[blindkid] braille?

[Andy & Sally Thomas]

I'm far from an expert but I can't see any down side to introducing braille 
and print at the same time.  Kids can learn more than one language at a 
time.  Kids are little sponges.  They are not daunted by this sort of thing 
unless we tell them it's "hard."  You can provide a braille rich environment 
relatively easily.  There are toys available that already have 
braille--refrigerator alphabet magnets, for example.  You can buy a Dymo 
labeler 
(http://secure.nfb.org/ecommerce/asp/prodtype.asp?prodtype=32&ph=&keywords=&recor=&SearchFor=&PT_ID=) 
that brailles on sticky tape so you can braille toys or other things around 
the house (the labeler has the braille symbols associated with a print 
letter so you don't have to know braille yourself).  One suggestion I heard 
from Dr. Ruby Ryles, a distinguished educator and parent of a blind child, 
was to put braille in places that you thought your child would touch so the 
child would come across it in the normal course of daily exploration.  She 
put braille on her son's bed frame and other places she thought he'd find 
it.  There are several people on this list who have great ideas about 
adapting things with braille.

One thing I would say to your husband--there is no shame in being blind.  At 
first my husband was very put off by the idea of my son using a cane.  Now 
he is a great advocate of the cane.  It just took a while to have a paradigm 
shift.  A great way to push the shift is to attend a national convention. 
This summer the NFB convention is in Detroit and the following summer the 
convention will be in Dallas, which is drivable from Alabama.

It is so great that you are looking into all these things when your son is 
so young.  He can grow up with lots of tools in his belt and be prepared to 
use the ones that make his life most productive.  Good for you!

Sally Thomas
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marie Smith" <empwrn at bellsouth.net>
To: <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 4:52 PM
Subject: [blindkid] braille?


> Hello everyone, thank you for all the warm welcomes. First, let me 
> introduce
> us a bit more. We live south of Birmingham, AL. Our son, Jack, was born 
> with
> Apert syndrome. He is developmentally delayed in several areas. He is 
> three
> and a half years old and currently attends an inclusive preschool that is
> part of our local school system. Next year, this inclusive preschool will
> not be an option for us because our local school district is changing 
> their
> policy regarding children with special needs. Next year, Jack will attend 
> a
> private daycare/preschool with consult services from our local school
> district. At 4, he will re-enter public school for kindergarten or so we
> plan.
>
>
>
> Okay my first question is a big one. I see a lot of stuff about kids 
> needing
> to learn Braille when they are young. Jack at three and a half years old 
> is
> just learning his letters and the sounds they make. Jack's vision is not
> expected to get any worse than it currently is. His visual impairment was
> caused by optic nerve damage that was caused by pressure on his brain from
> hydrocephalus. He now has a VP shunt. The low vision rehabilitation
> specialist that we saw mentioned Braille because Jack is a fairly tactile
> learner anyway. I mentioned to my husband that I saw some information 
> about
> children learning to simultaneously learn to read Braille and print. He
> seemed resistant to the idea. Can someone please tell me if this is
> something that we need to discuss and get started on now? Is the school
> obligated to provide someone to teach Braille? What issues are there that 
> I
> need to be aware of regarding the learning of Braille?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
>
>
> Marie Smith (mother of 3 year old Jack)
>
>
>
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