UFB and the Braille
Challenge
The Utah Braille
Challenge:
Resources for Parents, Teachers and Students
Sample Contests can be downloaded at
www.braillechallenge.org
If you are unable to access or output computer files, hard copy braille
sample contests can be sent to students, parents or teachers by request.
Braille Literacy Resources
The Braille Challenge is designed to set a high standard of achievement
for braille students. Like any discipline, braille proficiency takes study
and practice. If you are looking for more ways to challenge yourself
throughout the year, check out this list of resources that may help you
hone your braille skills on the Braille Challenge web site.
www.braillechallenge.org
The
Braille Challenge™ Resource List
The Braille Challenge™
is designed to set a high standard of achievement for braille students.
Like any discipline, braille proficiency takes study and practice. If you
are looking for more ways to challenge yourself throughout the year, check
out this list of resources that may help you hone your braille skills.
The All In One
Resource Page:
http://www.tsbvi.edu/recc/literacy.htm#12
The
Practice Tools for
Students—
FSBraille Coach—a
free software download appropriate for newer Braille readers created for
use with Freedom Scientific's PAC Mate accessible pocket PC. Students run
through a series of lessons and reading exercises, getting immediate
spoken help with any braille symbol they encounter by pressing a button.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/PACMATE-HO/FSBraille_Coach.asp
Sample Contests—Each
year the Braille Challenge website posts sample files from past Reading
Comprehension and Speed and Accuracy contests for students and their
teachers to try for themselves. The Reading Comprehension files are
available as both print and .brf files ready to be embossed. The Speed and
Accuracy files are MP3 files that can be downloaded onto a student's
notetaker or computer, www.braillechallenge.org.
Guidelines and
Games for Teaching Efficient Braille Reading
by Sally S.
Mangold, Myrna R. Olson, published by AFB Press, 1981. Based on research
in the areas of rapid reading and precision teaching, these effective
guidelines and games represent a unique adaptation of a general reading
program to the needs of braille readers, www.afb.org
Fun With Braille—published
by the American Printing House for the Blind, 2006. Entertaining
activities to provide additional practice for children already familiar
with braille contractions. An answer key is provided. The print edition
includes selected activities in simulated braille so that print users
learning braille can practice their skills. A complete print transcription
of the simulated braille is included for non-braille readers.
www.aph.org
Braille Flash Cards—Includes
over one hundred flash cards with a letter or word embossed in large,
raised-print and the braille. Included are cards to teach the capital and
small letters, numbers, and punctuation marks. Also includes over two
dozen common words (such as Braille, salt, pepper and
Curriculum Resources
for Teachers—
Ensuring
High-Quality Instruction for Students in Braille Literacy Program,
by Alan J.
Koenig, Ed.D., published in the Journal of Visual Impairment and
Blindness, November
2000. This study used
the
Foundations of
Braille Literacy
by Robert L.
Baker.
Alan J. Koenig. Ed.D. Evelyn J. Rex.
Diane P. Wormsley. Ph.D.
AFB Press, 1995. The first and only text to address the teaching of
braille reading and writing in the context of literacy in general, the
whole language approach, and the way in which print reading and writing
are taught. Both a theoretical framework and practical applications for
instruction in braille literacy are provided, www.afb.org
Instructional
Strategies for Braille Literacy,
edited by
Frances Mary D'Andrea. M.Ed., Diane P. Wormsley. Ph.D. AFB Press, 1997.
This award-winning, user-friendly handbook provides instructors with
specific creative strategies and methodologies for teaching braille.
Intended to help pre-service and in-service teachers develop their
instructional literacy and braille skills, this comprehensive manual
provides a wealth of information on working with children who have
congenital or adventitious visual impairments as well as students with
additional disabilities or who are speakers of English as a second
language. Resources for teachers and effective techniques suggested by
experienced braille instructors are also included, www.afb.org
Braille Literacy
Curriculum
by Diane P. Wormsley,
Towers Press,
Resources for
Learning Braille—
1. Introduction to
Braille: a
12-session basic course in braille literacy, designed for beginning
students of braille or for those who need a braille refresher. In addition
to "beginner's basics", this course includes all Grade 2 contractions and
rules.
2. Braille
Transcribers: this course focuses on the production of braille
materials, with an emphasis on the brailling of textbooks (using the new
"Formats" braille code). Discussions of computers in braille production
and tactile graphics are also included in this course. Prerequisite for
this course is a solid foundation in Grade 2 braille.
3. Specialized Codes:
this course provides a basic introduction to specialized codes, such
as Nemeth mathematics braille, music braille, computer braille, and
chemistry braille. Prerequisite for this course is a solid foundation in
Grade 2 braille.
The Hadley School
for the Blind
offers a free
correspondence course for parents who want to learn some Braille. The
course uses the book, Just Enough To Know Better, published by
National Braille Press, Inc. Parents can sign up for the course and get
this book, or they can order the book directly from National Braille
Press, Inc. and study it on their own. The