[NFB-Braille-Discussion] Slate and Stylus

Allison Hilliker AllisonH at Benetech.org
Thu Jun 10 20:33:19 UTC 2021


Hi,
Thanks. Yes, we know about BELL. My oldest went back when it was in person and loved it! She tried virtual BELL last summer and dropped out after 4 days. She HATED the online format.  She is not a virtual learning kiddo unfortunately.  And my other daughter is too young for virtual BELL. Locally, in-person BELL was ages 2 and up, but virtual BELL requires  kids to be at least 4. So unfortunately, BELL is not an option for our family this year. The online experience last summer was so rough for my oldest that I'm not gonna try to make her go back this year. Zoom learning is just not her thing.
Best,
Allison


-----Original Message-----
From: NFB-Braille-Discussion <nfb-braille-discussion-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Debbie Gabe via NFB-Braille-Discussion
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2021 11:08 AM
To: 'NFB Braille Discussion List' <nfb-braille-discussion at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Debbie Gabe <dgabe808 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [NFB-Braille-Discussion] Slate and Stylus

The Bell Academy is really good. And they send you all of the supplies needed for the 2 week online enrichment classes. They focus on braille for reading, writing, math, cane travel, science, daily living things, intro to tactile graphics, and self advocacy. I have looked over the lessons and spoken to a mom whose 6 year old "low vision" kid is enrolled and they both love it so far. And they area teaching Dad, who has the same eye condition as son, braille for the first time (Dad never learned it). It has totally changed parents view of the importance of braille and canes for their son, who can read magnified print. But they see how he can't read print for long, but can read braille for a longer time without getting tired! Yea! So Mom is getting ready to ask the school to give him everything in print and braille when the new school year begins August 3rd. I'm so proud of her! 

-----Original Message-----
From: NFB-Braille-Discussion <nfb-braille-discussion-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Donald Winiecki via NFB-Braille-Discussion
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2021 7:40 AM
To: NFB Braille Discussion List <nfb-braille-discussion at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Donald Winiecki <dwiniecki at handid.org>
Subject: Re: [NFB-Braille-Discussion] Slate and Stylus

Allison,

This year, NFB is putting the BELL academy online. There are spaces on the July and August sessions.

The following link goes to information from NFB: NFB BELL® Academy | National Federation of the Blind <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fnfb.org%2fprograms-services%2fnfb-bell-academy&c=E,1,HHReJOjMj-jMaibXorKx4IXT880d9ePPcYg4PRuoKNnLO9KmJQcl8BOqCDyt06LyJYrn4uvD7p1guuyJy7pVnGmnaUqm4W_nJbSkoJVdUHspJbF9cA,,&typo=1>

_don [image: ]

