[blindkid] learning braille & print?

[Jaquiss, Robert]

Hello:

     I definitely agree with Bernie. I have been totally blind from birth. I read braille and if I couldn't, I wouldn't be employed. I do think it wise to know the shapes of printed letters and to have some understanding of what sighted people are looking at.
In the past, knowing the printed letters has kept me from going into the girls bathroom. During our recent national convention, I again called upon my knowledge to feel print letters when I was finding some of the meeting rooms. Some of the braille dots were missing from the signs. I am of the opinion that if a child knows and uses braille well, then the very occasional use of print to read a few words won't be a problem. Braille and the use of the long white cane are essential skils. Hope this helps.

Regards,

Robert



Robert Jaquiss
Access Technology Specialist
National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute
200 E. Wells Street at Jernigan Place
Baltimore, MD 21230
Phone: (410) 659-9314, Ext.2422
Email: rjaquiss at nfb.org

-----Original Message-----
From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bernadette Jacobs
Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2012 1:05 PM
To: Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)
Subject: Re: [blindkid] learning braille & print?

Sweetie:

Take this from someone who's been there, done that!!  I speak from firsthand experience.  This duo-learning thing was only tried for a while till my mom put her foot down and said "She's learning Braille and I simply W O N ' T have it any other way!!!  I want her to have one very good skill that she'll be able to handle efficiently and profficiently for the rest of her life without any interuptions.  If she learns print and loses her sight, then what?  She simply becomes illiterate???  I won't have it!!!"  Since then gang, I've had both eyes removed and now have prosthetic eyes.  My mother will have been dead and gone now for 40 years in October.  and, guess what folks?
I'm still reading Braille and loving it!!!  Braille lives on!!!

Furthermore, I was a student at a school for the blind in Wisconsin from K-12.  I've seen way, too many students which were taken that route and later in life, they were profficient at neither reading medium!!!  I also have a very close friend in Madison, WI whose favorite passtime was, in fact, reading.  She used to present anywhere from 53-60 book reports a year in English Class.  One morning about fifteen years ago she woke up only to discover that she had lost her remaining vision.  Worst of all, to her absolute horror and devistation she suddenly became ILLITERATE???  Because she was never taught Braille???  What a horrible, cruel, rude awakening!!!  She then disappeared into the woodwork and very few of us ever hear from her anymore!!!  All in the name of teaching her N O T to be bline, after all, isn't it much better to allow her to use her remaining vision with all the headaches and eye strain to go along with it rather than teaching her an alternative technique that would stick with her for life???  After all, she was a very bright woman with loads and loads of potential!!!  God Bless her!  Wwe were best friends through high school and I guess that's why I feel her pain so terribly!  Oh Honey:
I can think of story after story; name after name; and they all speak the same language!  Please don't do that to your baby!!!

Bernie

On 6/29/12, Nicole Cannon <nicole at cannonig.com> wrote:
> My son is almost 5 with visual acuity about 20/200.  He can see large 
> print, but I've noticed he seems to be a tactile learner.  I've been 
> reading about learning to be a dual reader to give him the most tools, 
> but I'm somewhat concerned about overloading him with too many things 
> to learn at once.  Does anyone have any input on the best way to go 
> about teaching him Braille and print?  I'm going to talk to his IU 
> teacher also, but so far, the IU has been focusing on using the vision he has.
>
> Thanks,
> Nicole
>
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