Braille Challenge Results

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 Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired has amassed an excellent list of resources regarding braille literacy and communication for teachers, students and sighted friends and family.

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 America) to practice reading.  http://www.braillebookstore.com/view.php?T=Braille+Flash+Cards

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 Delphi research method to gain a consensus among 40 professionals on the appropriate levels of instructional service to address the needs of students with visual impairments in 12 areas of braille literacy skills. These resulting recommendations are general guidelines for educational teams to follow in designing braille literacy programs, but must be tailored to address the individual needs of each student, www.afb.org

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, Philadelphia, 2000. Now in its second printing, can be purchased directly from Overbrook School for the Blind. Braille Literacy Curriculum supports the goals of the National Agenda, emphasizes outcomes, and presents strategies for incorporating Braille into the total curriculum. It was tested in the classroom by experienced Braille teachers and reviewed by independent experts. For further information, please contact Dennis Brookshire, Editor in Chief, Towers Press, Overbrook School for the Blind, 6333 Malvern Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19151; E-mail Dennis@obs.org; Phone: 215-877-0313, ext. 263.

Resources for Learning Braille—

BRL: Braille Through Remote Learning (http://www.brl.org). Braille through Remote Learning is an online instructional program that provides teachers, parents, social workers, and current/future braille transcribers with a series of three integrated online courses in braille and braille transcribing. The BRL program was developed with funding from the U.S. Department of Education's Braille Literacy Program. The program consists of three integrated courses:

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 Hadley School for the Blind, 700 Elm Street, Winnetka, IL 60093-0299, (800) 323-4238. Braille Reading for Family Members, Course D-PC-501. www.hadley-school.org   National Braille Press, Inc., 88 St. Stephen Street, Boston MA 02115, orders:  (800) 548-7323. Just Enough to Know Better, a Braille primer by Eileen P. Curran. www.nbp.org