Teaching Braille Literacy Skills

1. Teaching Braille Literacy Skills SPE 551

2. How is teaching braille like teaching print reading? • The objective is the same -- literacy. • Most of the prerequisites are the same. • Same/different • sequencing • left/right • categorization and classification • Reading and writing must be taught simultaneously.

3. Approaches to teaching reading are the same: • whole language • phonetic • language experience • etc.

4. How is teaching braille reading and writing different? • Concepts must be more consciously taught and assessed. • Students must be taught “book skills.” • Incidental exposure to experiences must be planned. • Motor skills must be more highly developed.

5. Students require up to 2 years longer to master the code. • Spelling is more difficult.

6. Who needs braille?

7. Print Reader Braille Reader • Uses vision efficiently to complete tasks at near. • Shows interest in pictures, and can identify pictures or elements within a picture. • Identifies name in print and/or understands that print has meaning. • Has a stable eye condition. • Prefers to explore the environment tactilely. • Uses the tactile sense efficiently to identify small objects. • Identifies his name in braille, and/or understand that braille has meaning. • Has an unstable eye condition with a poor prognosis.

8. Print Readers Braille Readers • Has an intact central field • Shows steady progress in learning to use vision as necessary to ensure efficient print reading. • Is free of additional disabilities that would interfere with progress in a developmental reading program. • Has a significantly reduced or nonfunctional central field. • Shows steady progress in developing tactile skills that are necessary for braille reading. • Is free of additional disabilities that would interfere with progress in a developmental reading program in braille. Source: Adapted from A. J. Koenig and M. C. Holbrook, Learning Media Assessment of Students with Visual Impariments: A Resource Guide for Teachers.

9. Mercer’s Rules for determining when to teach braille • When the reading speed is so low that it effects the comprehension level. • When there are so many miscues that the comprehension level is significantly effected. • When the number of letters per fixation is 3 or less. • In situations where it makes more sense.

10. Ability to read their own handwriting. • Amount of time able to read before eye strain sets in. • Probable vocational demands. • Academic demands. • Motivation of the student. • Level of adjustment to the visual impairment.

11. Types of students who read braille • Students who are congenitally blind and have never seen print. • Students who have been adventitiously blinded. • Students who need dual media. • Students with multiple and visual impairments (especially Functional Skills level). Instruction in uncontracted braille should be considered for these students.

12. Braille Readiness or Emergent Literacy

13. Three Foundations to Learning to Read Braille • Language and content. • Understanding that written (embossed) symbols represent words and ideas. • Motor skills.

14. When is a child ready for braille? • Enough experiences to make reading meaningful. • Foundational understanding of basic concepts. • Receptive/expressive vocabulary. • Advanced auditory discrimination skills. • Localization of sound and objects in space.

15. Identification of objects, people, and events. • Closure (sentences convey whole ideas). • Memory • Advanced tactual discrimination. • Basic tactual tracking.

16. Important Components in Teaching Braille Reading and Writing

17. Four Components of Braille Instruction • Assessment • Development or Enhancement of Language and Tactual Skills • Tracking and Mastery of uncontracted braille • Mastery of contracted braille and Speed Building

18. Critical Components in Teaching in Braille Component I -- Assessment • FVA/LMA • pre-reading skills • listening comprehension • vocabulary • braille mastery (if any) • signs and contractions • mechanics (hand movement, tracking skills, etc.) • Independent Reading Inventories

19. Instruments Available for Assessment of Braille Skills • Assessing Braille Literacy Skills (ABLS) – Region 4 • The KIT – TSBVI • The Mangold Reading Readiness program • Patterns • Braille Too

20. Minnesota Braille Skills Inventory • The Braille Connection • Braille FUNdamentals

21. Component II -- Development or Enhancement of Language and Tactual Skills • Advanced tactual discrimination training • Strength and endurance training • Concept building • Language experience stories • Incidental exposure

22. Component III -- Tracking and Mastery of uncontracted braille -- • Tracking • Alphabet reading • Alphabet writing (e.g. learning to load a brl writer, dot counts, etc.) • Speed building

23. Phase IV -- Mastery of contracted braille and Speed Building • -- • Introduction to all braille contractions. • Speed and comprehension building.

24. Mechanics of Efficient Braille Reading • Use fluid hand motions. • Use two hands. • Use the left hand to locate the next line. • Do not scrub. Never present braille characters in isolation (e. g. one character on a flash card) • Do not regress.

25. Relax the fingers. • Use a light touch. • Curl the fingers. • Do not vocalize or subvocalize. • Encourage your students to be “avid readers.”

26. Developing Fluency in Braille Reading • Encourage independent reading. • Be sure that instruction is at a level low enough to ensure success. • Identify books that sighted kids are interest in and currently reading. • Be sure that your students are included in programs to promote reading at libraries, etc.

27. Repeated readings of the same material. • Have students practice and read stories to smaller children • Enroll students in the Braille Book Club and with the Texas State Library (800-252-9605)

28. Materials and Resources • Patterns – for younger children; typically those who are congenitally blind • Braille Too – for secondary students who are already readers • Read Again/The Braille Connection – for secondary students who are already readers

29. One is Fun – Margoie Troughton; is designed to be used with a variety of kinds of students, but most frequently primary students or those with other disabilities. http://snow.utoronto.ca/best/special/OneIsFun/table_of_contents.htm • Mangold Reading Readiness program – can be used with any age student. Teaches tracking and tactual discrimination only.

30. Braille FUNdamentals – TSBVI; designed to teach a wide range of age ranges. Includes a pre-braille assessment, numerous age appropriate activities and writing exercises. • Un’s the One – TSBVI; teaches uncontracted braille to a students from different age and ability groups.

31. Seedlings – books for very young tactual learners • Braille Book Club • Texas State Library • Individualized reading materials

32. How much time should a TVI dedicate to teaching a student who is learning braille? A MINIMUM OF ONE AND A HALF HOURS PER DAY FOR A MINIMUM OF FOUR DAYS PER WEEK!

33. Should I ever teach braille to a student who can still read print but will one day be a braille reader? Probably not. Instead, concentrate on building visual maps and providing training in the extended core curriculum.