On Thu, Jun 10, 2021 at 11:33 AM Allison Hilliker via NFB-Braille-Discussion <nfb-braille-discussion at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Ramona, please come to Phoenix and teach my kids. They learn best from 
> anyone who's not mom. And you sound very passionate about the subject.
> All the competent braille readers I know locally are already employed. 
> So I'm left to either teach them myself, or let the public school TVIs 
> teach them, and we already know how well braille instruction in public 
> school goes. I didn't really understand your explanation of how to 
> explain the slate cell setup differently, but I believe you. I'm sure 
> you're right about it. I'm just over here doing the best I can with 
> little support.  Honestly, truly braille positive folks are rare, and spread thinly throughout this country.
> I'm finding that I can't even pay somebody to teach my girls reading 
> and writing in braille, and that's sad. Cuz I know full well how 
> crucial quality literacy instruction is for young blind kids. So I'm 
> attempting to do it myself, but nothing mom knows or does is interesting to my girls.
> Plus, I don't have all the answers. Far from it. I would give my left 
> arm to have a braille positive NFB sort nearby to teach my girls. I 
> even have funding to hire somebody, just no interest. I've networked 
> via my state affiliate, and there's just nothing. So I'm doing what I can on my own.
>
> Best,
> Allison
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NFB-Braille-Discussion
> <nfb-braille-discussion-bounces at nfbnet.org>
> On Behalf Of Ramona via NFB-Braille-Discussion
> Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2021 6:56 AM
> To: Mike Jolls via NFB-Braille-Discussion < 
> nfb-braille-discussion at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Ramona <walhoframona at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [NFB-Braille-Discussion] Slate and Stylus
>
> That's why teacher training should stress first and second sides of 
> the cell. They get fixated on left and right and reversal which gets 
> passed on to the students. Some students become fast on the slate, and 
> the problem gets eliminated. Some do not, just as many teachers do 
> not. It is a project that needs attention. Maybe this is the best we 
> can do, I would love to get  involved in some college training for 
> teachers of blind kids and adults. It just makes writing with the 
> slate and stylus seem difficult when it is not. Yes you need a certain 
> set of muscles, but you need that for writing with a pen or pencil. It 
> comes with practice. It also leads to people thinking the computer will take care of this "difficulty."
> Recordings were going to replace Braille; now it's computers. If 
> people like Curtis Chong and Steve Jacobsen use the slate, then let's 
> not deprive our kids of it.
>
> RamonaOn Jun 9, 2021 6:11 PM, Mike Jolls via NFB-Braille-Discussion < 
> nfb-braille-discussion at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> >
> > Ramona
> >
> > Oh I knew 1-2-3 was the first set of dots on the first side, and I 
> > knew
> 4-5-6 was on the other side.  It’s just, as I tried to say, I always 
> thought of 1-2-3 ONLY ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE CELL when you’re looking 
> at the slate.  I never thought of assigning 1-2-3 to the right hand 
> side of the cell.  That’s because my teacher told me at the start …
> 1-2-3 is on the left.  And 4-5-6 is on the right.  Since she never 
> said anything else, I never thought any differently.  So when I had to 
> write an F I had to mentally translate ….. “1-2-4 is dots 4-5-1 when 
> writing”.  And when your mind is doing that, you have to do that for 
> EVERY SYMBOL YOU WRITE.  I never thought of changing the dot number 
> assignments for writing and just think 1-2-4.  That might have made it 
> easier, and it probably would have made me a faster writer since 
> having to mentally translate adds a half second (or something like that) to almost every character you write.
> Thinking about it “being in reverse” was just natural for me.  Had I 
> been told to change dot number assignments, it might have made it 
> easier because as Allison said, I had to think … “what’s the reverse 
> pattern” … for almost every symbol written.
> >
> >
> > Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for 
> > Windows 10
> >
> > From: Ramona via
> > NFB-Braille-Discussion<mailto:nfb-braille-discussion at nfbnet.org>
> > Sent: Wednesday, June 9, 2021 7:00 PM
> > To: Mike Jolls via
> > NFB-Braille-Discussion<mailto:nfb-braille-discussion at nfbnet.org>
> > Cc: Ramona<mailto:walhoframona at gmail.com>
> > Subject: Re: [NFB-Braille-Discussion] Slate and Stylus
> >
> > 1-2-3 is always the first side of the cell. it is really that simple.
> I'm sorry teachers do not receive that information before they ever 
> meet a student.
> >
> > RamonaOn Jun 9, 2021 4:00 PM, Mike Jolls via NFB-Braille-Discussion 
> > <
> nfb-braille-discussion at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> > >
> > > I’d like to weigh in here on “writing backwards”.  I’m a partially
> sighted person who found Braille in my early 50’s.  I’m 65 and I still 
> use it.  I go back and forth with print and Braille.  It’s great 
> having both skills and I can use Braille when I know print just isn’t 
> going to work.  I wish I had known Braille LOT EARLIER … but it just didn’t happen.
> Personally, I think every partially sighted student should learn Braille.
> Then they can use whichever method will work for them in a given 
> situation.  Of course that’s not what this topic is about and I won’t 
> go further.  That’s another topic if we want to pursue it.
> > >
> > > Now, onto “writing backwards” on the slate and stylus.
> > >
> > > When I learned Braille and learned to write with a slate and 
> > > stylus, I
> ALWAYS thought that writing was OPPOSITE or BACKWARDS to how you read it.
> You write it right to left rather than when you’re reading it.  You 
> had to use the “opposite dot pattern” when writing a character in the cell.
> That’s backwards in my thinking.  A “B” for example is written in dots
> 4,5 on the right side of the cell rather than 1,2 on the left side of 
> the cell (that assumes you are still thinking about the cell dots in 
> the configuration used for reading).  And I always did this.  My 
> teacher NEVER told me to think of dots 1 and 2 on the right side of 
> the cell when writing.  I knew a B was dots 1,2.  I knew dots 1,2 were 
> on the left (for reading).  Since I had to write them on the right 
> hand side of the cell, I thought it was BACKWARDS.  You had to use 4-5 
> to write a B which should up as dots 1-2 when you read it.  I remember 
> my teacher liked to say “mirror image”.  Had she told me that I should 
> consider 1,2 on the right hand side of the cell for writing and 4-5-6 
> was on the left, maybe I wouldn’t have thought it was backwards.  I 
> would have thought .. OK … 1-2-3 are on the left for reading, but 
> they’re on the right side for writing.  Since she didn’t make that 
> distinction, I saw that the dots had to be in the opposite position to 
> that for reading so that when you flipped the page over, they’d be 
> correct for reading.  So I just thought .. punch the opposite dots in 
> the cell when writing a character.  My realization may have reinforced 
> the idea of opposite.  That’s just how I perceived the process.  I 
> remember once I mentioned to her that I was writing the characters 
> BACKWARDS.  I was immediately told I was wrong and “we don’t use the 
> word backwards, it’s too confusing”.  Personally I didn’t see it as 
> confusing.  I just saw that this was what you had to do.  And I do 
> remember that I made my fair share of errors when writing.  Perhaps that would have been less had I just considered things differently for writing.
> > >
> > > Anyway that’s how I learned.  It just seemed natural to think 
> > > about
> writing “the opposite pattern” to get it come out right for reading.
> > >
> > > Please feel free to comment.
> > >
> > > Mike Jolls
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Sent from
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> > > From: Susan Jolly via
> > > NFB-Braille-Discussion<mailto:nfb-braille-discussion at nfbnet.org>
> > > Sent: Wednesday, June 9, 2021 4:08 PM
> > > To: 'NFB Braille Discussion
> > > List'<mailto:nfb-braille-discussion at nfbnet.org>
> > > Cc: Susan Jolly<mailto:easjolly at ix.netcom.com>
> > > Subject: Re: [NFB-Braille-Discussion] Slate and Stylus
> > >
> > > I wonder if opposite would be a better word? You read from 
> > > left-to-right and write from right-to-left.  They are both the
> opposite of the other one.
> > >
> > > My father, who was born over a hundred years ago, could write 
> > > print backwards almost as easily as forwards.  I got the 
> > > impression that was something a lot of sighted people used to do.
> > > It kept other people from looking over their shoulder and reading 
> > > what they were writing with a quick glance.  This could be helpful 
> > > if they were writing something private like a note to pass to a friend in school.
> > > Of course the main point of this story is that all it requires is
> motivation and practice.
> > >
> > > HTH, Susan J
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
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