Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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A question for those who learned Braille later in life (self.Blind)
submitted by mamatobee328
I work as a teacher for the visually impaired. When I was in school, I learned Braille and teaching it. However, it was mainly from the perspective of teaching congenitally blind students. I’m in my fifth year of teaching and have primarily always had very young, multiply impaired students. I now have an 18 year old student who has the potential to lose his sight. I have the goal for him to learn the basics of Braille and have a good foundation of understanding in the event of losing his sight. He is a great student but I can tell he is bitter about this. I don’t blame him. I have no idea what he’s going through and I can’t imagine how he feels. If any of you went through something similar and learned Braille, could you please give me some advice as to how to instruct and guide this young man? Are there any accidental faux pas I can avoid? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!
Terry_Pie 4 points 5y ago
I'm 29 and I started learning Braille this year. I've always known that some day I'll be totally blind, I can still read with the sight I have left (although I've started using a magnifying glass to help).
I never had any interest in learning Braille, but on further consideration early this year I realised would open up opportunities later in life (specifically: there's a blind news reader on Triple J - an Australian radio station - whose footsteps I'd like to follow in). It was also a genius idea because I usually treat my performance development stuff at work with great disdain, but I could actually bring Braille training to the table as a development opportunity. I now go for an hour lesson every Thursday (which work is happy for me to do on company time).
As someone who has learnt to read sighted and gone through university, the basics of Braille are incredibly easy to pick up. I also do very well because my knowledge of syntax etc is very good, so I'm very adept at predicting what is coming. The hard part is the rote learning of the contractions, but that will come with time and use. It sounds like your student is in a pretty similar place. I think the important thing is that apart from seeing the alphabet (in the 10/10/6 configuration) so he can visual the cells, make sure he doesn't look while reading Braille.
What sort of vision does he have at the moment? Thinking back to when I was 18, I was legally blind but I had much more sight than now and was quite comfortable not using a cane or accessible features of devices.
Do you mean he is bitter about sight loss or bitter about learning Braille? Regarding the former, I was diagnosed with RP formally when I was 9, but before then it was pretty much assumed. I'm not saying I don't feel down about it at times, but it's never bothered me overly much. Life is life, it's best not to get to tied up in it and do what you need to, to do the things you want to do.
In the case of the former, is he being forced to learn Braille? Does he have the choice not to learn? It's much easier to learn things when you're younger. It will also open up opportunities in the future if/when he does lose his sight. However a student with a closed mind isn't going to learn. If he doesn't want to be there and has the option not to be, it might actually be best for him not to be. This might lead to him learning hard lessons later in life, but all you and others can do is provide the advice, he has to choose whether to take it or not.
For myself, the choice was easier because I know for a fact I will be totally blind in the future (ok, sure, there's a chance I might stay as I am now for the rest of my life, but I highly doubt it). So it might help to know more about his condition and how it will likely progress (if it's genetic and there is another family member with experience, that'd be a great comparison/example). That way you can provide advice on when Braille might become useful for him.
Might've got a bit long so, TL:DR: yes, I am definitely going total later in life, came to the decision on my own, don't force him, he needs to come to the realisation on his own, you can help.
I hope some of that was usful! If you've any other questions, let me know :)
I never had any interest in learning Braille, but on further consideration early this year I realised would open up opportunities later in life (specifically: there's a blind news reader on Triple J - an Australian radio station - whose footsteps I'd like to follow in). It was also a genius idea because I usually treat my performance development stuff at work with great disdain, but I could actually bring Braille training to the table as a development opportunity. I now go for an hour lesson every Thursday (which work is happy for me to do on company time).
As someone who has learnt to read sighted and gone through university, the basics of Braille are incredibly easy to pick up. I also do very well because my knowledge of syntax etc is very good, so I'm very adept at predicting what is coming. The hard part is the rote learning of the contractions, but that will come with time and use. It sounds like your student is in a pretty similar place. I think the important thing is that apart from seeing the alphabet (in the 10/10/6 configuration) so he can visual the cells, make sure he doesn't look while reading Braille.
What sort of vision does he have at the moment? Thinking back to when I was 18, I was legally blind but I had much more sight than now and was quite comfortable not using a cane or accessible features of devices.
Do you mean he is bitter about sight loss or bitter about learning Braille? Regarding the former, I was diagnosed with RP formally when I was 9, but before then it was pretty much assumed. I'm not saying I don't feel down about it at times, but it's never bothered me overly much. Life is life, it's best not to get to tied up in it and do what you need to, to do the things you want to do.
