[blindkid] FW: NFB Braille Reading Pals Club Newsletter - The Braille Pals Buzz, April 2010

Marie empwrn at bellsouth.net
Tue Apr 13 15:19:51 UTC 2010


Hey guys, if you are not yet a part of the braille reading pals club with
your kids, sign up. This newsletter is one of the new features this year.
Let's get braille in our kids' hands!

 

Marie (mother of Jack, 4 yrs old with Apert Syndrome)
 <http://www.allaccesspasstojack.blogspot.com>
http://www.allaccesspasstojack.blogspot.com
Learn more about Apert Syndrome
 <http://www.thecraniofacialcenter.org/apert.html>
http://www.thecraniofacialcenter.org/apert.html
Get information and support at Teeter's page
 <http://www.apert.org> http://www.apert.org

 

 

From: Braille Reading Pals Club [mailto:braillereadingpals at nfb.org] 
Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 9:15 AM
To: empwrn at bellsouth.net
Subject: NFB Braille Reading Pals Club Newsletter - The Braille Pals Buzz,
April 2010

 


  bee
<http://www.raceforindependence.org/images/content/pagebuilder/12037.jpg> 

  The Braille Pals Buzz


 


The Braille Pals Buzz
Volume 1, Issue 1 


 


 bees and flowers
<http://www.raceforindependence.org/images/content/pagebuilder/12045.jpg>
What's Buzzing with the NFB Braille Reading Pals Team? bees and flowers
<http://www.raceforindependence.org/images/content/pagebuilder/12045.jpg> 

Welcome to the National Federation of the Blind Braille Reading Pals Club
e-newsletter! We are so excited to have you and your family participate in
this wonderful program. This year the Braille Reading Pals program has been
reformatted to make it more interactive for you and your children. We hope
that the addition of this e-newsletter will also serve as a valuable tool
for you.  In addition to bringing Braille into your family, we are
connecting you to a network of parents of blind children. 

Exposing your young blind child to Braille is crucial for the development of
literacy skills. Through this newsletter, we will give you practical
early-Braille literacy tips, share anecdotes of the impact of Braille on the
lives of others, provide reviews of books, share stories from other parents
of blind children, and answer your questions about Braille literacy. 

If you have any suggestions about topics you want to have covered in the
newsletter, comments, or questions, please e-mail them to
BrailleReadingPals at nfb.org. We look forward to sharing the NFB Braille
Reading Pals Club adventure with you and your family! 


 Bee Hive
<http://www.raceforindependence.org/images/content/pagebuilder/12039>
Literacy Hints from the Hive Bee Hive
<http://www.raceforindependence.org/images/content/pagebuilder/12039> 

Featuring monthly practical and simple tips to foster a love of literacy in
your child


Read Aloud to Your child  
Your child probably doesn't know any Braille, or may be too young to
recognize Braille letters or words.  He or she may not even want to touch
the dots. Some children who have degrees of residual vision may want to look
at the pictures, but others may not, depending on their eyesight or age and
ability.  As a result, it may seem difficult to engage your child in reading
time.  Don't get discouraged.  Reading aloud to your child has benefits that
will lead to literacy and the love of reading. 

Reading aloud is only one part of "emergent literacy" which is described by
Josephine M. Stratton, Ed.D., consultant on children who are blind or
visually impaired, as "the process of learning about the environment that
leads to the development of meaning and concepts, including concepts about
the functions of reading and writing." In her article, "Emergent Literacy: A
New Perspective" she goes on to discuss the importance of reading aloud.
"Whereas generations of children have listened to read-aloud stories for
enjoyment, information, and shared time with an adult, recent studies have
found that reading aloud regularly to a child from infancy is the most
important factor in building a foundation for the enjoyment of and success
in reading." (Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, & Wilkinson, 1985; Clay, 1991;
Gibson, 1989; Teale & Sulzby, 1989). 

Stratton continues to say, "Among the literacy outcomes for a child are the
discovery that books are fun, awareness that symbols represent meaning,
understanding that the story comes from print, awareness of the structure of
stories, hearing 'book language' as different from conversational language,
and fostering a desire to read." (Anderson et al.) " Blind children need to
have these same literacy experiences. Stratton concludes, "When children who
are blind or visually impaired have experienced the process of emergent
literacy from an early age; constructed concepts about the environment,
including the concepts of reading and writing; and developed a desire to
read, they will approach actual book reading with a positive attitude and a
strong foundation for success. They will have taken a giant step toward
reading for pleasure and toward becoming lifelong readers." (Stratton 1996).


Sweet Sweet Braille
Can Braille really change your child's future? Read about one teacher's
experience in the
<http://www.raceforindependence.org/site/R?i=-cZ43sS1SvEYCDXiwYmrlw..>
Braille Monitor, the NFB's flagship publication. 
 

Braille Bee Book Review
Each month we feature a Braille book review by a parent, a blind person, or
a blindness professional. Is there a book you would like to review? Please
send your review to BrailleReadingPals at nfb.org. 

