Whenever you are creating content for mass consumption (be it students, co-workers, or the Web), you should consider the accessibility of what you are creating. For example, if your content has audio, have you created a transcript or captions so that deaf people can access it? If your content has important visual information, have you formatted this information in a way that is compatible with the assistive technology used by people who are blind or have low vision?

Microsoft Office files are the predominant document types handled by individuals in both academia and the corporate world. Files with .doc/docx, .ppt/pptx, and .xls/xlsx are a proprietary format, so how can you guarantee the accessibility of these files when sharing with others? As it turns out, the newest versions of Office are accessibility-friendly, allowing you to create accessible content. Furthermore, these versions even have an evaluation feature that will go through your document, checking it for inaccessible elements.

The Microsoft Office Blog recently published a post about creating accessible PowerPoint presentations. This post– which goes over understanding accessibility, creating accessible presentations, and sharing accessible presentations–can get you up to speed on creating accessible presentations in no time. But what about Word or Excel documents?

Microsoft Office 2010 for Windows includes a great feature called the Accessibility Checker that will scan your Office documents for inaccessible items. (Unfortunately, this feature isn’t available in Office 2011 for Mac, but Office 2011 for the Mac does tie in to the accessibility features built into Mac OS X, including VoiceOver.) To use the Accessibility Checker in Office 2010 for Windows, do the following:

1. Click File > Info > Prepare for Sharing
2. Next, click on the Check for Issue button, and then click Check Accessibility
3. The Accessibility Checker task pane will appear in your document, alerting you to any accessibility errors in the document.
4. Clicking on a specific issue in this task pane will show you the reasoning behind the error in the “Additional Information” section

Fixing the errors that appear in the Accessibility Checker will ensure that your document is at least a little more accessible than before.

To learn more about the accessibility features of Microsoft Office, check out the post by the Crabby Office Lady on Creating Documents for All Audiences.

What about you? Do you use Microsoft Office to create documents for sharing, or do you rely on another format like PDF? How do you ensure that your documents are accessible? Tell us in the comments below.

[Post image is by veeliam on Flickr and is licensed under Creative Commons]

This post initially appeared on ProfHacker.

Material needed:

1. A blank photo album or scrap book. A small size is easier for a child to use. These can be purchased at many places such as Michael’s, Wal-Mart, Target, and some drug stores.
2. Decorate and personalize the cover of the book to fit the event.
3. Select objects and/or items that are meaningful to the purpose of the book. When possible, let the child help decide what materials will be used.
4. Use strong glue (Elmer’s or for heavier things even Super Glue) or a glue gun to attach the items.
5. Braille or print text is also usually added.

The most important item to remember about making experience books is to have fun!

Amber’s Christmas Book

Meet Amber. She is an 11 year old young lady with a contagious smile and laugh. She was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and cortical visual impairment.

Meet Susan Blackmon. Susan is married, has 3 daughters and one on the way! She earned an undergraduate degree from Winthrop University and a Master’s degree from Francis Marion University. She has been a Special Education Teacher for 14 years in Lancaster, SC and is currently providing homebound instruction for Amber.

This is Amber and her Mom, Angie. Angie has 2 children, a son, Grant, and Amber. Angie is continuing her education and will graduate with a degree as a Physical Therapy Assistant. She would like to work with children who have special needs and their families.

Amber, Angie, Susan and I collaborated to make this tactile experience book.

Amber is non-ambulatory and does not have independent arm extension. It was difficult to hold her while assisting her in touching the Christmas tree, lights, ornaments and presents. So, this book was a collaboration of thoughts in order to bring “Christmas” to Amber’s lap.

1. The cover of Amber’s book.

2. The garland is to represent the wreath and Christmas tree in Amber’s home.

3. Amber enjoys the sound of bells ringing so bells were a must for the book. She jingled the bells, with assistance, to the song Jingle Bells or just to make all of us smile.

4. During the winter, Amber wears flannel pajamas so we glued a piece of flannel material to the page to remind Amber of being cozy and warm.

5. This page is full of puffy cotton filling to remind Amber of all the snow we had.

6. These are extra light bulbs from a string of lights. Amber enjoyed locating and fixating on a small string of lights bunched up into a small ball and held in front of her. She enjoyed touching them with assistance. When she touched these bulbs the first time, she looked around as if asking “where are the colors”?

