[blindkid] Maps, etc.

[Bonnie Lucas]

    Hello,

Through the year, aubrie's social studies class has been given blank maps and they then fill in the appropriate cities and such. Her teacher has just told her to find the items on her APH maps. She has had no blank maps to label and that was why, when she saw the maps on the state test, she was unable to figure out what anything was. Her TVI has spent absolutely no time showing her anything about maps. She tells me that, furthermore, the SS teacher is extremely poor. The teacher has never given her a map test, whereas, last year's teacher gave her a map test every time the other kids had one. Apparently, last year's text had the maps that were in the print text. therefore, when the kids had to find countries or rivers or whatever, the maps in the book showed those things spacifically. When they did the book this year, they simply said that the student should use the APH map. As many of you probably know, these maps can be confusing because there is so much to look at. Unfortunately, I am just now realizing that this has been a problem. though we can't really solve this problem this year, I would like to know just how I can work it out for next year.

Could some of you teachers give me some ideas about how you make sure your blind students really are able to access and use maps to the degree that their sighted peers do? 

It occurs to me that one thing I could do is to make sure that when the book is brailled for next year that the maps are included. 

If any of you have some ideas from different things that you have tried, please let me know.
thanks in advance
Bonnie.

Bonnie Lucas
770-992-0484
Cell: 678-480-0864
lucas.bonnie at gmail.com