Rehabilitation professionals working with students with disabilities and the families of those students face unique challenges in providing inclusive services to special education student populations. There needs to be a focus on adaptive teaching methods that provide quality experience for students with varying disabilities to promote student…

This article clarifies literacy issues that affect the achievement and performance of students with severe visual impairments. The article discusses the nature of the braille code and offers suggestions and strategies for helping children with limited sight overcome difficulties and for making braille and print accessible for group activities.…

This article presents the process approach as an effective way of teaching braille writing to young children who are blind. The writing process used in the primary grades establishes a foundation for development of future literacy skills, and instills enthusiasm and confidence in children approaching the complex task of braille writing.…

Blind adults with language deficiencies often can learn enough braille to be able to use it for self-communication. Although the manuals of instruction commonly available are not adequate for everyone, individualized plans for teaching braille can be adapted to meet specific needs. Such plans should have a strong readiness program to teach proper…

Discusses teaching methods and instructional aids developed to integrate blind students into a private class for elementary-school-aged piano students. Instructional aids incorporate auditory and tactile stimuli to teach music notation skills. Commercial games, like Bingo, were modified with Braille symbols to teach rhythm concepts. (AM)

This article offers teaching strategies for developing number sense for children who are blind and braille users. Suggestions focus on developing number meanings, exploring number relationships with manipulatives, understanding the relative magnitude of numbers, developing intuitions about the relative effect of operating on numbers, and…

Guidelines for working with remedial braille readers in the areas of attitude/motivation, mechanical skills, decoding skills, and comprehension are provided. Lists of suggestions are presented in each of the areas. (PHR)

Israeli programs that have been used to teach children to read Hebrew braille are described, and a reading scheme called "Secrets and Surprises" is presented. The method uses an eclectic approach, emphasizes comprehension and the communicative element of reading, and offers a variety of presentation modes to meet individual students'…

Discusses the growing ethnic and cultural diversity of the student population and the challenges this presents in teaching English Braille. The need to first address the student's competence in spoken English before teaching Braille is stressed. Using grade one Braille for teaching ethnically diverse students is recommended. (CR)

Analysis of completed surveys from 230 teachers of blind and visually impaired learners found that preservice training programs emphasizing the methodology of teaching Braille and the development of tactual perception tended to produce teachers who have positive attitudes toward Braille and feel competent in teaching Braille to children. (DB)

This article describes the whole-language philosophy of teaching reading and writing and its application to teaching braille reading to blind children. It suggests activities that are effective for enhancing the development of early reading behaviors in children who use braille and that integrate the critical components of literacy learning with…

A diagnostic teaching approach for determining the appropriate reading medium (print or braille) of children with visual impairments is presented. Two checklists are offered for recording observations useful in making decisions during two phases (selection of the medium for beginning instruction and ongoing evaluation of the initial decision). Two…

This article discusses ways to teach low vision students to read braille, including both parallel instruction (the student learns to read print and braille simultaneously) and nonparallel instruction (the print-reading student learns braille). The following approaches are briefly described: basal reader, language experience, whole language,…

This K-12 reading curriculum for exceptional child education is arranged in a format comparable to the general education curriculum, and is sequenced in the order in which most children learn. The curriculum begins with a list of 123 objectives of the reading program. The objectives cover the areas of perceptual skills, word attack, structural…

Beginning braille readers may benefit from an integrated-literacy curriculum which reflects the interrelationships of oral language, reading, and writing, and stresses the pleasurable and purposeful aspects of literacy. Integrating braille materials into daily curriculum activities can assist students to make the read/write connection and to begin…