2009 National Federation of the Blind Early Childhood Conference

This past May we attended a really great early childhood conference at the NFB in Baltimore. I just found several of the really great speeches and discussions are available in mp3. You can check them out here.

National Federation of the Blind Partners with Santa to Promote Braille Literacy

Baltimore, Maryland (November 16, 2009): Once again, Santa has enlisted the help of the elves at the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) Jernigan Institute to get Braille letters out to hundreds of blind boys and girls this Christmas season.

Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: “Santa approached the National Federation of the Blind a couple of years ago and asked us to be his helpers. I’m quite fond of the fellow and was delighted that we could assist him in his work. Braille literacy is the key to success and opportunity for the blind, but unfortunately too few blind children are learning it today. This program will not only be jolly good fun but will also serve an important educational purpose, as blind children will be able to practice reading Braille as they enjoy their letter from Saint Nicholas.”

Between November 16 and December 20, parents can go online at www.nfb.org and fill out a Santa Braille Letter request form. The form can also be printed and faxed to (410) 659-6893. Beginning December 1, the Braille letters from Santa will start going out to boys and girls around the country. The Braille letter will also be accompanied by a print copy (for mom and dad to read), and parents can choose the contracted or uncontracted form of Braille for the letter. Requests for letters must include the writer’s name, the child’s name, birthday, gender, mailing address, and a telephone number or e-mail address in case Santa’s helpers at the National Federation of the Blind have questions.

The Braille letters from Santa program is part of the National Federation of the Blind’s national Braille literacy campaign, the largest ever undertaken in United States history. Congress authorized the minting in 2009 of 400,000 Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollars to mark the two-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille (1809–1852) and to support the efforts of the National Federation of the Blind to promote literacy among blind Americans. This unique and beautiful commemorative coin is the first U.S. currency to feature tactile, readable Braille.

A portion of the proceeds from sales of the 2009 Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar will be used to support the NFB’s “Braille Readers are Leaders” campaign, a national initiative created to double the number of blind children learning Braille by 2015, improve certification standards for teachers of Braille, and conduct innovative programs to support Braille literacy.

The deadline for letter requests is December 20, to ensure that a return letter in Braille is received before Christmas. For more information about this and other programs of the National Federation of the Blind, please visit our Web site at www.nfb.org. Those interested in ordering a 2009 Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar or the new Braille Education Set, which features the coin in a collectible folder designed to highlight the life and legacy of Louis Braille, should visit www.braille.org or www.usmint.gov or call 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468). The Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar and the Braille Education Set will only be available until December 11, 2009.

Holiday Braille: Letters from Santa

This year, Hadley is excited to again offer its “Letters from Santa” program. Hadley students are encouraged to send in holiday messages to Santa in print or braille and Hadley’s “Santa” will send them a personal response. This program is a fun way Hadley celebrates the holidays and promotes the use of braille for children.

If you are a Hadley student with a visually impaired braille-reading or braille-learning child in your life, we invite you to send in your letter request no later than December 11. A response will be returned in braille, along with a print copy. There is no charge for this service.

Email to santa@hadley.edu is the preferred medium for your letter to Santa request, but the email must provide a valid street address to send the braille response, or it will not be processed.

Requests can also be mailed to:
The Hadley School for the Blind
700 Elm Street
Winnetka, IL 60093
Attention: Santa
Please allow two weeks for delivery of your braille response if you submit by mail.

If there is something special you would like Santa to mention, please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate you. Please understand that we will not be able to respond to letters received after December 11, 2009.

Questions? Please call 800-323-4238.

An Opportunity To Make A Difference is Knocking…Will You Answer?

