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Summer Reading (braille)

By: Carmen Willings
teachingvisuallyimpaired.com
As another school year comes to an end and the summer quickly approaches, you may wonder how to help your child maintain their braille reading skills.  There are ways you can help your child maintain and build on their existing skills even if you are not proficient in the braille code! Look at the summer as a great time to build a child's reading skills, love of reading, and love of books!

Environmental Braille

Students who are blind don't have the same opportunities to observe environmental print. You will need to make sure to point out braille as you visit restaurants, hotels, museums, etc. Point out the common locations braille can be found and also be sure to request braille menus although not all restaurants will have them. If you haven't already provided braille labels throughout your home, now is a great time to encourage your child to read by placing labels in throughout your home. ​You can request assistance from your child's Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI), or you can purchase a braille labeler to create your own labels. Label your child's CD or DVD collections. Create a phone book of friends names and phone numbers to keep in touch with over the summer. Summer can also be a good time to go through your child's clothes to see which clothes they've outgrown and be sure to attach braille labels to the current clothes.

Make Time to Read Daily

Picture of books on a hammock.
It is important for all students to maintain their reading skills during the summer, but it is especially important for braille learners to keep up their reading skills during long breaks from school. Although you can't simply pop into the local bookstore or into the local library, with some planning, you can still ensure your student has books to read. Sign your child up to receive books from the National Library for the Blind. It is a free service and you can request specific books or you can request books of a particular genre. Although there may be books that you want to expose your child to, not all of the books you would choose will motivate your child to read. Tap into their particular area(s) of interest. Also, if you haven't done so already, sign your child up for the Imagination Library through the American Printing House for the Blind and your child will receive a print, braille or audio book! You can also browse Seedlings collection of over 1200 books available in braille or visit the Braille Bookstore.

Build Your App Book Library

With Bookshare, Reading Ally, or Bard, your child can have access to thousands of books for their listening pleasure! Share the listening experience with your child and be sure to talk about the books and encourage your child to reflect on the stories and answer questions about the story. These books are available in braille format, but you must have access to a braille embosser or a refreshable braille display to access the braille.

Summer Postcards

As your family goes on trips and vacations, be sure to bring along your child's slate and stylus! The slate and stylus is much more portable than a braille writer and will encourage your child to practice their writing skills. Keep in mind that writing with a slate and stylus is very different from using the braillewriter. Not all students will have the skills to produce legible braille, but any writing efforts should be encouraged. Most postcards are a perfect weight for writing braille as they are made of medium to heavy cardstock (Just don't choose a postcard that is too thick, making it be too difficult to braille on.) If the recipient does not read braille, be sure to provide both print and braille on the postcard.

Play Games!

Not only will playing cards help the students develop a leisure activity and build social skills, but it will help them practice their braille skills as well! There are a number of commercially available games. ​The most widely available card games include UNO and a standard deck of cards. Many games can be adapted - some more easily than others. It may take a little creativity with a braille labeler, puffy paint, or textures, but you can adapt many commercially available games on your own!

Learn Braille ​

If you haven't already done so, challenge yourself this summer to learn just enough braille to be able to help your child...or learn the whole braille code! It really is not as difficult as many people think and if viewed as a puzzle is really a lot of fun! Remember - it is OK for you to read the braille visually!
Just Enough to Know Better by Eileen Curran is a good starting place and even include braille flashcards to allow you to quiz yourself. You could also ask your child's TVI if you can borrow Quick Pick from APH over the summer! I'm sure your TVI would support any of your efforts to learn the braille code!
Better yet, encourage the whole family to learn the braille code! Siblings can get involved by going to the American Foundation for the Blind's Braille Bug site. Here they will learn more about braille and be able to solve games and puzzles with their new found skill!

TVI's Guide to Teaching the ECC: An Activities Based Curriculum for Teaching Students who are Blind or Visually Impaired

$50.00

Written specifically for fellow itinerant Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI’s), this book consists of over 400 activities and topic areas of discussion for instructing students in the Expanded Core Curriculum. The activities are age-neutral and multi-sensory and therefore can meet the needs of the broad range of students served on an itinerant caseload serving. The activities can be individualized to the students various learning modalities and scaffold in order to challenge students but ensure success. Select those activities that align with the student’s learning objects based on the student’s unique visual needs and academic and developmental level.

The core activities listed in the Activity section can be adapted to each thematic unit. These include:



  • Object Characteristic Activities
  • Quantity & Number Concepts
  • Time Concept Activities
  • Environment & Job Awareness Activities
  • Listening Skills Activities
  • Reading Foundation Activities
  • Reading Fluency Activities
  • Braille Basics Activities
  • Writing Activities
  • Tactual Efficiency Activities
  • Developing Skillful Hands Activities
  • Visual Efficiency Activities
  • Optical Device Instruction Activities
  • Recipe Activities


In addition to the core activity areas, each of the 32 Thematic Units incorporates additional unique ECC concepts and skills providing you with a years’ worth of activities. These units are cyclical and can be used repeatedly to help students build on prior knowledge and develop a deeper understanding of concepts. Each unit includes suggestions for activity adaptation associated with the unit. These include lists of objects, possible community based experiences, environmental print, poems, children & young reader books, children's songs, pop culture songs, movies, and websites.

Unique Concepts within the Units include:





  • Self Advocacy Activities (e.g. advocating for safe classroom, presenting to class on visual impairment, requesting help and more)
  • Social Skills Activities (e.g. Being bullied or teased, giving and receiving compliments, body language, "I" messages when upset and more)
  • Recreation & Leisure Activities (e.g. exploring interest areas, getting involved in clubs and sports, playing games, and more)
  • O&M Support Activities (e.g. Suggestions for community based experiences, dog guide information, locations in the school, bioptics, ride sharing, traffic signs, and more)
  • Independent Living Skill Activities (e.g. chores, being responsible, using tools, recipe suggestions, hygiene, staying healthy, labeling foods and products, and more)
  • Sensory Efficiency Activities (e.g. unique sensory experiences related to the unit, unique optical device activities, and more)
  • Compensatory Activities (e.g. organizing materials, study habits, and many unique concepts related to the unit)
  • Career & Vocational Activities (e.g. job awareness, completing applications, job task suggestions, and more)


Although the intended audience of this resource is fellow Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments, special education teachers may find these activities beneficial to the students in their classrooms as the activities are multisensory and include life skills and concepts needed by all students. This resource, however, is not intended to take the place of a Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI). Readers are advised to consult their own TVI’s regarding instruction in the ECC and the unique visual needs of the student’s served in their programs.


Note: This curriculum is a digital pdf download. Once you make your purchase you will be directed to an order confirmation page where you will find the download link. This download will also be included on the receipt sent to the email address you provide. The pdf download can be found directly under the order number.


Each download is intended for single instructor use per copyright. Thank you for helping me preserve the content and not distributing copies to third parties.


Product details

Digital pdf download: 364 pages (11 pt font)

Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments

Author: Carmen Willings

Language: English


*Please contact me if you need to purchase using a purchase order. I am happy to help guide you in the process of adding Teaching Students with Visual Impairments as an approved vendor for your school or program or you can visit the product support page for information on using a PO.
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