In the case of the former, is he being forced to learn Braille? Does he have the choice not to learn? It's much easier to learn things when you're younger. It will also open up opportunities in the future if/when he does lose his sight. However a student with a closed mind isn't going to learn. If he doesn't want to be there and has the option not to be, it might actually be best for him not to be. This might lead to him learning hard lessons later in life, but all you and others can do is provide the advice, he has to choose whether to take it or not.
For myself, the choice was easier because I know for a fact I will be totally blind in the future (ok, sure, there's a chance I might stay as I am now for the rest of my life, but I highly doubt it). So it might help to know more about his condition and how it will likely progress (if it's genetic and there is another family member with experience, that'd be a great comparison/example). That way you can provide advice on when Braille might become useful for him.
Might've got a bit long so, TL:DR: yes, I am definitely going total later in life, came to the decision on my own, don't force him, he needs to come to the realisation on his own, you can help.
I hope some of that was usful! If you've any other questions, let me know :)
mamatobee328 [OP] 1 points 5y ago
Hi! Thanks so much for your reply. So, my student does not have a condition like RP where it’s rather certain he will go blind. He used to only be diagnosed with high myopia and he barely qualified for the vision program in our school district. Then a few years later, he experienced random bleeding which decreased his sight. He receives injections to stop the bleeding which in turn helps the vision loss. However, this is a sensitive situation because according to his ophthalmologist, the injections could just stop working one day and then the bleeding would lead to blindness. I have a goal on his IEP to learn the foundation of Braille because I feel like i would be being negligent if I didn’t introduce it. He doesn’t really have a “choice” per se but I only see him 30 minutes per week. I do agree on the open versus close minded point of view though. However, as his vision teacher i can’t ignore this just because he’s feeling bitter.
He’s bitter about his vision problems and therefore bitter about learning Braille because it further emphasizes his visual impairment. Like I said, I don’t blame him.
As for your Braille lessons, could you explain how they’re structured and explained to you? I’m following the Mangold curriculum right now but like I said in my original post, I was really only instructed on teaching congenitally blind kids so I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed.
He’s bitter about his vision problems and therefore bitter about learning Braille because it further emphasizes his visual impairment. Like I said, I don’t blame him.
As for your Braille lessons, could you explain how they’re structured and explained to you? I’m following the Mangold curriculum right now but like I said in my original post, I was really only instructed on teaching congenitally blind kids so I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed.
Terry_Pie 1 points 5y ago
I'm not sure what you can really say to him. At the end of the day, he'll have to come to terms with it on his own and I'm not sure I can give any suggestion there.
I probably should have said "lessons". We're much less structured here around Braille, at least in my state and for adults (I went to a mainstream school and had very little interaction with the sector until I started working 5 years ago). So those that teach Braille aren't (to the best of my knowledge) trained teachers. I know there is some lesson plan in terms of "learn this first, learn this next etc". From memory, we progressed something like this:
* First ten letters. Teacher says dot combo, I respond with letter. Do some Brailling of words using only first ten letters, I read those. I braille some likewise, teacher checks off.
* Repeat above for next ten, then next six. Each time also incorporating letters from ones you've already covered.
* Next two weeks: single letter contractions, then dot 5 contractions. By now it's all Brailling (either me or the teacher) and reading what has been Brailled.
* I think we stayed on the above for a little bit before progressing to the ch, gh etc and and, for, of etc. Oh, also punctuation.
* By this point, we're not Brailing any more, but I'm reading material with the teacher reading along.
* That goes on for a bit, then it's all the other bits. 46 and 56 contractions, th, wh contractions, contracted words etc. Basically a whole mess of stuff that I'm learning more through context reading.
At each stage where I'm moving up in what I'm learning, we add that in to whatever the material is I'm reading. So fully spelt out stuff, then stuff with dot 5s in it, then full stuff etc.
I'm learning by rote and experience, it's really the only way to do it. My teacher has some tips for remembering some things and I come with others for myself. My teacher tends to prompt a bit when we're reading (I had been spelling out things aloud a letter at a time), so I'm trying to read entire words before saying them, or even short bits of a sentence. My lesson is Thursday afternoon though and I'm pretty knackered by then, so I'm not exactly learning under ideal conditions, I'm led to believe I'm doing well but.
I hope that was useful information. I can ask next week what the name of the structure we went through is called, I'm pretty sure it was mentioned way back at the start. We did go through things quicker than others might though because I picked it up fast (as I mentioned, I have university level education and strong English language skills to thank for that).
Edit: Actually, that's a good tip: having reading material that he'd actually be interested to read! I don't care for sick kids going on camps, reading the Wikipedia article on Ray Charles wasn't too bad, but if it's something he'd want to read in the first place, that'll make it easier.
