Our ReadBooks! Because Braille Matters program seeks to identify and develop the next generation of braille readers across the country. The goal is to make parents more aware of the power of braille literacy, to instill in their child an early love of reading, and to make parents better advocates for the necessity of braille instruction.
In pilot programs that preceded the fully-developed ReadBooks! Program, we engaged medical professionals, and later social workers, to convey to parents the message that braille is the best vehicle for their child to master reading and writing. One clinical worker writes:
Yesterday, a 6-year-old [blind] girl came to the clinic. Your recent note about the braille books reminded me that I had one so I asked her mother if she knew braille. [When] I gave Giselle the book (which is big), she dropped her cane, plopped down in the middle of the floor and ran her hands over the pages. When I told her mom that the book was hers to keep, to take home to read to Giselle so she could practice learning her braille, mom began to weep, gave me a hug and said that this book was a gift of love.
As part of the ReadBooks! Program, we give parents of blind children a Braille Book Bag in one of three age categories: Birth to 3, 4 to 5, and 6 to 7. Book bags contain print/braille storybooks, a guide for parents, board books for the youngest children, print/braille placemats, print/braille playing cards, and other educational materials.
The program emphasizes that braille reading is a normal life activity, and it fosters the home-learning environment among sighted parents and siblings. This is part of our effort to affect the attitudes of those with whom a blind child may come in contact -- parents, teachers, or members of the general population.
We are unaware of any other organization that has supported on a national level the need for braille exposure at home during the earliest years of a child’s development.