From www.teachblindstudents.org:

For thousands of blind students, the doors to literacy, independence, and self-confidence have been shut too long. Today, only about 10% of blind and visually impaired students are taught Braille. Only 45% of the blind possess high school diplomas; further, and perhaps not surprisingly, 70% of Blind adults find themselves unemployed and living highly limited lives. These trends have emerged for a variety of reasons, most of which are based on low expectations for blind students, and misconceptions about the way these students function in school, at home, and in the community. Essentially, since many people don’t know what blind students can accomplish, these students are rarely pushed out of their comfort zones to tackle new and demanding learning opportunities. Fortunately, you can make a difference!

Free Descriptive Movies in mp3

I have been trying to find a resource for purchasing descriptive videos, and someone sent me a link to this great site. Blindmicemart.com has a huge descriptive video vault, that you can download for free in mp3 format. This might not be as useful if you have sighted children and blind/VI children watching together, but they are great to put on a mp3 player for travel, or to listen to while doing things around the house.

If you scroll down to the bottom of their page, you will find a link for their Movie Vault. Click on this and it will take you to their list of descriptive movies. You can go through the list to find what you want, and then download them for free. There is an upgrade download service you can buy to download them faster, and more at a time, but so far I am just downloading some everyday and taking advantage of them being free.

We've listened to Disney's "Snow White" and it was great. The speaker has a calm voice that flows with the movie, and I was amazed at the amount of detail that was described.

They have plenty of children's movies including many Disney favorites, and the Shrek movies. There are also many movies for grown ups and older children.

Touch the Art Series

I discovered these neat books in the Uncommon Goods catalog the other day. (They're a better deal on Amazon right now: you can get all four for $30 with their 4-for-3 promotion.)

I think these are a great way to bring art to life. Each painting offers a short rhyme, a tactile facet of each work of art, and some info about the artist. There are four books, one each covering 20th Century Pop Art, Renaissance to Baroque, 19th Century Impressionists, and Modern Art of the 20th Century.

I love the idea of sharing art with blind children, and I think these books begin that conversation. Obviously they aren't very in depth, being aimed at small children. I think that paired with good descriptions of each piece you can begin to open your child up to the concepts of art, different styles, and what makes it interesting to different people. Perhaps you can inspire them to do some creating of their own!

National Braille Press: Holiday Book Sale

Jump on the holidays - save time and money - with National Braille
Press's annual holiday kids' book sale!

Order 3 books from the list below, get the fourth one FREE!
Order 2 books from the list below, get the third one for half-price!

Sale expires December 31, 2009

Order soon - these books are in limited supply, and last year we sold
out very quickly!

Telephone orders are highly encouraged.
Call and charge it: toll-free (800) 548-7323 or (617) 266-6160 ext 520.
Or order by mail - send payment to:
NBP, 88 St. Stephen Street, Boston, MA 02115-4302

To read descriptions of the books, visit
http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/cbbc/titles.html

Books included in the sale:

Curious George Takes a Train, by Margret and H.A. Rey, $5.00

If I Ran for President, by Catherine Stier, $6.99

Just So Thankful, by Mercer Mayer, $5.00

Froggy Goes to Bed, by Jonathan London, $5.99

Seven Silly Eaters, by Mary Ann Hoberman, $7.00

Dad, Jackie, and Me, by Myron Uhlberg, $16.95

The Night Worker, by Kate Banks, $6.95

A Picture Book of Florence Nightingale, by David A. Adler, $6.95

Dear Deer: A Book of Homophones, by Gene Baretta, $16.95

Helen Keller: The World in Her Heart, by Les Cline-Ransome, $16.99

The Berenstain Bears and the Truth, by Stan & Jan Berenstain, $5.00

Weslandia, by Paul Fleischman, $6.99

Where Does the Garbage Go? by Paul Showers, $5.99

CALDECOTT WINNERS

Fly High, Fly Low, by Don Freeman, $7.99

Little Red Riding Hood, by Jerry Pinkney, $16.99

"I CAN READ" BOOKS!

Aggie and Ben, by Lori Ries, $5.95

Little Bear's Visit, by Else Holmelund Minarik, $5.00


Hi! Fly Guy, by Ted Arnold, $5.00