During an I.E.P. meeting in May, a parent realized that her five-year-old, who is blind, would need time for study as well as play during the summer. The concern for the parent was that she did not know braille or the English language in order to help her daughter retain the signs learned. TVI Anna Gayle decided to create bilingual flash cards, so that both the child and the parent would be able to study braille together. With the help of another Hispanic student in high school, the flashcard set was created.
Anna had a worksheet with the braille cells that she used with low vision students and, from it, cut out each cell and taped it to an index card. Above the braille cell, the letter and alphabetic whole word were written in English. The numbers of the dot formation were written in Spanish next to the corresponding dot on the cell. Below the cell, was the alphabetic word written in Spanish. To the right of the print format, was the actual braille sign. The idea was to enable the mother to state the alphabetic whole word in Spanish while the daughter read the actual braille dots to state the dot formation of the word. The parent would also be able to check the child as her daughter read each word.
It is hoped that when school begins in August, one first grader will be ready to move forward reading with confidence and a mother will feel that she was able to help with her daughter’s educational progress.
