[bookshare-discuss] Re: About Braille
- From: "Gerald Mackowiak" <gmackowiak@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 13 May 2004 20:00:38 -0700
Kellie, I vote for outlawing Algebra!!!!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kellie Hartmann" <kellhart@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2004 7:31 PM
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: About Braille
> It's hard for me to understand wanting to reject teaching braille because
> braille is too hard. Yes learning braille can be hard, but for me algebra
> was much harder and I haven't heard of any movement to abolish algebra. My
> main braille-related pet peeve is that schools and parents are reluctant
to
> teach braille to partially sighted students at an early age. I know many
> people who lost their sight at some point and then had to learn braille;
it
> would have been much easier for them if they had just been taught from the
> beginning. I don't mean that partially sighted students should not use
print
> if they can do so without too much strain, but having braille for a
back-up
> might be very useful in the future and has no drawbacks. I've seen studies
> that explained why those who learn braille at a very early age usually
have
> a much greater reading speed than those who learned it later. Of course
it's
> good for all kids to learn to read early, but it's even more important for
> braille readers, additionally it takes time to learn and memorize all the
> grade 2 contractions. I've heard of cases where young children were told
> they could learn braille if they wanted, and, predictably, chose not to.
> I've never heard of a sighted child being given a choice about whether or
> not they would like to learn to read, and it should be no different with
> blind and visually impaired kids. I know quite a few adults who now wish
> very much that they knew braille.
> Ok, there's my rant for the day. <haha>
> Kellie
>
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