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The Braille Readiness Skills Grid: A Guide to Building a Foundation for Literacy

A.V. McComiskey

Abstract: The Braille Readiness Skills Grid is designed to help those who work with young children who are blind or visually impaired identify, in a systematic manner, activities and skills that will foster braille readiness in children who are potential braille readers. Three intended benefits of the grid are (1) to increase parents' confidence in interventions that foster braille reading readiness, (2) to encourage adults to engage potential braille readers in systematic braille readiness activities from infancy, and (3) to renew the confidence of teachers, parents, and children who are potential braille readers and to foster the children's enthusiasm for reading.

Play is the avenue of learning, and fun is the obvious motivating strategy when teaching young children. These facts are the cornerstones of early intervention teaching. But the fun and play aspects of reading do not seem to be getting through to young readers, both potential braille readers and sighted readers. Teachers of preschoolers who are visually impaired or blind see many youngsters who are trying to learn braille but few who have fallen in love with reading, who sleep with their books, or who beg to be read to. In short, infants, toddlers, and preschoolers who are visually impaired or blind are not experiencing enough of the fun and enthusiasm of reading to build a firm environment of literacy and to formulate a developmental foundation for braille reading.

The importance of building a foundation

Stratton and Wright (199lb, pp xi-xii) stated that "literacy begins to develop at birth; it does not wait until a child reads his first word or even until he opens his first book. Literacy is a basic process, set in motion long before actual reading and writing take place, and it involves all of the child's development." Furthermore, as Miller (1985, p. 3) noted, "the literate environment so important in encouraging development ... will not occur naturally for the blind child." Therefore, building a solid foundation of readiness skills and fun experiences from infancy is a critical part of teaching reading and fostering a love of books in children.

Teachers and parents

What happens in the process of teaching potential braille readers that dampens the fun and enthusiasm? Various explanations have been offered for the increasing decline of literacy among braille readers. Spungin (1989) mentioned the insufficient training of teachers in braille and an increasingly negative attitude toward braille and braille readers. Wittenstein (1993) suggested that instructors have insufficient knowledge of the methodology of teaching braille, and Miller (1985) described how difficult and frustrating it was to find enjoyable and motivating materials for her young daughter who was blind. Teachers will find it difficult to be enthusiastic about braille if they are insecure about their knowledge of it.

Perhaps teachers have left out the fun part of reading when teaching braille readers because they do not know exactly what to teach them. Typical preschool teachers who have potential braille readers in their programs consistently express fear and frustration about giving children who are visually impaired or blind what they need to reach their potential.

Early intervention teachers of visually impaired children are charged with relieving preschool teachers' fears and showing them what to do to enable potential braille readers to flourish. If they are insecure about their own foundation and methodology, they cannot help these teachers. As a result, children miss opportunities to gain valuable experiences.

Parents play a focal role in fostering a love of reading in young children. In the author's experience, parents of young children who are visually impaired or blind seem to avoid activities that involve books, reading, and braille unless they are given confident guidance from professionals. But if early intervention teachers of children who are visually impaired or blind are not sure what experiences build braille readiness, they cannot guide parents. As a result, the fun and excitement of reading may be lost to children in these early years.

The grid

The early intervention program for children who are visually impaired and their parents in the Center for the Visually Impaired, Atlanta, devised a tool to help parents, teachers, and professionals who are not in the field identify, in a systematic manner, activities and experiences that will foster the foundations for braille reading. The grid is designed developmentally. The development components that build literacy in young children have been consistently noted in the literature (Stratton & Wright, 199 la), and Nolan and Kederis (1969) discussed some critical developmental areas of braille readiness preparation for young readers who are blind.

The one-page Braille Readiness Skills Grid (Figure 1) identifies areas of development that create a foundation for braille reading readiness. Each area is then divided into skills or experiences that are loosely sequential. The segments were drawn from the usual practices of experienced teachers and users of braille and from the curricula note in the references ( Caton, Pester, & Bradley, 1987; Duncan, 1974; Mangold, 1977; Swallow, Mangold, & Mangold, 1978). A teacher or parent can use the grid as a guide to plan experiences for a young child who is visually impaired or blind. The ultimate goal is to expose a child systematically, early, and often to experiences that will build a foundation and enthusiasm for braille reading.

The grid is not a formula or recipe, and it is not intended to replace favorite curricula. Rather, it is a flexible tool that can easily be changed to meet the needs of an individual child. Since it was designed for a child with no other impairments, entire strands could be inserted to target an individual child's additional developmental needs. A teacher of visually impaired children should be the leader who guides parents and other early intervention specialists in using the grid.

READINESS AREAS

The grid is divided into five readiness areas: tactile, fine motor, listening and attention, concept, and book and story. Each area is labeled along the left vertical margin of the page. Each area is two lines long. The skills start at the left top margin and move to the right top margin. They resume at the left margin of the second lines and move to its right top margin. Each area moves along the line just the way a reader's eyes move along a printed text-left to right and top to bottom. A child's progress can be marked with a highlighter, so that skills to be targeted for the future can be easily identified.

It is the author's hope that the grid will achieve three things: (1) increase the confidence of parents, teachers, and other professionals in which experiences a young potential braille reader needs to build the necessary prereading foundation, (2) encourage parents and teachers to introduce these readiness activities to infants and young children who are visually impaired or blind, and (3) engender confidence and an enthusiasm for reading in both adults and children who are teaching and using braille.

References

Catton, H., Pester, E., & Bradley, E.J. (1987). Patterns pre-braille program. Louisville, KY. American Printing House for the Blind.

Duncan, B. (1974). Touch and tell. A readiness book for future braille readers. Louisville, KY: American Printing House for the Blind.

Mangold, S. (1977). The Mangold developmental program of tactual perception and braille letter recognition. Castro Valley, CA: Exceptional Teaching Aids.

Miller, D.D. (1985). Reading comes naturally: A mother and her blind child's experiences. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 79, 1-4.

Nolan, C.Y., & Kederis, C.J. (1969). Perceptual factors in braille word recognition (Research Series, No. 20.) New York: American Foundation for the Blind.

Spungin, S. (1989). Braille literacy: Issues for blind persons, families, professionals, and producers of braille. New York: American Foundation for the Blind.

Stratton, J.M. & Wright, S. (1991a). Handbook, on the way to literacy: Early experiences. Louisville, KY: American Printing House for the Blind.

Stratton, J.M. & Wright, S. (1991b). On the way to literacy: Early experiences for visually impaired children. RE:view, 23, 55-61.

Swallow, R., Mangold, S., & Mangold, P. (1978). Informal assessment of developmental skills for visually handicapped students (practice report). New York: American Foundation for the Blind.

Wittenstein, S.H. (1993). Braille training and teacher attitudes: Implications for personnel preparation. RE:view, 25, 103-11 1.

Anne V McComiskey, M.Ed., director, BEGIN program, Center for the Visually Impaired, 763 Peachtree Street, N.E., Atlanta, GA 30308.