As part of a local school’s class topic on Louis Braille, the inventor of Braille, Connect staff were invited to work with two classes of six and seven-year-olds to give them experience of what it can be like for those with a visual impairment through a series of practical and engaging activities.
During the morning the children enthusiastically engaged in several different activities.The first task really made the children think about what a difference having a visual impairment can make by using a range of simulation specs. Children were asked to try on the sim specs which simulate a range of visual impairments and then asked to read given pieces of text and identify objects on the table and around the room, as well as each other. (With due safety precautions of course!)
The sense of touch and learning to recognise objects and reading is something the children experienced through looking at the Braille versions of the text to try and ‘crack the code’ of dots in each word, moving on to working out and writing their own names in Braille by hand, matching the sets of dots that represented each letter of their name. After their code-breaking activity, the children were able to use a Brailler machine to Braille their names and print these out on Braille paper so they could read their name by feeling the raised dots.
A final sensory-based activity involved the children drawing simple pictures and inscribing their names on drawing film – this raises the film so they could feel what they had drawn.
At the end of the morning the children had not only had an educational and fun session, they had gained a valuable experience that will stay with them for a long time to come.
Share this:
