DOTS for Braille Literacy (Development of Teacher Support) Volume 12, Number 1, Fall 2006

In this Issue...

• From the Editor
• Braille Challenge™ News From the Braille Institute
• Braille Literacy: A Functional Approach
• Dear DOT
• News Briefs
• Calendar Dates of Interest

From the Editor

This is the first issue of DOTS which is being provided only in braille and electronic formats. A 2005 survey of DOTS readers explored the option where it was determined that you, the readers, wanted the information - electronic or braille format would meet your needs - and that you wanted DOTS to continue. Nothing else has changed and I hope you will find this issue packed with useful information about braille and braille literacy.

In this issue, you will read about an event challenging students to put their braille skills to use, a workshop about a functional approach to braille literacy, and Dear DOT shares a story of one teacher's adventures to discover the Louis Braille Trail as she journeyed to France and England.

A News Brief is included to keep you up-to-date on various matters related to braille and the calendar of events includes several conferences or workshops you may want to explore further.

As you read the news and information, if you think of something you might want to share in the future please send it to me at the address listed at the end of this message. Together, we can explore the future of DOTS.

—Marie Amerson, Editor

Braille Challenge™ News from the Braille Institute

The Braille Institute has reminded professionals in the education of students with visual impairments that it's time to begin planning for the 2007 Braille Challenge™. Students may take the Challenge individually with their own teachers, but a coordinated, regional event is an exciting way to include blind students of all academic levels in this annual event.

The Braille Challenge contest period runs from January 1 to March 9, 2007, and it is open to all braille readers from first grade through high school. Contestants are divided into five age groups and asked to complete a series of exercises demonstrating their proficiency in braille reading and writing, reading speed and comprehension, spelling, proofreading, and use of tactile graphics. The final round for the top 60 students who qualify will be held in Los Angeles, California on June 23, 2007.

Schools and agencies across the United States and Canada participate each year, and professionals who have coordinated the event in the past say it is well worth the time and effort to encourage kids to take pride in their braille skills. Regional coordinators make the event special to their area by inviting special guests, creating local awards, and involving the community. "The students love it, and the visibility helps raise public awareness of blindness and literacy issues."

The Braille Institute sends out most everything an event coordinator needs in a complete "how to" handbook. The information includes sample schedules, planning ideas, and electronic forms. The Braille Institute designs and produces the contests and sends them to Challenge coordinators. They also provide artwork to use for marketing the event in local areas.

To learn more, contact Nancy Niebrugge, Braille Challenge Director, at (323) 906-3113.

Braille Literacy: A Functional Approach

The American Foundation for the Blind has announced a workshop to be presented by Dr. Diane P. Wormsley, Professor and the Brenda Brodie Endowed Chair at North Carolina Central University. Dr. Wormsley is author of Braille Literacy: A Functional Approach, published by AFB Press in 2004 and co-author of Instructional Strategies for Braille Literacy (AFB Press, 1997).

The workshop will be held February 22-24, 2007, at the American Foundation for the Blind in Atlanta, Georgia. Stipends will be available to assist with travel and lodging expenses. Space is limited to 25 participants.

The two-and-a-half day hands-on workshop will assist teachers who provide braille instruction to children and adults with special learning needs, including those with multiple disabilities, developmental delays, deafblindness, speak English as a second language, or have other learning challenges.

Upon completing this hands-on workshop, participants will be able to:

• Name/discuss aspects of reading and writing acquisition that can be applied to all learners
• Describe student characteristics for whom a functional approach may be useful
• Describe the 12 components of a functional approach
• List ways to create a braille-rich environment
• Describe several activities that teach tactile perception in a meaningful context
• Define diagnostic teaching and list reasons why it is important

If you are interested in participating, please contact Shirley Landrum at slandrum@afb.net, or call (404) 525-2303 to request an application. All applications must be received by January 19, 2007 at the American Foundation for the Blind, 100 Peachtree Street, Suite 620, Atlanta, GA 30303. Applicants will be notified of their acceptance status within one week of the submission deadline.

If you have questions, please feel free to contact Shirley Landrum or Ike Presley using the information listed above.

Dear DOT,

I am so excited about teaching braille to my students and sometimes I worry about losing my enthusiasm for this wonderful topic. Do you have any suggestions?

