[blparent] Re-Introducing Myself

Tue Oct 27 19:58:13 UTC 2009

Hi.  Seedlings does a great job with braille books.  There are over a 
hundred to choose from that are for babies and pre-schoolers, with the 
braille, print, and a picture on each page.  That way you know basically 
what your child is looking at.  There are a lot of Touch and Feel books that 
teach textures, and many books about animals.  You can braille your own 
books using laminating plastic strips that are adhesive, but Seedlings books 
are reasonably priced.  The board books are between $4 and $11.

I especially like the magnetic letter set from Leap Frog.  Each of the 
uppercase letters of the alphabet is a magnet.  Each one fits into the box, 
which is also a magnet that sticks to the fridge.  When the letter is 
inserted in the box, a song plays, identifying the sound the letter makes.

Thanks for the tip about the shoes.

Jo Elizabeth

Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify 
the hunters.--African Proverb

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Melissa Ann Riccobono" <melissa at riccobono.us>
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 1:38 PM
To: "'NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List'" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [blparent] Re-Introducing Myself

> Hello Colleen,
> Glad you're back on the list.  My name is Melissa, and my husband and I 
> have
> an almost three year old named Austin.
> There are tons of ways to teach shapes, numbers, letters, colors,
> and animals.  You can get many different toys with letters, shapes, and
> numbers that announce the name of the letter, shape, or number when it is
> pressed.  A lot of these have different game modes where your child can
> practice letter, shape, and number identification.  Some also have a color
> mode where you can press one of the buttons and hear what color it is.  I
> know Leap Frog, Fisher Price, and other brands have toys like this.  You 
> can
> also get magnetic letters to put on the refridgerator, letter, letter,
> number, and shape puzzles, or just talk a lot about the shape and color of
> different everyday objects.  There are also many animal puzzles, or you 
> can
> get animal puppets or even use stuffed animals.  The book Brown Bear Brown
> Bear What Do You See? Is great because it tells the animal and the color 
> of
> the animal is being seen.  The only thing to remember about that book is
> that the brown bear is on the first page, and the animal he sees is on the
> next page, then the animal that animal sees is on the page after that.  I
> hope that makes sense--it might not if you're not familiar with the book.
> It was one of Austin's favorites, and you can get it all ready in Braille
> from Seedlings Braille Books in a board book.  I was most worried about
> Austin learning colors, but it just seemed like one day he knew them
> correctly...  And I didn't do anything with him beyond the things I'm
> describing to you.  So, I hope this is your experience as well.  (I'm also
> blind as a result of LCA by the way.)
> I hope some of this helps.
> Melissa
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Colleen Kozubowski
> Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 12:17 PM
> To: blparent at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [blparent] Re-Introducing Myself
>
> Hi Everyone,
>
> My name is Colleen and I'm a blind mom from Chicago.  I was on this list
> awhile back when I was pregnant and trying to plan.  Then I fell off for
> awhile.  Now I hope to be back to stay.  My daughter Claire is 18 months 
> old
> and her vision is normal, as is my husband's.  My blindness is caused by
> LCA.
>
> I hope to get advice from parents whose kids are older than mine and I'm
> happy to offer 18 months worth of advice to those of you with babies.  One
> recommendation I definitely wanted to put out there is a company called 
> Itzy
> Bitzy.  For those of you who have not heard of them, this is a company 
> which
> sells squeaky shoes for children.
>
> These shoes have been a godsend for me since my daughter started walking.
> They have little squeakers built into the heels that sound like dog toys.
> They are a fantastic tracking device for busy toddlers.  Claire has three
> pairs and she wears them all the time.  It's a perfect way for me to know
> where she is and what she's up to at all times.  Plus the shoes are really
> cute - my husband has described them to me and people always comment on 
> how
> adorable they are.
>
> The company was started by a woman who has a special needs child, so part 
> of
> the proceeds from the shoes go to help several foundations for children.
> You can see the whole selection of shoes at www.itzybitzy.com.
>
> I do have a question for the list.  My daughter is getting to the point
> where I need to start teaching her basic recognizable things.  Letters,
> numbers, animals, colors, shapes, etc.  But I'm not sure how to do it. 
> All
> of these appear in her children's books, but those are pretty inaccessible
> to me.  Any suggestions?
>
> Best,
> Colleen
>
>
>
>
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