7. Amber enjoys the cool smooth feel of ribbon being pulled across her hands.

8. To have Amber experience the different shapes of “snowflakes” we added the foam snowflakes to her book.

9. Amber loves the sound of crinkling paper. We added this page of tissue paper so she can reach out with assistance and “crinkle” anytime.

10. A cardboard “present” and “ribbon” covered in glitter was a tactile treat to Amber’s fingertips. The red “present” and gold “ribbon” attracted her visual attention as those are her preferred colors due to her cortical visual impairment.

11. A cardboard “stocking” with different colored glitter was selected so that Amber can distinguish between the top of the stocking, the heel and the toe of the stocking.

12. Next is a cardboard cross covered in silver glitter. It is in her book to remind Amber about going to church. The silver glitter reflected the multi-colored lights and attracted her visual attention.

13. The final page is a bow with multi colored curly ribbon and small bells in it. As Amber is assisted in feeling it, the little bells ring softly.

The activities were set up in the school gym, and students experienced the ways in which different vision impairments would affect their ability to carry out daily activities. At each activity station, staff provided students with blindfolds or simulators representing different eye conditions.

Activities/Stations

Here’s an overview of the stations and a list of supplies for each activity:

Spread the Word (Simple cooking)

• Description: While wearing a blindfold or simulators, practice spreading peanut butter on crackers.
• Supplies: Blindfolds, simulators, paper plates, small containers of peanut butter, saltine crackers, plastic knives, disinfecting wipes, paper towels, box of Kleenex.

What is the Flavor? (Taste test)

• Description: Taste two kinds of cereal and identify if fruit flavor or chocolate flavor when blindfolded or with simulators on.
• Supplies: Blindfolds, simulators, paper plates, 5 Cocoa Puffs and 5 Fruit Loops per plate, box of Kleenex, disinfecting wipes.

Name that Sound

• Description: Identify various sounds in one’s environment by listening to sounds on a CD or cassette player.
• Supplies: A multi-jack CD/cassette player, 3 or 4 headsets, tape of different sounds.

Name that Smell

• Description: Place a small amount of a scent on a cotton ball for each child to smell. Then ask the child to identify scents of different foods from the kitchen.
• Supplies: Blindfolds, simulators, cotton balls, paper plates, box of Kleenex, disinfecting wipes, and medicine bottles with different scents such as peppermint candy, cinnamon, black pepper, taco seasoning, lemon, vanilla, cocoa, parmesan cheese, peanut butter, coffee, chicken bouillon, and coconut.

Creative Caning—Decorate Canes

• Description: Give each student the opportunity to decorate their own cane, dowel rod or a gently used cane provided by the Orientation &Mobility department.
• Supplies: Different size canes, variety of craft items for decorating including: pipe cleaners, stickers, material, colorful cotton, colorful rubber bands, colorful yarn, holiday garland, glue stick, disinfecting wipes, Kleenex.

Let’s Play

Give the students the opportunity to play different tactile games. They can compete with their friends at a table game or a tossing game using blindfolds or simulators. Below is a list of the different games with descriptions as well as a list of needed supplies.

Tic Tac Toe

• Description: Place a wooden Tic Tac Toe box on the table for 2 children to play. Explain how to play the game. Then place a blindfold or simulator on the children, and help them identify the two different shapes they will be using.
• Supplies: Blindfolds, simulators, APH tactile Tic Tac Toe box, Kleenex.

Dominoes

• Description: Place the dominoes on the table for 2 children and explain how to play the game. Don’t forget to demonstrate how to connect a domino to another domino. Then place a blindfold or simulator on the students and help them identify the markings on the dominoes they have.
• Supplies: Blindfolds, simulators, APH tactile blocks for dominoes, Kleenex.

Ring Toss

• Description: Place 2 tall plastic cones approximately 1-2 feet away from each other. Have the student stand on a mark 2-3 feet away from the cones depending on the age of the child. Walk the child towards the cones while counting the steps and explain they will need to toss the ring onto the cone that has a timer ticking beside it. Blindfold or place the simulator on the child and tell them to toss the ring towards the cone that has the timer ticking nearby.
• Supplies: Blindfolds, simulators, 4 colorful rings, tall cones, cooking timer, Kleenex, disinfecting wipes.

