in certain ‘apartment’ numbers so with the finger puppets, I say that Mr. Lamb lives in Apartment #1 and Mr. Chicken lives in Apartment #2.  For this game, I’m not creating letters – rather, I’m focusing on learning the numbers of the dots.  Then, we play a game that Mr. Lamb wants to visit Mr. Chicken in Apartment #2.  Then, we move from that to removing the name the name to Mr. Lamb went to Apartment #4 to find Mr. Chicken.  I’ll have the student put Mr. Lamb in Apartment #4 and ask, “Is Mr. Chicken there?”  We’ll do this several times – mixing up the puppets.  

If the child is having trouble with this, I have another box that has the 6 compartments like a Braille Cell.  In the box, I have sticks that have one through six objects on them.  The student counts the objects and places them in the correct location in the box.  The sticks that have only one go in the top left – while the sticks that have 6 objects goes in the bottom right, etc.  This helps establish the dot number locations, as well.

I continue to make the cells smaller.  Starting with the small 6-count muffin pan down to as small of a cell I’ve collected over the years.  Items I’ve used include:
            - small 6-count trinket box w/ lid found in hobby stores.
            - small 6-count paint holder at hobby store.
            - Jell-O 6-count egg containers found at thrift shops. 
            - Toys – cupcake, egg shape containers 
            - Toy muffin pan found at antique shops.

Pop-a-Cell (APH) – create letters back and forth
PegCell (APH) – create words back and forth.

Find a book that has six buttons on the right side that make sounds.  Some have seven or so.  Seven is okay so long as the seventh one is larger and above or below the six.  These books can be found anywhere, Walmart, drug stores, etc.  Many of these books have the six buttons like a Braille Cell.  If you can get it Braille, great!!!  The print on the book shows pictures of which button needs to be pushed as the story is read.  Instead of the adult pushing the button, say the dot number of which button needs to be pushed.  For example:  “I was so J when I jumped across the yard.”  The J face button may be dot number 2.  So, it would be read aloud as follows, “I was so ‘dot 2’ (child pushes dot 2 for the delightful sound) when I jumped across the yard.”   

Play dough – The student makes a snake and then presses it flat.  Uses a stylus or peg toy to press holes in the play dough… this strengthens the hand and introduces the slate & stylus.  

Twister Braille  - Use a twister game to create letters with the body.  Sometimes I have also had children place stuffed animals on the dots to create the letters.

Hope these help.  Let me know if you need more ideas.
Merry-Noel

--- On Tue, 6/8/10, Marie <empwrn at bellsouth.net> wrote:

From: Marie <empwrn at bellsouth.net>
Subject: Re: [blindkid] braille learning as fun!
To: "'NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)'" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Date: Tuesday, June 8, 2010, 7:21 PM

Hey Richard, can you give me some ideas of things that you did to make
learning Braille fun for Kendra. Jack needs letters 2 to 3 inches high for
near vision so I am definitely thinking he needs to learn Braille and have
put Braille in his environment with labels and such and we have
Braille-Print books. However he is VERY attracted to print but Braille does
not seem to mean anything to him yet. It may have to do with (lack of)
fingertip sensitivity (have no idea how sensitive they are since he is still
learning to talk and this would be a difficult concept to discuss with any 5
yr old). He wants signs read to him and he tries to spell ALL the time.
Ideas?

Marie (mother of Jack, born May 2005)
Check out our blog at http://www.allaccesspasstojack.blogspot.com for
glimpses into our busy life with a boy who is busy growing and developing in
his own way in his own time

-----Original Message-----
From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Richard Holloway
Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 11:48 AM
To: NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)
Subject: [blindkid] Wii Thoughts

I'm wondering if any of us has actually had "hands on" this device,  
and who among us has actually seen that video or had it described to  
us...

