Friday, January 21, 2011

Adventures in Braille: A good day

Abby has been STRUGGLING with reading Braille.  She knows most of her letters but when it comes time to feel them she has been struggling a lot. She is having a hard time telling one letter from the next and when its come to feeling the letters her letter recognition was much lower then when she writes them with the Brailler.  It was making her become very unexcited about Braille. I had gotten some braille flash cards with just the letters on them and I first started having her practice with them.. Better It was less stressful but she seemed to loose interest quickly. She still seemed to struggle. A member from an online group of  parents of blind/visually impaired children gave me this amazing idea.

She recommend making a large tackle version of a braille cell with a 6 muffin baking pan and 6 tennis balls.

Now you can take away and add balls to represent different letters. Not only is it really easy for Abby to feel she can see it so she gets the reinforcement two different ways.

So with the flashcards we made up a game.  I would hand her a card.  If she could recognized the letter and recreate it in the pan she would get 3 points. If she didn't know the letter but could recreate it in the pan she would get a point. If she could recognize the letter once I fixed it for her in the pan she would get a point.  Abby is very completive. She breezed through all the card and did better then she ever has.  She had a smile on her face during the whole time. She now has a score to 'beat'.
(picture of Abby playing the game)

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Just found your blog today and love it! My baby was born with cataracts and we too are adjusting to a different perspective on life! Best wishes to you and your Abby :0)

Carrie said...

Seeing these pictures and hearing this story has made me soooooo happy!!!!! My husband laughed at me and asked me if I was going to cry over it lol. (happy tears!) I'm so glad one small idea can make such a big difference! Good luck Miss Abby, you are beautiful and you are going to conquer the world!!!!!

Penny said...

Holly and Carrie welcome to by blog. Carrie Thank you. Sometimes it the small things that make a huge difference.

Tricia said...

Penny,

I just read this! Wow, this rocks and shows you how many of your adventures with Abby will have an amazing outcome.

xoxo

Patti said...

Thanks for posting the idea and picture. I'm a TVI and one of the TA's in my school wants to learn Braille. I was just telling her about using a muffin tin to practice her letters- now I can show her! Great idea for some of my kids as well. I get my best ideas from the moms and dads.