Feely Box

• Description: Give the student an opportunity to match real objects while blindfolded using tactile cues. Hand the student an object and tell them to find the same object hidden in the Feely Box full of packing peanuts and other objects with similar shapes. Give each student three trials at the game. Change the size and detail of the objects according to their age. It is helpful to use familiar objects.
• Supplies: Blindfolds, box with one opening, packing peanuts, variety of small toys (2 of each toy) such small cars, McDonald’s Happy Meal toys, dolls, key rings, coins, old cell phones, spoon or fork, different size balls, CD, cassette tape, small cup, disinfectant wipes, Kleenex.

Fun with Braille

• Description: Give the student the opportunity to identify the alphabet in braille and to use a braillewriter to write their name. Have a braille alphabet card on the table for the students to review and with the staff’s assistance, braille their name onto an index card.
• Supplies: Three (3) braillewriters, index cards, pencils, alphabet braille card.

Yes, We Cane—-Basic Sighted Guide, Cane Skills

• Description: Give the students the opportunity to travel through an obstacle course set up by the mobility instructors. Set up cones at the back of the gym, so that they can be spread out. Explain to the student what they will be expected to do blindfolded and how to use a cane to help guide them through the obstacle course. Have an orientation and mobility instructor work with one student at a time.
• Supplies: Blindfolds, different size canes, large cones, box of Kleenex, disinfecting wipes.

Deaf-Blind Project

• Description: Give the students the opportunity to experience what it would be like to be deaf and blind and how a teacher would help them learn. The Deaf-Blind Project staff members first show the student a picture of a common object. Then they blindfold the students and then sign the name of the picture into their hand. They may give the student a real object to feel if they are blind and sign the name of the object into their hand.
• Supplies: A variety of pictures of household items, variety of real objects, blindfolds, box of Kleenex.

Information Table

• Description: At this station provide a variety of materials and handouts for the students and staff to take. There could be posters of individuals who are visually impaired working in a variety of jobs or enjoying a variety of recreation/leisure activities. You might also include posters of famous blind musicians, artists, politicians, athletes, people in history, etc. You could also have items to give the students such as pencils or items donated by companies and organizations that serve individuals who are visually impaired.
• Supplies: 2 easels for posters, handouts with tips of what to do when you a person who is blind, bookmarks, pencils, pamphlets from organizations that serve individuals who are visually impaired, alphabet braille cards from the National Federation of the Blind or American Printing House for the Blind.

Set Up

• Have a podium set up for the speaker(s)
• Set up tables and chairs around the gym so there is enough space for each table to have groups of 4 to 6 students actively involved.
• Each table gets a tablecloth. It is helpful to alternate contrasting colors. For White Cane Day, we used red and white tablecloths.
• Each table has a sign with the name of the activity either on an easel, taped to the bleacher behind the table or on a pole next to the table.
• Have red and white balloons (or other brightly colored balloons) at each station.
• Have at least 2 staff members or volunteers at each station.
• Have a crate or box with the supplies needed for each station set up by its table, so the persons in charge of the activity will have everything they need including the directions.
• Have trash cans set up by the food station and others strategically placed between tables using disinfecting wipes and glue.
• Keep a box of extra supplies on hand. Suggested supplies include: scissors, tape, glue, blindfolds, simulators, Kleenex, disinfecting wipes, paper towels, a first aid kit and a list of important phone numbers.

Tentative Schedule

8:00-9:00

• Set up gym

9:00-10:00

• The first group arrives.
• Describe the different tables and activities
• The students rotate around the gym to the different tables.

10:00-11:00

• The second group arrives.
• Describe the different tables and activities
• The students rotate around the gym to the different tables.

11:00-12:00

• The third group arrives.
• Describe the different tables and activities
• The students rotate around the gym to the different tables.

12:00

• Clean up the Gym

Books for Early Readers

Books for Intermediate Readers

[Creative Commons-licensed flickr photo by Karoly Czifra]

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.

1. 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.
2. 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.”
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Talk about connectors so that the child does not put their letters on top of one another.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. Once you feel that the student is ready, move them to a signature guide.
9. 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.

