Introduction
In earlier days at the school for the blind in Paris, during
1819, the blind students learned through tangible writing system using dots,
which was invented in 1819 by Capt. Charles Barbier, a French army
officer. Then, Braille was first developed about
1820 by a young Frenchman named Louis Braille.
It took more than a century to accept Braille as an excellent way
for the visually impaired to read and write. Even today many people
underestimate the usefulness of Braille. Though, the CDs and other recorded
synthesized speech materials are enjoyable, But, Braille is vital for note
taking and helpful for educating math, spelling, and foreign languages.
The skilled Braille readers can read Braille as like print readers
ie. 200 to 400 words per minute. But the only limitation of the Braille is
there is no availability of enough Braille materials.
The teacher of visually impaired needs
to understand the importance of Braille
writers which will help the students to learn reading and writing in Braille.
Knowing this, teachers face many questions: At what age does Braille reading
and writing can begin? What are all the prerequisites need to learn
effectively? How can I, as the teacher
of visually impaired, help the students to develop speedy reading and writing
in Braille? etc. The following session
will give us an answer to these questions.
Braille Writer
Main
aims and Objectives of teaching Braille to
the visually Impaired Children were given below:
The
student will understand,
a. Identify
the parts of the Braille machine
b. identify
dot positions on Braille machine
c. to
get oriented in reading and writing
d. to
insert paper into Braille machine
e. help
to punch the Braille letters in Braille
machine
f. assist
to help to skip spaces(s) on Braille
machine
g. Assist
to write Braille words/phrases/sentences
on the Braille machine to the first four lines
h. Helped
to reread what was written and make corrections
i.
Practicing to use Braille
machine to take notes in the classroom.
Pedagogy
in learning Braille:
- Tactual
Discrimination--The ability to
discriminate discrete tactual differences is essential to become efficient
in braille reading. Don’t try to teach the dot numbers. Help them to learn
the configuration for the letter it will improve the reading speed.
- Finger
Dexterity--The effective braille reader will have "curious" fingers that
move quickly, with ease. Many readers use all four fingers of each hand.
This speeds up the reading process by allowing the reader a view of a
series of symbols rather than a single cell.
- Hand
and Finger Movement—Teach to use both hands
forefingers to read Braille is a good method. Teach the student to begin
reading a line of braille by placing both hands at the beginning of a
line. At the middle of the line, the right hand continues to read till the
end of the line, whereas the left hand moves to the opposite direction to
locate the beginning of the next line. The right hand finishes reading the
first line, the left hand then reads the first words on the next line, and
the right hand quickly joins the left hand on the second line.
- Light
Finger Touch—at the beginning students
may have a heavy touch; but, to be good two hand readers one must learn a
light touch. It can be learn through various prerequisite activities ie.
Paste a thread in a straight line and ask the child to slide their fingers
across the thread without moving paper. And the similar activities will
improve the child’s practice and
attention to the task. As well as the child will learn to move his hands
smoothly from left to right without stopping.
- Page
Turning--The student should be instructed to turn the
page quickly with the right hand when the left hand cannot find another
line.
Make It Fun
1. Emphasize enjoying braille
and having fun with it. There is an
expression that “play is the work of children.” It’s important for young
children with visual impairments to enjoy reading and writing braille, rather
than regarding it as an arduous task that is to be resisted. Adults can
make braille fun by incorporating children’s ideas in what they read and write,
in keeping sessions short, and in modeling their own pleasure in braille
literacy
2. Give children the
opportunity to playfully explore reading and writing. Let
them pretend to read as they move their fingers across pages, even if they have
no idea what the letters and words say. And let them form patterns and
pretend to write before you ask them to produce conventional braille
characters. This might involve children simply pressing any keys until
they reach the end of a line and the bell rings, or creating an
up-hill-down-hill pattern by pressing dots 3 then 2 then 1 then 4 then 5 then
6, or making a simple tactile-graphic by alternating dots 1-2-4-5 with dots
2-3-5-6
3. At
the beginning of the curriculum, enthusiastically
accept approximations, or
all attempts to read and produce braille. Then gradually guide children
to use correct posture and hand formation, to read real letters, to decode real
words, and to produce Braille which is increasingly closer to conventional
braille. A component of incorporating fun into early braille is giving
children the freedom to attempt it without needing to adhere to rules they are
not developmentally ready for. That is, while some children will be
motivated to form correct characters with correct fingering right from the
beginning, others will be easily discouraged if every early attempt is
suppressed because a key is pressed with the wrong finger, or a character is
inverted. As long as correct posture and fingering are expected in a
reasonable amount of time, inefficient posture and movement habits don’t seem
to persist. Given this, a successful practice is to enthusiastically
respond to all early attempts to read and write, even when they are incorrect,
then gradually expect greater and greater accuracy.
