[blindkid] Happy Birthday Louis Braille

Thu Jan 5 00:02:58 UTC 2012

Happy Birthday Louis Braille. 

Trudy L Pickrel
President MD Parents Blind Children
Owner TLC by the Lake poodles

On Jan 4, 2012, at 1:08 PM, blindkid-request at nfbnet.org wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
> 
>   1. Math for Kindergarten (Wendy Molle)
>   2. Nemeth (Carlton Anne Cook Walker)
>   3. Re: Math for Kindergarten (Arielle Silverman)
>   4. Re: Math for Kindergarten (Carol Castellano)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:52:13 -0500
> From: "Wendy Molle" <wmolle at schoharie.k12.ny.us>
> To: <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: [blindkid] Math for Kindergarten
> Message-ID: <4F03161D020000360000FC91 at mail.schoharie.k12.ny.us>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
> 
> Unless a child has developmental delays, they should absolutely be doing Nemeth math when the peers are doing written math.  Sighted children learn the many different ways that a letter can be formed (a versus a versus A, for example) as well as cursive or script eventually.  
> 
> If they don't keep her up with her peers, exactly when do they plan to catch her up?  With all of the pullouts our blind kids have a school (TVI, OM, etc.), there is hardly extra time to catch them up later.
> 
> Make it a game at home.  Buy dominoes and put the Nemeth numbers on them.  Then play dominoes together.
> 
> Good luck,
> Wendy
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2012 17:06:36 -0500
> From: Carlton Anne Cook Walker <attorneywalker at gmail.com>
> To: lburns24 at yahoo.com, blindkid at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [blindkid] Nemeth
> Message-ID:
>    <CAEjPGkhCkax4Kuwzr1kAHXBx9478TjWWotW6687c+Mdsoc8dCA at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
> 
> Laurie,
> 
> What your TVI is telling is something that she was taught as a general rule
> of thumb in school.  In my experience (as the parent of a blind child and
> as a TVI), this rule of thumb is wrong.
> 
> Like Carol said, all too often, blind children are held back in math
> because their TVIs do not believe that they are capable of discriminating
> between literary and Nemeth Code.  While TVIs may have this difficulty, I
> have yet to find a blind child struggle in this manner.
> 
> In fact, in some cases, I have had children who struggle with literary
> braille take on Nemeth Code with gusto.  One of these students has even
> tackled the Music Braille Code while still experiencing occasional
> reversals in the literary code.
> 
> 
> I am not certain where the idea that Nemeth Code can be confusing to
> literary braille learners came from.  Perhaps it would for students
> learning braille in the high school years -- where mathematics and, thus,
> Nemeth Code is far more complex.  However, for an intellectually typical
> early elementary student, all math is pretty simple (numbers, addition,
> subtraction, signs of in/equality, etc.).  The best way to ensure that a
> braille reader does not fall behind in math is to teach him/her the Nemeth
> Code signs before they are taught to the class (perhaps only a few days
> before so that some practice may occur) and permit the child to keep up
> with his/her peers.
> 
> 
> Carol alluded to the expectation of sighted peers.  She is absolutely
> right!  If the print readers are permitted to read the numbers and write
> them out, your daughter should be as well.
> 
> Additionally, consider asking the TVI about abacus training.  The abacus is
> to a blind student what paper and pencil are to sighted students.  Even my
> students with intellectual delays revel in their abacus use, and one of
> them (who has some fine motor delays) finds the abacus easier to use and
> more accurate than the talking calculator he has.
> 
> 
> In sum, your child should be allowed to experience her education just as
> her print-reading peers do.  If they are reading something, she should read
> it too.  If they are performing calculations or using manipulatives, the
> same should be offered to your daughter.  Blind children have been
> successfully learning and using Nemeth Code for years and years.  Your
> daughter has that same right!
> 
> 
> Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.
> 
> 
> Carlton
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Carlton Anne Cook Walker
> Attorney at Law
> Teacher of Students with Blindness, Visual Impairment
> National Certification in Literary Braille
> Voice: 717-658-9894
> Twitter: braillemom
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 3
> Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2012 21:24:57 -0700
> From: Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com>
> To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,    (for parents of blind children)"
>    <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [blindkid] Math for Kindergarten
> Message-ID:
>    <CALAYQJA-Ai=1AZdk59UVZNTZjuwuAyVWrAUTiBqVg33wmMJetQ at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
> 
> Hi all,
> As a blind adult and lifelong Braille reader I absolutely and totally
> agree with all the above. She should be learning to read and write
> numbers at the same time her sighted classmates learn, or before they
> do, but definitely not after. There is no harm in teaching or exposing
> a child to something before she is ready to perform perfectly at it,
> but there can be a lot of harm in waiting until she has fallen behind.
> Given the difficulties in getting accessible materials, pull-outs etc.
> a blind child needs to be ahead of the game as much as is possible.
> My father has a math degree, and when I was young he liked to talk to
> me a lot about numbers and computations. I recall when I was about
> four, sitting on his lap and him trying to teach me about
> multiplication. I was still in preschool, was barely learning to read
> and definitely didn't understand what he was talking about. Yet when I
> got to elementary school and my class was learning about
> multiplication, the ideas seemed familiar and I caught on right away.
> Although I wasn't developmentally ready to multiply in my head when my
> dad first introduced me to the concept, the exposure primed me to
> grasp the ideas more easily when I was developmentally ready for them.
> He could have just said "I'll wait until she is older to teach her
> about this, she won't understand" but he went ahead and exposed me to
> the concepts anyway. As a result, I didn't struggle with math and in
> fact was able to succeed in advanced math classes, and I don't think
> this was an accident or the result of innate intelligence. I will
> never forget this experience because it shows that early exposure to