Dyslexia is a series of neurological issues that exist strictly within the brain of the individual who has it. What exactly causes dyslexia is unknown, but there are many theories at work that describe possible causes for the disorder. Part of what makes dyslexia so hard to understand is that the human brain is not designed to read in the first place.

A Little Understanding of Dyslexia

If dyslexia is not backwards reading, then what is it? Current theories claim that dyslexia actually affects the phonological language centers of the brain. “Phonological” means the sound based part of language. This is where the letter “b” makes the “buh” sound. Language is based on phonological constructs that we call phonemes. These are the building blocks of words, which make up our sentences and conversations. The brain of a person with dyslexia has a timing issue with connecting sounds to meanings. This does not cause a major impact on normal daily activities, like conversation, unless really fast speeds are needed. A person with dyslexia may respond just a little slower to their name being called or may speak a little slower, but it is not something dramatic, we would just brush it off as a personality quirk. Reading requires much faster connections to be made. Sometimes this means that the connection isn’t made, sort of like a web page timing out, or the connection comes, but it is really slow.

Reading is accomplished by taking in a phonemic “image,” whether by sight or by touch, and sending it to the brain for decoding and meaning retrieval. Very early in life we are taught to connect sounds to physical objects, remember the See ‘N Say? The brain then pairs the visual or tactual image with a phonological, or sound, tag then moves on to pulling out the meaning as it normally would for the sound. Our brains are set up for language and generally connect sounds to meaning. Dyslexia is a problem with connecting this phonological tag to the meaning and when a word image is added, it causes greater slowdown in the retrieval. There is often even a misconnect with the image and its sound. This is why classic images of dyslexics transpose “b” and “d” or “p” and “q” when reading and writing.

While dyslexia is also not one of those things that can be nailed down to a single cause, all current theories of dyslexia agree on the phonological issues. The reason that dyslexia is so hard to pin down and so difficult to understand is that there is no “reading center” in our brains. We were never designed to read.

The Brain that Reads

In another article on this very site, we discuss the changes that reading braille makes within the human brain, especially within those who are blind. Well, it’s not just the blind that restructure their brains by learning to read, we all do it. In two very good books, Stanlislas Dehaene and Maryanne Wolf discuss just what learning to read does to our brains. In these books, which give similar messages in different levels of detail, it’s talked about extensively how simply learning to read alters the pathways within our brains. Wolf says that we’ve altered our brains to accept reading and Dehaene believes that we’ve created a system of reading and writing that follows the path of least resistance to minimize the changes. Over the course of centuries, reading and writing systems have changed to an alphabetic system in the western cultures that require phonemes and such, as we covered earlier.

Some Differences in Reading in Eastern Cultures

Not only is there not a centralized “reading center” in our brains, but symbol oriented writing styles, such as Chinese or Japanese, use a different part of the brain. That’s right, Japanese kanji uses different pieces of the brain for the sound/image connections to meaning. The symbols of those writing systems often contain the meaning of entire words or phrases in a phonetic system. That means that one symbol could mean “way of the warrior.” These Asian writing systems are read with a different part of the brain, but they are still susceptible to many of the reading disorders that affect our phonetic alphabet, including dyslexia. Forms of dyslexia can affect the regions of the brain that make the lexical connection between symbol and meaning, causing the same types of slowdowns and misreads that occur with words and letters.

Dyslexia and Braille

Now that we have a pretty grasp on what dyslexia is and isn’t let’s talk about how it affects braille readers. Braille is reading. That’s a fact. Many sighted teachers of braille read it visually, and individuals who are blind read braille with their fingers. “But wait,” you say, “doesn’t the touch take a different path in the brain than the eyes?” Yes, but that’s like taking the interstate to your mother’s house. Follow this example:  You and a friend are meeting in a town that is halfway between where you both live. You both take different highways to get there and approach your destination from different directions, but the last road is the same. Now, it turns out the city is doing roadwork at the intersection of the street that you both turn on to, slowing down all the traffic. It doesn’t matter how you got there, the construction still slows you both down. That roadwork is dyslexia.

