BrailleSC | Jodi Floyd

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Signature Writing for a Braille Reader

November 18th, 2010

For children who read braille, one handwriting skill that needs to be taught is the child’s signature. This skill is usually started in second or third grade when the other children usually begin to learn cursive writing. A braille reader’s signature is always written in cursive because it eliminates the need for starting and stopping points. It’s continuous and students don’t have to pick up the pen or pencil to find the top. Also, it’s the way adults are asked to sign documents.

The time to teach a specific letter is when those letters are used in conversation to reference ideas or concepts such U shaped curve, S shaped curve, T intersection, Y intersection, or L shaped route. These letters don’t need to be taught specifically, but just as the concept is introduced so that the child understands what you’re talking about.

Materials needed

Signature guide
Letter writing guide
Raised line drawing kit available from Maxi-Aids

Teaching Technique

There are many ways to teach a student’s signature, but this one example of how a teacher may teach handwriting to a student for the first time.

Decide what the child is going to write as their signature — you may wish to have this discussion with the child’s parents. Remember, not everyone writes every single letter of their name when they sign their signature. Some people only write their first initial and last name. Others write their first and last name with their middle initial. Still others write their signature with a letter followed by a line. Their signature doesn’t need to be perfect, just consistent.
At first, practice writing the student’s signature without using a signature guide. The space within a signature guide is very limited and many children need to make exaggerated movements to understand the concept of “short line to the right.”
Have the students write square or rounded letters. For example the letter J might be line down, and to the left or short line to the left then a line going straight up.
Begin by having the student trace their name from start to finish. Say the letters and the directions for writing each letter as you write the letter. To teach you can go hand under hand or square the letters such as go up, then right, then down.
Talk about connectors so that the child does not put their letters on top of one another.
Have the student practice using the Raised Line Drawing Kit as lines that are drawn become raised and easily traced. The child’s signature becomes easily followed by touch.
Once the child understands the directions for writing his or her signature, use a letter writing guide over the raised line drawing kit. This will begin to confine the student’s signature from top to bottom but still give the student room to spread out to the right or left. This will also provide the student with a firm beginning and ending point as they begin to refine their signature. The letter writing guide also allows them to use the entire page to practice their signature without having to move the signature guide to a new location.
Once you feel that the student is ready, move them to a signature guide.
In order to develop consistency, it is important to provide extra practice. So have the student use the signature guide on a daily basis. By carrying around the signature guide, the student will be able to sign their name at any time.

Commercially Available Products

There are commercially available products that can aid with teaching handwriting to students with visual impairments. Below are just a few of these products.

Teaching Signature Writing to Those who are Visually Impaired available from Exceptional Teaching Aids. Dr. Sally Mangold demonstrates a creative teaching method that helps young students as well as adults make a legal signature. Practical teaching tips are interspersed throughout this 35-minute DVD. The book includes exercises, a sample lesson plan, and sample signatures.
Freund Longhand Writing Kit available from American Printing House for the Blind. This kit helps students learn cursive writing. It includes an embossed workbook, a Tactile Marking Mat (also available separately), a pad of 100 sheets of embossed-line paper for use with the Marking Mat, and a manual in both regular print and braille.

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Listening Skills

November 4th, 2010

“A wise old owl sat in an oak.
The more he [listened], the less he spoke;
The less he spoke, the more he heard.
Why aren’t we like that wise old bird.”
–Bromley

Although listening skills are not designed to replace braille reading, they are an essential communication skill that all children need to possess. For many individuals who read braille, listening skills will become essential when they enter middle and high school where the academic load and reading quantity grow exponentially.

For Kindergarten and 1st grade:

Start out with pleasure reading books that are not chapter books. Have the student listen to a page or 2 before stopping the tape/CD and discussing what happened on those pages. After you have finished the book on tape, have the student answer comprehension questions. Use both literal and inference questions.
Gradually increase the amount of pages the student must listen to before you pause the tape until the student is listening to the entire tape/CD. before the student answers comprehension questions about the book.
Mix up the types of book you select. A non fiction book about an animal or sport the student is interested in is a great way to impart knowledge and get the student interested in listening to something that requires more attention and concentration.

