[blindkid] Parents Must Learn Braille

[Michael Bullis]

I confess to not following this thread much.  But, I will comment.
I suppose that with blind kids who have some vision it's more important for
their parents to model and be comfortable with Braille.
In my family, my parents never learned it.  What they did do though is read
a lot.  I learned a love of books from their reading to me and from their
reading a lot at home.  When I finally learned Braille I had a hunger to
read that has never left me.
I think studies show that kids who grow up in reading families read.
Again, I was a pretty much totally blind kid.  There never was any way I
could read print so the fact that my parents read it meant nothing of
signifficance to me.  In other words, the thing I wanted to imitate was the
fact that they read, not that they read print.
I suppose if I had a kid with some vision I'd be emphasizing the slowness of
their print reading if it was being effected by their lack of vision.  
Not sure if any of this is helpful.  Better get back to reading.
Mike Bullis
 

-----Original Message-----
From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Eric Calhoun
Sent: Friday, February 27, 2009 1:17 PM
To: blindkid at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Parents Must Learn Braille

As I'm reading your book, Carol, it's pretty obvious (the ideas in Making It
Work: Educating the Blind/VI Student In The Regular School:) 

1.  A blind person, with no, or visual acuity, MUST LEARN BRAILLE. 
Period.

2.  Parents should take full interest in the Individualized Educational Plan
(IEP.)

And,

3.  Parents must encourage braille in the home.

I agree with most of you that parents _must _learn _braille.  This is
important.  There are many ways one can learn this form of raised dots. 
One way is through a college or university, that offers courses in teaching
for the blind/VI.  Another resource is a local blindness agency.

Whatever you decide, don't force braille, encourage it.

(As a side note, Carol, I have the Braille edition of the book; your book is
offered at UCLA here in Los Angeles.  I'm trying to get the word out on the
book.  I'm on Chapter 3!)

Eric
Your home for baseball: eric at pmpmail.com, introducing a new distribution
list for you.  Wanna join?  Send an e-mail to eric at pmpmail.com.

Eric from Los Angeles.
 

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