>From what I can discern, this "electronic cane" is basically a fairly  
conventional cane with a chunk in the middle that has been replaced by  
a pair of shafts with what appears to be some sort of a motion-sensing  
device that hangs between the the shafts. I suspect it would feel like  
a slightly awkward and heavier-than-usual cane. This is not some crazy  
alternative-to a-cane contraption. It is also (from what I can tell)  
FAR closer to a typical cane than the Wii Guitar is to an actual  
guitar, for whatever that may be worth. Despite it's similarity with a  
"proper" cane, it also does not appear to be offered as a replacement  
to a cane in any way.

My guess is that (much like with the knfb reader) among so many other  
pieces of technology, over time the device would shrink and could  
ultimately feel (and in fact be) a typical cane that happens to offer  
the features of a Wii input device as well. (Perhaps you could even  
attach a small device around a personal cane for this at some point.)

I keep hearing so much apprehension and resistance to what this device  
claims to offer but no evidence that it really won't work or certainly  
anything that shows this to be detrimental to cane travelers' skills.  
What I did hear however, is that it apparently has inspired and  
pleased a number of the kids who have been trying it out. Again, I'm  
not picking up an anything bad there. I hear that some people  
apparently think learning to use a cane should NOT be fun. Well, let  
me tell you-- if my daughter thinks something is fun, she's going to  
do it a lot more often and a lot better than something she dislikes  
and I'm suspecting this is not unique to Kendra. In my experience,  
Kendra really enjoys reading and writing braille. She has fun doing it  
now, because she actually had fun learning to read braille and it has  
nearly always been associated with positive experiences for her. Many  
of the ways she learned to read were very much game-like, Now she  
reads several years ABOVE grade level and she's only just finished  
first grade. Does anyone want to suggest to me that while it is okay  
if she enjoys reading NOW, she should NOT have enjoyed LEARNING to  
read? Does that make sense to anyone?

I was recently looking at a braille compass in a store. Then I saw an  
electronic compass. I don't know how well it works, but the concept is  
interesting. So consider this-- put the electronic compass into a cane  
which tells you which way you're pointing at will. Or why not a GPS in  
a cane? Does that sound excessive or overly complicated? Well it may  
be, but what is much more likely is that things like this Wii cane  
could develop into something like a conventional cane (or cane  
attachment) with a bluetooth interface that could send whatever data  
the sensors in the cane are made to pickup, then you could interface  
that with whatever you wanted-- a compass system, a GPS, or probably  
any number of other devices.

There was a time when telephones were not mobile, then some people had  
the "crazy" idea of putting them in cars and then briefcases. Those  
became "bag phones" that became the "brick" cell phones which became  
pocket sized phones like many of us have now. Ultimately, a pocket  
phone can encompass everything from a PDA to a GPS system to a knfb  
reader and who knows what else?

It looks to me like the Wii system, in many ways is actually at least  
part of something somewhat like a simulator for cane travel. You can  
actually travel with it (at least a bit) but not in a "real world"  
environment. Well, the simulator concept is a proven one. People learn  
to do all sorts of things in them all over the world. Often it keeps  
them safe, makes learning faster, and saves time and money. Again, I  
have trouble seeing the down side. Every time I get on a airplane, I'm  
delighted to know the pilot may have spent a lot of time in a  
simulator AS WELL AS actually flying. All of that is hopefully keeping  
me safer in the air!

The NFB really is working towards cars that would be reasonable for  
blind people to drive on their own. Not just an autonomous vehicle a  
blind person could own and ride in, but one that my child might be  
able to get in and drive on her own one day. It troubles me to observe  
other bashing ideas that may not only be useful and helpful right now,  
but which may very well lead to all sorts of additional helpful  
technologies for all of our kids in the future. I hope we can all keep  
this in mind when we're exploring and discussing new developments in  
technology.

Once upon a time someone came up with a strange and awkward concept  
for sending messages that could be read in the dark in combat areas.  
It didn't work very well at all and it needed a lot of refining. I  
expect many people thought it was a ridiculous concept, and a waste of  
time, but today I don't think so many of us would announce that  
Braille is a foolish or useless invention.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

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