This year, the special education teaching team at College Heights is serving two students in the preschool classroom who are blind. Students who are blind need the same exposure and experiences at an early age as their sighted peers to encourage early literacy skills. This includes exposure to braille as well as books and materials with textures and object representations. These students are not able to interact with traditional print and are beginning to learn braille as their mode of access to learning materials.
The special education team has received a grant from the Decatur Education Foundation to purchase braille books for use by students, teachers, and families. Nearly 60 braille books have been added to the classroom library and will be available to the entire class in order to expose the students to different ways of learning. Students in Ms. Rafiyah’s three-year-old class have already begun enjoying these books with friends. The teaching team is quickly learning braille right along with the students.
The braille library will be housed in the media center for teacher check-out throughout the building. Next year, the students will have access to the braille library as pre-kindergarten students, and the teachers hope to continue to expand the selection throughout the year.
The special education team is in the process of making as many literacy opportunities accessible as possible. Other literacy tools they have employed include classroom labels using a braille writer and tactile books that align with the preschool and prekindergarten curriculum. They are excited to expose the class and eventually the entire school to this form of written expression, and DEF is pleased to invest in materials that ensure equity for our early learners!
