SOL16 Day 5 of 31: Reaching a Child

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Two Writing Teachers.

A second grade class has been studying Helen Keller as part of the teacher’s resiliency focus (she introduces them to many great people who have faced hardship).  I have a friend who works at the Washington Blind School and is a Braillist. He agreed to come to the library and share about Braille.  He brought his machine that creates Braille and each child was able to make their name in Braille.

As the individual students wrote their names, students had  slips of paper with Braille sentences along with the Braille alphabet to work on decoding.  Some students loved the detective work while others gave up quickly.

One student in particular discovered he was a natural at decoding Braille.  He quickly deciphered the sentences.  After the class left, he returned to ask my friend how you get a job like his.

Now this is a child who struggles.  He’s a child that doesn’t seem to have a passion for anything.  But yesterday, he found it.  He continued to work on it all day long.

At the end of the day, he came back down to the library to show me the book he was writing in Braille.

It was so exciting to hear him say he thought he found something that interested him. So wonderful that this visit grabbed the curiosity of one student.  I think my friend made a difference today.

Here’s what else I learned yesterday about Braille:

• Louis Braille was about 15 when he invented the system.
• The letters are comprised by combinations of six dots which is called a Braille cell.
• As blind children learn Braille, they also learn Braille symbols that include letter combinations.
• Braille Bug is a great resource.

Click Clack Moo in Braille

Students looking at Click Clack Moo

Creating their name in Braille.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the book, and the book in Braille, 12 volumes worth.

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