The BEE: Early Literacy and Movement for Young Blind Children
NFB Braille Reading Pals Club & NFB Early Explorers
November 2015
What’s Buzzing with the National Federation of the Blind?
We have completed our busy Meet the Blind Month activities, and now move to the busy month of November! It is filled with the last of the fall state conventions, as well as making plans for Washington Seminar. Washington Seminar will take place on January 25 through January 28 at the Holiday Inn Capitol in Washington, D.C. We talk to Congress about issues that are important to the blind of the nation. Make your voice heard as you tell representatives about issues which affect your child now and in the future!
Also, during this time we have seminars for many of our divisions, including the parents division! This is an excellent chance to meet other parents from around the country and for your children to meet other blind children.
We are thankful for all of the strides that have been made during the year, but there is also still much work to do.Working together, it can be done!
Literacy Hints from the Hive
It's November, a month of giving thanks, reflecting on all of the wonderful events of the year, and getting together with family and friends. The holiday season is approaching, and there is a lot to be done. In all of the hustle and bustle, make sure your blind child is part of the action! Blind children can be a part of your holiday activities and should help in preparing the home for visitors. Once the work is done, it's time to play.
A great game to play is the contractions game. It strengthens your child’s knowledge of Braille contractions and helps with reading, too! You can play in a lot of different ways. You'll need flashcards of Braille contractions, either with just the contraction or with the contraction and its meaning. They can even be made on playing cards.
One game is called the monster game. You make a monster out of some type of box,such as a cereal box or oatmeal canister and scraps of material. You will need to have a slot in the container for the monster's mouth. The monster "eats" certain types of contractions. Each of you starts with a certain number of flashcards. Then, you and your child can take turns deciding what the monster will eat. For example, if the monster wants to eat all of the dot 5 contractions you have thenyour child will sort his cards and put all of his dot 5 contractions in the monster's mouth. If he's right, the monster gets to eat. If he's wrong, he has to get his cards back plus some of yours! Then it's his turn to give you a challenge! You could also use the contractionmeanings, such as saying that the monster wants to eat question words like where, whose, and which.
If you have two sets of flashcards, you can play Go Fish or Concentration with Braille contractions by using their meanings, dot combinations, or both. Another game you can play is contraction and wholeword match-up with a set of cards for each. Try increasing the speed by setting a timer.Make it fun! There's so much more to do with flashcards than just drill information, and games with them are a fun way of committing the information to memory!
Travel Tales
November, time for colder weather, busier stores, and shopping! This is a great chance to practice cane skills even with your young blind child. It is also a great time to learn to use good travel skills in crowded places. Crowds can be overwhelming for blind children and learning to use practical travel skills in these situations is essential. Let's face it;crowds can be overwhelming for anyone. They are noisy, pushy, and everyone's trying to get to the same place, unless of course you've just been there and you're trying to go in the opposite direction!
One important skill to remember is to keep a cane in one hand at all times. When I was young, I relied on a sightedguide for much of my travel and did not carry a cane. I remember vividly being separated from my father in a large crowd. I was terrified, and I had no way to move independently to locate him or to get help. I had to stand still as people moved all around me, waiting until he came back for me. It was only a minute or two, but it felt like forever!
If your child has a cane, he or she can move independently. This is much safer and will make crowds more comfortable for her. Even if you decide that sighted guide is a good option for the two of you to stay together, your child should use her cane by holding it in a pencil grip and still moving it in a good arc. This will also help her recognize any unexpectedobstacles, especially those next to her. If she is walking alone, she should also use the cane in a pencil grip. She should still be aware of obstacles and landmarks and can use the crowd noise and general direction of travel as a cue. She should not to let the crowd frustrate her or distract her if she knows where she is going. If she gets lost or confused, have her take a deep breath and think about where she is and what she needs to do next. Let her get used to crowd noise by going sighted guide with you and using her cane. Then, let her go short distances on her own while you are in calling distance. Remember that crowds will always be a part of life and developing these skills will help her in the future.
A Taste of Honey
It's a typical day in my house. One of my teenagers has lost something. This time, it's a book. According to him, it has vanished. It is nowhere to be found. It was in our computer room, where he was doing homework. Now, he can't finish his homework, will fail his class, and there's nothing anyone can do!
After getting him to calm down and asking him some pointed questions, I decide to look. He assures me this will do no good. I reach under the futon in thecomputer room, and there, along with some miscellaneous paper, is a book. I pull it out triumphantly and, yes, it is the book he needs! He sheepishly accepts it and says, "I guess I didn't see it there!"
I am the finder of things in my family. I am the only totally blind person in the house, and I have the best track record for finding vanished items.I say this not to brag, but to point out that vision isn't always the most important factor when it comes to finding things. A calm attitude, searching in a pattern and clear thinking are equally important and sometimes can serve people better than vision when they are looking for that lost item.
Teach your blind child to be a finder with a calm attitude. I have worked with blind children who sit passively once they have dropped something, sure that someone will soon come along to pick it up for them. This may work for a while, but will not be useful for her for the rest of her life! A calm attitude is important because it will enable your child to search carefully instead of flailing around in a panic, which will not result in locating her item. If she believes she will ultimately find the item and searches calmly, she will have a much higher chance of success.
Searching in a pattern is also crucial to finding lost items, especially those that drop on the floor. By searching systematically, your child will have a better chance of coming across the item, even if it has rolled away, than by randomly swiping with her hands.
This form of searching can also apply to something that she has put down somewhere and cannot locate. Retracing her steps and thinking about where she has been may be all she needs to find the misplaced item. This can be a very useful technique and has located many an item in our house.This may mean you need to resist the urge to move the item to the place it is supposed to be! She needs to learn the techniques of retrieving a lost object, not the magic of finding that it appears back where it belongs.
Clear thinking and problem-solving skills are also important when trying to locate something that is lost. These are similar to the calm attitude, but really also involves keeping your frustration level down and thinking about what could have happened to your lost property. For example, if something hadmoved to the back of a drawer, it could have fallen into the drawer below it.Or if it was in the bottom drawer, it could have fallen onto the floor under the dresser. Another example is realizing that round objects, such as styluses, can roll. A certain amount of persistence is also required. One quick swipe of the hand does not mean a thorough search has been conducted.
If your blind child has a calm attitude, searches in a pattern, and thinks clearly, she will find many things on her own. She may even become the finder in your house!
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Books for Busy Bees
If you are looking to grow your child’s Braille library, check out the Braille storybook resources webpage for information on free books, lending libraries, and Braille book retailers.
The NFB Braille Reading Pals Club and NFB Early Explorers programs are sponsored in part by the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children and the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults. For more information please contact:
Education Team
NFB Jernigan Institute
200 East Wells Street
Baltimore, MD 21230
Phone: (410) 659-9314, extension 2312
Fax: (410) 659-5129
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200 East Wells Street
at Jernigan Place
Baltimore, MD 21230
United States