For 2nd through 5th grade:

This is a great time to emphasize main idea and important details especially when you and your student listen to a nonfiction book.
Listen to pleasure reading books that are chapter books written on a level that is even or below the student’s current reading level. (The child’s classroom teacher should have an idea of the student’s reading level. If they do not, there are several reading inventories that are available to help you determine a reading level. Jerry Johns Informal Reading Inventory is one.)
Listen to a page or 2 before stopping the tape/CD and discussing what happened on those pages.
Gradually increase the number of pages the student needs to listen to before you stop and discuss what happened on the pages. The child should be listening to a chapter at a time before you stop and have them answer comprehension questions on that chapter. This may be a goal that takes the student all year to master.
After you have completed 1 or 2 pleasure reading chapter books, you should pick a book that is from a different genre. Non-fiction books and a book of poems are both necessary for your student to learn to listen to.

For 6th grade through high school:

Begin with one of the student’s textbooks. Social Studies or Science are great places to start.
Listen to a paragraph before stopping and asking questions and discussing what the student read.
Then move on to listening to a section at a time before answering comprehension questions at the end of each section.

More ideas for increasing listening skills

Scholastic has books with an accompanying CD that come 4 to a pack for $20. These are located on both the website or from the book order forms that the general education classroom teacher passes out. Take those books and make a comprehension questionnaire with 5 to 10 questions that go along with the book.
Gradually increase speed of listening devices such as JAWS, Victor Stream, or Daisy player so that the student begins to learn to listen at a faster rate.
When a student asks how to spell a word, spell it and have them spell the whole word back to you. If they get stuck on a word, spell the whole word again so that they have to listen and keep up.
Play a game where the student has to follow a single step direction. Then gradually increase where the student is following complex 4 and 5 step directions.
Dictate a small portion of a sentence and gradually increase the amount of information you give the student until they are writing the whole sentence from you saying it only 1 time.
To assess listening skills, you can use the AR and STAR reading tests in the school system after the child has listened to the book to get a comprehension score.
Have the student listen to a book on tape and then write up a short book report about the book.
Read short poems and talk about what words rhyme or what the poem is talking about.
Recalling events in proper sequence is important skill. Use any story and have the students retell the story using the events in the order that they happened. For example, first, the bears went for a walk. Next, Goldilocks went into the house.

Commercially available programs for teaching listening skills

Listen and Think Program available from American Printing House for the Blind

This program is designed to develop and improve listening comprehension and thinking skills.

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Pre-Braille Skills

September 7th, 2010

Systematic building of skills in toddlers and pre-schoolers will facilitate learning to read and write braille in the future! Skills to build include: concepts such as same and different, tactual awareness and perception, and fine motor such as exploring objects with hands and using hands cooperatively.

Pre-braille skills are skills designed to increase tactual awareness and perception in individuals who will learn to read and write braille in the future.

Start by teaching the following concepts:

Rough or smooth
Soft or hard
Small or big
Sorting by a specific characteristic
Same or different

The order in which you teach these concepts isn’t so important, but the concept of same or different should be the last concept that you teach.

Teaching rough or smooth

To teach rough or smooth, begin by gathering items that are rough and smooth and placing them in a container. Many of the objects that are rough or smooth can be found around the house or school and are not items that need to be purchased.

Items that are rough:

scrubbing pad for pots and pans
steel wool
textured fabric like canvas or some upholstery fabric
textured wall paper
sandpaper
the edge of a key

You can also use items located in the classroom:

carpet
concrete walls
rocks in the classroom aquarium
corrugated bulletin board border

You can also go outside:

tree bark
sand on the playground
pavement in the parking lot
bricks on the school building

Items that are smooth:

piece of felt
satin ribbon
keychain
candle
plastic cup
dinner plate

In the classroom:

the top of a table
a door
the side of a filing cabinet
the front of a book

Outside:

the side of a car
the slide on the playground
a leaf off of a tree

To teach this concept:

Start by introducing the idea of rough. Show your student all of the rough items in your bag.
For each item talk about how it feels bumpy and scratchy. Use lots of descriptive words.
After showing the student rough, introduce smooth.
Show the student all of the smooth items. Talk about how the objects feel slick to the touch and how your fingers glide over the object without getting stuck.
After you have introduced both rough and smooth separately, then mix up the items and present one item at a time and have the student identify the items as either rough or smooth.

