We get lots of books as gifts from friends and family that aren't in Braille. According to Tom's teacher, that has to stop. No excuses and fair warning to all friends and family.
It's Braille books only from now on.
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| Reaching out to touch the Braille on his book. |
Because long before any child learns to read they become familiar with words and letters. Children encounter words everywhere and begin to realize that words have meaning. Now imagine you are blind and people are giving you books with text instead of Braille. To Tommy those books are blank. What does that say about reading to a blind child? That's it's magic? Mommy is making stories from the air? How confusing.
So I'm currently re-buying some of Tommy's favorite books in Braille and phasing the non-Braille books out of our reading rotation.
Where do you get Braille Books?
You get them online! Can you get your favorites? Yes, you can! My favorites are Seedlings, Beulah Reimer Legacy, and the National Braille Press.
Yes. Braille items ship Free Matter For The Blind. You can go to a post office and ship a Braille book to someone and it will be free. That means any Braille books you buy online also ship free. The US Postal Service can tell you more about Free Matter For the Blind.
Do you know Braille? How will you read to him?
Books for a child Tom's age are usually Twin Vision books. That means they are regular print books that have clear braille labels stuck to the pages. Tom gets to enjoy his Braille and mom can still read him the story using text. It's the best of both worlds and it allows the books to be enjoyed by sighted siblings and friends too.
Contracted or Uncontracted Braille
That's the big question! I was wondering this too. Uncontracted Braille spells every letter out. Contracted Braille uses contractions to take the place of full words. For example, one Braille symbol takes the place of "the" and it saves space and increases reading speed.
There are studies that say that children who learn using contracted Braille become better readers than children who begin with uncontracted Braille.
I spoke with Tom's teacher and she suggested we buy baby books in uncontracted Braille. So if it's a simple board book then uncontracted is fine. But if you are buying more of a story book, like a Dr. Seuss book, then buy contracted Braille. You will see when you go online to purchase Braille books that only early childhood books are offered in uncontracted Braille. The selection of books quickly moves to all contracted Braille.
Be sure to sign up for free Braille books through these programs. Check my resource page for more!
Free Braille Books
Seedlings offers several programs for free Braille books.
APH/ Dolly Parton's Imagination Library will mail children five free print/Braille books every year until they turn six years old.
American Action Fund for the Blind send a free Braille book monthly from a popular children's series. These books are Braille only - no text, and aimed at elementry aged children.
Want to learn a little more about Braille right now? Check out Braille: Deciphering the Code from the American Foundation for the Blind's Braille Bug program. Tom is in the Braille Bug program. Sign up for that too!
braille is wonderful. for some of he simple pictures books you can get clear braille labels from APH and stick them on the page after they have gone through the perkins brailler. For simple books its pretty easy for the parent to do though some TVI don't mind doing a few books here and there for you. This is great for those books you already have or for those books you can find it in print braille. Tom will get alot from the braille on pages even though he can't read yet. I know a lot of braille readers who learned early.
ReplyDeleteGreat article! You're doing an amazing job at making sure Thomas receives the education he deserves. You may already be aware but I thought I'd suggest http://www.wonderbaby.org; a tremendous resources site for parents of children who are blind or have low vision.
ReplyDeleteThank you for such a wonderful post. I am hoping to find someone that will print the Braille stickers for me to put in some of our favorites too. It makes sense to me instead of buying duplicate books. I think getting rid of all the books my daughter won't be able to read will help with the grieving process. I have mentioned to grandparents that the $ they send for gifts will be spent this way as well. I love how inexpensive the books are at seedlings. Too bad we didn't know her corrected vision was legally blind until after she was 7, making her in eligible for the Dolly Parton program.
ReplyDeleteThat is a good idea! Donating all the non-Braille books will be theraputic. I like it:) That's a shame that she is too old for the Dolly Parton program.
ReplyDeleteDoes she chew books? That's the only reason why we havent signed Tom up for Bookshare to get free Braille library books. He's still too mouthy with his books. I just couldn't let him eat up library books!
I agree. The prices at Seedlings are amazing! You should check out Beulah Reimer Legacy too. They have a great selection and the prices are just as good as seedlings. I always mention Braille books as gift ideas when people ask and I always mention that they ship Free Matter for the Blind. It's an easy gift to give. A book always fits!