By: Carmen Willings
teachingvisuallyimpaired.com
Updated June 9, 2019

The development of tactual exploration and discrimination skills are necessary for future braille readers. It is also important for students with cognitive disabilities who may not be able to learn formal braille but can learn to discriminate objects by touch to help make sense of their world or to use for communication.

Locate & Explore Objects

One of the first steps in becoming independent and reaching out to tactually explore the world is for students to attempt to reach out and locate objects. The facilitator may need to assist the student in developing an interest in locating objects. One primary way is to not retrieve objects for the student. If the student loses an object, provide a sound source to help the student locate the object, or touch the object to the student, but encourage them to reach for and obtain the object. This is part of the student beginning to understand object permanence. 

Encourage students to:

• reach for and obtain an object that comes into contact with their body. As stated before, try to involve the student in the process of locating and obtaining objects. Students need to understand that objects continue to exist even when they are not in contact. Tap the toy/object on the tray or floor if it fell on the floor or place the object in touch with the student's arm or leg. 
• locate partially or fully hidden objects. Help students explore their area and teach them that they can locate partially hidden objects. Play fun hide and seek games by partially hiding the object. If students have difficulty, provide a sound source by the object to help the student locate it.
• find objects after systematic search (use a search pattern to locate an object). Teach the student to use a pattern to locate materials. For example, starting in the top left-hand corner and working in a zig-zag pattern moving to the right and left and up and down until they locate the object.
• retrieve object when placed in their usual location. Students should be oriented to the room and be instructed in where materials are kept. Refer to "Labeling System" for suggestions on creating a well-organized area that can assist students in locating materials.
• explore a variety of objects with both hands. Provide tactually interesting materials to encourage exploration.

The Importance of & Tactual Discrimination Finger Sensitivity ​

When preparing for braille literacy, it is important to develop tactual discrimination skills and finger sensitivity. The development of tactual discrimination skills follows an order from larger to smaller that is similar to the development of the hands and fingers. It begins with using the whole hand to explore objects and progresses to using fingers and fingertips to examine the details of tactile materials. Students with limited sensitivity in their fingers may not be good candidates for braille reading. There are a variety of diagnosis that can cause numbness or reduced sensitivity in the fingers. This will be a factor in determining if a student will be a candidate for formal braille instruction.

Tactual discrimination usually follows the following sequence:

1.   Three-dimensional forms; 
2.   flat shapes, such as puzzle pieces; 
3.   embossed shapes with the entire area raised; 
4.   raised outline shapes and raised lines; 
5.   and finally braille letters.

Identify, Compare & Organize Objects

Encourage the student to begin to identify, compare and organize objects and toys they are exploring. Talk to the student about different temperatures, weights, and textures and encourage them to locate identical or similar materials. Draw the student's attention to where toys and materials are located and encourage them to locate the objects and put them away in their correct place. Encourage students to begin identifying and naming objects. Once they are successfully able to identify objects, begin to transfer this skill to embossed shapes, and then outlined shapes.

Developing Tactual Discrimination & Finger Sensitivity

You can help the development of tactual discrimination and finger sensitivity by providing many opportunities throughout the day for the student to tactually discriminate materials and compare similarities and differences, classify, and sort. Many commercially produced classroom classification kits consist of molded plastic figures that all feel the same. These lack the variety of textures of real objects. Instead, use real materials whenever possible. Using real materials that support the current topic make these activities interesting for all students!

Draw the student’s attention to textures and describe the textures. This will help the student become aware of their differences. You can help a student develop finger sensitivity and refine their tactual discrimination skills by providing them with a variety of textures to match, sort and play with and explore. When selecting toys, choose toys that are tactually interesting.  Throughout the activities, provide the student with the language that connects the experience.  See the Objects & Containers section for a list of materials to classify and sort.

Although real materials should always be included in each unit, you may want to purchase commercially available texture sorting materials to complement these activities.

​Motor Activities to Develop Pre-Braille Skills
You are welcome to print and use this list of motor activities that can help develop tactual skills and pre-braille skills. 

