Teaching Letter Differentation to Students Who are Blind or Visually Impaired

By Activity Bank on Jul 02, 2013

This activity has been revised and was originally created by Mary Jane Clark and published in the Perkins Activity and Resource Guide (1st edition, 1992). The second edition is available for purchase.

The beginning of literacy is recognizing letters. This activity teaches letter recognition, letter sequencing, and taking turns. Lessons include English Language Arts and Concept Development.

Materials

Large print or braille alphabet 3x5 cards
Masking tape to attach cards to wall
- Note: when using braille cards, always tape them to a surface to keep them from moving around as the student is reading and reorganizing them.

Procedure

Teacher arranges 3x5 alphabet cards, in braille or large print, on a wall, low enough for the student to reach, or on a table surface.
Cards are placed out of alphabetical order.
The student helps the teacher put the cards in the correct order.
When the student understands the procedure, he should independently place the cards in order.
If the student correctly sequences the letters, he can mix them up and try to trick the teacher!

Variations

It may be helpful at first to start with the first five to ten letters of the alphabet, and introduce new letters as the student masters sequencing and letter recognition skills.
Upper- and lowercase alphabet cards may be mixed together.
Follow the same procedure for:
- Uppercase letter recognition
- Lowercase letter recognition
- Number recognition
- Counting by twos, fives, tens

Hint: Give the student opportunities to practice alphabetizing words such as alphabetizing names in an address book.

For more ideas on teaching braille literacy, see also Paths to Literacy.

http://www.pathstoliteracy.org/instructional-strategies-teaching-braille