Introducing Braille

Introducing Braille is intended to encourage and guide teachers and families as they usher young students into the exciting world of braille literacy. It is created for those children in the transitional phase, those who have already experienced the very earliest braille literacy events like forming basic concepts/vocabulary and exploring rhyming words … but who are not yet participating in formal braille instruction, which generally begins in Kindergarten or first grade. The focus of this iBook is to help children to become excited about reading and writing braille and to be curious and confident as they explore it. It is to introduce children to why we read and write braille, and to how reading and writing are integrated. Lastly, the focus is to begin to teach children to form their first letters, to recognize some letters and perhaps some favorite words, and to start to build speed and stamina in the process. Typically, these skills develop during the late preschool and early Kindergarten years, but teachers of older students with additional disabilities may also find ideas and strategies here to structure and enrich their braille lessons.