[blindkid] Free Braille books-Leisure Reading Practice

Carrie Gilmer carrie.gilmer at gmail.com
Tue Nov 4 23:54:46 UTC 2008


You can check with temple Beth El, I am unsure but for some reason that
rings a bell, otherwise I have never heard of free large print. My
experience has been that out in the world though Braille has been not easy
to get as print obviously, it is easier to come by than large print/
I will be glad to learn of a source for those whom large print is equally
efficient to regular print readers. 

 
 
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
-----Original Message-----
From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Rhonda and Al Sena
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 4:30 PM
To: NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Free Braille books-Leisure Reading Practice

Any place for free large print?




________________________________
From: Carrie Gilmer <carrie.gilmer at gmail.com>
To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)"
<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 8:13:30 AM
Subject: [blindkid] Free Braille books-Leisure Reading Practice

Greetings All,

I am writing a reminder for some who may not yet be aware of places to get
free Braille books. 



Particularly if your child is a dual print/Braille reader I find many of
these children are not getting Braille integrated into their day (which
should be occurring and is another issue but.) or a new Braille reader and
also it happens with primary Braille readers not having enough leisure
books-children need practice with reading. Print readers come across
vocabulary words and some "sight" words millions of times in their daily
reading and curriculums-we have to make an effort for that to happen with
our Braille readers. Parents often tell me there is not time for leisure
reading because of keeping up with the homework-but this creates a vicious
circle of remaining a slow reader due to lack of leisure practice and so
homework takes longer and so there is less time to read leisurely. I know
this cycle from personal experience with my son too. If your dual reader
child does not gain proficiency in Braille it won't be a real option in
their tool box. It is impossible to gain proficiency from instruction time
alone.



It takes discipline and commitment from us parents to build it into the
day. Ten minutes before school and ten after builds twenty minutes a day of
reading into their day-done everyday it can make a great deal of difference.
Then you start a circle of success, as their reading improves the 10 can go
to 15 and more reading is also accomplished in that time as their reading
fluency and speed improves.



There are sources of free books-there is no reason a blind child's home
can't be filled with books. We keep the old ones in large rubber maid
containers in our garage and give the ones we don't want to keep away to our
yearly flea market. You can also advertise them on the blind kid list and
soon at Braille.org we are going to have a national exchange program.



Here are some easy sources of free books so you can make a commitment to
literacy with your child.



Sign up for the program at the Braile Institute: www.brailleinstitute.org
<http://www.brailleinstitute.org/> 



Sign up for the program at American Action Fund for Blind children and
Adults: www.actionfund.org <http://www.actionfund.org/> 



Order books from the National Library by signing up through your teacher of
blind students-have your child learn to order their own books from the
library-there are at least 50 titles of grade 1 books available.



Write to Temple Beth El Braille Volunteers in Michigan at
ASMANDEL1 at sbcglobal.net and request their list of available books (they also
take some requests): this is a wonderful small group of ladies who volunteer
and put together a very large choice (over 700 titles) of grade 1 and 2 (not
print/braille) of very popular titles and classics-their books are FREE.
They also do some eduacational textbooks and concept books-they accept
donations. 



Fill your home library today!




    
"Through literacy you can begin to see the universe. Through music you can
reach anybody. Between the two there is you, unstoppable." 


    
- Grace Slick


    
"No skill is more crucial to the future of a child, or to a democratic and
prosperous society, than literacy." 


    
- Los Angeles Times, "A Child Literacy Initiative for the Greater Los
Angeles Area"


    

"Literacy arouses hopes, not only in society as a whole but also in the
individual who is striving for fulfilment, happiness and personal benefit by
learning how to read and write. Literacy... means far more than learning how
to read and write... The aim is to transmit... knowledge and promote social
participation." 


- UNESCO Institute for Education, Hamburg, Germany


    



    





"The ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be
mentally alive." 


- Autobiography of Malcolm X, 1964


"No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading,
or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance." 


- Confucius





"Reading a book is like re-writing it for yourself. You bring to a novel,
anything you read, all your experience of the world. You bring your history
and you read it in your own terms." 


- Angela Carter

    




"To read is to fly: it is to soar to a point of vantage which gives a view
over wide terrains of history, human variety, ideas, shared experience and
the fruits of many inquiries." 


- A C Grayling, Financial Times (in a review of A History of Reading by
Alberto Manguel)

    
                                

Happy Reading!



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


      
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