Since our family is in the process of adopting a child with a visual impairment, I have gone on the hunt for teaching tools. Although she has some usable vision, I’m pretty committed to teaching braille, not just print. Too many blind adults lament their own lack of braille skills.
The selection of braille teaching resources, as I expected, is abysmal and expensive. No wonder teachers don’t want to tackle it unless they absolutely have to. So I figured it was time to get creative. What I can’t find I can make.
To make this set of letter tiles, I used puff fabric paint. I used my slate and a pencil to draw the letter so it’s the right size and will be even. Then I carefully drew each dot with a dab of fabric paint. When it dries, it’s smooth and even and quite durable.
After making this braille scrabble board years ago, however, I learned a few things. The most obvious is that braille letters are different if you turn them upside-down.
So the new set features a little tactile line on the bottom of the tile for easy orientation.
March 31, 2011 at 5:57 pm |
These Braille letters are so cute! You’re going to be one great mama and I am so glad you are on the Braille Bandwagon. Thanks for sharing this!
May 30, 2011 at 5:46 pm |
This is so awesome! Such a great way to reinforce braille and as you say … I am one adult who wishes she would of gotten on it a lot sooner … better late than never I suppose. Have a great day.
June 10, 2011 at 7:27 pm |
You are one crafty lady. But did you know there are factory-made braille boardgames? I think they mark the tiles so you can tell which way is up… But they are a lot more expensive than the original print versions.
This site has some nice, relatively inexpensive wooden tactile games. Check it out:
http:// braillebookstore. com/view. php?C=Board+Games
(I’ve put spaces inside the URL just in case wordpress considers links to be spam.)
Also, I’m not sure how old your (soon-to-be-) child is, but you may find these suggestions helpful. How to make tactile books, inexpensively.
http:// www. afb. org/Section. asp?SectionID=6&TopicID=97&DocumentID=1258
Oh my goodness, a billion links about teaching/learning braille:
http:// www. tsbvi. edu/braille-materials
July 4, 2011 at 11:11 am |
When I was a student at the Orientation Center for the Blind in Albany, CA our living skills instructor had 2″ x 1″ rectangular wooden, single-cell slates we used to place words on our graduation sweat shirts with puff paint. I imagine someone skilled with wood working machinery can make these simple slates for next to nothing.
I like the Scrabble tile idea.