CONQUERING THE LITERACY DIVIDE: CAN BRAILLE EXPOSURE EVER EQUAL PRINT? AER 2014 Dawn Wilkinson, Early Childhood Project Leader Monica Turner, Field Services Representative

Objectives  Participants will explore methods and materials for teaching tactile awareness and literacy concepts.  Participants will understand the logical sequence of expectations for braille introduction.  Participants will become familiar with preschool goals and curricula.

It is NEVER too early for braille exposure.

Pre-Braille Skills  Prebraille skills are physical and sensory:  tactile perception  fine motor skills, particularly finger and hand movements  ability to identify braille characters

Coloring With Your Toddler

Braillable Labels and Sheets  Help develop word associations and recognition with these handy adhesive labels.  Label objects, bottles of shampoo or lotion, etc.  Place child’s name on personal items.

Feel ‘n Peel Stickers  Smiley-Frowny Faces and Reward Statements teach emergent literacy.

Preparing Little Hands for Braille Giant Textured Beads  Tactile discrimination  Finger dexterity

 Finger strength  Exposure to braille cell Pop-A-Cell

Tactile Treasures  Pairs tactile graphics of thermoformed real objects with descriptive stories to introduce and reinforce concepts related to shape, size, comparison of two or more objects, amount, position, and page orientation.

Make sure your upcoming braille reader starts preschool with a competitive edge! On the Way to Literacy: Early Experiences for Children with Visual Impairments - A handbook to guide parents in supporting a young child’s first steps towards literacy

Print/Tactile Books in the APH On the Way to Literacy series  Make sure your upcoming braille reader starts preschool with a competitive edge and is ready for braille!  Storybooks illustrated with real objects and textures (4)  Storybooks illustrated with thermoforms (5)  Storybooks illustrated with raised-line drawings (8)

That’s Not My Bear

Geraldine’s Blanket

Jennifer’s Messes

The Littlest Pumpkin

Maryland Common Core Standards For Braille Pre-K Language Arts  RF1 Demonstrate understanding of basic features of print braille.  RF1.a Demonstrate an awareness that words are read from left to right, top to bottom and page by page.  RF1.b Recognize that spoken words can be written and read.  RF1.c Recognize that words are separated by spaces in print braille.  RF1.d Recognize and name some uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet in braille, with uppercase letters indicated by a capital sign preceding the letter.

Maryland Common Core Braille Standards for Pre-K Math and Tactile Graphics Example  Standard: PK.CC4: Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities to 5, then to 10; connect counting to cardinality.  Essential Skills and Knowledge: Ability to apply the strategies of touching objects as the are counted and by organizing the objects in a row. Ability to use concrete materials and 0-10 tactile graphic of a number line.

Partners Print/Braille Book Program American Printing House for the Blind & Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Partnership  Is your child a potential braille reader under 6years of age? Are you visually impaired or blind and the parent or guardian of a child under 6 years of age? If you answered yes to either question, apply now for the Partners Print/Braille Book Program! Books are limited and enrollment is on a first come/first serve basis.

Thank You!