Braille Charts

Just discovered a new resource! It's the website of a Braille transcriber who provides neat Braille charts for us. Check it out.

The URL is: http://teacherweb.com/UT/Granite/VisionBraille-CharlotteWOvard

Braille Courses for Parents

If, as a homeschooling parent, you need to be the one to teach your child Braille, or if you just want to be able to read what she's written in Braille, there are ways for you to learn in the convenience of your home...and without spending money.

First, there is the Braille School website, which is a good introduction, with its tutorials explaining the Braille cells and contractions. You have to register, but registration is free.

Secondly, there is the Hadley School for the Blind, which offers free correspondence courses to family members. The teachers are very kind and good at what they do.

The Braille School lessons cover all the rules, but the Hadley School's Braille lessons give you practice in reading and writing words, sentences, and paragraphs.

I recommend either or both of these options.

Handbook for Learning to Read Braille by Sight

HANDBOOK FOR LEARNING TO READ BRAILLE BY SIGHT
Author: Leland Schubert

Review by Margaret Mary Myers

What a great book for sighted parents and homeschooling teachers who want to be able to read what their children write in Braille! You can use this book on your own, at your own pace. Working my way through this book was very enjoyable and increased my fluency in reading Braille (by sight).

Comprehensive and incremental, this handbook starts with the alphabet, a few punctuation marks, and numbers. After teaching most of Grade One braille, the book proceeds with Whole-Word Alphabet contractions, then the contractions for: "and, for, of, the, with," followed by dot-5 contractions.

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry; after pursuing this book, you soon shall. I was pleasantly surprised to see my learning expand as I worked my way through the interesting, adult-level exercises in the book. An answer key is provided in the back, so we can see the word we got stuck on or perhaps that silly mistake.

This fun book is available from American Printing House for the Blind.

Kester Braille

Kester Braille by Louise Johnson
Review by Margaret Mary Myers

Would you like to start teaching your child to read - using braille? If you homeschool, these books would be an ideal place to begin. Or if you are a teacher of the visually impaired who has learned Braille, but you don't have a lot of experience with it yet, these books could be very helpful for you in teaching your students.

You don't need to have prior knowledge of braille in order to use these books, which enable you to teach your children both Braille reading and Braille writing. The Teacher's Guide provides all the information that you need, including how to teach your student tracking. All you need is the books, a few minutes a day, and a Perkins braillewriter (which - as a homeschool parent or as a teacher - you can probably borrow through your state resource center).

Even for an older child who already knows how to read in print, and now must learn braille, I feel thse books are worthwhile as a starting place. They helped me get my then-nine-year-old started on Braille after he experienced vision loss.

Level One introduces the letters of the alphabet and beginning sounds. Level Two introduces three-letter words with short vowel sounds, writing sentences, and the numbers 0 to 20. These books are one of the best buys you are going to get...both as far as the cost and as far as getting your young child started on the road to literacy. Visit the author's website for more information.