[blindkid] Teaching Braille to your children?

Fri May 13 15:11:56 UTC 2011

On 5/13/11 6:21 AM, "Merry-Noel Chamberlain" <owinm at yahoo.com> wrote:

>Ann,
>For very young children, here are some ideas I use to teach Braille to
>beginning young students.  As parents, we are our child's first teacher.
> 
>Activities for Pre-Braille
>Merry-Noel Chamberlain, MA, TVI
> 
>Lots of Dots:  Learning My ABCs (APH)
>            When coloring in this book, I place the coloring pages on a
>screen board so the student is able to feel his/her coloring more
>tactually.
> 
>Squid (APH)
> 
>Create letters using a small 6-count muffin pan.  I try to use different
>objects for a week or so.    One can usually find erasers that are age
>appropriate and of interest to the child.  For example, if the child
>likes Clifford, I use little Clifford erasers.  I also like holiday
>themes such as pumpkin erasers for Thanksgiving.
> 
>It is important to start teaching the dot numbers.  For this, I use
>finger puppets.  It seems that small children understand that people live
>in certain Œapartment¹ numbers so with the finger puppets, I say that Mr.
>Lamb lives in Apartment #1 and Mr. Chicken lives in Apartment #2.  For
>this game, I¹m not creating letters  rather, I¹m focusing on learning
>the numbers of the dots.  Then, we play a game that Mr. Lamb wants to
>visit Mr. Chicken in Apartment #2.  Then, we move from that to removing
>the name the name to Mr. Lamb went to Apartment #4 to find Mr. Chicken.
>I¹ll have the student put Mr. Lamb in Apartment #4 and ask, ³Is Mr.
>Chicken there?²  We¹ll do this several times  mixing up the puppets.
> 
>If the child is having trouble with this, I have another box that has the
>6 compartments like a Braille Cell.  In the box, I have sticks that have
>one through six objects on them.  The student counts the objects and
>places them in the correct location in the box.  The sticks that have
>only one go in the top left  while the sticks that have 6 objects goes
>in the bottom right, etc.  This helps establish the dot number locations,
>as well.
> 
>I continue to make the cells smaller.  Starting with the small 6-count
>muffin pan down to as small of a cell I¹ve collected over the years.
>Items I¹ve used include:
>            - small 6-count trinket box w/ lid found in hobby stores.
>            - small 6-count paint holder at hobby store.
>            - Jell-O 6-count egg containers found in thrift shops these
>days. 
>            - Toys  cupcake, egg shape containers
>            - Toy muffin pan found at antique shops.
> 
>Pop-a-Cell (APH)  create letters back and forth
>PegCell (APH)  create words back and forth.
> 
>Find a book that has six buttons on the right side that make sounds.
>Some have seven or so.  Seven is okay so long as the seventh one is
>larger and above or below the six.  These books can be found anywhere,
>Walmart, drug stores, etc.  Many of these books have the six buttons like
>a Braille Cell.  If you can get it Brailled, great!!!  The print on the
>book shows pictures of which button needs to be pushed as the story is
>read.  Instead of the adult pushing the button, say the dot number of
>which button needs to be pushed.  For example:  ³I was so J when I jumped
>across the yard.²  The J face button may be dot number 2.  So, it would
>be read aloud as follows, ³I was so Œdot 2¹ (child pushes dot 2 for the
>delightful sound) when I jumped across the yard.²
> 
>Play dough  The student makes a snake and then presses it flat.  Uses a
>stylus or peg toy to press holes in the play doughŠ this strengthens the
>hand and introduces the slate & stylus.
> 
>Crafty play dough that gets hard/like foam.  (Target, Walmart)  Together
>make a Braille cell and little balls to fit into the cell.  Make little
>valleys in each cell hole to help contain the ball from rolling out or
>use a strip of play dough to divide the dots in the cell or both.  Make
>other things with the play dough, too.  Use a flat rectangle or square to
>create a picture and apply little balls to make their name in Braille.
>(Don¹t forget the capital sign!)
> 
>Twister Braille  Use the Twister game and create letters with the body.
>You can either cut the Twister board to make a Braille cell, or get
>Hopscotch Twister and create a tactual Braille cell.  For numbers or
>Braille that use more than one cell, use stuffed animals or toys to help.
> With Hopscotch Twister, you can create several Braille Cells.
> 
>For more Braille ideas, go to:
>http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/fr/fr27/4/fr270416.htm
> 
>Merry-Noel
> 
> 
> 
>
> 
>
>
>--- On Thu, 5/12/11, Anne Ward <inland2wards at att.net> wrote:
>
>
>From: Anne Ward <inland2wards at att.net>
>Subject: [blindkid] Teaching Braille to your children?
>To: blindkid at NFBnet.org
>Date: Thursday, May 12, 2011, 3:12 AM
>
>
>Hi, all,
>I am wondering how many of you parents took an active part in teaching
>Braille to your children, and, if so, what system/textbook/whatever did
>you use to achieve that?  I've been asked to push our state into
>providing a certain text for parents to check out through the Braille and
>Talking Book section of the state library.  I am not sure that the
>specific text is the way to go, it seems a poor choice for teaching very
>young children, but at least it would be A tool to provide.  The text in
>question is APH's Braille Series 1992.  Some alternatives seem a bit
>pricey, but a better choice for teaching young children.  Myself, I used
>Just Enough to Know Better to teach myself, but my son's vi teacher
>taught him, and a very slow process it seemed at the time.  If any of you
>have any recommendations, please let me know.  I can think of more than
>one young family that would benefit from this idea, but am not sure of
>the text to be recommended,  with the
> best bang for the buck, if I can come up with the buck (don't think the
>library has the buck in these times).
>Thanks for any input you can offer me.
>Sincerely,
>Anne Ward
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