ObjectiveEd received the Louis Braille Touch of Genius award at CSUN 2019 for our innovation Braille Sheets.
Details are here: https://www.perkinselearning.org/technology/blog/objective-ed-wins-louis-braille-touch-genius-award
Braille Sheets is one of the technologies in the ObjectiveEd suite. It lets a student practice braille letters, words or sentences using an iPad to which a page of embossed braille is placed on the surface of the iPad. The page of embossed braille can be produced using any method (such as a braille embosser) that the professional typically uses to provide the student with hardcopy braille.
As the student moves his finger across the braille letters or words, the game app knows where his finger is touching. Since the game app is pre-programmed through the web-dashboard, it responds appropriately to the braille the student is touching.
Lessons that match what your students enjoy
Megan is motivated when learning about horses.
1. Mrs. Hernandez, Megan's teacher of students with visual impairments, writes a short story using the ObjectiveEd web-dashboard about horses in which contractions she is focusing to teach Megan are included. Megan lives in Boston.
2. Megan enjoys reading the story on the page of braille.
3. Then Megan puts the braille sheet on her iPad and the game begins. It asks Megan questions about the horse in the story. To answer each question she must locate the correct word in the story. For example, the game asks, “Where did the horse sleep at night?” Megan touches the word “barn”and the game rewards her with a winning sound and says, “Yes, the horse slept in the barn at night.”
4. Mrs. Hernadez shares her braille sheet in the ObjectiveEd Professional Network.
Using a Braille Sheet created by another teacher
1. Mr. Sims teaches Rafael, a young student who also loves horses. Both Mr. Sims and Rafael live outside of Seattle.
2. Mr. Sims searches the ObjectiveEd Professional Network for stories that contain horses and includes UEB contractions.
3. He finds Mrs. Hernandez’s braille sheet, and selects it. Mr. Sims prints it on his school’s embosser, affixes it to the iPad, and hands it to Rafael.
4. Rafael enjoys reading the story at home, playing the game and practicing UEB contractions.
How to create your own lesson content with a Braille Sheet
Braille Sheets Skill Areas
BRAILLE QUIZ
Braille Sheets Q&A game: a student reads a story on a sheet of braille, then hears an audio question, and finds an answer on the braille sheet and double taps.
A sheet of braille is placed on an iPad, and the student reads that braille sheet as part of the game.
In Braille Quiz, you create your own braille stories and audio questions.
For example, you can create a braille sheet with a story about horses, for a student who is learning the "AR" contraction. One of the audio questions could be “Where does the horse sleep at night”, and the student must read the braille story, find the contracted form of the word “BARN” (“B”, dot 2,4,5, “N”) and double tap. This game can contain multiple questions and each question has one or more answers on the braille sheet. You can select which words in the story should be contracted on the braille sheet.
Or you can use some of the braille sheets listed in this section, with a question like “Find a word that begins with the letter D”, or “Find a word that rhymes with FISH” or “Find the word that means the opposite of SHORT”.
BRAILLE HUNT
Braille Sheets task-oriented game based on one or more audio questions, such as “Double tap on all the letter ‘A’ on the sheet”, or “Find all the words that start or end with TH” or find all words that contain a contraction.
A sheet of braille is placed on an iPad, and the student reads that braille sheet as part of the game.
In Braille Hunt, You create your own braille sheet or use some of the sheets from Objective Ed, including sight words, CVC words and other patterns.