Visually Impaired Resource Guide Reading Kindergarten and Grade One

Teachers encourage reading by placing picture books, signs, posters and other things that are easy to read around the classroom.

The Vision Resource teacher has primary responsibility for deciding on a method to introduce braille reading to the student who is visually impaired. The Vision Resource Teacher is also responsible for supporting the classroom teacher on an ongoing basis in adapting the reading program and providing all reading and viewing materials in formats that are meaningful to the student with a visual impairment.

Students who have limited or no vision are most often unable to see the many pictures, graphics and words found in home, school and community environments. They must rely primarily on their tactile and auditory senses to compensate for loss of vision. Students should be provided with selective mutisensory materials that are, to varying extents, useful substitutes (eg. a clock face that can be touched to explore the raised braille numbers and location of the hour and minute hands and / or one that speaks the time). The student with a visual impairment should be provided with opportunities to explore tactile picture books, signs, labels etc. that are equivalent to those provided to their sighted peers.

The student should be given ample opportunity to safely explore his or her environment using as many multi-sensory cues as possible.

The student with a visual impairment needs to be able to develop a symbolic understanding of the written word through experience with high dots, other raised symbols, and early pre-braille learning materials. [refer to the Vision Resource Teacher in your area for further information]

The student can explore the six dots that are used for writing braille. These dots are made with a machine which is called a Braille Writer (Perkins). This machine provides the student with an image that can be felt tactually. The student can then be be provided with the same reading materials and activities as those provided to a sighted student.

Word Recognition

• learn how sounds and letters make words (phonics)
• substitute a word that makes sense when they don't recognize a word and can't figure it out using phonics
• recognize by sight the basic words and phrases that appear frequently in their reading material

For the student who uses braille the APH Portable Cassette Tape Recorder/Player may be used to record and listen to songs and poems with lyrics about the alphabet. A wide and varied range of experiences with voice in many different formats (eg. song, poetry, prose, conversational ) at an appropriate level enhances auditory discrimination skills, helps to enrich vocabulary and facilitates word substitution skills. The Braille Writer (Perkins) and/or Braille Lite are used for writing once the student begins to associate sounds with their corresponding braille configurations.

Reading for Information and Enjoyment

• read and re-read storybooks and informational books they have chosen
• read orally from their own writing and familiar materials
• listen to and talk about stories that have been read to them

The development of good listening skills is of particular importance for the student with a visual impairment. Voice recording devices, telephones and televisions can be used to enhance the development of listening skills. Listening for specific content as well as enjoyment needs to be encouraged.

Students need to be provided with meaningful, early, enriched, multisensory tactile experiences that include objects and tactile representations and symbols. Materials will vary for each individual student. Some beginning books with simple tactile drawings, materials and/ or braille text are available. Alternatively they may be made specifically for a student.

The student might also be introduced to technology that provides speech access in order that the student begins to become familiar with robotic speech. [refer to the Vision Resource Teacher in your area for further information] (Braille 'n Speak 640, computers, Braille Lite)

Increasing Recall and Understanding

• look over a book to get ready to read
• think about how certain words or pictures help them know what will happen in a story remember and retell familiar stories

The student should be able to identify the parts of a book eg. cover, pages, margins. He/she should be able to hold a book correctly and turn the pages. He/she should be able to explore a tactile book using the pads of their fingers. The student increasingly develops an understanding of braille as a written form of language. Encourage the students to develop a light touch when tracing the braille dots. The student needs to be aware of, and, to begin to review, transcribers notes for a description of the pictures and graphics found in the print copy.

Research (Using Reading to Find More Information)

• recognize books as a source of information
• use pictures to get information

The student should be introduced to the library's multi-media resources as well as any other convienent resource centres that provide research materials in braille or voice access. (APH Portable Cassette Tape Recorder/Player, brailler, Braille 'n Speak 640, Braille Lite. Twin vision books, taped books, PRCVI)

Reading for Lifelong Development

• show curiosity and interest in books of all kinds
• talk about their reading
• enjoy looking at books and listening to stories

The student with a visual impairment should be encouraged to engage in meaningful dialogue. He/she should be encouraged to read his/her own stories and listen to others.

Resources

Twin Vision Books
American Action Fund For Blind Children and Adults
18440 Oxford Street
Tarzanan, CA 91356

Textbooks

American Printing House for the Blind
1839 Frankfurt Avenue, P.O. Box 6085
Louisville, Kentucky 40206-0085
(502) 895-2405; (800) 223-1839; Fax (502) 895-1509

National Braille Press
88 Saint Stephen Street
Boston, MA 02115

National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
Library of Congress
12191 Taylor Street, NW
Washington, DC

Seedlings
P.O. Box 2395
Livonia, MI 48151-0395
(800) 777-8552

Providing Quality Instruction in Braille Literacy Skills - Companion Guide to Invitations:
Changing as Teachers and Learners K-12 by Koenig & Farrenkoph
Region Iv Education Service Center
7145 Tidwell Street
Houston, Texas 77092-2096
(713) 744-6383 Fax (713) 744-6811

PRCVI (for BC teachers only)
106 - 1750 West 75th Avenue
Vancouver, BC
V6P 6G2

Alternate Format Instructional Materials

Canadian Institute for the Blind
Library Services (located in major centers across Canada)

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