<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:14pt"><h3 class="post-title entry-title">
<a href="http://blindgeteducated.blogspot.com/2011/09/learning-nemeth-first.html">Learning Nemeth First</a>
</h3>
<div class="post-header">
</div>
A student came to me when she was 16 years old. She had spent years
trying to keep a brain tumor at bay, until one day, she woke and the
majority of her sight was gone. She could no longer do the world
visually. She was very depressed at first because she really wanted to
graduate with her class and it was only a couple years away. But her
hopelessness quickly transitioned into hope as she learned her blind
skills. <br>
<br>
She flew on the technology but resisted braille. She loved math though
and was clearly unsure how to do it blind. We started with Nemeth code,
NOT braille. She learned Nemeth very quickly and sailed through her math
classes. Little did she know, she was learning the Braille code along
with her Nemeth. When I finally got her to try a Braille book, she was a
bit surprised how well she read the book. <br>
<br>
Yes, I taught her braille going through the back door of ease versus the
front door of resistance. Once a child gets something in their head of
whether they will or will not do something, it is not worth the fight.
As teachers, we need to bring them along on the journey by showing them
how they can do their favorite things. Then the child discovers that
they inadvertently learned what you wanted them to learn in the first
place.<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>