[Pibe-division] Tricks to Learning Braille in your Teen Years or Later

[Dr. Denise M. Robinson]

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/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/pibe-division_nfbnet.org/attachments/20110923/2db4a61c/attachment.html>