[blindkid] [Bulk] subtracting in Nemeth braille

Richard Holloway rholloway at gopbc.org
Sat Oct 17 03:44:55 UTC 2009


An abacus can be useful from a pretty early age. My first grader uses  
one quite often and rather proficiently. She used it heavily in  
Kindergarten as well and has actually been using one for 3 or 4 years  
now. I believe we have the abacus on her IEP for use in certain  
testing situations when sighted kids might be using pencil & paper for  
their calculations.

This is off the topic slightly, but Kendra sometimes gets her numbers  
mixed up with the fairly common e/i d/f h/j transpositions in braille.  
She understands the concept and can manipulate the numbers in her head  
and on an abacus consistently but the braille reversals cause her a  
good deal of frustration. Those can be confusing when she reads too,  
but in context there is a much better chance of figuring out the right  
character-- It is a lot easier to figure out if something should be a  
"d" or an "f" than it is to read the numbers 4 or 6 "in context" (as  
they have no context). The net result is a braille reading reversal  
can allow her to do a correct calculation but produce the wrong result  
because she properly calculated a result from the misread numbers.

I guess that's my long winded endorsement of the abacus as at least  
one suggested tool for math work from early on. The fewer times she  
has to manipulate numbers in braille, the less likely that is to come  
into play, and before anyone wants to jump in and say that she HAS to  
learn to read those correctly, we know and agree with that, but this  
is a way that her math skills can continue to grow even though it will  
take some time for her number reading to catch up with her calculation  
skill.

Just something to think about,

Richard


On Oct 16, 2009, at 9:53 PM, Mike Freeman wrote:

> Right on! But I see no need for the abacus! By the time one needs an  
> abacus, a calculator works just as well! (grin)
>
> Mike
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Brandy W" <branlw at sbcglobal.net>
> To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, \(for parents of blind chn\(was <blindkid at nfbnet.org 
> >
> Date: Friday, Oct 16, 2009 12:48:21
> Subject: Re: [blkid] [Bulk]  subtracting in Nemeth braille
>
>>
>>
>> Hi, When I do subtraction on the Braille Writer I don't use extra  
>> signs. One
>> doesn't need to cross it out. If need be she could just put a 4  
>> sign over
>> it. Once I was profeciant we moved on to the abacus. Much faster  
>> and makes
>> more since. Hope this helps. Bran
>>
>> Brandy Wojcik
>> Discovery Toys Educational Leader
>> www.playtoachieve.com
>> (512) 231-8697
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Joy Orton" <ortonsmom at gmail.com>
>> To: <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Friday, October 16, 2009 11:03 AM
>> Subject: [Bulk] [blkid] subtracting in Nemeth braille
>>
>>
>>> Dear Friends,
>>> Our third grader is doing subtraction with two and three digit  
>>> numbers and
>>> some borrowing. In print, the number is crossed out and a new digit
>>> written
>>> in above it. In nemeth, you have to use a "start cancelling" sign  
>>> and a
>>> "stop cancelling" sign before and after each digit to be changed.  
>>> I know
>>> this takes lots of paper.
>>>
>>> Right now our daughter is doing subtractions problems in her head.
>>> Occasionally she gets mixed up, so the answer "21" might turn into  
>>> "12."
>>> She
>>> knows her math facts, but two and three digit numbers are a lot to  
>>> keep up
>>> with. She has been introduced to the "long" way to do it in  
>>> Nemeth, but
>>> she
>>> does not seem comfortable with it. (Honestly right now she is  
>>> missing no
>>> more than one in 10 of this kind of problem. Maybe I'm hyper- 
>>> sensitive.)
>>>
>>> I don't know if her teachers are emphasizing writing it out. I  
>>> know right
>>> now it's not a big deal, but I think it will be important in the  
>>> future to
>>> have the skill of cancelling a digit or expression. I can think of
>>> reducing
>>> fractions as an example of when it is needed.
>>>
>>> How have you dealt with this situation?
>>> 1. How much do I need to emphasize it?
>>> 2. How can I encourage the teachers and transcriptionist to help  
>>> her work
>>> on
>>> it?
>>>
>>> A related question: Is there an easy to read Nemeth guide or  
>>> "cheat sheet"
>>> like the alphabet and contraction sheet? I have a 255 page binder  
>>> from
>>> BANA
>>> with the whole code and all the rules, but it is hard to find what  
>>> I want.
>>>
>>> Thanks for your help!
>>> Joy Orton
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>>
>>
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