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<a href="http://blindgeteducated.blogspot.com/2011/09/learning-starting-at-3-months-old.html">Learning, starting at 3 months Old</a>
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I always tell people I want to get children "Coming from the Womb."
Well, 3 months is pretty close. I did not get him earlier because the
family did not move into my district until he was 3 months old.<br>
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We spent the first 3 years with tactile and full sensory exploration. By
3, he was ready to begin formal braille, technology and cane skills
instruction. From 3-5 this little guy learned his braille and technology
and by kindergarten was ready to fully participate as any other child.
Since he was low vision, he learned his print letters and numbers also.
He would type to output his work and hand it in to the teacher at the
same time as his peers.<br>
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For Braille instruction, before reading time, he would go with the
teacher of the blind or braille certified para educator, to learn the
new contractions he had in his reading class book coming up that day, so
when he was with his class he could read the same material as his
peers. This enables him to keep on grade level now and in the future.<br>
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There are many wonderful Braille instructional methods, but if you go
this route, the child will always be behind his peers until he learns
all the contractions according to the particular Braille instructional
methods and manuals you are using. You will also have a frustrated child
because he is never reading the same stories as the rest of the class.
This will lead to resistants’ in learning the braille. All they can see
is they are behind their peers and braille is causing this lag.<br>
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If you just teach the contractions the child is using in class in the
books everyone else is using, he can keep up with his peers. More
importantly, the child sees braille as a method to help him, not keep
him behind his peers.<div> </div><div><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Brush Script MT';COLOR:black;FONT-SIZE:18pt;"><font color="#4040ff"> Denise </font></span></div><div><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'Brush Script MT';COLOR:black;FONT-SIZE:18pt;"></span> </div><div>Denise M. Robinson, TVI, Ph.D. <br>Teacher of the Blind & Visually Impaired<br>TechVision-Independent Contractor</div><div>Specialist in blind programming/teaching/training</div><div>509-674-1853 <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="mailto:deniserob@gmail.com"> deniserob@gmail.com</a></div><div> </div><div><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://blindgeteducated.blogspot.com/">http://blindgeteducated.blogspot.com/</a></div><div> </div></div></body></html>