Teaching soft or hard

The idea behind teaching hard or soft is that the child can feel the difference between something that is hard and something that is soft. The child needs to understand that when we push on something hard it doesn’t give while pushing on something soft does. Teaching soft or hard often involves the child banging, slapping or hitting an object. Before starting hard or soft explain to the child that we need to be careful how we hit, bang or slap an object as it might damage the object but more importantly it might hurt us. Hitting an object that is hard with all our strength will cause you to hurt yourself and maybe even break a bone.

Items that are hard:

dinner plate
a fork, butter knife or spoon
measuring cups or spoons
the remote control for the television or stereo
a picture frame

You can also use items (and associated actions) located in the classroom:

slap the top of a table
slap the top of a class book shelf
try to mash a library book
bang on the door to the classroom
the child’s cubby
stomp on the floor

You can also go outside:

stomp on the parking lot pavement
slap a car hood or door
bang on the playground slide or monkey bars

Items that are soft:

a pillow
a stuffed animal
a blanket
a nerf ball
a winter coat
couch cushions
sponge used to wash cars or dishes

In the classroom:

cushions
pillows in the reading center
beanbag chairs
sleeping mats in the kindergarten classroom

Outside:

any of the tumbling mats used in the gym
leaves on trees
the seats in a car
the cushions on a bench
sand around the slide or playground equipment

To teach this concept:

Start by introducing the idea of hard. Show your student all of the hard items you can think of.
For each item talk about how it feels. Use lots of descriptive words. For instance, it hurts when we hit it. It doesn’t move, when we push against it. It is hard because when we touch it, it doesn’t give way.
After showing the student hard, introduce soft.
Show the student all of the soft items you can think of. Talk about how the objects feel. Again use descriptive words. Talk about how it is different from hard. When we feel something soft, it is easy to push. It gives when we lay on it or hit it. It also doesn’t hurt when we hit it.
After you have introduced both hard and soft separately, then mix up the items and present the student with both concepts and have them identify the items as either hard or soft.

Teaching small or big

When you first begin teaching small or big, make sure the size difference is extremely different. For instance, use a matchbox car to show small and then go outside and touch a regular car to show big. As the student understands the concept and his or her tactual skills improve, your student will be able to tell the difference between objects that quite close in size. It’s also important to mention that size is relevant, especially when comparing objects. If you ask a child if a couch or a chair is smaller, s/he is going to say that a chair is small even though many chairs found in a home are big.

Items that are big in a home:

a book shelf
a car
the couch
a rocking chair
the television
the kitchen table

Items that are big in the classroom:

filing cabinet
teacher’s desk
teacher’s chair
a storage closet
a table
the area rug the children sit on for circle time

Items that are big outside around the school building:

find a tree that is too big for the child to reach around and have them try to give it a hug
walk around the outside of the school and see how long it takes
walk around the play area

Items that are small in a home:

a DVD
a game system remote controller
the remote control to the television or stereo
car keys
a cookie
a package of fruit snacks

Items that are small in the classroom:

a book
items from the living or house center
play food
a cell phone
a camera
a book bag
different containers from around the class
kid’s chairs for the classroom

Items that are small outside around the school:

a plant or flower
a container for a plant
the door handle of the building
a single brick on the outside of the building

To teach this concept:

Start by introducing the idea of big. Show your student all the big items you can think of.
For each item talk about the size. Talk about how it’s hard to wrap our arms around (hug) something that is big and that it takes a long time to walk around something that is big.
Next introduce things that are small. Here is a case when it is okay to present the small items and show the big items (once the child understands big) at the same time. One of the easiest ways for a child to understand small is to compare it to an object they know is big.
Once the child understands the difference between big and small, begin to refine the concept by presenting items that have a smaller difference in size.
Remember to revisit this concept from time to time and continue to refine the child’s ability to differentiate between objects where the size difference is smaller and smaller. This is an extremely important skill as the difference in size between a penny and a nickel can be measured in terms of millimeters and your student will need to be able to make that distinction if they are ever going to reliably make purchases by themselves.

Sorting by a specific characteristic

If you have taught the concepts of rough/smooth, hard/soft, and big/little, then you have done most of the work for this area. When we sort by a specific characteristic, we are only asking the child to make a pile of objects based on our desired characteristic. In sighted children, we ask them to sort objects based on color. For a child who is working on increasing tactual perception we might ask them to sort objects based on whether the items are paper or plastic.

