[NFB_of_Georgia] Fwd: [State-Affiliate-Leadership-List] Braille Literacy

[Blind Mobile]

Bravo to Jackie Anderson for being recognized in the New York Times!!!!
Whoever would have known this Georgia Peach was on the National Radar? This
was an excellent read. Thanks for dispersing Dorothy!

Tamara Greenwood
Teacher of Children with Visual Impairments
Metro Atlanta

On Tue., 3 Dec. 2019, 11:59 pm Dorothy Griffin via NFB_of_Georgia, <
nfb_of_georgia at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
> From: 43210--- via State-Affiliate-Leadership-List <
> state-affiliate-leadership-list at nfbnet.org>
> Date: Mon, Dec 2, 2019 at 7:23 PM
> Subject: [State-Affiliate-Leadership-List] Braille Literacy
> To: Danielsen, Chris <CDanielsen at nfb.org>, NCB Staff <NCBStaff at nfb.org>,
> State Affiliate Leadership List <
> state-affiliate-leadership-list at nfbnet.org>
> CC: <43210 at bellsouth.net>
>
>
> From the New York Times Magazine, Sunday, December 1, 2019
>
>
>
> How to Teach A Child Braille
>
> By Malia Wollan
>
>
>
> 'Encourage exploration with the hands,' says Jackie Anderson, who taught
> blind students in Cobb County, Ga., for a decade and helped develop the
> National Federation of the Blind's nationwide summer program for blind
> children. Advocates point to what they call a Braille literacy crisis in
> America, despite research showing that visually impaired people have better
> employment and educational outcomes if they read and write Braille. To
> decode Braille's little bumps, you need highly sensitized fingertips. Help
> toddlers hone their tactile awareness by burying little objects like
> marbles, toy cars and small figurines in a sand dish or bowl of rice. Tell
> the child to find and match them. A Braille cell consists of three dots in
> each of two columns that can be raised in different patterns. Anderson
> likes to introduce young children to the concept using muffin tins and
> tennis balls. If you can see and your child can't, you also need to learn
> Braille. 'Give me 30 minutes, and I can teach you to decipher the code,'
> says Anderson, who was born blind and has a teenage daughter who has been
> blind since birth. Let a child run his or her hands over picture books with
> Braille as you read aloud. Find a way to write on paper either with an
> embossing machine (expensive) or a Braille slate and stylus (cheap). Get a
> Braille labeler, and label everything so that a child can move through an
> indoor space and understand that these raised bumps describe and name the
> textures and shapes under their hands.. Instruct children to tuck their
> thumbs and use eight fingertips on a line of Braille cells. Hands move left
> to right along a line. Beginners should track the same line back before
> dropping both hands to the next line. 'No scrubbing allowed,' Anderson
> says, describing the up-and-down scratching to decode an unrecognized cell.
> Teach them to keep moving, and if needed, shift both hands back and try
> again. Remember, literacy is its own kind of freedom. One of Anderson's
> fondest memories is a rainy afternoon at her school for the blind in
> Jamaica, when she was allowed to spend hours reading whatever she wanted in
> the library. 'They found me asleep,' she says, 'with a pile of books around
> me.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> JD Townsend
>
> Helping the light dependent to see
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> --
> Dorothy Griffin - President
> National Federation of the Blind of Georgia
> dgriffin at nfbga.org
> 770-374-4832
>
> The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
> characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
> expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
> between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;
> blindness is not what holds you back.
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