—Mr. Roman D. Rhodes

Dear Mr. Rhodes,

Keep up the great work! Braille is a wonderful source of information for our students and your enthusiastic support will help your students take pride in their special learning tool. Why, just think of the students who have participated in the Braille Challenge event each year - they must have had enthusiastic teachers like you! Maybe getting involved in a regional Braille Challenge would be one way to keep your enthusiasm high.

I recently had a letter from a teacher in Chicago who found a unique way to stoke her passion for braille and braille literacy. Here is what Gloria Moyer said:

"I teach braille to students with visual disabilities at Otis School in Chicago and was extremely fortunate to be awarded a Fund for Teachers Grant through the Chicago Foundation for Education this past summer. The theme of my Grant was braille literacy so I began at the heart of it all in Coupvray, France. This quaint village outside of paris is the birthplace and home of Louis Braille. The family home is a national historic site and has been preserved with items depicting the life of the Braille family and business of Braille's father, which was harness making. Also included are artifacts from the Paris School for the Blind where Braille taught and died. The proprietor spoke limited English and I speak no French but I was able to communicate the fact that I teach braille. She then took items from behind glass cases and let me explore them first hand. I can hardly explain the thrill I felt when touching Braille's actual writing slate and I am reminded each day as I teach my students.

As I further explored the village, I found a monument to Braille in the town square and his grave in the church cemetery. Actually, his body was exhumed after 100 years and given a place of honor in Paris. The town of Coupvray is very proud of their native son and insisted on a grave remaining. Today, a special tomb houses the bones of his hands stating the symbolism of that part of his body.

The majority of my adventure took place in England where I visited a primary school with a VI Resource room. The Markeaton school in Derby has an excellent staff who are advocates for braille literacy and inclusion. I met three darling girls who welcomed me into their class. New College Worcester is a residential school for 11-18 year olds with a diverse curriculum in academics and the arts. I spent a day following students and meeting many colleagues. I visited several offices and facilities of the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB), toured a braille production facility and had conversations about braille literacy.

Finally, I volunteered for a week at a summer camp for VI children. We stayed at a former Victorian mansion on a 50 acre estate which had been transformed into an adventure camp. With the help of a highly trained outdoor education staff, the 7-12 year olds experienced activities, I have no doubt, many of their sighted peers have never tried. Activities included riding a zip wire, driving a motorized quad bike, climbing a 36' pole to a trapeze, archery, fencing, climbing wall, and more. I saw joy in the faces of these children as I've never seen before.

My students at Otis have begun a penpal network with children in England and I am supplementing my teaching with a new primary braille series from the RNIB. They are enjoying the difference between English and American words and phrases. I had conversations with many English colleagues and they are all strong advocates for braille literacy. Many of them serve on committees in the UK. They are as passionate about their students' education as we are. We may live 'across the pond' but our work and our goals are the same; to give our students every opportunity to become successful and independent adults."

Well Mr. Rhodes, we may not all get an opportunity to travel "across the pond" like Gloria did, but the point is to explore - explore our history as educators or the history of braille and other forms of tactile reading; explore ways to put your students in touch with others so they can use their braille to communicate with friends; explore how other people teach braille. The other point is to keep having fun learning and teaching braille. Now, time for me to go braille a short letter to a friend!

News Briefs

Northwest Vista College in San Antonio, Texas, recently unveiled their new, three-semester online college certificate program to train people to become braille textbook transcribers. The college reported the online classes began August 28, 2006, with a full enrollment of 22 people from six states. AFB partnered with Verizon Communications, Northwest Vista College and the National Center on Low-Incidence Disabilities (NCLID) at the University of Northern Colorado to develop this online career opportunity for the nation. A significant addition in the online coursework is the inclusion of NCLID's open source WESBraille system. WESBraille is a system of computer-graded drill and practice lessons. Using only a web browser and a normal computer, a student can practice reading and creating braille and get immediate feedback without the direct involvement of an instructor. Students have the ability to use the pre-established drills, create their own ad hoc drill sessions, or take instructor prepared quizzes that forward the results to an instructor. The WESBraille system has been incorporated with an online version of the National Library Service (NLS) Manual of Braille Transcription to create an online braille curriculum that's available for use as part of a braille course, or as a self-study aid.

