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Activity and strategy

Note-Taking Strategy to Log School Reading Assignments

Tips to create an accessible reading log for braille students

My son Liam is 7 years old and in a second grade mainstream classroom. He is deafblind and a braille reader. One of the teacher’s expectations for second graders is for them to read at home nightly and record what they read. The record sheet we would get would look something similar to this one that we found on Pinterest.

A sheet like this was hard for us to use with the brailler and line everything up perfectly every time. We tried using braille label paper, cutting it out, and sticking it on the reading log form, but that was time consuming and messy, as well as being hard for Liam to do independently. It seemed like it was a lot more work than it needed to be. I knew that I could just fill out the form for Liam using print instead of adding braille, but that goes against my beliefs about accessibility for my son and supporting his independence. I wanted something that would be simple to use when recording Liam’s nightly reading and I wanted something that Liam could do independently with little help from me. I discussed my thoughts and possible solutions with a friend (Thanks Charlotte!) and came up with using large note cards and a note card box.

Materials

  • 5×7 note cards
  • Box to hold the cards (Cover labeled in braille) 
  • Brailler
Note-taking card box with label in print and braille "Liam's reading list"
Note-taking card box with label in print and braille “Liam’s reading list”

Procedure

  1. Read assigned homework
  2. Add the note card to the brailler and Liam writes the date and the book or pages that were read
  3. Place the card into the box.  
  4. Box can be returned to school for the teacher to review.
Liam reading Goodnight Moon
Liam doing his assigned reading of “Goodnight Moon”
Liam using a brailler to record his reading
Liam using a brailler to record his reading
Liam puts the card in the box
Liam puts the card back in the plastic box
cards recording Liam's reading in a plastic box
Cards are ready to go back to Liam’s teacher.

Liam enjoyed this note-taking process so much the first time that he wrote his assigned reading 3 times on 3 different cards! (Motivation and independence!)

Parent Tip:

I am not as fluent in braille as I would like to be. Liam is way better at contractions then me at the moment (I am working to catch up!). I use brailletranslator.org to help make sure that I am able to help Liam with writing if he needs it or gets stuck. I look up the words on my cell phone for convenience.  

Variations

This note-taking strategy can be used for many different  things! You could collect many different note card boxes and label them for whatever use you may have!

Examples:

  • Memories
  • Word Lists
  • Addresses
  • Grocery List
  • Book reviews
  • To-do Lists
  • School Notes or assignments
Collage of note-taking strategy to log school reading assignments for a braille reader who is deafblind in an inclusive setting
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