Learning Braille - Lesson 1

Today we began our braille lessons. I have decided to teach Sarah to read and and write it simultaneously as it seems to be easier to do it this way. We were given a braille writer by the New Mexico School for the Blind. A braille writer is the instrument that Sarah will use to learn to write in braille.

This is a braille writer. The middle button is the space bar. The three buttons on the left of the space bar are for dots 1,2,3 (from right to left) and the three buttons on the right of the space bar are for dots 4,5,6 (this time from left to right). The farthest left and right buttons (the ones higher than the others) are to bring the typewriter back to the beginning of the line and to begin a new line. 

I have given the kids the option of whether or not they wanted to learn braille alongside Sarah. Josh was the first on board which does not surprise me in the least as he has always been front and center of Sarah's illness and wanting to know how to make Sarah's life better and easier for her. Elizabeth decided to pay attention to Sarah's lesson about 1/2 through and I am sure that will be the case for the duration of our lessons. She will pay attention to some and not to others. That is okay. Andy decided not to participate in learning braille. His response was that if he can talk to Sarah why should he learn braille? I was a bit upset by this response, but let it go because I don't want to force any of this on any of them. Andy has taken his typical stance - head in the sand - when it comes Sarah's illness. (Although, in his defense, he has done a much better job since coming back from Ohio in January in helping to assist her - especially when out in public.)

This is the curriculum that we will
be using. It was given to us by the New
Mexico School for the Blind. 

Our first lesson today was to learn about the braille cell. We learned that a braille cell is made up of 6 dots. All 26 letters (and everything else for that matter) will be some sort of combination of those 6 dots. The first 10 letters of the alphabet are comprised of a combination of the first top 4 dots. The next 10 letters are a repeat of the first 10 letters, but with the addition of  the 3 dot in the cell. (I will be able to show you better as we go along) the final letters are a repeat of the second set of 10 plus the 6th dot. (I know, you are completely lost.)

(Photo courtesy of: brailleworks.com)

The top two rows are the letter 'A'. The next row is the letter 'B'. The fallowing rows are the letter 'C'. Then the letter 'D'. The final three rows are the letter  'E'.




This is what letters a-j look like (obviously). Do you see how these first 10 letters only use the top 4 dots? (They actually only use dots numbers 1,2,5,6 if you are following the braille cell.)

Spells out 'Dad' in braille. (She repeated the word over and over again.)

So we will see where this takes us. I am guessing that it will take the better part of a year to learn braille because there are two braille "languages" - grade 1 and grade 2. Grade 1 (which is what we are learning) is the basic alphabet, numbers, punctuation. Grade 2 is a more complex system where the 6 dots form actual words and not just letters. (This done because books would be huge if each word had to be spelled out in braille letter by letter. With Grade 2 each set of dots can represent one written word, thus making it easier for books to be written in braille.)

I am excited for Sarah because I think that this will be one big step towards her eventual independence.  I am proud of her and Josh for being so open to this new way of communicating. The two kids were already talking about how they will soon have a secret language that only they will understand. I am also so thankful when the kids are excited and open to new things.

It is afternoons like this when I am so humbled by my life and grateful for it all. I am truly blessed in a way that I would have never understood before Sarah's diagnosis. I feel a gratitude so deep and pure that I can describe adequately with words. I am excited for the future. Life truly is good.