Ideas for sort objects by specific characteristic:

paper or plastic
paper, metal, or plastic
shape
weight
length
soft or hard
big or little
hard or soft
rough or smooth

To teach this concept:

Make a bag or container with lots of items that have a common characteristic but are not the same. For instance in your bag of paper or metal, have lots of items that are paper such as wrapping paper, construction paper, tissue paper, paper towel, toilet tissue, and Kleenex. Then add some that are metal such as aluminum foil, screw, nuts and bolts, measuring spoon, and a spoon. It is okay to place several of the same items into the bag. Instead of having one cut square of tissue paper, have 3 or 4 squares of tissue paper.
Give the student a sample item of both paper and metal. Talk about the differences between how they feel.
Ask the student to reach into the bag and pull out an object. Have them identify the object as either paper or metal.
Although you may have 50 items in your bag, start with having the student identify 10 to 15 items at a time.
As your student is able to consistently sort items by a characteristic into 2 piles, add an additional characteristic to sort by. For instance have the student sort items into paper, metal or plastic.

Teaching same or different

This idea is different from sorting by a specific characteristic although it may seem similar. To sort by a characteristic, the students are sorting items that have a characteristic in common but are not the same item. For instance, they may be pulling items out of a bag and identifying if the item is paper or metal. The paper items in the bag are not going to be all the same. They will be all kinds of paper products. When teaching same and different, the objects the student is sorting need to be the same exact object.

You can use lots of different items to teach same and different. Since many students have difficulty grasping the concept of different, begin by teaching the concept of same. Gradually introduce the idea of same and not the same. Then go to same and different. Start with 3D (dimensional) objects. Then gradually move to objects that are glued to a paper.

There are different programs available for moving from real objects to paper and tactile drawings. All of these programs involve the student identifying tactile drawings of the shapes circle, triangle and square. If you have not taught these shapes then now is a good time to start.

To teach this concept

Begin by sorting objects that are very different such as counting bears and blocks. Have them put the bears in one container and the blocks in another container.
It is easier to sort objects that are 3D than those on a paper. Don’t talk about the idea of same and different at this time but build on the idea that they are sorting objects because these are alike. Many kindergarten classrooms have tubs of manipulatives. Use some of those items during this stage.
Give the student an object, then place 2 objects in front of the student and ask them to pick the one that is the same. If the student is having trouble identifying which object is the same, have them feel the object and talk about how the objects are alike. They are both …. They both have …. This object isn’t alike or it isn’t the same as these other 2 because it is ….
As your student begins to consistently identify items that are the same, you can begin to give them an object and ask them to identify which one is different from the other 2.
To teach different, provide the student with 3 objects (2 of which are the same) and ask the child which one is not the same as the other 2.
Begin to change your language from “Not the same” to “Different.”
Gradually you can give the student an entire bag of items and they will be able to match all the objects in the bag as alike and different.
Once your student is consistently identifying same and different, you may elect to use several of the available programs that teach tactile awareness and perception.

Tips to teach same or different

Go to the craft cabinet and pull 15 to 20 items and glue them to note cards to make tactile cards that the students can match.
Use objects and talk about the characteristics and attributes of each objects. Say these are the same because they are both …
The only good way to teach this idea is to go over the concept everyday.

Commercially Available Programs for Developing Pre-Braille Skills

Patterns Prebraille Program available from American Printing House for the Blind (APH)

This program is designed to prepare children before they begin braille reading. It helps build a child’s auditory, tactual, conceptual, and language skills. The emphasis in this program is on exposure to a variety of common childhood experiences.

Touch and Tell available from APH

This is a classic set of braille reading readiness books. It consists of three volumes with tactile pages and regular print instructions. Volumes I and II introduce embossed hands and geometric forms, while Volume III introduces braille dots.

On the Way to Literacy: Book Set I: Early Experiences for Visually Impaired Children available from APH

This handbook and print/tactile storybooks help young children who are blind or visually impaired develop emergent literacy skills.

Perkins Panda Early Literacy Kit available from Perkins School for the Blind

The Perkins Panda Early Literacy Program is designed to start children with visual impairments and their families on the path to literacy. By encouraging shared experiences between families and children, it offers ways to expose the child with visual impairments – with or without additional disabilities – to essential early literacy skills.

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