Braille travels the neural network from the fingertips up to the brain and registers there for the word image to meaning connection that takes place in all reading. In the case of a braille reader with dyslexia, that image information could lag, get misconnected, or get turned around, just like with a sighted reader. The brain doesn’t really differentiate between a printed word that is seen and a braille word that is touched.

How Do We Know if it is Dyslexia?

If a student has, and by student I mean anyone learning to read either print or braille, a good, intellectually supportive home environment or no other obvious signs of mental impairment, dyslexia may be the cause of reading difficulties. According to Veispak, students learning braille have more work in learning to read than sighted students. Generally, they forge better phonological connections than sighted students do. Studies have also shown that braille readers are often slightly behind their sighted counterparts in reading tests. If you suspect your student is having trouble reading, the school has tests they can administer to see if dyslexia may be the problem.

If you or your student is diagnosed with dyslexia work closely with the special education team within your school or school district and emphasize the new work being done to bridge the gap between teaching students with dyslexia and teaching braille. The most important thing for our parents, teachers, and independent adults to remember is that this is a brand new frontier. Let’s all work together to find new and innovative ways to teach and learn.

For an annotated bibliography of the work cited, click here.

“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

• Social Skills – Many games aren’t played alone; rather they are played with others. Since it is not uncommon for a child with a visual impairment to have challenges developing social skills, games are a natural and fun way to help your child learn to interact with others.
• Recreational Skills – Well adjusted adults have hobbies and interests that form the basis of their recreational time. Many of these interests were developed in childhood so it’s never too early to lay the foundation for your child’s recreational enjoyment in adulthood.
• Academic Skills – Learning to read, write, and do math are the basics of academic success. Many games can help your child build these important academic skills.

Below are a variety of ideas for exposing your child to games. You can take many of our ideas and adapt them easily based on your child’s interest or age. For example, a simple word game which children as young as 7 or 8 can play involves taking a word such as “summer” and seeing how many smaller words one can make from it. From the word “summer” you can make words such as “me,” “sum,” “us,” and “muse.” If your child enjoys basketball you might have her see how many smaller words she can make from “basketball” or from the letters in the name of her favorite player or team.

Word Games on the Go

Adding Braille and Textures to Games

Where to Get Games That are Already Adapted

Word Search Puzzles

Word Games on the Go

These word games don’t involve anything other than your brain! Give them a try the next time you and your child are traveling somewhere and he says, “I’m bored!”

Rhyming – Take a word such as “hammer” and see how many words your child can come up with that rhyme with this word. If your child enjoys competition have him compete against a sibling or friend or set a timer and see how many words he can come up with in 3 minutes. You can have your child braille the words he comes up with. Here are some examples of words and some of their rhymes.

• “Hand” has words that rhyme with it including stand, sand, land, band, and brand.
• “Cat” rhymes with pat, sat, mat, and fat.
• “Fog” rhymes with log, bog, dog, and hog.
• “Snappy” rhymes with happy, pappy, and nappy.
• “Wig” rhymes with pig, big, twig, fig, and gig.

It Sounds Like – A fun word game is to have your child say a word such as “elephant” and then take the last sound of the word /t/ in this case and have the next person come up with a word starting with /t/ such as “turtle.” The next person would need to come up with a word starting with /l/. You can do words with a theme such as animals as demonstrated here, or you can make it free flowing. Players can write their words down using braille or play orally.

I’m Going on a Picnic – This age old game is never old. As you move through the alphabet another word is added. The first person has “A” and might say, “I’m going on a picnic and I’m bringing applesauce.” The second person has to add a word starting with the letter “B” and the third person adds something starting with the letter “C.” So the third person might say, “I’m going on a picnic and I’m bringing applesauce, bracelets, and cotton balls.” Your child can braille out the list of what is being taken on the picnic.

Story Starters – Telling a story is always fun, especially if it is a ghost story or one that involves travel in outer space or another such fun topic. Each person adds more to the story as it is told. Depending on the creativity of the group, you can end up with quite the tall tale! Here are a couple of story starters to get your child started.

