By: Carmen Willings teachingvisuallyimpaired.com Updated May 27, 2024
Learning the dot positions within a braille cell is an important foundational skill for reading and writing in braille. While it is the foundation, it is not essential for discriminating letters, numbers, and punctuation. The following are strategies to teach dot positions and help students discriminate between different symbols:
Tactile Activities:
Use tactile materials such as muffin tins with tennis balls, egg cartons, or shape-match games to represent the dot positions in a braille cell.
Materials provided by APH like the swing cell, pop-a-cell, and the Big Cell can also be helpful for hands-on learning.
Discrimination Tasks:
Encourage the student to identify the one symbol that is different within a group of three symbols, two of which are identical. This helps develop tactile discrimination skills.
Have the student match braille configurations to reinforce understanding of dot positions and patterns.
Spacing Awareness:
Help the student identify spaces within a line of braille symbols. This includes recognizing single spaces between symbols and multiple spaces between groups of symbols.
Practice identifying groups of symbols within a line of braille, particularly focusing on understanding the concept of spacing and organization.
By incorporating these strategies into instruction, students can develop a strong understanding of the dot positions within a braille cell and improve their ability to discriminate between different symbols. This foundational skill lays the groundwork for further proficiency in reading and writing in braille.