I probably should have said "lessons". We're much less structured here around Braille, at least in my state and for adults (I went to a mainstream school and had very little interaction with the sector until I started working 5 years ago). So those that teach Braille aren't (to the best of my knowledge) trained teachers. I know there is some lesson plan in terms of "learn this first, learn this next etc". From memory, we progressed something like this:
* First ten letters. Teacher says dot combo, I respond with letter. Do some Brailling of words using only first ten letters, I read those. I braille some likewise, teacher checks off.
* Repeat above for next ten, then next six. Each time also incorporating letters from ones you've already covered.
* Next two weeks: single letter contractions, then dot 5 contractions. By now it's all Brailling (either me or the teacher) and reading what has been Brailled.
* I think we stayed on the above for a little bit before progressing to the ch, gh etc and and, for, of etc. Oh, also punctuation.
* By this point, we're not Brailing any more, but I'm reading material with the teacher reading along.
* That goes on for a bit, then it's all the other bits. 46 and 56 contractions, th, wh contractions, contracted words etc. Basically a whole mess of stuff that I'm learning more through context reading.
At each stage where I'm moving up in what I'm learning, we add that in to whatever the material is I'm reading. So fully spelt out stuff, then stuff with dot 5s in it, then full stuff etc.
I'm learning by rote and experience, it's really the only way to do it. My teacher has some tips for remembering some things and I come with others for myself. My teacher tends to prompt a bit when we're reading (I had been spelling out things aloud a letter at a time), so I'm trying to read entire words before saying them, or even short bits of a sentence. My lesson is Thursday afternoon though and I'm pretty knackered by then, so I'm not exactly learning under ideal conditions, I'm led to believe I'm doing well but.
I hope that was useful information. I can ask next week what the name of the structure we went through is called, I'm pretty sure it was mentioned way back at the start. We did go through things quicker than others might though because I picked it up fast (as I mentioned, I have university level education and strong English language skills to thank for that).
Edit: Actually, that's a good tip: having reading material that he'd actually be interested to read! I don't care for sick kids going on camps, reading the Wikipedia article on Ray Charles wasn't too bad, but if it's something he'd want to read in the first place, that'll make it easier.
-shacklebolt- 1 points 5y ago
I learned braille in my late teens, but I've only in the past few years really decided to improve my skills and actively use them a lot more as an adult. I primarily read in grade 1, I can read a fair bit of contracted but I have to mentally stop and translate a lot of it so I'm slower overall and just don't prefer it as someone who grew up reading printed English.
I'll say two compatible things:
- For the average person facing losing their sight, knowing how to use and being a proficient user of access technologies like computer screenreaders and mobile screenreaders is a lot more immediately valuable.
- Using a braille display, personally, is a "make or break" thing for using braille for me. I use my braille display all the time. I fucking love that thing. I love being able to read and listen to something else during the day, or read in the quiet in bed. It's so much easier to use, easier to read from as the letters are always very crisp, less bulky, and less cumbersome than using embossed paper braille.
If you can advocate for him to get a nice, modern portable display that can be easily paired up with the devices he's already using that's probably going to make a real difference in him actually *using* braille.
Learning the basics is just rote memorization, after that improving your skills all depends on actually wanting to read braille.
The site http://accessible.uebonline.org/ might be useful to you and student.
I'll say two compatible things:
- For the average person facing losing their sight, knowing how to use and being a proficient user of access technologies like computer screenreaders and mobile screenreaders is a lot more immediately valuable.
- Using a braille display, personally, is a "make or break" thing for using braille for me. I use my braille display all the time. I fucking love that thing. I love being able to read and listen to something else during the day, or read in the quiet in bed. It's so much easier to use, easier to read from as the letters are always very crisp, less bulky, and less cumbersome than using embossed paper braille.
If you can advocate for him to get a nice, modern portable display that can be easily paired up with the devices he's already using that's probably going to make a real difference in him actually *using* braille.
Learning the basics is just rote memorization, after that improving your skills all depends on actually wanting to read braille.
The site http://accessible.uebonline.org/ might be useful to you and student.
Ramildo 1 points 5y ago
I learned Braille at a rehabilitation center for the blind, however I don't find it as useful as I thought it would be because I communicate mostly using my computer and phone, both of which have speech synthesizers, meaning that I rarely find a reason to train and thus my Braille skills suck.
mamatobee328 [OP] 1 points 5y ago
Thanks for your reply. I figure even if my student does go blind, he would mostly use assistive technology like you do. But I think it’s important to still know it for situations such as finding the correct bathroom to go into in a restaurant and whatnot.
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