> intellectual challenges can be incredibly beneficial for later growth
> and success. And this is especially true for blind kids in
> mainstreamed classrooms who face access disadvantages.
> Unfortunately many TVI's seem to subscribe to the model of waiting
> until a student is clearly ready to master a concept before
> introducing it. This way of thinking is not unlike the tendency to
> wait to teach Braille until a child clearly has no other choice. But a
> good teacher needs to anticipate what comes ahead-and to have a little
> faith in their students.
> Also, while I am not a Braille teaching expert, I would think that a
> child could easily learn literary numbers and Nemeth code at the same
> time-much as an infant can learn to speak English and Spanish at the
> same time. Or, if your TVI is really worried that your daughter will
> get confused by writing in Nemeth, why not have her write the numbers
> in literary Braille first-but still have her write them down like the
> other students?
> Best,
> Arielle
> 
> On 1/3/12, Wendy Molle <wmolle at schoharie.k12.ny.us> wrote:
>> Unless a child has developmental delays, they should absolutely be doing
>> Nemeth math when the peers are doing written math.  Sighted children learn
>> the many different ways that a letter can be formed (a versus a versus A,
>> for example) as well as cursive or script eventually.
>> 
>> If they don't keep her up with her peers, exactly when do they plan to catch
>> her up?  With all of the pullouts our blind kids have a school (TVI, OM,
>> etc.), there is hardly extra time to catch them up later.
>> 
>> Make it a game at home.  Buy dominoes and put the Nemeth numbers on them.
>> Then play dominoes together.
>> 
>> Good luck,
>> Wendy
>> _______________________________________________
>> blindkid mailing list
>> blindkid at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindkid_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> blindkid:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindkid_nfbnet.org/arielle71%40gmail.com
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 4
> Date: Wed, 04 Jan 2012 09:30:38 -0500
> From: Carol Castellano <carol.joyce.castellano at gmail.com>
> To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,    \(for parents of blind children\)"
>    <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [blindkid] Math for Kindergarten
> Message-ID: <4f04628f.47c2e00a.520a.fffff67c at mx.google.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
> 
> As Joe Cutter used to say, "It's too soon, it's too soon, it's too 
> soon.  Until it's too late."
> Carol
> 
> At 11:24 PM 1/3/2012, you wrote:
>> Hi all,
>> As a blind adult and lifelong Braille reader I absolutely and totally
>> agree with all the above. She should be learning to read and write
>> numbers at the same time her sighted classmates learn, or before they
>> do, but definitely not after. There is no harm in teaching or exposing
>> a child to something before she is ready to perform perfectly at it,
>> but there can be a lot of harm in waiting until she has fallen behind.
>> Given the difficulties in getting accessible materials, pull-outs etc.
>> a blind child needs to be ahead of the game as much as is possible.
>> My father has a math degree, and when I was young he liked to talk to
>> me a lot about numbers and computations. I recall when I was about
>> four, sitting on his lap and him trying to teach me about
>> multiplication. I was still in preschool, was barely learning to read
>> and definitely didn't understand what he was talking about. Yet when I
>> got to elementary school and my class was learning about
>> multiplication, the ideas seemed familiar and I caught on right away.
>> Although I wasn't developmentally ready to multiply in my head when my
>> dad first introduced me to the concept, the exposure primed me to
>> grasp the ideas more easily when I was developmentally ready for them.
>> He could have just said "I'll wait until she is older to teach her
>> about this, she won't understand" but he went ahead and exposed me to
>> the concepts anyway. As a result, I didn't struggle with math and in
>> fact was able to succeed in advanced math classes, and I don't think
>> this was an accident or the result of innate intelligence. I will
>> never forget this experience because it shows that early exposure to
>> intellectual challenges can be incredibly beneficial for later growth
>> and success. And this is especially true for blind kids in
>> mainstreamed classrooms who face access disadvantages.
>> Unfortunately many TVI's seem to subscribe to the model of waiting
>> until a student is clearly ready to master a concept before
>> introducing it. This way of thinking is not unlike the tendency to
>> wait to teach Braille until a child clearly has no other choice. But a
>> good teacher needs to anticipate what comes ahead-and to have a little
>> faith in their students.
>> Also, while I am not a Braille teaching expert, I would think that a
>> child could easily learn literary numbers and Nemeth code at the same
>> time-much as an infant can learn to speak English and Spanish at the
>> same time. Or, if your TVI is really worried that your daughter will
>> get confused by writing in Nemeth, why not have her write the numbers
>> in literary Braille first-but still have her write them down like the
>> other students?
>> Best,
>> Arielle
>> 
>> On 1/3/12, Wendy Molle <wmolle at schoharie.k12.ny.us> wrote:
>>> Unless a child has developmental delays, they should absolutely be doing
>>> Nemeth math when the peers are doing written math.  Sighted children learn
>>> the many different ways that a letter can be formed (a versus a versus A,
>>> for example) as well as cursive or script eventually.
>>> 
>>> If they don't keep her up with her peers, exactly when do they 
>> plan to catch
>>> her up?  With all of the pullouts our blind kids have a school (TVI, OM,
>>> etc.), there is hardly extra time to catch them up later.
>>> 
>>> Make it a game at home.  Buy dominoes and put the Nemeth numbers on them.
>>> Then play dominoes together.
>>> 
>>> Good luck,
>>> Wendy
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> blindkid mailing list
>>> blindkid at nfbnet.org
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindkid_nfbnet.org
>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>>> blindkid:
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindkid_nfbnet.org/arielle71%40gmail.com
>>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
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>> for blindkid:
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> 
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> End of blindkid Digest, Vol 93, Issue 4
> ***************************************