• It was a dark, cold night as Martin Morrison walked down the street. He wanted to get warm so he opened the door to Nick’s Coffee Shop and inside he found….
• Pam fell asleep in her bed after her dad read her a bedtime story. The next thing she knew her bed was floating out the window of her bedroom. She wasn’t scared but instead sat up and watched as she sailed over the treetops of her town. Then she saw her best friend Christopher floating on his bed. The two of them….
• The Lopez family was on their way home from a night out having pizza and a movie. Dad was driving the car down a dirt road when suddenly a bright light was all around them. As Dad, Mom, Bryan and Chad watch a space ship landed on the road in front of them.

How Many Words Can You Come Up With? – You or your child can prepare cards that have themes on them such as “Girls’ names that start with K,” “Foods that are green in color,” “Items that come in boxes,” or “Things found in the ocean.” Individually or in small groups a card is selected and in a specified period of time people write down in print or braille all the words they can think of that meet the criteria.

These five games are just the tip of the iceberg. Think back to your own childhood and you just might remember some games you enjoyed that you can play with your own child.

Adding Braille and Textures to Games

There are many commercially available games in the stores that can easily be adapted for a child who is blind. You can do this by adding braille where print is found on the game. We’ve given you directions to braille playing cards. You can use the same idea to add braille to other cards such as those in UNO or Old Maid.

Game boards can be adapted by adding braille where needed and textures. Here’s a Candy Land Board. How might you adapt this if your child does not see color?

First you need to look at what is important for playing the game. Your child would need to see the outline of the “path” and that it is made up of four colors (green, orange, blue, and red). The other pictures on the board of the candy don’t have a function in the game, rather they are there as decoration.

You’ll want your child to be able to see the path and to know the different colors. You might outline the path with puff paint (used on t-shirts and found in the craft store) or yarn soaked in glue. Then for each color you’ll need a different texture. Perhaps for the red you’ll use felt, for the blue foam, for the green burlap, and for the orange cardstock. It’s important that the textures you use are ones your child is comfortable touching. You don’t need to cover the entire square; rather you can use a small piece of the texture.

With this game there are playing cards that have the various colors on them. You’ll need to add the appropriate texture to each card. When board games have cards they are generally stacked on the board in some location. You might want to provide a container for the cards so your child can easily find them. You even might want to provide a second container for the “discard” pile. If you use two containers make sure they feel different enough or are positioned far enough apart that your child will be able to know which container is which.

If all the game pieces feel the same (e.g., plastic pieces that are only distinguishable by color) you’ll need to find a away to make the game pieces easy to distinguish by touch. You could add a texture to each of the plastic pieces or replace them with other things (e.g., a small car for one player, a dice for another, a thimble for a third). Be sure the replacement pieces are small enough to fit on the parts of the board where players set their pieces.

Your child, brothers or sisters, or friends might enjoy helping you adapt games. When appropriate, get your child’s input on how he or she would like the game to be set up.

Where to Get Games that are Already Adapted

You’re busy, you’re not “artsy,” or you just don’t want to take the time to figure out how to adapt a game so your child who is a braille reader can play it. Not a problem as others have done the work for you! First let us mention that sometimes trying to figure out what to buy for your child is a challenge. The American Foundation for the Blind www.afb.org has assembled a Toy Guide http://www.familyconnect.org/parentsitehome.asp?SectionID=83 where they make recommendations about toys that are appropriate for children who are visually impaired.

There are several companies that have braille books for sale. Two of these are

• Seedlings Braille Books for Children http://www.seedlings.org/ produce print-braille books for young children up to high school age children. There books are priced similarly to print books.
• National Braille Press http://www.nbp.org/ also produces print-braille books for children of all ages. They have a braille book reading club.

Commercial games such as Monopoly, dominos, chess, and UNO can be bought at companies such as the ones below. Some of these companies have developed their own games.

• American Printing House for the Blind www.aph.org has created several games for visually impaired children. Your child’s teacher of students with visual impairments may be able to loan you games from APH, so check with him or her before making a purchase.
• LS&S http://www.lssproducts.com/ not only has games but many other products for people with visual impairments.
• Maxi Aids http://www.maxiaids.com/ also has more than just games for people with visual impairments.
• Exceptional Teaching Aids http://exceptionalteaching.net has games and toys that have been adapted for children with visual impairments. They also have a lot of educational materials that may be helpful to your child in school.

This list is just a beginning. If you find a good source for purchasing games or toys for your child share it with us. You can leave a comment below this article and share your ideas with everyone.