CAER (Canadian Association of Educational Resource Centres for Alternate Format Materials) has published A Literature Review of the Unified English Braille Code (August 2006). This report was commissioned by CAER to identify which issues within the proposed UEBC present the greatest challenges to the braille-using community. Their goal was that with the literature review stakeholders could have a common ground or foundation upon which to discuss UEBC. The full report is available from Bob Minnery, Supervisor, Resource Services Library, W. Ross Macdonald School for the Visually Impaired & Deafblind, 350 Brant Avenue, Brantford, ON N3T 3J9, Canada; bob.minnery@ontario.ca.

The fall 2006 meeting of BANA (Braille Authority of North America) was held in Washington, D.C. in October. Frances Mary D'Andrea, AFB's representative to BANA, reported the meeting was very productive and included election of new officers who take their positions in January: Judy Dixon, Chair; Eileen Curran, Vice Chair; Jennifer Dunnam, Secretary; Mary Archer, Treasurer. Kim Charlson will serve as Past Chair. BANA has drafted position papers on the history of braille unification efforts and on the importance of the slate and stylus. The American Council of the Blind has asked BANA to evaluate the merits of the Nemeth Unified Braille System project which is nearing completion. The next meeting of BANA will be hosted by the American Printing House for the Blind in Louisville, Kentucky, April 12-15, 2007.

In her report on BANA, Frances Mary noted the bicentennial of Louis Braille's birthday is coming up in January of 2009 - "Time to start planning something cool now!" she says.

Calendar Dates of Interest

• January 24-27, 2007 - Orlando, Florida. Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) 2007 Conference Showcasing Excellence in Assistive Technology. The conference will include over 20 presentations on subjects related to blindness and low vision with several specifically related to braille. For more information see www.atia.org or call (877) 687-2842.
• February 22-24, 2007 - Atlanta, Georgia. Braille Literacy: A Functional Approach. Read the article elsewhere in this newsletter for more information about this workshop sponsored by the American Foundation for the Blind. For more information contact Shirley Landrum by email at slandrum@afb.net or call (404) 525-2303 for an application.
• March 2-4, 2007 - Santa Clara, California. California Transcribers and Educators for the Visually Handicapped (CTEVH). For more information visit www.ctevh.org.
• June 23, 2007 - Los Angeles, California. The Braille Challenge finals. For more information see the related article in this newsletter or contact Nancy Niebrugge at (323) 906-3113. www.brailleinstitute.org.
• July 13-15, 2007 - Omaha, Nebraska. Families Connecting with Families. This national conference which covers all aspects of raising and educating a child with a visual impairment is sponsored by the National Association for Parents of Children with Visual Impairments, the American Foundation for the Blind, and The Seeing Eye. For more information check www.napvi.org or www.afb.org or www.seeingeye.org.
• November 29 - December 2, 2007 - St. Pete Beach, Florida. 2007 Getting In Touch With Literacy Conference. The theme of the 8th Biennial conference is to "Chart a Course to Literacy for Students with Visual Impairments." For more information check www.gettingintouchwithliteracy.org or call (813) 837-7829. SPECIAL NOTE: The call for papers for this conference is November 2006!

DOTS (Development of Teacher Support) for Braille Literacy is published three times a year (Fall, Winter, and Spring), and is available online at: www.afb.org/dots or in braille, by request. For further information please contact:

DOTS Editor
American Foundation for the Blind
100 Peachtree Street, Suite 620
Atlanta, GA 30303
Telephone: (404) 525-2303
Fax: (404) 659-6957
E-mail: literacy@afb.net

If you would like to routinely receive an email alerting you to the posting of future issues of the DOTS newsletter, please send a message to Shirley Landrum (slandrum@afb.net) as follows: In the subject line, please write "DOTS notification," and in the body of the message please include your entire name and any changes to your contact information that may have occurred over the last 12 months. You will be signed up to receive notices automatically. If you choose not to receive an email notice, you will still be able to access current and archived issues of DOTS online at www.afb.org/dots; and if you are a braille format subscriber, you will continue to receive your DOTS newsletter in braille.

[Web visitors, please visit www.afb.org/myAFBnewsletter.asp and follow the instructions there to sign up. You can then log in and update your profile at any time to alert us to changes in your contact information.]

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