My Braille journey- Parent edition

When I first found out that my son was going to need to learn both braille and very large print to read, I have to admit, I panicked. Despite being severely sight impaired myself, I didn’t learn braille  as a child due to poor support at school.

When you tell people you’re blind, so many assume you can read braille, like it’s a heritable skill sitting there in your DNA right alongside the gene causing your visual impairment. I hope that by sharing my learning journey, it will demystify it a little and help you feel more confident to be able to support your child.

Supporting my son with every aspect of his reading journey was something I was determined to do. I set out to find out where I could learn braille as an adult. It felt so daunting at first. I discovered braille primers which are a bit like a braille dictionary but just as you cannot learn English from a dictionary unless you have some prior knowledge, learning braille from a primer was not something I felt I could do. I knew I needed someone to ask whenever I had questions, since I knew I would have many.  That’s when I came across a local charity called Braille IT. At the time, they held several classes in and around Lancashire but have since expanded their reach, supporting learners around the UK via a postal service. They offer recognised qualifications in braille, including moving on to a braille teaching qualification.

They were so welcoming and supportive, and classes involved tea and biscuits; it was a win win situation. I quickly learned the braille alphabet which follows a simple 10 pattern repeat with an additional dot on each new round. I learnt the capital letter sign and full stop sign, and I was off. It was so lovely to be able to write braille, knowing I was learning skills quickly and easily which I could use to support my son.

There are several ways to write braille:

• a brailler; a little like a typewriter, with 6 keys for letter combinations, a space bar, back space and next line button.
• Braille note touch; specialist laptops which you can use to type directly into a word processor
• Braille printers can print word documents into braille.
• Orbit readers; devices which can be used as note takers, file storage and readers as well as being a Bluetooth keyboard.

Learning to read by touch did take some practice. I often ended up with lots of squashed dots when I began as it’s natural to press harder when you’re not sure what you’re feeling. When I was taught to lighten the pressure though, it became much easier. I felt like I was learning a secret language.

My class had a mixture of people learning by touch and people learning by sight; often parents and care givers. Everyone was so friendly and supportive, learning braille became a lovely morning out rather than a chore.

It was at this point in my learning journey that COVID-19 swept the world. When the work from school came home, I was beyond relieved that I knew the braille basics. I made lots of games and resources for my son which made learning fun and tactile. I think the simplest resources I made were the best. One of the most effective games we played involved him beginning by writing a large letter in felt tip pen. Using wool pom poms and an egg box to denote the six possible dots in one braille cell, he could create the same letter in braille. He and his little brother would then run around the house and garden to find various objects which began with that letter. We had so much fun with inventing games using braille. It was so reassuring to know I was supporting his reading journey when it would have otherwise stopped. He got such a sense of achievement from learning in such an interactive way too. It was wonderful to be able to create that environment for him and I owe it all to the wonderful support and encouragement I got from the team at Braille IT.

My son and I have progressed with our learning through the years. Fortunately I have always been able to stay a little ahead of him and so it’s been easy to support him. He sees it as our secret code, since his younger brother and Dad don’t read it. I love sharing reading books with him. It’s so encouraging to see how well he is progressing. His ability to remember it all far surpasses my own. I know he will be a better braille reader than me when he’s older, but it has been a privilege to accompany him on this learning experience.

The journey has been tricky at times and daunting, particularly when I felt as though I’d been thrown in at thee deep end when COVID-19 arrived, as I’m sure many parents up and down the country did too. I am now nearing the end of my Level 2 in braille which includes a lot of abbreviations, known as contractions in braille. There are also various types of highlights, special characters and maths symbols once you have learnt the alphabet and contractions. I am looking forward to undertaking my braille teaching qualification. I look forward to seeing where it will take me. The future is looking bright.

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