Word Search Puzzles

Many children enjoy doing word search puzzles. Finding these in braille might not always be easy so here’s an idea on how you and your child can make your own word search puzzles.

You’ll need

• a metal cookie sheet
• 8.5 x 11 sheets of braille labels (You can buy these from American Thermoform < http://www.americanthermoform.com> or use heavy contact paper.)
• a sheet that is magnetic (You can find this in a craft store or a sign shop.)
• Wikki Sticks™ (These can be bought from a craft store or Exceptional Teaching Aids <http://exceptionalteaching.net>.)
• Braille graph paper (Ask your child’s teacher for some braille graph paper or purchase it from the American Printing House for the Blind http://www.aph.org).

Here’s how you prepare:

• You or your child can use the Perkins brailler to put letters on the braille labels sheet. Braille a letter, then space 2 times and braille the next. Double space between lines.
• Cut your magnetic sheet into 1 inch squares. Cut the edge of a corner so that your child will be able to orient the playing piece.

• Write a letter on each square. See the table below to know how many of each letter to make.
• Cut out the letters, placing one letter on each square. Be sure the letter is placed correctly so that your child can orient the playing piece by the notched out corner. This playing piece shows the letter “k.” If the print “k” is also included on the piece then your child and others can use the same pieces to play together.

The following list specifies how many letters to make:

Tape the piece of braille graph paper to the cookie sheet.

Time to play:

• Get a book of word search puzzles from the library or bookstore. You can also find these on the internet.
  • Super Kids http://www.superkids.com/aweb/tools/words/search/
  • Puzzle-Club.com http://www.puzzle-club.com/
  • ABC Teach http://abcteach.com/
• Set up on the cookie sheet the word search puzzle using the magnetic letters. Put one letter in each square of the graph paper. A friend or brother or sister might enjoy doing this for your child.
• Have your child use Wikki Sticks to cover the letters of the words in the word search puzzle or words he finds on his own. You can read him the words in the puzzle or have him braille these out before beginning the puzzle.

Your child might enjoy making up a puzzle and seeing how many words he can find in it or how many words a brother, sister or friend can find.

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:

1. Start by introducing the idea of rough. Show your student all of the rough items in your bag.
2. For each item talk about how it feels bumpy and scratchy. Use lots of descriptive words.
3. After showing the student rough, introduce smooth.
4. 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.
5. 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:

1. Start by introducing the idea of hard. Show your student all of the hard items you can think of.
2. 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.
3. After showing the student hard, introduce soft.
4. 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.
5. 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:

1. Start by introducing the idea of big. Show your student all the big items you can think of.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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:

1. 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.
2. Give the student a sample item of both paper and metal. Talk about the differences between how they feel.
3. Ask the student to reach into the bag and pull out an object. Have them identify the object as either paper or metal.
4. Although you may have 50 items in your bag, start with having the student identify 10 to 15 items at a time.
5. 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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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 ….
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Begin to change your language from “Not the same” to “Different.”
7. 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.
8. 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

1. 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.
2. Use objects and talk about the characteristics and attributes of each objects. Say these are the same because they are both …
3. The only good way to teach this idea is to go over the concept everyday.

Commercially Available Programs for Developing Pre-Braille Skills

Kitchen

• Independent exploration:
  • Create a cupboard that has safe items for child to explore: plastic bowls, wooden spoons, plastic measuring spoons, and plastic measuring cups.
• Sink play: Help child explore the wonders of water by
  • Playing in the sink,
  • Modeling pouring water from a cup to another item,
  • Making bubbles with dishsoap,
  • Modeling how to wash dishes,
  • Using food coloring to make the water different colors,
  • Using different temperatures of water to talk about hot and cold, and
  • Using ice cubes to teach the concept of melting.
• Basic cooking:
  • Use picture symbol recipe cards (can be in braille);
  • Develop “kitchen” vocabulary: stir, pour, whip, add, and ingredients;
  • Let child assist in simple cooking activities; and
  • Give them their own set of play kitchen items for pretend play.
• Laundry:
  • Let children sort and fold laundry according to such elements as color, size, towels vs. clothes;
  • Let child put clothes in washer and dryer;
  • Put clothes away or put clothes in the room of the person they belong to.
• Sensory experiences:
  • Put pudding and other foods in Ziploc bags and containers and let them squeeze, squish, and shake.
• Stack rolls of paper towels.
• Use a child’s broom and have child help sweep the kitchen floor.

