[Pibe-division] Is this the way to teach a kindergartener Braille?

[DrV]

A few more thoughts.My 1st grade son Petras (no functional vision) uses a
crayon to circle or mark numbers on his math homework & classwork - I think
that is perfectly fine & natural.
My older son (also no functional vision) transitioned to a pen (which he
could feel) once it was no longer age appropriate to be using a crayon.
My wife modifies his Lithuanian Saturday school worksheets & we have Petras
similarly find letters or letter combinations with his fingers & then he
mark them off with a crayon (which he can feel) - this can all be done
tactilely without then looking at the letter; his sighted classmates also
circle print letters or letter combos with a crayon or pencil or pen ->
Petras is performing a similar task.
The marking actually seems reasonable to me & has functional utility for a
child to independently complete homework & classwork.
I am interested in hearing about alternatives.
I am less enthusiastic about connecting the lines - this seems less
functional.  Seems to me the objective would help decide how appropriate
that is.
As to the point avoiding feeling for the braille, Petras could write his
letters in English & Lithuanian long before he could recognize the dot
combinations. For the longest time he was not particularly interested in
feeling the specifics of what he actually wrote. It was really just a little
after he turned 7 that he really began to try to more intently figure out
what each dot combo represented. He has made wonderful progress this year.
My eldest son know all the letters tactilely by 2 1/2. Every kid is a little
different.
Best wishes,
Eric V



On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 2:49 PM, Carrie Gilmer <carrie.gilmer at gmail.com>wrote:

>   All lines were directed to be drawn and circled by the student. Picture
> of it taken by mother is attached.
>
> Six years old, albinism, 20/160-200 measured with correction. Please
> everyone comment.
>
>
>
>
>
> Carrie Gilmer, President
>
> National Organization of Parents of Blind Children
>
> A Division of the National Federation of the Blind
>
> NFB National Center: 410-659-9314
>
> Home Phone: 763-784-8590
>
> carrie.gilmer at gmail.com
>
> www.nfb.org/nopbc
>   ------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I'm attaching a Braille sheet that came home today. I get these many times
> a week. Is it strange that Brian is instructed to circle and draw lines? It
> appears that he is being directed to approach Braille visually.
>
>
>
> Please tell me if this is normal or acceptable for teaching a low-vision
> child Braille. Please tell me if this is so far out of the norm that I
> should be very concerned.
>
>
>
> Thank you!
>
> :) Carolynn
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Pibe-division mailing list
> Pibe-division at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/pibe-division_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Pibe-division:
>
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/pibe-division_nfbnet.org/pumpkinracer%40gmail.com
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/pibe-division_nfbnet.org/attachments/20090306/b604dd56/attachment.html>