Make It Meaningful
1. Let children experience whole
events,
from obtaining books or a braillewriter and paper, using them, then putting
them away. It clearly takes time for a child to walk to a shelf, pick up a
piece of paper and a braillewriter, carry these to his/her desk, load the paper
in the braillewriter, produce his/her work, unload the paper, and pass in the
paper and store the braillewriter back on the shelf. However,
participating in the whole event allows the child to understand the literary
process and develop independent literacy habits. The child doesn't need
to participate in the full process every time he or she writes. However,
it is important for him/her to do this periodically, or at least to participate
in some of the obtaining/putting away steps regularly.
3. Let children witness adults
reading and writing braille.
Fully sighted children regularly see adults as they read books, signs, menus,
instructions, etc., and they see them as they write notes, lists, letters,
etc. In witnessing adults doing literacy, sighted children learn about
literacy tools, literacy techniques, and purposes for literacy. With
these models, they become motivated to do literacy, themselves.
Future braille users need these same models. To accomplish this, even if
adults read braille visually and not by touch, they might open their own
braille books as they are sitting beside children, explicitly labeling what
they are doing.
4. Integrate reading and
writing, so that children continuously
read back what they have written. Braille reading and braille writing are
quite separate processes. First, they are based upon different sensory
systems. Braille reading is tactile and motoric; dots are felt through
the touch receptors in the fingertips as they move across lines. Braille
writing is kinesthetic/proprioceptive and motoric; dots are formed by moving
the fingers to press specific keys, and braille writing is mastered by
memorizing how the joints in the fingers feel as specific keys are
pressed.
5. Approach the mechanics of
braille production and reading within the larger context of Braille literacy.
Give children opportunities to produce braille characters which are meaningful
and functional for them as soon as possible. Children are often motivated
to read and write their own names, and those of friends and family
members.
6.
Make It Developmental
1.
Allow some portions of
lessons to be child-led, that is, let the children have some
choices as to what they write with the braillewriter. This can provide
more functionality and more motivation in braille literacy curricula.
2.
In sequencing both
producing and reading braille characters, build from symmetrical to asymmetrical, from fewer dots to more
dots, and from unique characters that are easily reversed and/or inverted.
3.
Begin by scheduling
short lessons, and expect speed and stamina only at the end of the curriculum. Young children have short attention spans, perhaps especially for
the more structured, seated tasks of braille literacy. Physically,
it takes time to learn to maintain correct reading and writing posture and
hand/finger positioning, to tolerate the sensation of running their fingers
over Braille lines, and to strengthen each finger, especially for pressing the
keys for dots three and six. It also takes time for children to build
up speed in reading writing, especially with the letters with more dots
Conclusion
Without a doubt, technology has become an integral part of
our daily lives, especially for people with disabilities. New devices make it
possible for those of us with physical, visual and other impairments to do
things that were previously impossible. Braille
will always be an important means of reading and writing for people without
sight. Although audio books and screen-reading technology help us have instant
access to print materials, nothing can substitute the confidence and
independence that reading and writing Braille provides. Both Braille and
technology are equally important for people who are blind, and this will always
be true no matter the time period we live in.
References:
·
The Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired offers
courses in braille via correspondence and online education.
·
Burns Braille Guide: A Quick Reference to Unified English
Braille, Second Edition from
the AFB Bookstore
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