[Pibe-division] Tricks to Learning Braille in your Teen Years or Later
Dr. Denise M. Robinson
dmehlenbacher at yahoo.com
Fri Sep 23 09:33:49 UTC 2011
Tricks to Learning Braille in your Teen Years or Later
I use this one particular method repeatedly because it serves me so
well. Well, it actually serves my students well. Especially those who
lose their sight later: Later is later than 3rd grade. You just need to
employ different strategies to achieve the same goals.
One small example. A student came to me during the summer to gain
Braille skills. He had learned most of the alphabet and a handful of
contractions, but could not read Braille at all and had a difficult time
remembering how to braille in general. I had him place his fingers over
top of mine as I placed my hands on the Braille sheet of words. I
slowly moved my hands in the "butterfly" motion, which I call it,
because your hands glide together across, split a few words in, and the
right hand finishes the sentence and the left hand begins the next in a
smooth floating motion...just like a butterfly. I increased the speed so
he could feel the gentle and easy movement across the page. He had no
idea it was that easy.
I told him he would be reading Braille by the end of summer if he would
commit at least an hour, but I asked for 2 hours a day...Ok, I know in
my head, what teenage boy is going to read for 2 hours a day in the
summer, or really ever?..but I put it out there. I know with even a
minimal amount of effort he can do it with the next method I use.
He first begins with brailling. He only brailles about himself. His
life. What he likes or does not like. I have him braille 3-4 rows of the
exact same words in a sentence, using all contractions. He first tells
me the sentences he wants to use. I pick out all the contracted words
and have him braille these first, over and over until his fingers start
to flow. Then I have him braille the sentences. Example. I like to fish.
(he will braille that for 3-4 rows--sometimes more depending on the
ability of the child's learning patterns). Next row. I like to fish with
my dad.
I have him use 11 x 11 paper, so really, only those 2 sentences fit on a
page. He takes out what he has just brailled and positions his hands on
the braille paper. At first, I need to help him read the page. However,
by the second reading he can do it almost independently. Before he goes
home for the day, he has his braille sheets to practice for the next
couple of days along with flash cards of a brailled words that he had
difficulty with in reading.
There are a couple things going on here. I need him to get the flow of
his hands reading well so he cannot be struggling with reading the
braille. That is where we get all those bad habits from; scrubbing the
braille, flying fingers, 1 handed reading. The reading must be easy at
first and if it is about the person, they remember. With the constant
repetition of the words, he begins picking up the feel of the
contraction and the word and flows through the page.
By the end of the summer, as in 2 months, he was reading Braille at 32
words per minute and he only practiced reading about 3 hours a week. On
his final day of testing his skills, I asked him, "Are you surprised at
how fast you can read Braille?" Very matter of fact, he said "No, you
told me I could, so I expected it."
When he went back to his school, he emailed me and told me his teacher
was very impressed with his braille reading ability, both ability to
read it, but read it with a beautiful 2 handed flow.
Denise
Denise M. Robinson, TVI, Ph.D.
Teacher of the Blind & Visually Impaired
TechVision-Independent Contractor
Specialist in blind programming/teaching/training
509-674-1853 deniserob at gmail.com
http://blindgeteducated.blogspot.com/
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