• Have the child assist in taking off shirt, pants, shoes, and socks.
• Water play:
  • In the bathtub, pour water into containers with diferent sizes and shapes;
  • Move hand or legs slow or fast; and
  • Use bubbles and various toys and allow for supervised, independent play.
• Body awareness:
  • Use a washcloth to learn body parts though such instructions as, “Put the washcloth on your knee.”
  • Use bathtub body paints to learn body parts or colors through such instructions as, “Put a blue dot on your hand.”
• Mirror exploration:
  • Have the child copy facial expressions;
  • Talk about the meaning and expression of such emotions as happy, sad, mad, or surprised.

• Take out and clean up toys. Use pictures or tactile labels of toys on shelves, on cupboards, or wherever the toys go.
• Interactive play with members of the family. Roll a ball, read a story, play a game, sing songs, repeat nursery rhymes, finger play, explore and interact with toys, share, take turns, and have a conversation.
• Put different sized, different colored items on the floor and supervise as the child searches for and picks up items and places them into a small container.
• String items of different sizes onto a string or use snap beads to create a necklace.
• Let the child color in a coloring book. If you don’t want to use crayons, you can use colored pencils or scented markers.
• Have the child turn the pages of a book one page at a time. You could use board books for infants and other books for toddlers.
• Use a small box or container and let the child push small trucks or cars into the “garage.”
• Ask the child to find parts of pictures and find them in a book.
• Make a book of pictures of friends and relatives and talk about and point to people in the pictures. Ask the child questions about the pictures. For example, “Find grandma” or “Who is sitting on the bike?”
• Make story boxes or bags for hands on literacy experiences. Find items that relate to the story. For example, for the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar use a plastic Easter egg, toy food items and silk plant leaf. Model play with the items as the story is read.
• Create and use books with textures, sounds, scratch and sniff and flaps that cover parts of pictures.

• Explore outdoor textures: sand, grass, tree bark, flowers, and leaves. Use words like soft, rough, smooth, or bumpy.
• Explore outdoor auditory experiences: birds, insects, flies, bees, cars, trucks, dogs, and sprinklers. Ask the child, “What do you hear?” Then have the child point in the direction of the sound.
• Spend time in the sun and shade. Then describe and talk about the weather every day. Use words like hot, shady, wet, or breezy.
• Sand and water play:
  • Pour water or sand into different size and shaped containers.
  • Place a variety of toys in the sand to scoop, sift, and play.
  • Hide items in the water or sand and ask the child to look for them.
• Play with bubbles. Have the child follow them and try to pop them.
• Model sweeping and provide a child-sized broom for child to practice.
• Have child help plant flowers or seeds. Allow them to help with every aspect of care including watering, weeding, and picking.

Community

• Talk, talk, and talk. Describe every part of the experience. For example, “We are going into the fruit section. It smells good.”
• Before putting an item in the cart, hand it to the child and describe it and tell them to feel or smell it. If it’s several items, let them put the items into the produce bag.
• Develop position skills by saying “right, left, up, down, over, aisle, top, bottom, or row.”
• When checking out, let child help put items on the belt.
• When paying, talk about money and the cash register.

• Supervise while the child explores independently.
• Model and practice gross motor skills such as running, jumping, and climbing
• If other children are playing, foster interaction and social exchanges.
• Help the child develop awareness of their self in space. Describe the experiences. For example, we are climbing up the slide and now we are going down. When we swing, we go back and forth.
• Let the child get on and off equipment independently, monitoring closely for safety.
• Walk over different types of surfaces such as grass, pavement, wood chips, or curbs, Describe the changes in the surfaces.
• Pick items such as flowers, acorns, and leaves so the child learns where items on the ground come from.

• Attend story time at the library to develop listening skills as well social interaction with other children.
• Ask the library if they have a section for large print, tactile and/or braille books for children. If not, ask them if you could have a small section to put some items so when the child comes, there are accessible books for the child to check out.
• Check out audio books and practice listening skills and page turning.
• Record your child’s favorite books.