By: Carmen Willings teachingvisuallyimpaired.com Updated October 28, 2017
Students will not only need to learn to read braille, but to write braille as part of their literacy program. Encourage students to write about areas of interest and practice reading back what they wrote. Writing on the braillewriter requires physical strength, in addition to fine motor skills. Students can learn to make the connection between pressing the keys and forming symbols when they "scribble" on the braillewriter. As part of the writing process, students will need to learn to insert paper into the brailler. Teach the student the names of the parts of the braillewriter and relate the dot positions to the braillewriter keys. Knowing the dot positions will help in instructing the student on how to form the various letters and symbols.
Produce Braille with Braillewriter
The most common way for a student to produce braille, and fundamental for transitioning to electronic means of producing braille, is to use a standard manual braillewriter such as the Perkins braillewriter. Although the traditional Perkins braillewriter is heavy, I prefer this model to newer lightweight models as I feel it produces higher quality braille without tearing the tops of the braille when returning to the beginning of the line. In order to use the braillewriter proficiently, the student will need to learn skills to produce braille. The following is a sequence of skills that students will need to learn to produce braille on the braillewriter. Encourage the student to
insert/remove paper in a braille writer.
scribble using a braillewriter and make random braille dots (just as sighted students learn to write through scribbling, this is an important first experience for future braille readers as well).
appropriately place fingers on the braillewriter keys.
push all keys to write a full braille cell.
use his thumb to make a space.
use fingers in isolation to write rows of Braille dots (a row of dot 1, a row of dot 2 and so on).
operate line advance/carriage return to move to next line and backspace to go back.
use appropriate fingers on keys on braillewriter
use appropriate finger strength to emboss dots of correct and equal height.
set margin stops on a braillewriter to create columns.
locate/name parts on a braillewriter: embossing keys, embossing head, carriage return, backspace, line advance, paper feed knobs, paper stops, paper release levers, roller, bell. (This is not an essential skill, but older students should learn the proper names of the braillewriter)
This classic Perkins braillewriter available from APH is a manually operated, six-key machine that, as its name indicates, is used to produce braille. Electronic and computerized braillers are also available that are more portable and lighter weight. This braillewriter is known for its durability and reliability and ability to write on wide paper.
The Perkins website provides downloadable manuals that includes the machine layout and basic functions, instructions for the care and storage, inserting and removing braille paper, as well as brailling tips.
Writing with the Slate & Stylus
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 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.
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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
