Braille books, or books for the blind, use the tactile writing system in books to provide visually impaired individuals the opportunity to read for education and fun. A braille books allows a person to touch-read stories that are written in raised braille or enhanced tactile images. Some children’s books have the story printed on one page and the braille writing on the opposite page to allow the child to follow along during story time.
Braille tactile books provide an accessible and enjoyable way for blind, low vision or sight impaired children to learn. A child can follow along with the touch-read stories which are written in raised braille and enhanced with tactile images. The story is printed on one page, and in braille with images on the opposite page. This enables the story to be read while the child follows along on the braille side, or the child can independently read it in braille.
The Variety of Braille Books Available
Braille books are available in various themes, such as alphabet, counting, fruit, vegetables, shapes, and clothing items. The alphabet book teaches the letters in an interactive, multi-sensory system. The words are compatible with both grade 1 and grade 2 braille. The counting book counts from 1 to 10 with bright and fun graphics for visually impaired or low vision children. It offers visual stimulation for first time braille learners while at home or in a classroom. The fruit book helps a child identify many different types of fruits with tactile images and the spelling of the word in braille. Similarly, the vegetable book helps a child identify different types of vegetables, also with tactile images and the spelling of the word in braille.
The shapes book teaches a child, or anyone new to braille, about a variety of shapes. These include squares, circles, diamonds, and pentagons. Each shape has the name written in raised braille and a tactile, colorful image as an added illustration. This book can add fun for the classroom, at home, in the car, or in a medical setting. The clothes book contains tactile images and sentences written in both braille and print. It is helpful for young readers with vision impairments.
Braille coloring books come in seasonal themes with raised lines to help with coloring inside the lines. They provide a way to help with concentration, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and coloring skills for a sighted child as well as a visually impaired child. The summer theme book features flowers, animals, trees, camping, sailing, and gardening. The winter theme book includes delightful scenes of winter activities, such as ice skating, sleigh riding, and sledding. The spring theme book has flowers, animals and trees, as well as cheerful spring activities such as playing baseball and planting flowers.
Braille maps include political and physical maps of North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Australia, Africa, and Antarctica. They feature latitude and longitude markings, a key to symbols, and an index to braille abbreviations. The tactile maps are on clear vinyl with bold feature markings and large print on a separate heavy paper base.
A braille organizer keeps files, records or names in alphabetical order with individual pockets. Each pocket has raised letters in braille for ease of use, with a cover which folds over to protect the contents and fastens securely.
What are the Different Grades of Braille?
There are three different grades of braille due to the varying needs of braille readers. In grade 1, the first grade of braille, each possible arrangement of dots within a cell represents only one number, letter, punctuation sign, or special braille composition sign. It is a one-to-one conversion. In this grade, individual cells cannot represent abbreviations or words. Books and other documents produced in grade 1 are bulkier and larger than normally printed text because of this grade’s inability to shorten words. Grade 1 braille is typically used only by those who are new to learning braille.
Grade 2 braille was introduced as a space saving alternative to grade 1, with a cell representing a shortened form of a word. This is the most popular of the grades of braille because many cell combinations have been created to represent common words. There are part-word contractions that often stand in for common prefixes or suffixes. Also, there are whole-word contractions where a single cell represents an entire commonly used word. Words may be abbreviated by using a single letter to represent the entire word, or by using a special symbol to precede the first or last letter of the word while shortening the rest of the word. Alternatively, word compression may be achieved by using a double letter contraction such as “cc” or “bb”, or by removing most or all of the vowels in a word in order to shorten it. This grade has developed a complex system of rules, styles and usage.
Grade 3 is the last of the grades of braille and is basically a system of braille shorthand. It is not used in publications because it has not been standardized. Instead, it is used by individuals for personal convenience and contains over 300 word contractions and makes use of vowel omissions. Also, the amount of spacing between paragraphs and words is decreased to shorten the length of the final document. Additionally, grade 3 braille sometimes substitutes combinations of punctuation symbols for words.
Rehabmart is pleased to carry a variety of fun and interesting braille and tactile books from one of our esteemed vendor, MaxiAids.
Hulet Smith, OT
Rehabmart Co-Founder & CEO
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