Keep Your Ear on the Ball, by Genevieve Petrillo, Copyright 2007
Reviewed by Treva Olivero, coordinator of the NFB Braille Reading Pals Club,
NFB member, Baltimore, Maryland
 
Keep Your Ear on the Ball is one of my favorite books because it has a blind
character in it who really just wants to blend in with his sighted peers. It
is a print/Braille picture book about a blind boy named Davey that is told
from the perspective of one of his classmates. Davey has accepted his
blindness as a characteristic, and he chooses to do things on his own. He
can do everything to fit in with the kids at his new school until it comes
to playing kickball at recess. Then, his friends help come up with a
solution so Davey can maintain his independence while still participating in
this activity. Although the Web site states that this book is for children
ages 9-12, it is a book that can be read to very young children. I've heard
a three year old quote from it. The little boy was playing goalball with one
of our friends who happens to be blind.  He said, "Just keep your ear on the
ball, Jesse." This book promotes positive attitudes about blindness, and it
can be used as a teaching tool for children of all ages. 
Keep Your Ear on the Ball can be found at National Braille Press
<http://www.raceforindependence.org/site/R?i=giaVz_rL9kYLDleJ94rTVQ..>  for
$16.95. 
 


Questions for the Queen Bee
1.    What if my child doesn't use the reading pal when we read books
together? 
The important part about being in the NFB Braille Reading Pals Club is
getting Braille into your child's hands. The addition of the reading pal is
meant to engage your child. However, some children do not respond well to
the stuffed animals, and they can be engaged using other methods. Make the
story come alive for your child. Give different characters different voices.
Use objects that are in the story to show your child and help illustrate the
concepts in the story. For example, if your story is about how soap is
yucky, show your child a bar of soap so he or she can feel the yucky object.
Talk about the story with your child to focus attention on the story. Maybe
talk about other things that are yummy and yucky for the story mentioned
above. 

2.    How can I encourage my child to touch the Braille? 
While it is tempting to grab your child's hands and move them to touch the
dots, your child should explore his environment independently. Carol
Castellano, president of the National Organization of Parents of Blind
Children (NOPBC) and author of the book Because Books Matter offers
excellent advice about how to encourage your child to explore the Braille.
She writes, "An easy and more effective way to introduce your child to
Braille on a page is to suggest a piggy-hand ride. Ask your child to place
his or her hands over yours and go for a ride across the dotted page.
Weeeeeeeeee! Moving your hand from left to right across the page in a
straight line is great practice for a future Braille reader. Plus, the child
will discover that those bumps make up words. Once that connection is made
that the bumps mean something, your child has stepped onto the path to
literacy."


Books for Busy Bees
Sighted children have access to print books all around them.  It is
important to offer our blind children the same exposure.  Here are several
sources for obtaining Braille books. 

The Braille Storybook Resources page
<http://www.raceforindependence.org/site/R?i=jQyZev8cG25kWXhQHxsflA..>  has
a comprehensive list of sources for Braille books.

National Braille Press (NBP)
88 St. Stephen Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
(617) 266-6160 * (888) 965-8965 * Fax (617) 437-0456
NBP offers a Braille Book-of-the-Month club for young readers. The
subscription is $100/year for 13 books (sign up as a trial to get notices on
titles). NBP also offers other Braille books for all age groups, and a
Braille manual, Just Enough to Know Better, for parents who wish to learn
Braille. Check the Web site
<http://www.raceforindependence.org/site/R?i=DdZDtNy7mRDK6pe7X1gj0w..>  or
call for a free catalog. 

NFB ShareBraille
200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place
Baltimore, MD 21230
(410) 659-9314
NFB ShareBraille is a free service that facilitates the exchange of Braille
books through a community-run library.  Go online to trade your Braille
books or to request books from other NFB ShareBraille users; click here
<http://www.raceforindependence.org/site/R?i=2hvRT6fPrTooCj1z8DmURQ..>  to
visit the Web site.

American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults (AAF)
Free Braille Books Program
200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place
Baltimore, Maryland 21230
(410) 659-9314, extension 2361 * Fax (410) 659-5129
E-mail: action at actionfund.org
Selected popular children's reading series (currently Jigsaw Jones MysteryR
chapter books for grades 2-4; Matt Christopher sports books for grades 5 and
up; Sampler set of chapter books from four different series including
SpongeBob SquarePantsR; Franny K. Stein; Mad Scientist; My Weird School; and
Ready Freddy) are available free to blind children, teachers, libraries,
etc. The books are mailed out every month so that blind children can have
them at the same time that sighted children can buy the books in the
bookstore. 

NFB Independence Market
200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place
Baltimore, MD 21230
(phone: (410) 659-9314, ext. 2216 
Fax: (410) 685-2340
E-mail: IndependenceMarket at nfb.org
The National Federation of the Blind Independence Market offers
blindness-related literature, resources, and products as a service to
individuals who are blind or experiencing vision loss, to their friends and
families, and to the general public.

 


The NFB Braille Reading Pals Club is organized in partnership with the
National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC).





 
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NFB Braille Reading Pals Club

Jernigan Institute, National Federation of the Blind
200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place, Baltimore, MD 21230
(410) 659-9314      Fax (410) 659-5129      E-mail
BrailleReadingPals at nfb.org
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0Future> 
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us at www.nfb.org


 


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