Beginning Braille

By: Carmen Willings
teachingvisuallyimpaired.com
Beginning Braille instruction lays the foundation for literacy for students who are blind or have significant visual impairments. It focuses on developing tactile readiness, fine motor skills, spatial understanding, and recognition of braille symbols and patterns. Instruction at this stage is multi-sensory and exploratory, designed to help students connect tactile input with meaning and build confidence as emerging readers and writers.
The Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI) plays a central role in guiding braille instruction, collaborating with classroom teachers, therapists, and families to reinforce skills through hands-on activities, literacy games, and daily routines. Early exposure to braille builds motivation, supports language development, and promotes independence across learning environments.

Techniques to Read

​Students learn the essential tactile techniques for efficient and accurate braille reading. Instruction focuses on hand positioning, light finger touch, tracking from left to right, and developing smooth hand movements across lines and pages. Early lessons may incorporate tactile discrimination games and practice with lines, shapes, and braille cells before progressing to letters and words.

Alphabet Object Book

​The Alphabet Object Book introduces braille letters alongside real or representative objects that begin with each letter’s sound, building tactile and phonemic awareness simultaneously. This multi-sensory approach helps students associate braille symbols with meaning and fosters early letter recognition. Activities include exploring tactile symbols, matching objects to braille letters, and reading simple tactile pages together. The Alphabet Object Book can be customized to align with a student’s interests and developmental level.

Early Braille Literacy

​Early Braille Literacy expands beyond letter recognition to include word formation, sentence reading, and beginning writing using a braillewriter or slate and stylus. Students learn to apply braille codes for punctuation, capitalization, and formatting while developing fluency and comprehension through repeated, meaningful reading experiences. Lessons may integrate tactile storybooks, emergent readers in braille, and early writing exercises that connect reading with self-expression. 
Read more to learn practical strategies, materials, and activities to introduce and support early braille literacy. Through systematic instruction and collaborative reinforcement, students develop the tactile, cognitive, and linguistic foundations necessary for lifelong literacy and independent learning.

ECC Instruction

Teaching Strategies
Compensatory
Concept Development
Alternative Communication
Emergent Literacy
Beginning Braille​
Braille Code
Braille Fluency & Comprehension
Braillewriter
​​Slate & Stylus
​​Tactile Graphics
​Nemeth Code
Access Classes
​Abacus 
​Organize​
​Study Skills
​Time Management
​​​​Listening Skills
Sensory Efficiency
Support Sensory Needs
​Auditory Efficiency Visual Efficiency Skills ​​Optical Device Use
Tactile Readiness
Assistive Technology
Social Skills
​Non-Verbal Skills​​​​ ​Communicate Cooperative Identity ​Interactions
Self Determination
independent living
Personal Care
Hygiene & Grooming
Personal Health
Eating & Table Manners
Household Skills
Shopping & Consumerism
Clothing Management
Telephone
 Food Preparation
Money & Budget
Services
​Safety
Orientation & Mobility
Recreation & Leisure
Career & Vocational