by Carmen Willings teachingvisuallyimpaired.com March 25, 2024 A slate and stylus is a portable way to produce braille. Using a slate and stylus provides a student with a means of producing braille "on the go." It can be easily carried in a pocket or on a clipboard. The slate is a metal or plastic frame with openings through which braille dots are embossed with the aid of a pointed stylus.
As part of the instruction in using a slate and stylus, the student will need to:
identify the six parts of a slate: hinge, window, pins, cells, dividing dots, bar, and opening.
identify the dot numbers in a cell on a slate.
load paper/card in the slate.
move the paper down slate to advance lines.
hold the stylus in an appropriate position to emboss a specific dot.
write a line of legible, uniform dots, without breaking through the paper.
begin a new line in a cell at right.
skip spaces on a slate.
write the alphabet, words, numerals, and sentences.