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

The TVI’s Guide to Teaching the ECC is a digital pdf available for download. It is designed specifically for fellow itinerant Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI’s), and 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. 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.

In addition to the book, the following two supplements are included:

·      TVI’s Guide to the ECC Concept Checklist

·      TVI’s Guide to the ECC Activities Checklist

For complete product details and additional images, visit the TVI's Guide product page.

TVI's Guide to the ECC Product details

·      Digital pdf download: 346 pages (11 pt font)

·      Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments

·      Author: Carmen Willings

·      Language: English

Visual Efficiency & Near Magnifier Fluency Worksheets: TVI's Guide to the ECC Grab and Go Supplements

The Near Magnifier Fluency Worksheets is a Grab and Go supplement to the TVI's Guide to Teaching the ECC. This workbook is a pdf download that can be printed on demand for use with students. It contains five different types of worksheets for developing visual motor skills and near magnifier fluency skills particularly with the use of a video magnifier. As a companion to the TVI’s Guide to the ECC, the worksheets correspond to each of the 32 ECC Thematic units. The worksheets, along with a list of environmental print for each thematic unit, are designed to help students refine their visual motor skills while reinforcing ECC concepts presented in the thematic units.  

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Visual Efficiency & Near Magnifier Fluency Worksheet Details:

·      Digital pdf download: 210 pages

·      Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments

·      Author: Carmen Willings

·      Language: English

Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency and Maintenance Worksheets: A TVI’s Guide to Teaching the ECC Grab & go Supplement

The Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency and Maintenance Grab and Go ECC worksheet packet is a print on demand workbook that contains worksheets in print and simulated braille to use for data collection. Present the student with a hard braille copy and use the worksheets to document accuracy and fluency in reading braille. As a companion to the TVI’s Guide to the ECC, the worksheets correspond to the ECC Thematic activities presented in the curriculum guide. These word lists and sentences will help the student refine their keyboarding or braille reading skills while bridging ECC concepts presented in the thematic units. Although the lists and passages can be produced using a manual braillewriter, you may also copy and paste the passages into any braille translation software for quick production on an embosser. They may also be entered into a typing program such as APH’s Talking Typer to build keyboarding fluency.

For complete product details and additional images, visit the Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency & Maintenance Product Page

Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency Worksheet Details:

·      Digital pdf download: 338-page print and simulated braille worksheets

·      Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments

·      Author: Carmen Willings

·      Language: English

Thematic Vocabulary Cards and Checklists: Grab & Go ECC Supplement

The Thematic Vocabulary Cards and Checklists Grab and Go ECC supplement is a 446 page pdf downloadable print on demand workbook that includes 2940 vocabulary card on 3 1/2" x 2" templates divided by each of the 32 Thematic Units along with a checklist of each unit words in print and simulated braille. As a companion to the TVI's Guide to the ECC, the vocabulary cards correspond to the ECC Thematic activities presented in the curriculum guide. 

Additional Use:

Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments can have a extremely varied caseloads. It is possible to go several years without having a student on your caseload who requires braille instruction. Like other skills, if you do not practice your braille regularly, it is easy to lose those skills. Use these checklists and cards to maintain your braille skills. Fold the checklist along the line dividing the print from the braille. Choose to either read the print and produce the word in braille using a braillewriter or read the simulated braille and decode it. Finally, these vocabulary cards and checklists may be used with family members or peers who are interested in learning and practicing the braille code.

For complete product details and additional images, visit the Thematic Vocabulary Cards & Checklists Product Page

Thematic Vocabulary Cards and Checklists Details:

·      Digital pdf download: 446-page print on demand resource

·      Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments

·      Author: Carmen Willings

·      Language: English

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The LOTTO Cards Grab and Go Supplement includes 37 theme related unit cards along with activity suggestions that support activities within the TVI's Guide to Teaching the ECC.

On My Way File Folder Cards

Print and use these cards to represent locations the student may visit that are related to the current thematic unit. Use these with the On My Way File Folder Game outlined in the TVI's Guide to Teaching the ECC p. 27.

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