The teaching of Braille reading and writing: A new proposal

The teaching of Braille reading and writing: A new proposal.

School Years: Access to Literacy.

Rosa L. Peńa y Lillo Zapata.

Educational Center of Special Education and Rehabilitation for Blind “Nuestra Seńora del Pilar”

Nicolás de Piérola II Etapa B5–5

Arequipa–Perú

054 – 435140

creciendo2000@hotmail.com

Introduction.

During many years of work, the students that learned how to read and to write in our educational center, they made it basically starting from two work methods: the first one proposed by the Fundación Braille of the Uruguay using the book “My friend and Me”; the second based on a syllabic method whose use extended to all the schools of the region, using the book “Coquito” that adapted to the system Braille.

Starting from the year 1996 it is introduced in the Educational System of our country a new curricular proposal and a vision different from the work in the classroom. Motivated by this change we decide to introduce the new proposals in our classroom of first grade.

We looked for then to improve the time of learning of the reading and writing, to overcome the difficulties of learning of the letters i-e, f-d, h-j, in those that traditionally were even confusions in students of superior degrees, and to make of this learning a more dynamic experience.

Learning of the Braille reading and writing.

The same as other children and girls that begin in the learning of the reading and of the writing, the students with visual impairment should also achieve before the following abilities, concepts and dexterities to begin them in these learnings with the purpose of achieving good results. These are:

Space concepts: understanding of the space with relationship to itself and the other ones, so much in the real plane or I sum up as in the representative one or graph.
Corporal scheme: parts of the body, movement possibilities.
Understanding of the time: before, later, today, tomorrow. Order and sequences.
Directionality: of left to right, of up down. Reading sweeps.
Auditory discrimination: rhythmic sequences, oral expression, auditory patterns.
Attention and concentration.
Preparation of the hands to write using rubber for drawing, punch and guide lines.
Position of the fingers and hands when reading.

In general it is expected that these concepts, abilities and dexterities can be acquired by the students during the stage pre school or they are part of the work of the first grade.

I develop of the Experience.

The experience has been implemented from the year 1996 in different stages or phases that we detail next:

First Phase.

Our proposal begins in the pre school period with the following actions:

Cards were placed with names to the whole furniture of the classroom, as well as to different materials, toys and spaces to order the work material. These cards should can to be found easily by the small children.

Each student should have a poster with his name in his work table, in his seat, in his personal pigeonhole, in the perchero and in each place where he keeps some personal object. Small letters were only used.

Labels was placed to all the books and stories of the classroom.

One worked with the Developmental Program of Tactile Perception and Braille Letter Recognition proposed by Sally Mangold. He/she was devoted a daily moment inside the activities in the classroom to be able to carry out the exercises.

The collaboration of the family parents was requested so that at home they also placed cards with the names of the objects and with the boy's name (to) where it is necessary.

Some marks of products of our store of the classroom were also labeled.

In each leaf of the students' work he/she always put on a card with their name written in Braille or in ink.

Toward the last work trimester he/she began the reading and writing of the vowels starting from their discovery in the cards with their name.

We should write down that these activities are the most specific linked directly to our proposal. The other educational actions go to the development of the curricular program and the basic preparatory activities for the learning of the reading and of the writing.

Second Phase.

It corresponds to the stage of the first grade.

You continues with the Program of development of the perception tactile and of recognition of the Braille.

One of the basic or motivational activities is related with the elaboration of a “puppet” that represents each one of the students. First, we revise the knowledge that each boy has of his body, we experience the movement possibilities and then we design a figure that represents to his body, we dress her and we adorn according to each student's preference and then we place a card with the name to each one.

Again we work with the reading of their name and those of their partners:
He/she finds their name among several cards that have their partners' writings different names, teacher or others.
Fixed their attention in the letter and initial and final sounds.
Each student chooses a sound or letter and he/she begins to write and to read the sign. In this point we help ourselves with small texts in those that one writes the elected letter for the student that are given one to one.
He/she begins to write and to read syllables with the elected letter (direct and indirect syllables).
When he/she already knows the form of to write and to read their name, then elije a name of their friends and we begin again.
When the students have worked a group of four consonants then we begin small relationships of words that are of the combination of them to surrender so that they can read them.
Emphasis is given so that the students not only take attention to the writing form, but to the form of pronunciation of each letter that you/they choose.

In this stage it is possible “to guide” the election of the letter and sound that he/she makes each student giving some cards first; this control will allow to manage the order and the sequence in the work.

The reading texts are chosen or they elaborate for each boy as it is their advance or according to the letters and sounds that he/she has learned. The reading texts can be elaborated according to the words and sounds that the student already dominates, or they can also be extracted of other bibliographical sources.

In case a boy it presents some difficulty, then we wait and we give an additional time so that it can reach the domain of the letter or sound. This is an individualized work and the rhythm of the student's learning is respected.

After three or four weeks of work the students already know at least how to write their name, the syllabic combinations of their components and those of other friends, then already we ask them to begin the production of texts: words or small sentences, for we use it different technical as: to give small toys so that they write on them, to give cards with words so that they write on them, to leave visit and to write on some objects or carried out activities, etc.

In general in our experience we always keep some sounds without being able to be approached starting from the names of the students, like they are: ch–ll–ń–k–w–q–h–z–x. These sounds are approached introducing them in the reading texts one to one progressively.

Third Phase.

This stage begins when beginning the student the second grade. The basic aspects that it includes this stage are linked to:

To improve the reading speed and the intonation.

To increase the speed for the writing and especially the dictation.

To achieve domain of the punctuation signs and use of uppercase.

To reach the domain from the reading to followed line.

To improve the effectiveness of the reading bimanual.

To write with appropriate spelling.

In this phase of the work, besides the varied readings that get ready for each student, a specific reading text is adopted.

Conclusions.

From the first moment in the one that the experience began could note a bigger interest on the part of the students toward the learning of the reading and the writing since in the atmosphere of the school and of the house they could find permanently written in Braille, they were interested in reading them and they acquired progressively and in a spontaneous way the appropriate directionality for the beginning of the reading.

We also observe that it was very important to find their own name written this way in each place and object that it belonged them, when arriving to the first degree all the students they read their name and they differentiated it of that of their other partners. This aspect also helped to improve the association of the sounds with its written representation.

When beginning our work leaving of their body, of their name and of their environment, the students live the process from a different perspective that when it was approached the teaching of the reading and writing starting from the use of an unique and common text. We consider that he/she owes it to that when one works with a specific text the educational one he/she should bring the concrete material starting from their written representation so that he/she has significance for the student and don't fall in the verbalisim. On the contrary, when leaving of the names of their environment he/she is the own student the one that carries out the representation of the concrete thing and of what interests him.

We consider important to stand out that this proposal has a work sequence, the one that we have synthesized previously that believes the necessary mark for the success when putting it into practice. When a student has not participated of the process of preparation of the stage school pre, it becomes necessary that take a time to work the basic aspects in the first degree before beginning the teaching of the reading and writing in Braille.

Every year when putting it into practice we find new aspects whenever to consider that to revise and to continue improving that you/they contribute to continue perfecting our strategies, to systematize the proposal and to overcome our deficiencies.